Useless Keeper

Hi I run a small shoot, with bags between 50-60 and occasionally into the 80s. We have an established syndicate and also provide two let days for a team of Guns who shoot every season. Although the let day team tip me (as the 'keeper), the syndicate Guns never have, and I would appreciate your thoughts as to whether this is normal, as if not, I will introduce for the coming season. I would also add that the tips would go into the shoot kitty, rather than my personal stash! Thanks

Given the rules regarding antibiotics and medication etc. what steps are you taking to prevent disease, and has anyone tried Quill products such as Hydrocare and Quill Boost etc. and do they work? Thanks

Thanks all - true to my name as pointed out by The Gouse, I'll mix all of the above and see what happens!

Hi All I wondered if anyone has used beans as a cover crop, as my farmer friend says that they would last the season and also provide a source of food? My main concern would be that once the dogs and beaters have been through a couple of times, the crop would be flattened, but would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks

Hi. I've just picked up this thread and would be keen to know how the canary grass turned out, as you have described almost exactly my current situation in that I drilled about a third of an acre last spring with mustard, but is now overgrown with weeds. There are clumps of grass showing but I don't know know whether this is canary grass, or the 'ordinary' stuff. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks

Hi, Good to hear that the chicory is thriving. We hand drilled canary grass last summer, under sowed with mustard as the grass takes a year to come through apparently. However, we drilled the grass about half an inch deep instead of just below the surface, so would be interested to know what depth you did yours? Thanks

Hi both Thanks for your advice and we have now cut the grass, so hopefully there will be no further roosting in that area. We set up a trail cam, but nothing has appeared on it since, but I would have thought that given the number killed, whatever it was would have returned? The birds were evenly spaced, with their heads (those that had heads) tucked in as though they were sleeping, and no marks on their body when plucked. Although we aren't near a village, there are a few houses 200-300 yards away and cats have been seen on the shoot, so it could have been them. Thanks for your help and I'll let you know if we ever get to find what did it.

Hi All What a great subject raised by Iano with excellent contributions by Scotslad and Scully, The reality is that foxes are regarded as vermin and fair game by the majority of shooters and has in fact become a sport in its own right, with the most modern and expensive paraphernalia being used to shoot them at ridiculous ranges. They don't care if the farmer is losing lambs, and in fact the more the better as the opportunities for their 'sport' increases. It is of course based on machismo, disguised as pest control, by trigger happy numpties who shoot from air conditioned pick-trucks and get a thrill out of 'blowing away' an animal which has adapted and survived for thousands of years. If they're up for a real challenge (and they won't be), try a few days wildfowling in December or January - I think not...... Well done Iano for raising such a thought provoking subject - alas, it's a shame that those who it's aimed at will probably never read your excellent article. Thanks

Hi all We 'released' 450 pheasant poults into one of our pens on Saturday and on the following Monday, we found 20+ dead poults in long(ish) grass outside the pen. Not only was it a sickening sight, as we are a small shoot, but we have no idea what did it. Some birds had no signs that they had been attacked, whereas a few had no heads and a few more had the back of their heads damaged. There have been many different theories - vixen with cubs, tawny owl, mink (we have had them), stoats, polecats, (domestic) cats and buzzards. Although all are plausible in their own right, we didn't have any incident like this last year, apart from buzzards feeding their young! We left the dead birds where they were in the hope that whatever did the dirty deed would return, but despite almost 24/7 vigil for a few days, nothing appeared, As a result, we are setting up a stealth cam to try to identify the culprit, but in the meantime, any help would would be appreciated, particularly in preventing any further occurrences, as we couldn't sustain many more of these losses. Thanks

Thanks everyone - that's pretty unanimous then. The Guns get bacon / egg / sausage batches in the morning and soup, beer etc. for lunch. The bag on this particular day was 58 - 52 pheasants and 6 mallard. I'll make sure tips are included next year! Thanks

Hi I run a small shoot (badly) - 1,500 birds and we need to have a couple of let days to help towards the bills / beaters etc. When advertising these days, or discussing the price with potential Guns, should the cost include tips - for example 'Cost per Gun is £150 plus tips'? The reason I ask is that when we had a couple let days last year, no-one paid a tip, even though they enjoyed the day (and have booked again this season). Whenever I have been on a driven day, whether invited, or a let day, I have always given a tip which I thought was 'the done thing' or am I living in the past? Thanks

Thanks all - I had thought about all of your points, especially the possibility of pheasants being aggressive to the partridges due to the different size / age etc.

Hi. We have a few partridge pens on our shoot and I wondered if it was OK to put pheasants and partridges in the same pen?