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I picked up a new 243 from Inverness in August and noticed a lot of 270’s on the racks I was told that 270 is a very popular rifle on the hills up that way. It’s seems like you fancy it so go for it as if you don’t there will always be a niggle in the back of your mind that you should have!

I’m a huge Aigle fan. Comfortable, warm and hard wearing ( first pair lasted 6 years and still functional) bought a new pair with a zip because they were on sale at a cracking price so will see how they go.

Can't comment about Yorkshire but £3 per kilo in Aberdeenshire.

Hello everyone. here is a short video showing the kilduthie pen and it’s inhabitants!

Hello everyone been a busy spell getting pheasant pens ready so haven’t been out so much. i did however go for a look about on Friday morning and as the sun has started to rise later it was nice to get a little longer in bed than I had been allowed previously! The crops and grass being at their peak means it is difficult spotting deer and almost impossible to shoot however some of the grass parks which had recently been cut looked pretty promising. It was a lovely morning bright and warm with little wind which always makes it a little more difficult given the small acreage and layout of this particular area. i set off from my usual spot pausing to observe a red squirrel darting around the forest floor before disappearing from view. Pigeons were plentiful and looked to be heading for their first feed off the day lazily gliding into the almost ripe winter barley parks. My intended quarry were proving illusive although I would be surprised if I hadn’t passed a few tucked into the long grass or tangle of ferns that seemed to dominate my intended route. I spotted a doe and kid on the edge of a big wood plantation and waited to see whether a buck was nearby but there was no sign so I headed back to the car for a well earned coffee and rest before heading to the pheasant shoot to feed the birds. i picked a nice spot overlooking the castle and next to a fresh cut grass park which rose gently into a wood in the background. just as I was away to put the flask away a buck shot across the track infront of me and made its way up the slop towards the trees. I grabbed my rifle and shouted at the buck which stopped to have a look back. It was odd shooting a Roe in this way but it was a safe shot and the 223 55grain home load grassed it effortlessly. A very much unexpected end to an enjoyable morning! This is the Buck. It is a shame it hasn’t got a nice 6th point as it’s a heavy head and would have been a possible bronze medal but still worthy of a nice mount! Also thought I’d put up a picture of my first ever medal buck which I shot at the end of April didn’t expect it to make the grade especially seeing some of the huge heads on show but made my day! A bronze which will be getting mounted at hung in the dining room!

Hello everyone. We have had our birds for a week and despite the usual losses to birds of prey we have had no major issues (touch wood)! Prior to the birds arrival most of the work had been centred upon getting the pens ready to receive the new arrivals however now our attention turns to improving the drives for when they start wandering and making sure the drives are as easily accessible for guns and beaters as possible. We have also been feeding the duck ponds heavier and also had a couple of them scraped back to make them more appealing to ducks. image uploader image uploader This is the Drumfrennie pond which has been massively improved thanks to Daves digger skills. image uploader This is the Bohill pond which had almost been completely grown over with grass so once it has settled we hope it will be a huge improvement.

I thought I'd put a picture up of one of our netted pens just to show what we do. obviously 11k pheasant Dougy with lots of trees probably can't do it as would be expensive for nets but for a small syndicate like ourselves where every bird lost can affect the amount of shooting greatly it's a no brainer in my mind as we have lost 30-40 out of 450 in our non netted pens and that's with many of the tips mentioned above being used.

We tend to build our pens in areas with lots of broom, heather or other rough ground cover and build plenty of shelters and crossed beams to roost on. It is costly netting pens however if the ground is suitable and you can then feed them into the woods or gamecrops nearby it’s worth considering. Last season we had a disaster when a goshawk caused absolute havoc in two of our pens which had 500 birds between them! The birds scattered within the first 24-48 hours and never really knew where home was so it really affected that area last season!

13 of our 15 pens are netted most are about 300x100 metres costly to net but better than picking a bag of dead poults per day. cds used to work for us but they seem to get used to whatever you try.

Hello everyone! Birds are coming this coming Sunday so it’s been a busy spell getting everything ready but getting there now! All the pen IBC tanks have been filled with water and tested, the electric fences are on and all repairs have been completed so let’s hope for some kind weather as we can’t control that! We have also been feeding the duck ponds again and building new duck Butts to make flighting more comfortable! All we need is some hardcore for the base and a lick of paint and good to go! Shame we have another 9 to build! This is a view of the pond we were building the new Butts on might be difficult shooting late on when the ducks are below the tree line but it’s a lovely quiet pond and has had ducks on it all spring/summer. We’re going to scrape some of the areas that have become overgrown in the next week.

