Back up at the shoot

[hily 380]

9 hours ago, ianm said:

Most people who just turn up on shoot days have absolutely no idea of the amount of work that is required to run a decent shoot.

I have been up to ours today as i do every Sunday just having a look around to see what needs doing before the birds come. We where walking down the side of a small spinney when out popped Charlie at the end. I will need to go back this week to see if i can sort that out.

Up at 5am sort me and the dogs out  drive an hour and a half to the shoot check all pens change elect fence battery and test wires. Pick up dead birds( mostly killed by our friendly resident hooky beaks) and dump them in a stink pit ( to temped Charlie to visit) . top up feeders with  pellets transfer water from well to  storage tank and then to drinkers. Repair a few holes in the netting .sort out the quad as it packed in while taken repaired hoppers back to one of the drives .

Something to eat then crop protection time with the 410 on woodies and jackdaws. Had to check  one of the duck ponds up on the moor so hunted the young dog up to the pond good news flushed a few rabbits  a hare and two packs of grouse bad news pond was dry.

Back home for 7.30.pm 

Looking forward October .

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

11 hours ago, bumpy22 said:

To be honest I enjoy the keepering side more than the shooting. 

Always been rifles rather than shotgun man. I end up in the line of beaters with my terriers more than at peg lol

Same here mate , I would much rather walk than stand . I like to rake about and see what I can find especially having the pup to start this season. Not be long and season will have started

[shovel leaner 7,650]

I don’t worry about guns not realising the effort I put in , as long as they get their hand in their pocket at the end of the day . It’s a bit different for me as it’s a job , If I moaned about them not realising what goes into putting a day on it would be a bit like a chef moaning about his customers not realising how much effort goes into cooking their meal which they just chopped up and shoved in their face . They pay for their day and they can think what they like . But for a diy syndicate like some of you boys run , there will always have the doers and the piss takers , it’s a problem as old as time . 
             I’ve had birds since early July and they are out and about and getting up to roost well , some outside the pens now . 
         Had a few horrible looking caramel coloured shits by a few feeders in one pen . I knew what it was . You can’t just go to your vet anymore and just get some antibiotics, they want to PM some live birds and write a script. So I caught a few scrawny looking poults and one good one . The PM results confirmed what I already knew , Hex in the three scrawnys and clear in the good one , so I was prescribed antibiotics (Denagard) . They have been on it for 5 days now and no more signs of trouble, so fingers crossed that’s it now . 
         Thought I would have a look around last night as there is a part of the shoot that tends to get neglected as regards night shooting as it’s a lot of gates to open and shut because of livestock. But I soldiered on and did the gates . I was glad I did as when I got to this little wood called “foxes grove”, I saw not one but two foxes moving in the wood . I tried squeaking by hand and managed to get them to just stop and look at me . I drove around the other side and close to the edge of the wood to see if I could move them out into the field on the other side , but when I got back around they hadn’t moved . Plan B , I set up the icotec in the field and moved back to a shadow on the tree line , it was really light with a full moon , I don’t mind night shooting now under a full moon as I can shoot without IR which helps I think . Anyway pheasant distress on and I watched the one foxes almost immediate reaction , and he must of recognised that sound as he made a line straight for the caller . I turned it off and he slowed and stopped long enough for me to break the silence with my .223 . The result was a very dead dog fox in good condition. Before I collected the fox I gave it another few minutes to see if I could pull his friend, but fox 2 didn’t put in an appearance. So I was happy with one . I could of carried on but I’m up at 5. Am and I’ve forgotten how many times I shoot a fox in the first field then carry on all night and not see another fox and wish I’d just gone home after the first .  There is always another night .  

        I just loaded the photo and noticed the ragwort, bloody horrible stuff .

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

46 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

 I’ve forgotten how many times I shoot a fox in the first field then carry on all night and not see another fox and wish I’d just gone home after the first .  There is always another night .  

        

How very true happens all the time but also the reverse , if you get one in 1st field it sometimes continues so that you have a great night mopping up a few , you just never know.

