Back up at the shoot

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

Well  I didn't need telling twice,  the wife was painting and wanted me out the house so off with the shotgun in search of vermin. Shot a right porker of a squirrel who had been eating well in readiness for winter.  5 squizzers and 4 magpies,  happy with that

[shovel leaner 7,650]

Well the first day happened Saturday, and it was shirtsleeves and sunglasses. 
         The first drive went well and they shot 59 , and I was thinking, I’m going to be blowing up early on all the others. But it was so hot and sunny the birds were not flying into the sun and a lot were just dipping, I was flushing birds and waiting for the shots and there was none . I radioed the boss to see what was happening and he explained about how the birds were dipping. We got the bag , but it wasn’t the east day I had hoped for . Every keeper I spoke to had the same problem, birds everywhere except where you want them and not flying. Still it’s early days and a long season . I’m planning a couple of different drives for this Saturday that will involve a lot of “blanking in” big areas , so instead of relying on the birds being in the cover crops I’m going to push them into a flushing point and drive them off high banks . There is more than one way to skin a cat as they say . Sometimes you just have to think out of the box and do things a bit differently to get the birds to do what you need. 

[shovel leaner 7,650]

I’ve got a tunnel trap by one of the feeders near a partridge pen and it’s been accounting for a fair bit of vermin, rats , a few squirrels and two stoats and this morning a Jill polecat. 
         I think I saw this one in the headlights of the mule the other morning when I was feeding. Glad to see the back of it . 

[Stavross 15,172]

I’ve just been speaking to another part time keeper ( bit like myself) who runs a small syndicate and he was saying that it looks like he will be cancelling their first day, he’s the second person to tell me this over the past few days, with the weather up this way the way it is the birds haven’t tailed up yet and the local farm shoots are having a real problem with the birds wandering, around this way we never start shooting until the end of October/ beginning of November, I’ve never known it like this, at worst it’s normally just very wet by now

[shovel leaner 7,650]

1 hour ago, Stavross said:

I’ve just been speaking to another part time keeper ( bit like myself) who runs a small syndicate and he was saying that it looks like he will be cancelling their first day, he’s the second person to tell me this over the past few days, with the weather up this way the way it is the birds haven’t tailed up yet and the local farm shoots are having a real problem with the birds wandering, around this way we never start shooting until the end of October/ beginning of November, I’ve never known it like this, at worst it’s normally just very wet by now

On the positive side , at least the guns can get around easier. Normally we are struggling with waterlogged fields and stuck vehicles. 
          Now I know what I’m up against as regards weather and birds everywhere, I can do something different and try and get around them . 
        The dates I’ve got are carved in stone , so I’ve just got to play the hand I’ve been dealt. 
      We had a few fields of beans that were a big draw to the birds , they have been harvested a while back , but now I’ve got more birds on the one side of the shoot than the other . So I’m just going to shoot more drives where they are , and if they don’t like it they can go back to where they came from . 
      But I’ve got to say , this season is already pissing me off .

[Sausagedog 7,381]

Still loads of insects, spiders beat wheat any day for pheasants!

 

Had to turn a fat lamb over the other day. Fortunately I got there before the crows. Tonight I sniped at said crows and eventually ended up with Beaky! 

Meet Beaky, looks like we've  met before, maybe!

[si brown 8,486]

The birds over this way are right scraggy things, took a couple the other day but there was nowt on them, the hen was half the size of the cock but the dog didn’t mind

he ate the the lot, now he’s on with the  hen

[si brown 8,486]

Just now, si brown said:

The birds over this way are right scraggy things, took a couple the other day but there was nowt on them, the hen was half the size of the cock but the dog didn’t mind

he ate the the lot, now he’s on with the  hen

[Stavross 15,172]

13 minutes ago, si brown said:

The birds over this way are right scraggy things, took a couple the other day but there was nowt on them, the hen was half the size of the cock but the dog didn’t mind

he ate the the lot, now he’s on with the  hen

I’m not a million miles from you si as you know and the birds look the same right across the moor, there’s only the big shoots that put the birds down in the end of June / beginning of July that are looking anywhere near proper pheasants at the minute 

 

I’ve just been talking to the shoot captain and I said to him that if we are to shoot the first day in November then I’ll have to try to make another couple of drives ( he knew what I meant, next doors partridge and a few pheasants that are further on than ours ) he just said, do what you have to do and see what you can make of it but if we have to cancel the first, we will and put another day in January 

[Dervburner 2,549]

45 minutes ago, Sausagedog said:

Still loads of insects, spiders beat wheat any day for pheasants!

