Madcowz

Until this week, I had not even seen this Claymate whatsit. But, we went down to West kent Shooting School and got to use it for the first time, once we found the ground. No signs at all anywhere, They said this was to stop the 'Antis' but I think we should stop hiding and be proud of what we do. Anyway, that is for another day. I for one was impressed. It allowed us to go round the stands we wanted, shoot what we wanted and pay for what we shot at (note I didn't say hit). They gave a 5% discount for no birds, although we didn't have any. It would even allow me to go round on my own and shoot. The only problem I can see is that it is a little too easy to keep on saying, 'just one more pair'. /Mad

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/6631223.stm "The suspected gunman was found dead at the scene close to his flat and a weapon was recovered. Neighbours said they saw the gunman in the early hours of the morning on the roof of a garden shed throwing stones at the windows of his flat. He was described as a quiet fishing and shooting enthusiast." My full sympathies go out to the policemans family. A very tragic event. Sounds like the gunman was a registered Shotgun or firearms owner. I do hope the BASC and CPSA are already preparing their statements when the press works themselves up into a frenzy of hatred agaisnt us "barbaric shooting nutcases" that they like to make us out as. Always seems that the two associations we pay to keep going, who are their to protect our sport are always hard to find on occasions like this. /Mad

Who on earth would want to swap a bivalve for a Ferret? /Mad

Hi, wanting some advice on how best to butcher a rabbit please. I normally remove the front & back legs, and then cut the saddle before the rear leg join as there isn't that much meat here and it is mostly bum & scent glands (or am I wasting good meat here?). I leave the ribs on the saddle, but trim it all down to make it look nice. But is it better to split the cage? What do you guys do? thanks, /Mad

Funny, these are probably the same folk who are banging on about Organic Free Range Food, but wouldn't touch a rabbit or pigeon in case it 'had a disease'. As the others have already said, if it had mixy you would know. Congrats on your first of many! I still get childishly delighted whenever I come home with something in the bag... really satisfying. Yum! /Mad

Don't laugh, quite a few beaters sport this type of stick at our shoot!

We saw a Cuckoo back in March I think it was. Very early. Was down in West Sussex at my parents. None round here (Surrey) /Mad

I popped along to the CPSA web site thinking, surely they must have a mention of this... and surprise surprise, nothing. But what I did see was this: Welcome to the website of the National Governing Body for Clay Target Shooting in England Now, I thought we voted that silly name change away, or are they just going to use it as much as possible from now on to prove a point? /Mad

Absolutely. We have done so much to this garden and most of it you forget over time. I like to remember what a mess things were when we started and how they have improved. This w/end I started putting up the lining on the inside. If you look closely, you can see that above the formers for the concrete, I have included a 15cm high section of lining. This is so I can remove this around the whole shed and level off the concrete then screw it back in. It was either that or wait until the concrete was in first before adding the lining and I just wanted to see some form of progress on this thing B) And from a different angle: Will remove the glass and wire mesh from the window, cover it in weld mesh and then shutter up all around it to make it flush and look nice. That window is North facing so will get the brunt of the weather, so I may put some louves up on it. I would have got more done this w/end but had to move this lot from the other end of the close (those rings are about 2 feet in diameter and bl**dy heavy. Then on top of this, had to re floor the chicken coop to stop the damn rats nicking the eggs and put in a new ceiling to stop the mites from having a great place to live. And thankfully, that is another w/end over and I can go back to work and relax!

15 days. That's today! Is she preggers, is she, is she? /Mad

Wouldn't want to ask for my ball back! She is so lovely. I used to work for the Hawk Trust many many years ago, basically helping out on the book stall at the game fairs. Used to sleep in the marquee with all the birds (yeah yeah) and it was so amazing to be up close with them. Love them. /mad

All went a bit 'Pete Tong' last week. Firstly the shed slipped down a good 6 inches due to very little support in one corner so had to jack it up and put new struts in. Got it back on an even keel though. Phew Then had to take a break as some tree surgeons felled two huge oak trees in our close and we asked them for the wood. Took me 4 evenings to carry the huge rings round to the back garden. Once I get the old chainsaw fired up later we will have enough wood for about 3 years. Anyway, back to the shed... Finally we can see a bit of progress Farmer is going to drop off a buckets worth of road scrapings for me to use as hardcore & to mix in with the bucket of sand he brought round earlier. and just in case there was any confusion of the type of bucket... :-) (that's our chicken grain being delivered)

Could watch them all day! /Mad

Oh, about £35. Do you take Paypal?

Can buy it from anywhere. Someone on here had a link to a web site that sells cheap Frontline, but you really need to buy some from a pet shop. Or a tick removal tool, only a couple of quid. /Mad

I will be walking them when I get some. Plenty of fields around here for them to explore. Kids can't wait to take them to school for 'Show & Tell'. Difference between a Ferret & a Polecat? Well, a Ferret is a Ferret and a Polcat is a Polecat Although a Ferret is said to come from domesticated Polecats, but nobody can agree on when. But, people call a Polceat coloured Ferret a Polecat, hence the confusion. Still a Ferret though. Just a colouring, as is an Albino Ferret, just a white ferret. /Mad

Cover in vaseline (the tick) or buy some frontline or get a tick removal tool from a vets, only a couple of quid.

Talking of big ******** I have shot a couple of Squirrels recently that have nearly put my tickle-tackle to shame. These boys are well hung. /Mad

A lady A man (not done) A man (done) hope this helps

:-) /Mad

Thunder of feet as members rush off to local sign company...

I think you owe it to your ferts & quarry to either use a collar & finder or learn how to use a liner. /Mad

That is obvious! Well, to someone from Scotland maybe, He is from Cumbernauld. There was a long running TV promotion which ran with the tag line "What's it called? Cumbernauld". /Mad

Ok, roof is done, so now working on the inside. Ripped out the front so I could get the soil out & concrete in easily. Was pretty rotten so no loss there. Need to buy some 2 by2 and 3 by 3 to rebuild the front frame later. Here we are looking inside through the front. Have dug down 9 inches and will lay some sub base first and then bung concrete over the top. Can see the beginning of the formers at the back & left. Going to lay some DMP first behind them and then screw these to the existing frame. Luckily our neighbour dropped off a half bucket of sand/stone mix with his teleporter so that will save a bit of cash on aggregates. The project is at that stage that all builds go through where it looks worse than when it was started. But I am hoping that by the end of the w/end I will have the DPM in, formers in and sub base laid. Then just a case of pouring the concrete and I can move on to shuttering up the inside and making it look pretty. /Mad

hoorah! So the cheque finally arrived (ok, was finally posted by me) /Heds