covey

Cheers colin starting the feeding late looks the only option. covey

Hi all we have an unused pond on our shoot which cattle use for watering, we have not used it as there are problems with cattle consuming the wheat. Do any of you know if its just wheat or any grain that cattle cant consume. We are not permitted to fence off all or part of the pond. Cheers covey

Hi McF This is a little underhanded ploy that i've used before for those not willing to pull their weight. increse everyones shoot fees by £100 and inform everyone that if they complete all the work parties and feeding rotas they get the £100 back, those who don't do the required days lose the money either way shoot benefits. I know it seems under handed and there will be those who do more than their share but this is exactly why those who always have a reason not to do their bit unless it involves shooting are made to toe the line. good luck

Hi McF You did'nt say what was the target species for the feeders, we have used auto's for our flight ponds and found they work well, you will find however they bring out the magpie in people, we anchored ours to concrete blocks to stop them walking away. If they are for feed rides then i personally don't like them for no better reason than i'm old fasioned and like to see whats about and how the birds look. all the best with your search covey

HI, the syndicate i work for get all manner of sizes and colours for me to turn into feeders all i do is look on ebay for m.o.d matt green or black paint this stuff sticks to anything and covers in one coat, i have even painted the landrover i use over the shoot with the stuff. covey

At the moment netted rabbit is £1.25p each so shooting unless head shot is throwing money away covey

Cheers Henry d Just what i was looking for. merry xmas, happy new year

sorry boys did'nt explain properly, "not worth plucking and roasting" was intended for the heavily shot birds.

Cheers Piebob, sounds like the makings of a good starter covey

Hi all, once guns and beaters have taken the birds they want whats left is usually the heavily shot, i have plenty of recipes for pheasants pigeon and duck but none for woodcock that are not worth plucking and roasting anyone have any they can share. cheers covey

On our shoot which is mainly wood, chestnut coppice to mixed oak,ash,hornbeam we have opened up glades on the beating side of the flush points the feeders are in the glades and then the birds are slowly walked to the flush point. I always keep a few small feeders dotted along the beat as the birds start to leave the pens and then withdraw these as the feeding glades fill up. Always remember each year is different each years birds are different and so is our oh so wonderful weather so the key is to adapt as thigs change

Hi All I will be ferreting again this winter after many years and would like some advice on purse nets, can you still get hemp ones or is there a better material now being used and some of the best places to get them. Cheers covey

Hi all, I need some advice on how to clip the nails on our 2 ferrets and is there anything i can put in the court to help keep their nails. Cheers covey

I asume the birds are in a pen and not still on the rearing field, how big is the pen and is there plenty of cover in it, how many birds. as a quick fix put down a straw ride and put some feed on it, hopefully its boredom and not stress due to over crowding. covey

Hi ppuk, Had same thing couple of years ago no obvious signs of illness clean water and food, then while lamping sore half grown cub scaring the s@?t out of call bird either died of shock or broke neck on trap. Its worth an hour after dark might solve mystery and clear up another set of teeth. covey

After nearly 30 yrs of either being lamping or just night watch on various shoots around the south east i have never heard or seen anything.

Thanks Anser2 The number of days will not be a problem as i only have to provide 4 or 5 days during the season, the duck flighting may be slightly more difficult as we start in Oct' till end of season so looks like i will be trying to find some extra duck flighting for the guns. Have had a meeting with land agent and tennant farmer and mostly the marginal strips and extra cover are going where they are of use to us. Thanks for the info

As all above, keep watching fields leave contact details or a bit more long winded is go beating on local shoots once you've got the trust of keeper and the other beaters invites and permission will come. covey

thanks everyone. Farmer and I are having a sit down with land agent this coming week so things should get clearer. Farmer is really helpful so once we've been given the idiots guide to all this we can get things moving, its most important to me that we don't spoil a good relasonship with farmer over penny pinching and cost cutting by shoot owners if you know what i mean. Cheers everyone will keep you posted

Thanks for reply Teal, Sorry did'nt explain he has qualified and will be planting some areas with wild bird cover, my shoot can have some input as to where they go and i was asking if anyone else has this as an option and how much they pay towards it. covey

Hi everyone, I need your help, the tennat farmer on our shoot is looking into the e.l.s as with all govenment generated paperwork ancient greek is easier to understand, so while we wait for our local land agent to explain it i thought I'd see if any of you have had dealings with the scheme and your general thoughts on the crop choices also as the farmer is will be gettting a grant from the scheme how you sorted the payment to him Cheers Covey

Hi Sam, July/August is usual with the partridges trickle relesed after harvest. This is just a personal thing but the earlier they go in the more dogging in i have to do.

Hi, as Harv use mk6 spring traps make up some tunnels out of any old stuff laying about, bricks for sides slate or roof tiles for roof they love dark dank places and they are very inquisitive. Have a quite walk about very early morning or late evening, look in the muddy edges of the river for tracks and put tunnel near by, peg the trap down as these are powerful evil so and so and one not killed clean will try and escape trust me a wounded mink is worse than any scorned woman. good luck

will be interested to hear how you get on with partridges, have you mixed poults and ex-layers before we tried many years ago and did'nt work well at all, bullying hogging the feeders and we think the ex's brought in a microrganism which did no harm to them but killled a good number of poults. keep us posted how it goes Covey

wheat is all round best, we use this eatly season and move them onto turkey pellet, wheat is by far the cheapest and will work all season we only use pellet as it appears to keep them better butis exspensive. You did'nt say if you are useing feeders or onto straw if straw only use wheat good luck