Lord1e

Thanks ever so much for the advice. So ideally the large pond would have an island in the middle of it, and this would be reachable from a walkway. The walkway would be gated to keep out any predators, but wouldn't mr fox just swim across to the island ? Obviously we'd undertake pest control, but would we need to fence off the entire lake as well ? I've heard about leaving the ducks well alone, otherwise they become too tame and will refuse to get up off the pond. If we buy an auto feeder that should solve the problem? What sort of age ducks would be best to buy? How much should i expect to pay? At what time of year do i put the ducks down, and when do i start feeding them? Will they need shelter ? Sorry for all the questions, it's difficult researching this information on the internet so all your advice is greatly appreciated. Regards, Chris

Hi, One of the farms i shoot on as 3 or 4 decent sized ponds, but there isn't much in the way of ponds/lakes/rivers in the sorrounding area. The landscape is well suited for a duck shoot, and the guys who own the farm have enough heavy machinery onsite to make any changes as required. So, i've suggested it might be a good idea to put some reared duck onto the pond. Wild duck frequent the pond a fair bit at the moment, with up to a dozen often seen on the larger pond. Are we too late this year to build a duck pen, and put some reared game into? Where can i buy reared duck from? What's the chances of them actually staying put? All advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi all, This is my first post here, so hello! The forum looks like an excellent resource so I expect i'll become an active memember as i spend most my day on the PC at work, whilst wishing i was out in the field. I have permission on 3 farms in the area i live, although neither are particually great. What i'm interested to know is what is offering the best form of shooting this time of year? There isn't any rape over any of my permission, and the rest of the rape in the area is in full flower. On one of the farms, they have a pit where they keep the feed for the cows. This gets massively attacked by the rooks, there can be over 200 on it at any one time. I've had modest success shooting them, but once i've been there a while they just won't come back in.. is there any advice on how i can make a real day of it? Can you decoy rooks effectively? Would a pigeon magnet with rooks on work well? All advice is appreciated, i've shot for years but never really had my own permission to shoot on. Cheers