NickB65

Well that all sounds great as I have three HIKVISION cameras from work so I shall try these out. They are POE based so I just need to set-up a POE router and run some cables to the front and side of the house :-) Thanks for all the replies

Anyone set-up there own CCTV using WI-FI CCTV or similar? When it comes to networks, computers and stuff I know my stuff but there seems to be a plethora of CCTV cameras and I just wondered if anyone else has been down this road and can advise? A number of car thefts and strangers wondering around gardens has lead to this little project :-)

I use the MET OFFICE app on the iPhone for the last four years and by far it has the best algorithms for what will most likely happen. I find BBC weather always errors on the worst case scenario while Met Office is a bit more realistic. Free and regularly updated and easy to use and store favourites.... and no adverts.

Didn't seem to have a problem with them driving others out and they flew well this season. Although we ask for them not to be shot we last 20+ and some we have sent away to be mounted and they should look nice.

We put about 150 down last year and it was great to see them fly this year - the noise they make is quite unique and the tail feathers are so long.......

Welcome back and I have been keeping an eye out for your videos. Rob is looking good and you were so unlucky on some of those pegs. However, being a dog handler I love watching the guns so not always having birds over you enables you to watch some of the sport. Can not wait for my first day out which due to work will not be until the new year :-(

Looking for a Kennel and run to keep the dogs in during the day - needs to be at least 10ft wide and 4ft deep with a solid row, bars or mesh to two sides, sleeping area and solid. Happy for a good condition second hand or new. PM me :-)

Heard a lot of different reports from ADT from those who really rate them and others who felt totally ripped off..... you will always get this but in researching this it seems a real 50 - 50 mix.

Thanks guys..... heard mixed views on wireless so this is priceless.....

I am looking for a hard-wired / wireless home security solution. The base can be wired in as I have an old alarm system half wired in but most of the wiring is gone as we had half the upstairs changed around hence the wireless. Looking for about 14 pressure sensors, four PIR sensors, a decent siren and several alarm tags. Does not have to be phone linked but cook if it was wi-fi linked and could be linked to smart phones. All experience / ideas welcome.

We picked up Blues son Moss last night and he is a chip of the old block. Blue is less than impressed as Moss keeps trying to find mild from him and biting his ears but I am sure they will soon settle down. Henry the cat was very friendly at first until Moss tried to play with him and then Henry decided it was time to lay down the law..... Moss got the message. Father and son together - Blue less than impressed ....... https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/45880181/IMG_0578.jpg QUESTION - Moss has been eating tinned food - what is the best way to get him onto biscuit form / kibble? Tried a few bits in his food and he just leaves them. Going to try and soaking them first to soften them up and maybe using them as a teething tit-bit. all ideas welcome as it has been 16 years since I last had a pup :-)

Another two tonight with the HMR 1366

Three this evening 260

Well the wife was away for the weekend so it has been a weekend of clay busting, pigeon shooting and this afternoon a little late afternoon / early evening rabbit bashing. Although the sun was strong and very warm I was fully heard up with camp jacket, hat, face veil and gloves as I was determined to bag a few bunnies. The wind was to the NE so I would have to walk around the edge of the fields and start furthest away - the reverse of my normal trek. But what a walk - the sun was hot and the birds were out in full song. As I walked french and English Partridge took flight and made me long for the start of the season. The odd cock pheasant ran down tractor tracks looking like some fancy road runner and the deer were lazy but very alert. After what seemed an age - but a glorious one - I arrived at the furthest point. The edge of the field nestled up against a tall skinny and I knew there were some warrens along here. I could see where they had been grazing but the grass was so long I needed the shooting sticks as the bi-pod was just too short. I sat legs out front with the shooting sticks set just right and the gun propped up ready. Skylarks were singing and woodies glided into the skinny right over head..... not today. I had been there about ten minutes when the first rabbit hopped less than 25 yards from me. I raised the scope and all I could see was a slightly blurred head pocking up above the grass. I squeezed and over he went.... Never shot from sticks before so was pleased at how steady they were. An hour passed but nothing else showed so off I mooched. slowly I walked the hedge row but all the warrens that normally bustled with bunnies were over grown and vacant. I have taken quite a few from here so I was not overly surprised to find some vacant but this seemed weird. Along I went and still nothing but overgrown warrens and no tracks. As the hedge went along it came to a corner and then at 90 degree to my left. I was about 90 yards away from the corner when I saw some movement. I slowed right down and crept forward. There opposite me under the hedge facing was a fox cub... just sat there. Kneeling I got into position but the sticks where too low as now I had crops between me and the cub. I sat up more and extended the legs and noticed another cub playing just in front of the other. I lined up on the first and squeezed off the shot. Worked the bolt and by luck the other just sat wondering what that noise was..... then he dropped to a second shot. I worked the bolt again and as I looked through the scope a third slightly younger cab appeared and stopped to sniff the air near its siblings..... another shot and he dropped. I worked the bolt again and waited for 30 minutes but nothing more showed. All three were shot in the head and at 70 yards. My zero is 75 yards so bob on...... Just across our border, over the field is the keepers house and about thousands of poults he is rearing in pens..... When I texted him he was a little more than happy as they had lost a few birds and had spotted the vixen near the pens..... Shooting young of any species is not sporting but if they are vermin and cause loss of crops or game then I am afraid the rules change. DO NOT VIEW IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SHOT FOX CUBS - your choice. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ga76xgyfngz02lf/IMG_0517.jpg?dl=0 A part of me is chuffed to bag my first fox with the hmr and so cleanly while a side of me is sad as they are / were such beautiful animals to watch.