Anything with a high deet content works well. I use Tesco’s own repellant thinks it’s 30/40% and it works fine. Jungle formula is good too but much more expensive. Things I’ve tried and found not to be great are smidge and Avon skin so soft as neither helped me or the other guys in our shoot.

Managed to Get this nice buck this morning so thought I’d put up a picture. Will put up a account of the day tomorrow. Also had this wee chap on the way back! had another later on but was getting eaten alive by midges so it never got a photo!

Hello everyone! Went out stalking last Wednesday and despite struggling to get out of my bed at 02:30 after a coffee and a couple of pancakes I was raring to go. I don’t know whether I’m the only one but I have several parks that I like to check out for deer on the drive to our ground however with the drizzle starting to turn to rain and nothing to be seen in the usual haunts my decision to leave the house seemed a bad one! Upon arrival I got all my kit sorted and set off on my usual route but unfortunately the wind had changed so I headed back to the car and set off for the other side of the ground where I could use the breeze to my benefit. It was on this journey that I spotted 3 Roe at the base of a grass park which had a large barley clad hill behind it and the castle plantation at its side. In these situations i tend not to halt in the car and check them with the glasses and instead carry on to a safe parking space. This seemed to be a wise decision as the animals were still in a similar position as I cautiously approached. One of the 3 was a decent buck so I set the rifle upon a fence post and waited for a shot to present itself. Eventually it turned broadside and I let off the shot. I didn’t hear a thump and all I could see were Roe jumping the fence into the wood. Even when I miss I still check out the area just incase so I walked over to the spot where the buck had stood. It quickly became apparent that my shot had been good and after tracking the blood through the barley the animal was lying some 25 yards away from where it had been hit. I usually take photos but the rain was so bad I just did the carcass prep as quickly as possible. i do have a picture of the skull however so I’ll post it up. The buck was just under 19kg and a very healthy animal so a great morning despite the elements trying to put me off!

Thanks! We are blessed with a huge amount of Roe in my area so usually aim to get about 50-60 Roe per year.(3500 acres combined) He was a bit scruffy and just over 16 kg so about average for the area. Interesting thing about him was the way one antler had a slight curve in it. Biggest beast Iv had off this area was 21Kg which was an absolute nightmare to carry off the hill to the nearest track!

I have shot 6 Bucks so far but I’m going to start my write ups on a Buck I shot on the 9th of May which was only 2 days before my wedding. Getting out into the countryside for a few hours seemed like the perfect tonic to a stressful week! i headed out for first light which was about 04:15. The wind was favourable and it was quite biting given it was only 3 degrees. I started off by heading along the edge of the barley fields which hug the farm yard. I was in no hurry and enjoyed watching a hare going about it’s business and a couple of does grazing in the grass park next door. After a few minutes I started to walk up the big hill towards the top farm and I knew there were bucks in the area so I was on full alert. Today however they must have been elsewhere as only a young roe doe was to be seen suddenly springing up from the long grass and the stare off commenced! I slowly raised my glasses and watched it pad the grass slightly whilst raising its nose and sniffing the air to see whether I was a threat. The wind being favourable was welcome as this animal loves to bark and I was relieved to see it trot through a hole in the deer fence and into the plantation. Just as i readied myself to leave, the all to familiar “bark” shattered the peace and quiet and the young doe had yet again lived upto its reputation! From here I headed towards the bracken clad hill where I had been trying to catch up with a nice buck I had been watching for over a year. It was probably a couple of hundred yards before the foot of the hill that I spotted him browsing a gorse bank. I edged around to make sure the hill was acting as a backstop but had unfortunately lost site of the animal. i set up the rifle on a perfectly placed tree branch and waited patiently for it to reappear. I was rewarded after a few minutes when he started heading in my direction. A short whistle and he presented the perfect shot which was duly delivered from my tikka m55 243. A nice engine room shot and another great morning!

Evening everyone! Most of my posts are about the Pheasant syndicate shoot I’m a part of at Crathes however I’m a keen Roe shot so thought I’d put up some pics and stories about the stalk.

