Merman

I was stripping an isuzu trooper a few weeks ago. The main wiper motor was connected by a linkage and just rotates normally. The wipers on the headlamps don't have a linkage and I'm pretty sure that they go back and forth. The main wiper motor has different connectors for different speeds, but once you've tried a few different combinations you should soon have it wired up correctly. It seems to me that there are two different types of motor out there. Whether your one can be rewired, I don't know. Merman

Two weeks ago a friend and I had a pleasant afternoon protecting the countryside from the menace of pigeons. I went back to exactly the same spot on Sunday to test out my newly built pigeon magnet and saw hardly any pigeons at all. Could it be because some ravens have taken up residence in the woods beside the field? Any ideas? Merman

I normally take a 2 black decoys and a few pigeons. Any that fall in the pattern I just leave. I'm not sure if positioning them "upright and feeding" offsets the disturbance of walking out into the pattern. I always go fully cammed up, DPM and face veil, and hide in a bush. Quite often they still spot me, even though I'm dead still. I find it's better if they can't see you at all as they approach the kill zone. It does means that I get no warning of their approach. Reducing my field of view does mean that I can't shoot at all the birds that come into range, but I seem to have far more success. Yesterday I went out without any decoys and just tucked myself in the edge of a wood between a grass paddock where they were resting and the barley which they were feeding on. I was at 90 degrees to their flight line as they appeared 20 yards from me, flying slowly up the valley against a head wind. I got 18 before I ran out of cartridges. Not that I did anything special or clever. I just had to tell someone! Merman.

I've been out quite a lot recently and the rooks and jackdaws where I shoot certainly seem to be less active when it is raining. Light rain doesn't seem to bother them too much but heavy or constant rain does. It makes sense that they go to ground and look for worms, etc. If I do find some and they move on, there doesn't seem to be any flying about to replace them. I don't mind going out in the rain but I'm starting to think it isn't worth the drive to my permission. Although the dog still enjoys himself. Merman

I normally go out with ex-army camo clothes, dark gloves and my face covered. I've got a hide, but I normally just back into a hedge and wait. I've got 5 half-shell decoys and knocked up a bouncer the other day using a piece of hazel. I'm currently thinking about making a wind-powered flapper to pull in more birds. It all seems to be working fine and bring in enough pigeons for a few meals. I'd love to have a pigeon magnet, but I can't justify the expense. Merman

Don't despair! After making excellent progress with my Golden Retriever last summer I took him shooting when I went out after pigeons. I was being too ambitious and after a couple of mistakes he ended up running off 10 yards and cowering every time I put the gun in my shoulder. Now that I've done more training with him and he associates loud bangs with birds and rabbits he is fine. He's still hard work, but the gun doesn't bother him at all now. Merman

When I was about 16 I shot a squirrel, as I had done many times before, and I felt awful. I walked halfway home before I decided that I had to "climb back on the horse". So I turned around, went back to the woods and got another one. Now I mostly shoot pests and almost all of that gets eaten. I will take birds and rabbits shot by friends and I even pick up road kill (so I save cartridge money). I do think that squirrels, rabbits and fox cubs look cute, and I won't always take a shot, but I don't feel any guilt if I do. Merman

NTTF, Thanks for the reply. You've helped me make the decision that I suspected I needed to make anyway. I think that we probably won't get a second dog yet. I'd rather get Baggins working better and let him grow up a bit more. At the moment I think taking on a second dog would be too big a change to our lives and when we do it will probably be best to get a lab or retriever rather than something else. Merman

We currently have a 2 year old golden retriever boy called Baggins. Not an ounce of working blood in him, but he is proving to be steady in the beating line and pleasant enough company whilst rough shooting. A Field Trails champion he won't be, but he's slowly becoming a reasonable gundog. The wife and I are thinking about getting a second dog, probably a working cocker or ESS bitch. Do you think we should? When considering the following: He's at home alone, 8 hours a day, 4 or 5 days a week. We don't suffer from chewing, barking or weeing. He comes everywhere with us and is welcome at everyone's house. He even walks to heel when the wife is riding a horse along a road. He's passed his Kennel Club Gold, we'd like a second dog to do this too. We'd hate to leave one at home beacuse we could only take one dog. He demands a significant amount of concentration whilst working. He doesn't hassle our cats or chickens. Whilst I think that he would like a little friend, and I know that a second dog would be no extra hassle to excercise or house and I know that the wife probably wouldn't be able to control 2 dogs on the road whilst riding. Would a spaniel be suitable, if so, which breed? Should we stick with one dog? Would another breed be more suitable(lab, retriever, pointer)? Could we ever hope for a second dog as well behaved as the first? I know it's a difficult question but Baggins is our first dog and getting a second is a complete unknown. I know some of you have multiple dogs, do the benefits outweigh the costs? Please don't simply send the standard "you shouldn't have a dog if you have to leave him". I'm after constructive advice. Thanks, Merman

Excellent! I've just gone halves on a Gloucester Old Spot boar with a friend at work, to be kept in her garden. In Augusts I should get half a pig. Woohoo! Merman

Our Golden Retriever howled, barked and cried for the first two nights, but the wife and I used ear plugs and slept really well. The third night he was fine. Although after about 8 months he was crying one night, which I thought was unusual, so I went downstairs and let him out. He ran down the garden and out of sight then after a short while came bounding back wanting to play. I put him back in his crate and went to bed. About an hour later he started crying again, so I popped in some ear plugs as I'm far too clever to fall for that old trick. Feeling smug, I woke up at 6.00am as normal and came down the stairs to see a very unhappy Brown Retriever, brown walls, brown floor, brown crate, brown bookshelf and brown books. The poor little fella had a bad stomach and needed to be let out again. Nothing like cleaning liquid dog poo off of your belongings at 6.00am to put you in the mood for work. Merman