Bloody typical...... had not seen anything glib this so went on to e-bay and purchased one from Oz - holds 40 .17 hmr and is very soft......... cost a lot more than £15..... like four times more...... :-(

All the pups are brown and white and looking grand..... all have homes now which is good. They are not KC registered as neither parent is..... Sorry Darren 67 didn't get the joke ... but that is not nothing new with me....... :-)

Well the wife was getting her haircut Saturday afternoon and out horse riding all day Sunday so Blue and I went for a little shooting..... The rape field has only 50% set and where the seed did not take it is full of weeds and chick weed.... I think that is what the farmer called it... anyway they love it. I arrived Sat around 1pm and sat under a tree near the beehives and for about an hour watched the pigeons fly in and out from the copse behind me and over the road to another field. I tried the flapper, bouncers, magnet and a plethora and patterns and they just were not interested...... so Blue and I went walk about. We left the kit where it was and mooched around the edges of the copse (not our permission) and sat amongst was it high cow parsley and had some great sport with really high birds..... Blue loved keeping around like a typical ESS and found every bird without any issue. So.... Sunday we got there t 9am and set-up in the weeds in the old hide and made ourselves at home. When we got there about 200+ birds lifted off the weeds so I knew they liked it..... it just took another 6 hours for them to come back. Now some may say wasted time but sat there in the hide I could see what deer we had, fox, rabbit, hare and what flight lines the birds were using. We mooched around a little when Blue got too bored... ok when I got bored but we learnt a lot. At around 4pm the flight lines got busters and a lone bird came straight in and dropped with the first shot. I armed the flapper - the one I have a remote for - and placed it close and exactly where I wanted them. I left the flapper switched off until I saw them come into the copse and then I flicked the flapper on until they saw it and then I switched it off for a few beats and then back on...... worked like a dream. In the next hour we bagged 26..... slow going but so much fun. Playing with the flapper to see how they reacted taught me a lot....... Next weekend the wife is away ALL weekend.... guys we will be putting the flapper to more use :-)

Well Thanks to this site I saw Blue up for reluctant sale and ever since we went to see him he has been an amazing companion. Great in the hide, perfect as a rough shooting dog, has a well deserved reputation picking up and a great family pet. Well this year a fellow dog handler wanted some new blood in his pack of dogs and when he saw Blue and how he worked he asked if Blue would do the dead. Well I was hessitant but after canvassing the opinion of my game keeper friend I thought why not. Well on Wednesday the bitch produced six pups (5 bitches and one dog) and they have perfect markings and are a good size. She lost one but given it was her first littler we are both pleased. We shall have the dog puppy to work alongside Blue. It will be a bit of a culture shock for him having to share but I think he will like the company and having another dog to work alongside. The wife and I have been thinking of names that are colour related....... Sky as in Sky Blue, Moss which is a lovey water colour green and the wife like Indigo.... or Indy for short. Shame there is another dog handler we work with who already has an Indy.... Anyway I will let you know what the Pupps are like and if anyone is interested in a ESS puppy from pure working background then let me know. They have been docked and dew clawed oh and neither mum or dad are KC registered as these are pure working dogs......

A lovely late afternoon stroll with the HMR and four fell 959

A few chaps from our indicate have been and say it is well worth the money and having eaten at the pub the food is TOP DOLLAR.

