Jimmer

I have a massive problem that a fox/foxes have moved into our pheasant pen, there are several entrances to the earths inside and just outside. We have our ex-layers coming soon and need them gone ASAP. What is the best way to get rid. It's not ideal for rifle shooting as the terrain is difficult. I did think about baiting them to a nearby field where a safer/ easier shot can be taken. Any help much appreciated Cheers

We are currently setting up a new dairy unit and Arla are now deciding if they do or don't want to take on more customers, so we may not even be able to sell our milk. Unfortunately robotic milking, high input dairying and high genetic herds are really going to struggle to turn any profit even with there single farm payment. We're a cross bred herd on a grazing system with 1.5 men and one 25 year old loader tractor and make very good money from dairy, but with compotition for land from digesters and pv is only going to get harder, only the best businesses will survive. With most milk now being powdered and exported and joe public drinking less milk than ever, it really is a global supply and demand thing and no one will stop that. No one was complaining last December when the prices were at a record high, you just have to take the rough with the smooth. The problem is when the price was high people have expanded their inefficient systems and all other costs(feed, machinery) always track with the milk price, so sheds were being build left, right and centre and now these people have really got it tough, but there is no direct link between output and profit, 3p per litre profit on 3 million litres, or 14p per litre profit on 1 million litres, milk price goes down 5p per litre = carnage.

Pm'd Many thanks

Want to make a shooting frame for our Polaris ranger and wondered if anyone has any pics of theirs on any other make.

Am currently using a lightforce pred9 and it is fine for bunnies but seems to lack the range for spotting foxes, but I am used to the 240. Was looking at a nightsearcher commander xl-m, does anyone else use this? Or are there any other alternatives that throw out a 400 yard beam and one possibly with an adjustable beam, or am I looking for the impossible! Any views welcome

Great advise thanks

I was told never to tag our birds as I'd end up cheesed off by the end of the season on how little of the ones shot were actually ours. I think the fact is that quite a few will always leave and its up to you to attract some back, if your shoot has a good habitat and plenty of feed and a good keeper small shoots surrounded by other shoots can potentially always poach others back, whether there yours that have left already is another question.

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like anything around an acre will be fine. A bit more info:- It's our own land(250 acres) and have our own drill, plots are on edges of fields on top of steep hills above a valley. When I say put up 60 a drive, I don't mean shoot 60 per drive I would expect to shoot 1 in 5 ish, that's 11 per drive ish at the start of the season from 3 drives, using 5 beaters 4 dogs and a couple of flagers/stops, guns are all on pegs.I would expect to shoot al least 40%(we shot 50% last year) and we are well on target this year (43% shot already and still 3 days left)we are pretty much the last shoot in the exe valley at its narrowist point with all of exmoor above us, theres 1 small shoot about 2 miles away and a commercial shoot 1.5 miles away. We have been using only kale, was thinking of canary grass/game bird mix next year that contained some food, to make a plot that would not need reseeding. All birds are ex-layers. We open pen up 6 weeks before the first shoot, they generally wonder a bit and then come back when winter sets in.

+1 for bazantys, we have them this year and they are jumpy, but fly amazingly, and seem to hold as good as any other, if not a bit better. You just need some good shots on peg.

Is there a ratio of m2 to a pheasant? Or what are people's plot sizes for birds put down? Is south facing preferable? We have plots from 0.85 acre to about 2 acres and sometimes 8 acre fields of kale. We find small plots easier get the birds going over the guns, but they do sometimes all go up at once. We put down about 400 birds and want them in 3 permanent drives roughly 0.85 each. Would like to put 60 birds out on every drive, is this reasonable? Many thanks in advance

Not sure if this should be in the equiptment section but thought this was more appropriate! Can anyone reccommend a reliable model of walkie talkie as I'm fed up of my Motorola xtr446 from not working properly. Probable need 12 km range or better as our shoot has deep valleys. Any help much appreciated.

Swift, I drilled some patches last Thursday as the pigeons got our kale.

Think this might be the one for me.I have a 6-18x44 redfield revenge with parallax. Will this work well with the NS200. Also what is battery life like? Cheers

Looks really promising. Cheers

Looking at purchasing a nv scope for my .22 LR for rabbit control up to 100 yds. I have a limited budget. Also what are they like for daylight use? Any help much appreciated. Cheers

Looking for tips on getting the birds onto some of our plots. We have rides cut in the kale with sping barrel wheat feeders with aniseed on the ride. We then hand feed cracked maize onto the ride a few days before we want to drive the plot. The birds seem more interested in the hedges at the moment than our plots, I suppose it is still early and there's still natural food for them. Straw in the rides could be an option. Any other tricks I can use. Any help much appreciated

Your probably better off getting a .243 which has a wider range of bullet weight, which would suit deer better.

I would definatly crate train the pup from the word go at night, as rightly said you never know when your dog might need to come indoors or stay at the vets. best to start with the crate just big enough for the dog to turn around in I used a large crate sectioned off with some ply and cable ties so they don't use it as a bed one end and a toilet the other end it is amazing how quick they learn. Also the go pee command when first let out of the kennel/ run is a good idea to start young. I have a tubular heater on a frost stat so if the temp gets below 10degrees the heater comes on but the kennel is also insulated with 50mm cellotex and has a dog leg with transparent vertical draft stips. My dog is bedded with barley straw which is quite soft, some people say the dust can cause the dogs problems but mine has been fine with it. I also have a wireless tempareture sensor in the kennel with a readout that is in the house this is handy for keeping an eye on the tempareture in the cold months. Hope this might provide some advise from my own experience. Good luck.

My 18 month old springer is reluctant to hunt for pheasants in thick hedge rows and brambles, he does work well in cover crops. Does anyone have any training tips I can use to reinstate his confidence. cheers

Bought some yesterday from a country retailer for £13 for 25 kg. thought that was quite steep. They called it cut maize.

Can anyone recommend a hand counter. Want a reliable one, there are loads on eBay but seem to cheap to be any good. Any help much appreciated

After a bit of research I think there might be a Phosphorous deficiency. I'll try to spread some in the next couple of days and see what happens. A lot of the cover plots have failed miserably on shoots around us this year, I think a combination of to much rain and abundance of slugs, and also good weed growing weather. We found broadcasting to give better results than direct drilling as well.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I think I'll go for the .22lr with sub sonic and mod. I think the .17 is a great alround keepers gun, but most of my shots will be sub 80 yards in the day and far closer if lamping, its the noise that clinches the deal though. It will take a lot of getting used to shooting a loopy round compared to the.22-250, I'll have to rekindle my air rifling skills and get back to improving field craft. Thanks again to all who replied.

Got my license up for renewal and wanted a small rim fire for general pest control on the shoot and rabbit control as the .22-250 is a bit big and noisy. Was thinking of a .22 lr with subsonic ammo for noise reduction when the rabbits are side by side or so I don't scare off any of our pheasants during daylight hours. I thought the .17 hmr was a lovely round but still quite noisy or are there really good mods that can sort this out. Or is there a caliber I'm overlooking, but I do want to be able to get ammo easily. Any help much appreciated.

I've heard reports that pheasants can't get enough of this. Does anyone else have any experience using it? Want to keep the birds in the plots as long as possible before they go walkabout for the ret of the day. Any help much appreciated.