jimbo86

We have some hope with Tories/Labour. Anyone with an ounce of sense can see UKIP will cripple our country if they have any say after the election.

keyboard bashers with nothing better to do....just ignore him as he doesnt deserve the recognition you have given him. Plenty of great info, thanks very much Jack

Ed and his guys do the pest control on my ground. Actually must have been out this week with his silenced .410 as there are a few cartridges dotted about. Must seem quiet after dealing with that number! Very good at what he does, and it hasn't stopped me from shooting 200 rabbits in our horse paddocks where he won't go.

Just to stir the conversation, i think that IceBurg does deserve the title in a strange way. Or he would deserve it if Lewis crashes or breaks down. He has beaten Lewis over 1 lap in qualifying nearly all season, so surely he has been the quickest driver. And if Lewis breaks down and Rosburg wins, surely double points makes no difference, as the gap is 17 points and he would get 25 points for a win under normal rules, so he would win the title legitimately

Rich, you seem to fabricating/inventing an awful lot about my shoot. Just naff off and annoy someone else. I just gave my opinion about the OP's situation and you jumped on me for some reason. Sorry if it has got your knickers in a twist Scully, who says i use any excuses for losing birds? Just the way pheasants are, like others have said they will wander. If the shoot isn't happy with returns then i accept it as my fault and try to improve. I would not blame it on someone else who i cannot control, or go and tell them what they can and can't do.

rich1985, from your pathetic insults i would say you are the narrow minded one. I am a keeper of 8 years and have 2 neighbours who feed without releasing anything, so before you pigeon-hole me as an idiot, maybe consider i am just of a different mind set. I would never have a word with those farms or consider telling them to stop feeding, they are entitled to do what they want on their land.

No such thing as poaching birds unless you are shooting them on his ground. Just gamekeeper's excuses for losing their birds. If a keeper can't keep his birds on his place then that is his fault, not yours, and he will just be looking for a excuses for failing to do his job. Crack on and tell him to do his job better

Not so far. Last year they were all over the poults and partridges, but this year i think the nests hatched earlier so they are not so hungry at the moment

Cant beleive that the pigeon is under threat of extiction! Or even any chance of it in the future. Not like it is only native to our little islands either, plenty all over the world! Just has peaks and troughs like any natural population. I can understand the points made about only protecting standing crop, but there are a lot of very good reasons pigeons are on the general licence. The main point being that pigeons will damage crops all year round. Even if you think about the different times of drilling and harvest around the country for all the different types of crops - maize this year was not cut until late november around here. I farm in Hampshire and we often drill our winter rape when there are still plenty of standing crops in our area, long before crops are harvested up north or in scotland. Also, why would it not be considered pest control/crop protection if shooting on stubbles? Being able to shoot all year round is the point, that you can keep numbers down all the time. It is as important to me to shoot pigeons when it is stubble and just before it is drilled with next years crop, of which they could easily destroy whole fields in a day like they were last year. I get better bags in the summer, the days are longer and the weather is better for decoying, therefore greater efficiancy which is important to any business. Close seasons are for breeding periods of the year, which would allow a natural increase in numbers. As a farmer who suffered huge damage and huge costs last winter on gas-guns, gas, scarecrows, rope bangers, fuel, cartridges and not to mention a lot of time, a general increase in the population numbers could be extremely damaging if not fatal to my business. No product = major losses. I could go on...

Sounds like you are not short on drives then? I would say you should move all feeding to the other drive and try to get the birds in there and drive them all back to the pen. Then the birds have the pen as home where they are never disturbed. Scatter a small amount of food in the pen occasionally so there is a bit, but not in days leading up to shooting. At the end of the season we will blank the pen out first thing in the morning but you have to hope the birds get the idea and get to the drives on earlier shoot days Certainly some merit in getting them on the wing, their strength builds up the more they fly, and they will only fly if they have to! I have a walked-up day purely to get the birds flying, but only do the drives where i am feeding away and pushing them back towards the pen.

as above - as needs must. I have 3 new drives this year so leaving pens as long as possible. All set up to drive birds back to pens. Last 5 years we have done 2 pens as a drive and left one all together. Made good drives but after 2/3 shoot days the birds did not come back. Same every year. We release 450 so similar numbers

I beat on a shoot that also has a clay pigeon range. The birds are never bothered, there were loads wandering about all the stands, nearly shot 1 wandering behind the rabbit stand

i use Amaize, no idea about price though. Unless you have masses of maize you won't use a lot, normally get 2 seasons out of one can as it is 2 litres per 100l of water

If it was me i would go down the grazing route, probably horses but sheep or anything really. I run a DIY livery yard and they pay for stable and grazing but also have a lot of people who have their horses turned out in the field 24/7 and pay for a field only. Easy and cheap to put up fencing for dividing up the paddocks, adding water troughs etc, low outgoings on a little fert, spraying and other maintenence. It may depend on location and what riding there is access to. Find a big local stables or stud and offer them a good deal, often places have too many stables and not enough grazing. Then you think about developing the buildings, a few stables, commercial indoor arena maybe. I have a good mate who turns over £500,000/year on his indoor arena. Cost £250,000 to build 5 years ago so he's pretty happy.

i shoot round kings worthy, but too many roads, footpaths, etc to let anyone on. Have to know the ground. There have been people shooting it at weekends recently as i have seen the magnets out