Dog or Bitch.... no difference really bat the obvious. Some say bitches are better workers but I would say that is down to how they are trained. I have always used to favour bitches but I have a dog now and he is just as good. All the handlers I work with have a mix and neither is as good as the other. There are some great bitches and some amazing dogs and just as many unruly of both...... They are what you make them.

+1

Well it was one of those at work where I just could not get away early enough and when I did I was stuck in that lovely A14 traffic. A 15 minute journey home took 45 minutes and that was a valuable shooting time wasted. As soon as I got home it was a quick walk for the dog and then done the kit and away - I had for foresight to get everything ready that morning for a chick change around. When I got to the farm I quickly put a target out at 150 yards and shot five more to prove to myself the aim points were still true. I still can not get used to how flat the 17 HMR is hence the need to check. Then it was kit up and then a slow mooch around the field boundaries. the big field is a set of smaller interconnected fields with no real boundary or hedge just a shallow run where the hedge was. I walked along the field edge and came up to the first true hedge of hawthorn. Here the hedge was a corner running to my left and away tot he road and ahead to mark our field boundary. The hedge was planted on a mound so it is slightly raised and the warrens are in the mounds and under. The first stretch is up tot he double pylon which is 132 yards. I led under the hedge on the corner waiting to see what was around...... 20 minutes and nothing. I slid back slowly leaving the rifle in place as I had been led on some nettles and looked to my left along the hedge line and there were about 20 rabbits. ******..... I slowly reached for the rifle and brought it to my shoulder and this small movement caused most to run for it...... but there is always one who is a tad slow and curious and like the cat the paid the price. A nice kneeling shot 85 yards to the chest and down he popped without a twitch or kick. so it seems the lower double pylon warren had moved a long a little so I move off up to the double pylon. Now the land rises slightly from the double pylon and as I approach I could see two young rabbits chasing each other just on the brow. Slowly I dropped to the ground and with the bi-pod deployed waited for them to come a little closer and off the brow. Two minutes later they did and another chest shot dropped the larger on the spot the second flighting over the hill out of sight. I waited for a while to see if anymore would venture out and then walked along the hedge line to the brow. As I approached the brow I was in a crouch and sure enough our little friend was sat along the hedge line all upright and alert. Closer than before but still an easy shot but this time to the head...... boy did he jump and leap around. Seeing his cavorting ten or more rabbits in the field I had not spotted dashed for the hedge and to safety. I sat and waited to see if there were anymore slackers still in the field he may not have seen or thought the cavorting bunny a problem and sure enough there she was..... a big fat (later to be confirmed) female rabbit with her back to me dazing off into the distance. At around 120 yards this was to be a chest shot and like the others she dropped on the spot, not a twitch. I gathered these two together and mooched along the hedge more but little was around. About 400 yards further along the hedge turns 90 degrees to the right and as I made my way along there was a large rabbit sat by the corner. I switched sides so I was the other side of the hedge and crawled along the hedge. I got the Hawke 400 Laser Range Finder out and saw I was 220 yards out so made a mental calculation when I would be 150 or less and carried on. At what I assumed was the 150 mark I crept to the next spot where I could get under the hedge to shoot and the rabbit was still there. Another chest shot and down he went. After picking him up I wondered along the hedge and after 500 yards the hedge turns again another 90 degrees to the left and at this corner there were about 3 very young rabbits. Whatever the age they eat crops and in a month or threes time they will be breading so I bag them when I can. The three were cavorting around and then stopped. I squeezed off a chest shot and down two dropped. One dropped on the spot while the second leapt like a diva. Turned out the first was hit in the chest where I aimed and the round went through and into the head of the other...... I carried on along the hedge row bagging another couple and then turned back and re-traced my steps to pick-up those I had shot. Total bag was 13 for 12 shots - no misses and I was one very chuffed chap. I still find the flat trajectory hard to accept and keep wanting to aim over but now mastered the effect of the wind.... even though it was only 12 mph wind this meant a good 3/4 mild dot to the side at 75 yards. Well my brother in-law was happy - it is his farm and I was well chuffed and only sad I had to stop as the scope was just not picking up the targets clearly enough. Planning another outing this week and this time I may take one of my scope lights to see if this can keep me out a little longer.

13 Rabbits Wednesday night from 7pm to 8pm. shot with the .17 HMR and did not miss once..... I love the HMR :-) 703

Well the next time the farrier comes round and does the horses feet I will collect a load and try this out...... we have eight horses at the moment so could get a good brew going :-)