 

Had to turn a fat lamb over the other day. Fortunately I got there before the crows. Tonight I sniped at said crows and eventually ended up with Beaky! 

Meet Beaky, looks like we've  met before, maybe!

Hello beaky
 

[Dervburner 2,549]

22 hours ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Well  I didn't need telling twice,  the wife was painting and wanted me out the house so off with the shotgun in search of vermin. Shot a right porker of a squirrel who had been eating well in readiness for winter.  5 squizzers and 4 magpies,  happy with that

Good shooting Mark

[si brown 8,486]

34 minutes ago, Stavross said:

I’m not a million miles from you si as you know and the birds look the same right across the moor, there’s only the big shoots that put the birds down in the end of June / beginning of July that are looking anywhere near proper pheasants at the minute 

 

I’ve just been talking to the shoot captain and I said to him that if we are to shoot the first day in November then I’ll have to try to make another couple of drives ( he knew what I meant, next doors partridge and a few pheasants that are further on than ours ) he just said, do what you have to do and see what you can make of it but if we have to cancel the first, we will and put another day in January 

Even the birds on the big estate shoot look scratty and they breed there own, there’s that many put down it’s unreal… I call it the factory shoot cos it’s non stop!

I was out rabbiting last week and the birds don’t even bother going up to roost … it was a bloody nightmare

[Stavross 15,172]

25 minutes ago, si brown said:

Even the birds on the big estate shoot look scratty and they breed there own, there’s that many put down it’s unreal… I call it the factory shoot cos it’s non stop!

I was out rabbiting last week and the birds don’t even bother going up to roost … it was a bloody nightmare

Over the past couple of months when I’ve been driving down the A19 towards Northallerton there’s one big shoot that’s a couple of miles along the bottom of the moor and it’s not been unusual to see 1000 birds in the fields just of the A19, they have just started dogging them off the fields, that’s not my idea of good game shooting, but I know some people who only do this and pay big money for it

[si brown 8,486]

1 hour ago, Stavross said:

Over the past couple of months when I’ve been driving down the A19 towards Northallerton there’s one big shoot that’s a couple of miles along the bottom of the moor and it’s not been unusual to see 1000 birds in the fields just of the A19, they have just started dogging them off the fields, that’s not my idea of good game shooting, but I know some people who only do this and pay big money for it

I’m in agreement with you on that one stav, it’s not surprising ppl look on shoot days as they do… even when your into the life it’s boom boom from 9am till 3pm every day bar Sunday and when the guns turn up you watch millions of pounds worth of cars roll past:( 

[Stavross 15,172]

8 minutes ago, si brown said:

I’m in agreement with you on that one stav, it’s not surprising ppl look on shoot days as they do… even when your into the life it’s boom boom from 9am till 3pm every day bar Sunday and when the guns turn up you watch millions of pounds worth of cars roll past:( 

A long time ago I was on a grouse moor and a group of guns ( I think they were Arabs but don’t quote me on that ) had booked a day but didn’t start until lunch time because they were shooting the morning in Scotland then travelling down by helicopter, when they arrived they had new Range Rovers waiting for them ( I think this was the early 90’s ) they were driven to their butts by their loaders, after they had finished their day one of the loaders told me he had been tipped 500 quid and one of them gave the head keeper one of the Range Rovers as a tip,, it’s nothing like  that at my spot with the bunch of raggie arsed misfits I got to deal with