I've just ordered a hushpower 12g shotgun and will be using it for quiet bunny control on a friend's farm. Obviously to get the full benefit I will need to be using subsonic cartridges. Can anyone recommend any that would be suitable for bunnies? I have some Hull Chevrons in 7.5 or 8 shot, but would this be too small? Or should I spend more money and start rolling my own? (which is tempting) Thanks, Merman

I've had very little luck knocking on doors in the past, so due to a lack of available shooting over the winter I joined NOBS and went beating instead. I now have 5000 acres to shoot on outside the game season. Albeit I am told where I can and can't go and I've not had many pigeons so far, but it's nice to get out and I'm hoping my luck will improve. The point is you need to get to know the farmer/keeper/owner and gain their trust, and in most cases offer them something in return. I know the keeper and the permission that I now have is part payment for the beating which was done during the season. I should imagine that unless a farmer has a real problem that needs solving they won't be keen to let just anyone (even with insurance, letters of refernce etc) wander around their land. Merman

I wear cotton riding gloves all year round. Mine are brown cotton with hundreds of little rubber dots on the palm and fingers. They are not waterproof, but keep you warm as they are windproof. My fingers remain nimble enough to load airgun pellets. Best of all they only cost £2 a pair from most tack shops. Merman

Thanks for that. I'll sit down with the little ****** and discuss the "sitting still and being quiet" idea with him, see how he feels about it. He does seem to prefer wandering off to sniff more interesting things at the moment. At the same time I'll bring up the concept of retrieving to see if he likes the sound of that. Merman

I've only just started pigeon shooting and I reckon that I've now got myself sorted so that I can stay well hidden, but what about the dog? He's a very pale Golden Retriever and isn't exactly hard to spot. My question is, do pigeons and corvids avoid dogs like they do people? If I either persuaded him to hide or left him at home (which I'd rather not do), do you think I'd have more luck? Unfortunately the wife won't let me dye him green. Thanks, Merman

Our Golden Retriever is laft alone for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. He's been doing since he was a puppy and is used to it. He gets a 20 minute walk in the morning and anything from 45 mins to 3 hours in the evening. He seems quite happy and if we get home early we find him asleep. He's never chewed, messed or even gone upstairs. I've only left him alone for 11 hours once, and he was OK, but I wasn't comfortable with it. I had to bail on a free evening out with work to be with him, as the wife was away at the time. It's not ideal, but I won't go out without him in the evening if he's been alone all day and when we're not at work he goes everywhere we go, whether that be shooting, horse-riding or round a friend's house. Our lifestyle now takes the dog into consideration. He probably walks 20+ miles every week and is very fit. I'd love to be able to have him with me all day, but it's not possible. Some dogs get used to it, others don't. It's better to start them young.

We went out on Saturday and I took the wife's shiney Defender 90 on All-terrain tyres. The keeper told us where to set up and suggested we park the other side of a clay field. I suggested that the Landy might not make it, even driving round the edge, he claimed that if a landy couldn't make it then I really didn't know what I was doing. Land Rovers can go anywhere, apparently. Luckily after a bit of slipping and sliding I managed to turn round and bail out. Not a chance of making it. I've been off-roading for 14 years, and should have listened to myself, but I thought he knew terrain. No real issues as we escaped but I spent a hour and a half yesterday cleaning the clay off the chassis and then cleaning the drive. All to save a 4 minute walk. Will I ever learn that lesson? Merman

Lurcherboy, Thanks for that. Seems bloody obvious, but as soon as I got the little fella home the wife whisked him off to dog school. I've just checked him over now, and will do so after every outing. I normally check him for ticks but neglected to check him until just now. I will give myself a good beating and make sure I do it promptly every time out from now on. Thanks, Meman

I'm just starting out. We got a Golden Retriever pup about 10 months ago and I've used him as an decent excuse to get into shooting. He's fine with guns and very good at general obedience. I have got proper gundog training lined up in the near future, but this post is about hazards to avoid. I took him out today, for his first walk with me shooting. I managed to get a rook and a pigeon and he was very well behaved. I was shooting over barley. He is primarily a pet who will be taken shooting, rather than a working dog. Even if he's not working when I'm shooting what should I avoid? I've read stories about barley in eyes, stubble cutting paws, barbed wire injuries. Are there any situations that I shouldn't take him into? If you have any horror stories, please put them into perspective. Thanks, Merman

I took our Golden retriever to a local clay pigeon ground at about 16 weeks old. Started him off in the car park and moved gradually closer to the guns. Not fussing him, but plenty of treats and playing to keep him occupied. Now he gets very bored by gunfire, even if sat at my feet whilst I'm shooting. We even took him along to a civil war reenactment the other day and he wasn't bothered by the canons and muskets, and they were loud. Maybe we chose the right dog, maybe he's a bit dim, but it certainly worked for us. Merman

Our Golden Retriever didn't like water as a puppy. He'll now go swimming if he has a good reason,like a ball or stick, but not just for fun. He does still seem to be reluctant where the entry and exit is difficult. I ended up wading into the sea in February, until he was out of his depth, holding him for a while, then letting him swim back to shore to his Mum. Beforehand he'd never go out of his depth, now he's OK, although I'd like him to be more comfortable. The trick is not to scare him. Merman