Evening everyone!It’s been a hectic spell since my last update as I had the small matter of getting married and also building pens, clearing rides, pest control, hatching pheasants and shooting roe plus my real job haha!Anyway things are going really well and everything is coming together nicely for the upcoming season.We have a few wild broods on the go so it looks like the feeding and pest control have been paying off.Our major source of work was the new pen at the rough ground which has now been finished along with a smaller pen at Baldaroch.It’s now a case of making sure all 10 pheasant and 4 partridge pens are ready for the poults arrival in mid July which really doesn’t seem far away!My own chicks have done well and despite not rearing huge amounts it’s great fun and so far we have hatched - golden, yellow, red throat, silver, Lady Amherst, cheers, Japanese green, melanistic, common ringneck, Kansas and white pheasants so it been amazing seeing how different they all are!

Nice start to the season! I’m waiting until may to start as couple of cracking looking beasts up here

Hello everyone! Been starting to get some eggs from my breeding hens so thought id put up a picture of our pens and the star cock bird Barry!

I have been a member for years and have always been amazed at the great work they do trying to show the benefits of shooting and conservation.

Some great advice so far. As mentioned it’s almost impossible to stop non target species from hitting the feeders but something we do to try and keep our birds where we want is to feed a maize/wheat mix in our main drives in the places we want them and just plain wheat in the smaller drives we do on smaller days. It’s hard to judge whether this works as our main drives hold birds better naturally but I think it helps. We try and get a few straw bales in these main areas too. Rolling half out and leaving the other upright as they love getting off the ground to dry out or just picking through grain we’ve sprinkled on top. Lastly a keeper friend always tells us to put our hoppers on grass or fallen leaves and not bare bottom ground as despite not being as good as straw it forces the birds to peck about rather than hoovering it up then bugg****g off!

Some interesting views on this topic! Our syndicate doesn’t shoot huge amounts so never an issue getting the birds used however I do object to how quickly the partridges disappear from the game cart as im yet to get one for my supper! I think it’s up to the shoot organisers to know what sort of bag they are going to provide and where the game can get used. i have 3 people at my work that ask regularly if I have any pheasant breasts going spare during the season and I’m happy to give them some as it’s always a positive reflection on shooting. I still can’t imagine a 500 bird day but I’d happily shoot one!

Barely seen a rabbitnin the last 10 years however they started to recover last year but now nothing again.

I don’t know whether I would like to shoot a 500 bird day but being a sad person id love to see that many birds flying over the guns and to see from the beaters perspective what the drives looks like and how they manage to get flush after flush. I wonder how many birds some of these places put down? I remember asking the owner of a fairly big estate up here and all he said was “enough”!

Hello everyone. we had our Agm last weekend and also had a look at the other syndicates ground and both sides are happy to merge subject to the estate agreeing which we hope to hear back about soon. All the spaces have been filled for the coming season which is always a relief! Our attentions have now turned to pest control and getting our breeding stock ready for laying. fox hounds are out tomorow so hopefully they will do the business So we can hit some foxes! My hatching plans this year are some lovely Kansas/Bazanty pheasants Iv kept back. I have 7 hens and 2 cocks so hoping to rear as many as possible. They have been wormed and I’m hoping to show our setup for them when I get them finished! i also have 5 white hens and a cock and Don a fellow member has a couple of melanstics so I’m giving him my melanstic hen to try and get some of them too! I know the chances are the Kansas will wander but I released some surplus cocks last season and they can’t half fly! Other jobs that Iv been getting upto is getting all the feeders back to the bothy apart from the ones on the edges of woods for the remaining birds. We have also gathered all the pegs, electric fence units, batteries and automatic drinkers so it’s not been quiet since the season ended! we will also be checking out the drives and marking fences with strips of old feed bags where we want to build stiles. The ponds will need new butts and possibly bridges and rides need to be cut to try and maximise the drives! When all this is done we will be ready to receive the 2300-2800 pheasants and 200 partridge and it will all start again! it seems strange that 10 years ago we only released 600 pheasants into 3 pens in our first season and here we are possibly putting more than 4 times that amount down into 13 pheasant/partridge pens! I will try my best to get some photos of the work done and Im really hoping to get some more background to the drives over the next few months so you can see where all my ramblings come from!