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Finished the day with 59 picked & must have lost over a dozen even though we swept the area a few times. My young cocker done ok although she lacks experience. On the way back to the car the dog picked another so 60. There were so many birds I lost my composure & accuracy lol. Could’ve easily shot over 100 had we had the full day there. Grateful to PW member MarkM for the invite.

I’ve put 20 shells in the patch been shooting 45 mins & had 8 birds for 10 shots....

How would you approach shooting laid barley. Decoys set up on stakes in the standing barley with a whirly & leave the patch clear for incoming birds to target. Or decoys in the patch itself?

They’re only £22 for 6 on ebay....

Rooks yes

In Northumberland still 2 weeks away I reckon....

I need to check these ads more often, I’m in Hebburn if they don’t go...

Wish I had of known about the cartridges when I collected the Baikal mate...

I have a wood on my permission that we shoot every year. Its the only time we can put a dent in the crows as they’ve become notoriously difficult to decoy. I’ll be up every few days towards the month checking for when they leave the nests. Really need to find a way to attack the adult birds though as there are thousands in this area. We had one day decoying when we shot 86, our shooting was appalling that day but they just kept coming in. Never had a day like it since...

You might be better off by baiting up, we pegged a dead hare down & the foxes came every night. Had a trail cam setup & a buzzard was visiting daily to the same spot. In the past I put rabbit guts etc with some veg oil in a sealed bucket for a few days. Poured a trail across a field with a safe back drop & waited. Worked well enough sitting in a vehicle.

2 weekends have passed now without the letting agent getting back to us. We’ll be collecting our feeders no matter what this weekend.

The new tenant is married to the local lords daughter so has a lot of sway. Its part of a huge estate so money doesn’t come into it. Its the attitude & holding our property that annoys me.

We were told a new tenant farmer was taking over but given no indication we would not be welcome anymore after 4 trouble free years. I knew from the first time we seen him something was amiss. He made no attempt to acknowledge us. Now our feeders are still on the land & through the letting agent we were told the farmer would collect them himself as he didn’t want us driving on the land to collect them. If they’re not ready to collect this weekend I believe we should be able to collect our own property? There are now several of us looking for land in Northumberland/Durham/Borders for next season but I’m doubtful that we’ll find anything as land is difficult to come by up here.

I've never had a winner in the national. My dad arthur lost his battle with cancer last year so my choice was a no brainer. £2.50 each way got me £55, my son had Saint Are e/w which being only 5yrs old was over the moon winning £8. Could say he was watching over us but he hated gambling so would've kicked my **** if he knew 😂

Theres only nettles early on in that wood & we cant cut any trees down so brash piles it'll have to be. Thanks

We have very little cover left on our ground after the frosts kill it off. We are limited to a long stretch of riverbank, hedgerows & a single strip wood on a steep bank. The wood often holds a couple of birds which can be cracking. The problem being a lack of ground cover in that wood. I thought about the possibility of hand sowing something in the wood but theres not a lot of light gets through & we cant put game strips in. Could our only other option be brash piles?

When I had several dogs outside I fed raw as I had a free, regular supply. Less muck to clean up, less smell & dogs done well on it. I now only have a cocker pup that lives indoors which has been reared on dry & tinned. I moved her over to a grain free food but will put her on CSJ salmon as its the only dry food I found didn't cost the earth which also my dogs have done well on in the past

Compared to last season its been very poor. Not a lot of holding cover on our ground & we decided to shoot regularly until xmas then whenever we fancied it. Once the cover did die off we struggled for birds. There were very few ducks on the river compared to the last 2 seasons, everywhere was flooded so not sure if that contributed. We've secured 350acres of moorland that has a few small but warm woods. Only £200 rent & we can shoot whatever we want. Had a rake around when we viewed it only put a woodcock up but there must be game there. Its been suggested we release 100 ex layers but I'm not sure if its worth it if they stray. Its too far for any of us to regularly dog in & visit. The idea was to feed the woods hard. The land itself was too good to resist for the money

Thanks again all

Thanks all

I have used crow calls & have called foxes for years, I appreciate a badly blown call will do more harm than good. Just need pointing in the right direction & I'll practice at home, at work, on the car etc lol

I'm in desperate need of a call for this weekend, only shot ducks a couple of times on the river. Is there a good, allround call that is easy to use? Thanks

Tim nobody on a shooting site will give you permission. I am a member of a DIY shoot in Northumberland & have farms for vermin. The only way is word of mouth, good luck or door knocking. Its repeated often on here, try beating to get a foot in the door sonewhere. Good luck mate, its not easy

Thanks for all the advice, food for thought.....