SNAKEBITE Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 (edited) Some advice please!!!! How often do you shoot a particular piece of land that compises of ROUGHLY 100 acres? This land is actually comprised of 5 permissions all next to each other. It is made up of a) One garden and a large paddock with lots of hedges breaking it up (6 acres) One field with a hedge running round it (4-5 acre) c) One field with some ROUGH cover and surrounded by a hedge( 4 acres) d) A series of 4 fields with big hedges and rolling landscape (80 acres) e) A long narrow field which has a pub at the bottom. (Only half used as saftey of the pub is factor!) (3 usable acre) Is once a week too much? Would you varyyour tactics to get better results and if so what would you do? Sorry to be so vague but we are worried that we are over shooting the land. (there are 3 of us taking different sections of the land) EDITED TO CORRECT ACREAGE Edited August 15, 2005 by SNAKEBITE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilv Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 I'd be guided by how plentyfull the rabbits are, and how skittish they are getting. You can never have too much land to shoot on though, so I'd be looking out for more - actively, I mean. I've stopped going to the place I started out on two months ago because there really weren't that many rabbits there. I'll call in again soon just to keep the farmer on side, but my real attention is elsewhere in a valley plagued with rabbits. Their squashed corpses are all over the roads, so I know I can get more land - the ******* are like midges up there, and the farmers hate 'em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roblade Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 its not the size of the land thats important, its the number opf pests on the land. You could have a 2 achre field and it would need daily attention or you could have same size field that only need attention every couple of months. dont forget you dont always have to shoot when your on the land, sometimes the famer/owers will be happy just seeing you out there. Important to rember that if you and your martes do your job too well you may well loose your permision on that land. ROB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAKEBITE Posted August 15, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 Important to rember that if you and your martes do your job too well you may well loose your permision on that land. That is the thing that is upmost in my mind. BALANCE. Sometimes maybe that is what clouds the issue in my judgement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted August 15, 2005 Report Share Posted August 15, 2005 I know this is 'off topic' but if your there for strict pest control then thats what you should do. I'd rather loose land through doing a good job than loosing it for not being good enough. At least i'll have no trouble getting back on, when they return. If sport shooting is to be a requirement I honestly feel that this should be discussed with the land owner. I.e. find out if its okay to deal with the immediate localised pests but leave the outsiders for sporting & culinary purposes. Regards, Axe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAKEBITE Posted August 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2005 But you can still do "total erradication pest control" sportingly. You can work hard with a 12lber, using skill and field craft and take 20 visits or you can lay down with a rimmy and do it in half the time. Maybe a balance would be do what you can with the air rifle and finish off the jittery ones with the rimmy. I want to do the job but at the same time I want to keep myself in a job! I enjoy going out and count the days till I can!! I don't want to be too good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadeye ive Posted August 17, 2005 Report Share Posted August 17, 2005 Snakebite Just because it,s in the crossairs does not mean you have to pull the trigger.Read a book by John Darling and in it he says that when a dough is in kitten she is more concerned about feeding than looking out for predators so if you manage to get within 35 yds a little easier than usual leave her be and let her breed.(Especially this time of year)Of course only do this form of control when you have managed to bring the numbers down. Don,t tell the landowner though. As for frequency ,try not to over do it .Ideally you could do with having so much land that you only shoot a particular area once a month.The more you shoot the harder it will become to get in range even with a rimmy.Do you lamp?? Cheers Ive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old rooster Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 Most landowners are letting you on their land because they want the rabbits reduced or eradicated. It is rarely possible by shooting alone to kill all the rabbits in the vicinity and rabbits from neighbouring ground will repopulate your area unless you take some pretty drastic steps to stop them !. Even filling in the vacant buries will not suffice sometimes, I've several farms where the farmer has a particular field he wanted ferreted then the holes filled in. Next season it's business as usual which is great for me as it's demonstrated to the farmer that the rabbit is a tenacious little blighter. Can't think of a case where permission has been lost for doing a good job, on the contrary recommendation to neighbours is the norm. I'm currently developing a shoot made up of large rambling gardens and paddocks used by horsey folk, they don't like the old nags falling down the rabbit holes and the damage to young trees and plants. It is a matter of approach, I always try to show a good bag from the early visits and then explain that it is going to be pointless killing all the rabbits on that land without getting permission on the adjoining properties. We want to leave some for ferreting later in the year as this ground has some wonderful buries that will lend themselves to long netting, shooting and purse netting. Nice calm balmy day here today so I think I'll give myself the afternoon off and go and set up my new Daystate, great bit of kit which I've fitted with an 8-24 x 50 scope. It's even quieter than the Axsor so it will be interesting to see how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 It is a matter of approach, I always try to show a good bag from the early visits and then explain that it is going to be pointless killing all the rabbits on that land without getting permission on the adjoining properties. That works well OR, we are looking after three consecative 5-6 acre gardens! when we expressed that it would be more affective to get the fields at the back of them. After consideration we were given the name of the land owner for these fields and managed to bag 80 acres! Regards, Axe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evilv Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 After consideration we were given the name of the land owner for these fields and managed to bag 80 acres! Regards, Axe. You old land baron you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 After consideration we were given the name of the land owner for these fields and managed to bag 80 acres! Regards, Axe. You old land baron you... Did I mention i've bagged 20acres last week and have been informed of another 137 thats coming my way soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bipolar Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 Hey stop bragging, I`m still looking for more than 30yds of back garden!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old rooster Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 After consideration we were given the name of the land owner for these fields and managed to bag 80 acres! Regards, Axe. You old land baron you... Did I mention i've bagged 20acres last week and have been informed of another 137 thats coming my way soon. Don't ask don't get is my motto, I seem to get on better dealing with women landowners for some reason. Be confident in your approach and sell your ability to help with the problem, I've even got people paying me to go and kill their bunnies now ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 (edited) Out of interest, how much they paying? and, did you see the post on the insurance cover and reward? Regards, Axe. Edited August 18, 2005 by Axe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAKEBITE Posted August 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 I seem to get on better dealing with women landowners for some reason. And the wife knows about this then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAKEBITE Posted August 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 Out of interest, how much they paying? One sniff of money and you are off..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 Out of interest, how much they paying? One sniff of money and you are off..... Something's got to pay for the new rimmy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SNAKEBITE Posted August 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 Something's got to pay for the new rimmy I thought that was why you were putting your adverts in the phone boxes in Brighton! (works for me ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Axe Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 What worries me the most Snakebite, is that four people on this forum have voted to wear your Tutu!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old rooster Posted August 18, 2005 Report Share Posted August 18, 2005 (edited) I seem to get on better dealing with women landowners for some reason. And the wife knows about this then? Don't have a wife anymore. How do you think I get to spend so much time shooting, fishing and ferreting !!! Edited August 18, 2005 by old rooster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.