[shovel leaner 7,650]

6 hours ago, hily said:

Up at 5am sort me and the dogs out  drive an hour and a half to the shoot check all pens change elect fence battery and test wires. Pick up dead birds( mostly killed by our friendly resident hooky beaks) and dump them in a stink pit ( to temped Charlie to visit) . top up feeders with  pellets transfer water from well to  storage tank and then to drinkers. Repair a few holes in the netting .sort out the quad as it packed in while taken repaired hoppers back to one of the drives .

Something to eat then crop protection time with the 410 on woodies and jackdaws. Had to check  one of the duck ponds up on the moor so hunted the young dog up to the pond good news flushed a few rabbits  a hare and two packs of grouse bad news pond was dry.

Back home for 7.30.pm 

Looking forward October .

That’s unbelievable

[hily 380]

Shovel leaner  I would not have a keepers job for love nor money  to much  like hard work with plenty of pressure and many unpaid hours .But running  a little shoot for a syndicate  has its rewards. 

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

46 minutes ago, hily said:

Shovel leaner  I would not have a keepers job for love nor money  to much  like hard work with plenty of pressure and many unpaid hours .But running  a little shoot for a syndicate  has its rewards. 

I am the opposite would love a keepers job as I realise it's not a job but a way of life. Sure it has its pressures and long hours but better than  being stuck indoors with an office full of tossers .

[shovel leaner 7,650]

There are keepering jobs and there’s keepering jobs . Some good , some bad . I’ve been doing this one for about 15 years. It’s a lot of hours out of the house and no summer holidays. No summer evenings in the beer garden . 
         My Mrs has been very understanding, but her patience is wearing thin now . She would like to see more of me . I rekon other 5 years and I will be done . I got into keepering relatively late at 40 years old.  My only regret is that I didn’t start earlier in life as I have loved the job ( I didn’t enjoy the wet winter we just had though ) . 
I have been involved with diy shoots and they are great , everyone enjoys themselves, but there are always people who do more than others , that’s human nature. If you can be philosophical about it and accept the lazy b*****d, then there is no finer pass time. 

[bumpy22 414]

Managed this one last night below one of our pens. Birds in tomorrow so good timing 

[Stavross 16,431]

Cracking result just before the birds come

[FOXHUNTER 5,021]

1 hour ago, bumpy22 said:

Managed this one last night below one of our pens. Birds in tomorrow so good timing 

Well done Bump , had a quick call up the shoot last night   and no foxes seen .Poachers out lamping though from the road . 3 caravans of vermin landed out the back of the shoot and 1 farmer has already approached them for coursing ( August for christ sake ) and got threatened. Looks like I will have to try and thin the hares out so they go elsewhere

[Stavross 16,431]

The travelling rats need thinning out

[bumpy22 414]

20 minutes ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Well done Bump , had a quick call up the shoot last night   and no foxes seen .Poachers out lamping though from the road . 3 caravans of vermin landed out the back of the shoot and 1 farmer has already approached them for coursing ( August for christ sake ) and got threatened. Looks like I will have to try and thin the hares out so they go elsewhere

We had them turn up at our rugby club recently. Surprisingly after the three senior teams turned up with retired players they were gone in a hour. I can think of better places for them to try their luck but a rugby club is pretty daft

[Sausagedog 7,381]

2 hours ago, bumpy22 said:

Managed this one last night below one of our pens. Birds in tomorrow so good timing 

Be careful shooting high wire trapeze fox artists! Always make sure you have a safe back stop!

[shovel leaner 7,650]

1 hour ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Well done Bump , had a quick call up the shoot last night   and no foxes seen .Poachers out lamping though from the road . 3 caravans of vermin landed out the back of the shoot and 1 farmer has already approached them for coursing ( August for christ sake ) and got threatened. Looks like I will have to try and thin the hares out so they go elsewhere

What a shame that it has to come to culling hares to stop them . They are vandals, and a parasitic scourge on society.