mel b3

now don't laugh but i've trawled through bird of prey sites and i'm 99% sure that it was a snowy owl, i know it's not really a native species but i'm pretty sure thats what i saw,it's not a red kite or a buzzard i'm sure of that, i've seen a red kite in the flesh and buzzards are ten a penny on this land (it's not uncommon to see 6 in the air at the same time) i'm thinking that somebody may have lost this one as it didn't seem to be too frightened of us as it came back to the same place twice, does anyone know of a bird of prey forum,it might be worth a try as it might just be someones beloved pet. isn't it strange the things you see when you're out having a wander, i saw two peach faced love birds about a month ago.

hi fellas,i don't know if this is really the right section but here goes, i was having a mooch around a couple of fields this afternoon and on shooting a rabbit the biggest bird of prey i,ve ever seen lifted off the field about 100yrds in front of me,it was white with black wing tips (looking from underneath) and on top it was white but slightly mottled, i watched it through the scope as it did a wide circuit of a few fields then it came back to where it started from and dissapeared over a hedge,about an hour later as i was making my way back across the fields i saw it again in the same place but i couldn,t get close enough for a positive id ,the farmers son who also saw it seems to think it was an owl but i've only ever seen barn owls that are white and this thing seemed almost three times as big, when flying it had arched wings(heron like)and it was almost half as big again as the local buzzards , has anyone got any idea what it may have been, cheers fellas ps this bird was huge and truly awesome,it made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.

i'd love to scan and post (if i had a scanner or knew how to post it) but i don't think that teal or cranfield would thank me for it somehow

i've got an old shooting magazine that shows you how to make them , it's a very old shooting mag, could you imagine what would happen if a mag printed these instructions today

i nick the wood from the pallets at work and they've got hundreds of them so yes the source is very sustainable

i love christmas but i like my christmas to be at ....well....christmas

7 days driving how big is canada ?,i thought it was just a bit bigger than wales the scenery in the photo's is truly stunning,what i wouldn't give to live in a place like that.

cranfield,tut tut, have you been looking

i would like to take this opportunity to publicly apologise to wabbitbosher for unashamedly stealing his ideas and designs causing him considerable financial hardship and forcing him out of retirement and back into work until his 70th birthday (another 2 years) i'm surprised that only one person has taken the offer of a free priest.

now withdrawn :thumbs:

hi george don't worry about spelling your name incorrectly,i sometimes do the same and instead of writing mel i write sylvia hotpants :thumbs:

i've had my cz 452 barrel shortened to 13 inches and it sounds exactly the same to me,i can hear the firing pin hit home under normal conditions, the loudest thing i hear is the bullet hitting the rabbit. ps i use a carbon fibre mod.

my sincerest condolences mate and i hope you make a full and speedy recovery

i'll have one of the pups

you're not paranoid henry, they really are out to get you

sometimes chin them sometimes stretch them , i suppose it depends how i pick the rabbit up in the first place, pigeons just get a flick of the wrist it's very very quick and the way i'd like to go myself, you owe it to the animal to do it as quickly and painlessly as possible without exception , if you don't want to do it stick to shooting clays/targets.

you've answered your own question there max,don't bother going if fireworks are going off nearby and cover your face up, you can spot hands and faces from a long way off , even on the darkest nights.

isn't love a wonderfull thing

thanks for the advise guys ,it looks like i'll be buying a few nets,i'm not a mad keen ferreter but i thought it might be a good way of getting an extra bit of sport,thanks again fellas

hi fellas ,i could do with a bit of advice on how to start ferreting with a new (youngish)ferret,it's a young jill that i found on a farm a couple of months ago ,it had a bad back injury ,it was covered in ticks and had what appeared to be 2 broken back legs,as is normal on this farm the farmers young children made me promise to nurse it back to health (being a soft touch i regularly have to bring back mixy rabbits and birds with broken wings etc ) anyway back to the point , it's made a miraculous recovery with the help of mrs melb and i'd like to use it to bolt rabbits to the shotgun , where do i start ? , can i just take it to a bury and put it into a hole or do i need to start a training regime with dead rabbits on string and drainpipes, i'm not totally new to ferreting but sadly the old fella that i used to do a bit of ferreting with has recently passed away and i don't know how to start from scratch.thanks in anticipation fellas

lb,stop giving all the trade secrets away ,tell him to book it into your garage

i'll av a mooch

hi sniper,i've got a couple of mates with rifles that could sort the foxes out but i've got a slot on my ticket for a .243 so this seemed like the time to fill it,i didn't really want a .243 but the feo talked me into it as the land i shoot over has quite a few deer and he wanted me to kill two birds with one stone so to speak,thanks for the offer of help though it's appreciated mate

a belting day mate

hi sniper, that seems a very good price for the gun but i wanted to pay less if possible,like i said in the add it wouldn't be used very often (probably 6/7 foxes per year) so i only want the cheapest possible,thanks for the info mate it,s very much appreciated . ps i usually use the shotgun and bb cartridges but the foxes are a bit more difficult this year for some reason and i'm struggling a bit.