scotslad

There is a semi famous quote (which i'm prob going to muck up now) said by Bill Harriman Basc fella and gun expert Quote is something like " The perfect solution to a problem that doesn't exist" I'm sure someone will correct it if i'm wrong. Basicly for the vast majority of shooters it won't make any difference, infact it could have a negative effect as ur mind will be thinking if u've got the right chokes in for the target, when u should just concenrate on the target Shotgun shells are not hugely consistant either if u fired 25 shots at a pattern plate through the 5 major chokes u would u would find there would be quite big overlaps between chokes, prob hard to tell a 1/4 from a 1/2 and even some 3/4's might pattern more like a 1/4. Sometimes a fuller choke esp with a heavier load can cause a wider pattern than a more open choke due to pellets deforming at the muzzle and 'flying' due to them being deformed, happens with all chokes but more often when tighter If u use a bit of common sense for wot ur shooting and the choke u put in, but it is far more important to put the gun/shot in the right place and really the choke is irrelevant. If u can consistantly point gun in the right place u will hit more targets than the person worryng/blaming the wrong choke for his misses. Any combination off 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 will cover u for most shooting in the uk, althou if u specailise in dscipline (skeet, high pheasants) u would alter them but for joe bloogs normal shot those chokes would cover u for anything really

At 9 weeks old will it not still be gettin fed 3/4 times a day, if it was 12-15 weeks it wouldnn't be as much of a problem with the feeding. If u had someone that could nip round at lunch time chuck some food in for first couple of weeks? Is it not quite a citical time in the dogs growth. But i've had 12+ weeks old pup's left in run all day no probs,

I've always registered them from new for the road which is relatively striaght forward althou if ur first road legal quad can be a real pest as need insurance to get number plate yet need number plate to get ins, when u've already got insurance it's a bit easier changing it over. Costs about £250 for the conformity? MOT type test which is a 1 off when gets regisered for the 1st time. From wot a few agri engineeres/quad dealers have told me it's near impoossible to register an older quad for the road and a serious pain, well atleast they do not advise and won't do it due to the ammount off hoops and paper work u have to jump throu

Are u sure it is ur dogs barking and making the noise? Like others have said labs and esp working labs tend to be quite contented and generally not a noisey breed While most off the advice is good and the cameras will be a good idea by the sounds of the neighbour, Possibly worth having a camera with sound? or somehow record ur dogs when ur not there, so u can rule out ur dogs barking or if there is a trigger for them barking. I'm sure u will know ur dogs and wether u think they are actually noisey My brother is friendly with a neighbour off mine and mentioned a lot of dogs barking, and i was getting the blame only because they knew i kept a few dogs, i was quite surprised and a bit upset as i would not tolerate a barking dog even if i lived in the country and didnae think mines would bark althou u never really know wot happens when ur not there. It turns out a few of my neighbours and some on the street my garden backs onto also have dogs and no one really knew they had and it was generally not mine, infact mine are pretty good and rarely bark. It was never a drama and i'm very lucky that i get on with all my neighbours and have told them to let me know if they ever do have a problem with my dogs as not fair on them, i'd hate to have to live next to a barking dog. Good luck wi it hope u get it sorted

My personal preference would be for poults everytime, and doubt i'd ever change , Generally speaking the advice is a bird should be around 20weeks at time of shooting to be fully mature and flying well althou size/bird density off pen and the ammount off pellets u feed them plus the weather all can effect when there ready to shoot. If ur a smaller diy sydicate and shooting in oct or early nov isnae important u could hold off gettin birds till 3rd week Aug or even slightly later, (the latest i've released was 22nd Sept not ideal but some sort off mix up/fall out with the then shoot captain and game farmer, far from ideal and not advisable) but if ur happy walking boundries for small bags off 'long tails' slightly later may suit u better aswell as prob suiting the gamefarmer better as all the big shoots will want there birds that busy 2-3 weeks in july. Sometimes gettin ur birds later means they wander less as by time get the wandering bug the days are getin consderably shorter We experimented 2 seasons ago gettin birds earlier and only delivery date available was around mid june came the 18th, came on great prob shootable by sept easily, but an awful lot of work feeding and holding them for all that extra time, cost us a lot more in feed than usual far to early and too much work for the type off shoot it is. Ideally i would get them around mid aug but i'm busy on grouse at that time so like to get them around that busy time 3-4th week june so they are settled down a bit Also my advice would be dinae start to big it can be quite a lot of work and big financial outlay for even 200 pheas, u will prob have more enjoyment having a couple of informal days with ur mates and dogs and learn as u go rather than putting the pressure off bag numbers/let days and high expectations on u atleast till u learn the ropes and the ground. Thoose of u who favour Ex-layers How do u get ur returns any tricks to holding them? The only shoot i know which had any success kept them in a roofed pheasant pen for a good while and basically treated them like poults walking them back to pen and dogging in later on, it also helped they shot both sides off an upland valley with no neighbours so birds would have to wander a long way over cold open hills to find feed and roosting cover. They could probably jist turn the birds out off crates and they would still show a decent return

Altight from SW Scotland. Been involved in shooting snce a young boy (30 odd years now, i'm gettin auld ). I run a small friendly diy shooting syndicate and have 4 dogs at the min of varrying breeds, more into my training/working dogs than pulling trigger nowadays. Also do a few days beating/picking up mainly locally but do travel a bit for the grouse, which is my favourite. Cannae beat being up on the heather on a nice day working ur dogs.