Quercus

PP, He sounds like a truly great man. My heart goes out to you and your family. Q

As RTR has said hanging game is really a matter of personal taste. The longer it is hung the stronger and more "gamey" the flavour becomes. It also tenderises the meat, so an old bird would benefit from hanging slightly longer than a youngster. The length of time you hang your game very much depends on the air temperature. In warm conditions putrefaction progresses faster and so the hanging time should be reduced. Personally I will only hang birds for two or three days in a chiller, but I have plucked birds for people that were green and minging, but thats the way they liked them. The Mrs Beeton books are great, as an historical record as well as for the recipes. My copy is published by Ward Lock, but it is quite old. You can find a lot of good game recipes here; Game To Eat Q

He can, so long as all of the guns stored in the cabinet are on both of your certificates. Q

Cranfield, you are quite right, duck eggs contain significantly more cholesterol than chicken eggs. Q

Leon what sort of cage trap are you using? Do you have much success? I'm having a big one made at the moment. The plan is to try and catch up with a few cubs this summer and then build it into one of the staw barns for the winter. Any tips? Q

Some more pics/ info here: Snopes Q

Have a good one Red. Q

BASC Fox Snaring Code of Practice Q :thumbs:

Wise words YP Aled, were talking foxes here. Leon, overkill foxes ?:lol: :thumbs: Q :(

Unkindness? Q

Eugene, would the keeper or farmer have a quad or ATV that he could use to ferry your gear across the field for you? Don't forget that although your permission may have been hard won you are still helping the farm out by being there, especially as you seem to be keeping them well lubricated Q

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Had some good days on the black stuff myself with a dead fox curled around the base of a rotary with a couple of rooks on. Col, I think Pete is saying that he used a dead fox as a crow decoy, rather than a leon style decoy for foxes. Q

Glad to see you got it sorted. Did you get the range you were after? How much is it going to cost? Q

Pest control, sporting quarry, good eating. Yes, not everywhere but they can have a serious impact in some areas as M ROBSON has already said. They can also be particularly damaging in sugar beet. Here, if numbers are allowed to become too high in some of the woodland they can seriously limit broadleaf regeneration. Thats why I freeze any shot through the summer until August. Our hares have benefited greatly from the habitat/farming improvements and predator control that are done for the shoot. We manage the population as a sustainable resource, generally we only cull mature hares in the late Autumn when the price is good and there are unlikely to be dependant young. We do cull a lot harder on fields that are visible from roads just to dicourage the ####s. The rest of the year we only cull where there is a specific problem or high risk area. Moral; Don't make uninformed assumptions Q

Red, if it is a sound recording in any format it is illegal to use it to call birds of any species. Q

Hare price here varies. From October until Christmas we get £5 for a large hare (weighed) and a pound less for smaller ones, the rest of the year they are about £1.50. Frozen hares are worth about a pound in August. Q

Sorry Col Pol, both posting at the same time. Q

d-e-d, If there are already people shooting over the ground with your chosen caliber, or a similar one, it is very unlikely that the ground will need to be inspected. I would assume that whoever actually holds the shooting rights would need to give permission. If you are at all unsure about filling in your form get in touch with your FLO and make him earn his money. In my experience they are very helpful. Q

Browning, I don't know what it is like where you are but Hampshire police send out a form for the land owner to complete to confirm your permission. Things vary a lot between forces, so if you are at all unsure as to what is required give your FLO a ring, it's what he's there for. Webber, what about posting your permission form here for everyone to see? If it's as good as it sounds it could be useful for a lot of people. Q

If they work for you then that's good, personally I'll stick with the BB's or even 1's Q

NTTF, many thanks, interesting reading. Makes the way my dogs were trained look very shoddy. Q

M ROBSON, how well do the SG's pattern through your gun? I tried a few a while back and at 40 yards there were some serious fox sized holes in the pattern. Q

Never tried, are you having problems yourself or are you about to tell us how to do it? Q

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