dodger

A friend of mine shot a pigeon a few years ago that had a crop full of Christmas Cake !

I picked up some in Argos a couple of years ago. They were about £80. This was for 4 radios plus batteries and chargers. I use them to keep in touch with the rest of the team when picking up and when pigeon shooting. They are great for taking the **** out of the mate across the other side of the field who has just missed that sitter you saw dropping in with both barrels

Would not surprise me if the antis put it down to get shooting banned.

...and a partridge in a pear tree

Wasn't it refreshing to see a documentary on field sports that didn't look as if it had been paid for by the antis.

The thing is they have a real problem there politically. After 700 hours spent in Parliament trying to get hunting banned and eventually getting their ban, any more time spent would be an admission that after all that they got it wrong. People can talk about loopholes all they like, but in this country we are "supposedly" allowed to do what we like unless it is proscribed by law. If the hunts continue in a way that is not illegal then they are doing nothing wrong. Most anti video"evidence" has been thrown out by the courts over the years and I think the police will be hard pushed to bring prosecutions that will stand up. If you steal something and the goods are not found on you there is little chance that you will be found guilty. It is difficult to prove you have stolen anything without actual evidence. Then how the hell do they prove that when you were exercising your hounds and they accidentally caught a fox that you intended them to do so. The lawyers will have a field day and a few cases will be brought, but I believe that so few cases where brought will be upheld that pressure will come on the CPS to stop wasting public money.

My brother told me the other day of a chat he had with someone selling smokers at a country fair. He was asked if he had a gas barbeque and said that he had.He was told the following: Get some hardwood chips from B&Q or similar outlet. Soak them in a bowl of water overnight. Light just one burner on the barby and set it at its lowest. Sprinkle some of the soaked chips around the OUTSIDE coals on the barby.Avoid putting any on the "hot" area as these will burn instead of smoke. Place the pigeons at the extreme end away from the lit burner. Put the lid down and leave for about 2 hours checking from time to time and adding a few more soaked chips. The result is hot smoked pigeon. He tells me that the best results are from leaving the pigeon to cool and then placing them in a bowl. Cover with clingfilm and eat cold the next day. I tried some and they were very good. He has also done this with pheasant and mackerel.You need to experiment and vary the smoking times, but it is a way to smoke things without the expense of buying a smoker. I think the woodchips cost about £3.

Put your thumb behind their head and your index finger under their throat and squeeze.Effectively you strangle them. They will flap initially but expire in a few seconds.

I am sure I heard in the commentary that it is a three part series.

I am sure it does. There are bad apples in every barrel. Some shooters are irresponsible but that doesn't mean we should all be tarred with the same brush. The reason I said dont believe all you read is that when I looked at the site in question and the guestbook I was surprised to see that I had made a comment a long time back. There was my name and a shot in the dark at my email address . It was very much an anti post. I made the mistake years ago of giving my name to a manager of a forum who turned out to be a rabid anti of the worst kind. When we have found each other on other forums he has seen fit to publish my name for all to see. This post was obviously put there by one of these morons for a bit of a laugh. This is why I can say with certainty that a proportion of these posts were put there to stir up a reaction in the public to say things like " If that is what they are like I dont want to be associated with them" This is the divide and conquer strategy employed by the antis. We have to all stick together or they will pick us off one by one.

What you must remember is that antis often post comments from supposed pros to show them in a bad light. Dont be taken in by the so called pro posts there and assume that they are all genuine, or the anti ones for that matter. I can assure you they are not.

Only way to eat them is with butter on. Maybe jam or marmite too whichever takes your fancy. Dont knock it till you've tried it !

If my old dad ever shot what he used to call a "milky doe" he would not eat it. On the other hand I knew an old keeper who swore they made the best eating of all.

The wife complains that I spend too much time in there as it is :thumbs:

John Bidwell does a shooting display at the CLA. If you haven't seen it before please make the effort. It is awesome.

Might I venture to suggest that those crows were probably rooks.

Did BASC REALLY say that ? I was under the impression that the ONLY reason for shooting pigeons was as a pest control exercise under the general licence and that "Sporting shooting" was not a good reason for shooting them.

From the Daily Telegraph today. Only shoot woodpigeon if you can't scare it off By Charles Clover (Filed: 01/03/2005) The shooting of woodpigeons and crows may only take place in future only if scaring them has been shown not to work, the Government said yesterday. Under new rules which came into force yesterday, woodpigeons, magpies and other pest bird species may be shot only if other, non-lethal forms of pest control, including gas guns and scarecrows, have first been demonstrated not to protect crops or game birds. Landowners and field sports bodies were astonished at changes which they said came without any consultation, announcement or even being posted on the website of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the day they came into force. The Country Land and Business Association (CLA) said the changes effectively outlawed the shooting of woodpigeons, a pursuit traditionally followed by hundreds of thousands of camouflage-clad shooters at this time of year. What came into force yesterday and unannounced was a change to the wording of general licences issued to kill pest species including woodpigeons, rooks, crows, magpies, jays, collared doves, Canada geese, greater and lesser black-backed gulls. Countryside organisations were informed by Defra that the wording of the latest general licences, which apply to all shooters, was being changed to read: “This licence can only be relied upon in circumstances where the authorised person can demonstrate that appropriate non-lethal methods of control such as scaring are either ineffective or impracticable.” Along with our hunting brethren it seems we are all to be ethnically cleansed on the New Labour alter of political correctness. I sincerely hope that no one here is considering voting for them in the forthcoming election .

NOOOOOO! They did NOT go on a drag hunt. They went on a trail hunt. Draghunting is a different sport altogether. They will have followed a trail made from foxy bits. The antis would LOVE to say that we now go drag hunting which they said we could all along.

Be very careful though mate. If your dogs happen to flush a mouse you are required by law to shoot it

We were expecting the hunt to pack up at about 3.30. Bob Collins carried the horn for the last time yesterday and used it little.According to someone I spoke to he refused to lie to his hounds by chivvying them onto a false trail.That coupled with a nasty accident to one of the field. It was about 2.00 when we heard that they had packed up so we made our way back to the house.That is when it kicked off. I expect the scum were waiting in the woods but when they heard we had finished made their way to the house instead. One fox was accounted for though. Dug out and shot then given to the pack.What a total waste of time this ban is proving to be .

You missed the antis then Fish. The hunt packed up early and after hounds and most horses had left about a dozen of the scumbags turned up at the big house.They drove their landy into the back of a hilux and had the bloke standing behind it not have had his wits about him he would have had his legs crushed.Two coppers there did sod all. One of them said when asked why he didnt arrest the driver that if he had of done then they might have all jumped him and there were only a couple of them there at the time. Mob rule is alive and well and living in the uk

About thirty years ago I was invited to a shoot and had no way to get there except by train. I had the gun, sleeved over my shoulder and carried a cartridge bag and drew no unwanted glances or attention. I expect if I tried to do it again today there would be an armed response unit at the next station along with helecopters.

And of course all such earning must be declared to the Inland Revenue

Sounds more like my missus