jasper65 6 Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Anyone ever put any down or have any info on them? I have hear they have a tendancy to wonder way off but by all accounts they get up well compared to some other types .... Cheers Jasper Quote Link to post
atchy =] 2 Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Anyone ever put any down or have any info on them? I have hear they have a tendancy to wonder way off but by all accounts they get up well compared to some other types .... Cheers Jasper Michigan blue backs in the shooting industry explode like excocet missiles, near vertical and offer very sporting shooting, but i get the feeling that you want to use blue backs for your hawk ? would you mind telling me what sort of ground you have your permission on ? i.e topography and cover Quote Link to post
steviebhoy 0 Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Great bird if you have flat ground but you need alot of acres to hold them. Trying myself not to include them with my laying stock as the birds at poult stage are small and some dont look of age when you are releasing them. Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted April 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Michigan blue backs in the shooting industry explode like excocet missiles, near vertical and offer very sporting shooting, but i get the feeling that you want to use blue backs for your hawk ? would you mind telling me what sort of ground you have your permission on ? i.e topography and cover They put some down on one of the Syndicate shoots a few years back! I was flying on this land at the time but never came across one of them. I spoke to one of the Keepers and he mentioned he was having big problems keeping them in the boundary due to their wandering instinct? it was a shame as I have heard nothing but good about these birds from a sporting point of view..... I fly and shoot around Norfolk with mix woodland, Cover, Set Aside and some open fields!! somehow I think it would take a good fit Goshawk to get near one of these Bluebacks, But I'm sure with a longwing it would be a different story if one was put up underneath it.... Jasper Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted April 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 Great bird if you have flat ground but you need alot of acres to hold them. Trying myself not to include them with my laying stock as the birds at poult stage are small and some dont look of age when you are releasing them. are they a fair bit smaller than the average ring neck pheasant stevie? I've not seen one but there was a time they was raving about them from a sporting point of view on some shoots...... Jasper Quote Link to post
welshboy454 3 Posted April 19, 2009 Report Share Posted April 19, 2009 A shooting syndicate nearby put 500 down(their total) and shot 61. They insisted the following year that they would have none at any price. They said they flew well straight out of the shoot never to return ! Quote Link to post
conormc 0 Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 We put down some a couple of years ago and have tried to avoid them since as not one was shot they just seemed to disappear. Quote Link to post
Quixote 9 Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 I cannae even hit the ones we have here, let alone bluebacks! Quote Link to post
Guest ESS Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 (edited) I cannae even hit the ones we have here, let alone bluebacks! Like the Norwegian Blue beautiful plummage though lol,,They fly nice and if you can keep them they are a testing bird..Missus hatched some year before last and they where a pain in the arse to raise,we ended up keeping them under a red light like turkeys as they pecked feck out of each other till they were a couple of weeks old .. Edited April 20, 2009 by ESS Quote Link to post
matt11 0 Posted April 20, 2009 Report Share Posted April 20, 2009 jasper65,not many pure blue backs are use any more they normally cross them with something else to make them hold a bit better like a black neck or something.a couple of estates round here still use pure blue backs but have a large chunk of land to hold them there are other options like fen birds who perform very well without wanting to walk off as much. Quote Link to post
Guest rodsmith Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 all apart from 1 estate round here release pure bluebacks.cant be beaten for their flying/climbing ability Quote Link to post
dogs-n-natives 1,182 Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 I used to get different varietys in my orders, as i keepered a big hill shoot, I liked the fact that the blue backs would not be sat in the woods with the blacknecks and ringnecks, but would often travell to out-by feeding areas in the reshes and bracken providing some good sport on the smaller days/walked up days. Quote Link to post
Garypco 2 Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 forget em if ur only putting small numbers and you have a small shoot [bANNED TEXT].they walk and walk...cracking birds and they fly high and hard similar to a scandinavian fen in some ways... we had a good return on bluebacks a few years ago the only problem was they were released on a different shoot 10 miles away lol Quote Link to post
jasper65 6 Posted April 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 They sounds pretty wayward which is a shame because from a sporting point of view they seem fine. I lived out in the fens near sutton bridge Lincolnshire about 10 years back and was shocked how sporting some of the pheasants was up there, I never caught any with a bird as back then I was flying a spar but I shot a few and although smaller than the birds in this part of Norfolk it shocked me how far these fen pheasants would go before the put in...... I keep a few Pheasants here and breed a few from the Melanistics to ring necks and the Golden! we also get a good few cock birds come in the garden for a bundle with my birds, it always surprises me how tame they get after a while. I'm thinking after reading a few posts crossing a Michigan with perhaps a ring neck and putting a few down on some land near by to see what the results are, you would think with all the wandering the Michigans do there must be some crosses out there already? Jasper Quote Link to post
steviebhoy 0 Posted April 21, 2009 Report Share Posted April 21, 2009 Great bird if you have flat ground but you need alot of acres to hold them. Trying myself not to include them with my laying stock as the birds at poult stage are small and some dont look of age when you are releasing them. are they a fair bit smaller than the average ring neck pheasant stevie? I've not seen one but there was a time they was raving about them from a sporting point of view on some shoots...... Jasper They certainly are mate.......when i buy in birds for my laying stock and you get a couple of pure blue's then the brails for there wings just fall of and the swines get away. In the sporting sense they seem to be 1 of the most 'sporting' but commercially they are a nightmare. Quote Link to post
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