scolopax Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 With the season over I have had tally up and we got a respectable 38% on our pheasants, only put 220 down this year though. We broke all records with the partridge though, released 100 Redlegs and shot exactly zero!!! Put them out and they immediately got plagued by buzzards, never had real bother with them before, but anyway they killed a lot and the survivors departed after a couple of weeks. Was left with about a dozen which took to living in a wood even though there were six acres of three foot tall mustard next door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 Our rough shoot had returns of 88%, and the syndicate returns of 53%, which was very good considering we lost around 50 syndicate birds in August to disease. We also put down redlegs on rough shoot, and also shot none; didn't even see any after the start of the season. Have just received a flyer from our bird supplier this morning regarding next seasons birds! Time moves on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
essexfluke Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 My new shoot (second season) managed 33% from 300 which is a great improvement on last year, hoping to build on this next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arley Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 I shoot in two syndicates. One had the best % return since we have shot with 8 guns. I think the final returns after beaters day will be 55%. The other syndicate had the worst season since we have shot the ground, We shot 18%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr pigeon Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 We managed 35.8% on pheasants. 84.7% on ducks 13% partridge. Our pheasants and partridges are ex layers and we have no neighbouring shoots so very happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennett Posted February 3, 2015 Report Share Posted February 3, 2015 First ever season for me, and first season in its current format for my shoot. 700 down, with no pheasant releasing around us, but 2 shoots feeding from us. We managed 35.4%, and 16 partridges shot from none released. The syndicate seem happy enough and I will work on improving it for next year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duds Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 My first season on this farm, 200 put down, 179 shot over 6 half days, that's a nadge under 90% I reckon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casts_by_fly Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 With the season over I have had tally up and we got a respectable 38% on our pheasants, only put 220 down this year though. We broke all records with the partridge though, released 100 Redlegs and shot exactly zero!!! Put them out and they immediately got plagued by buzzards, never had real bother with them before, but anyway they killed a lot and the survivors departed after a couple of weeks. Was left with about a dozen which took to living in a wood even though there were six acres of three foot tall mustard next door. We were similar. I haven't seen the final tally, but we were over 35% with 4 shooting days left so I recon we were near on 40% from 1200 put down. The partridge were an experiment this year. Two of the guys put out either 50 or 100 but our partridge bag wasn't noticeably bigger this year than in years past on wild birds. We would see them at times, but our layout isn't geared towards partridge I don't think. thanks, rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 We put down 100 pheasants on our syndicate & shot 64, so 64%. Very good season for us, although woodcock numbers were down from previous years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiny tim Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 put 200 duck and 800 pheasants down we had the best year we have ever had at 45% not the best returns but very good for us with the land we have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 64% from 750 pheasants - Best year for a long time. Six days shooting. We are very pleased with the result. Gave up partridges a couple of years ago. Just can't hold them on the ground with the buzzards overhead all the time. We will stick to pheasants in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggiegun Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 We put down 1200 pheasant, returned 509. 150 duck, return 91 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry_o Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 We put down 250 pheasants this year and shot approx 160. My uncle thinks this is poor as couple decades ago they were releasing 200 and shooting 200 on the same land. I can only assume there was a healthier wild population back then combined with less predation pressures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 We put down 250 pheasants this year and shot approx 160. My uncle thinks this is poor as couple decades ago they were releasing 200 and shooting 200 on the same land. I can only assume there was a healthier wild population back then combined with less predation pressures. According to a 'keeper I know anything above 44% is deemed good, so I'd say you've done well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry_o Posted February 4, 2015 Report Share Posted February 4, 2015 Ye Ive heard anything around 60% is excellent. Sat here thinking about it, when they were shooting so many it sounds like it was a lot of old boys pot hunting and braying birds at any height. It's nothing like that now and is prob why we haven't got such high returns. Yet as you say we're still quite good. Our better returns in recent years have been when we've had blacknecks and that seems to fit what other people around here have said about the strain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I have been running a small shoot for more years than I care to remember. In my opinion, providing you have a good standard of keepering - cover strips, hoppers kept full, hand feeding, predator control and the like - then it's the summer and autumn weather that is more important than any other factor. If you get a wet summer then losses in, and outside, the pen will he high due gapes and other diseases. If the autumn weather is wet and cold - when the birds start to spread out around your/their territory - then you will get losses due them getting chilled when out in open land with no cover. Allied to this is the inevitable disturbance caused by the farmer and his staff trying to get the ploughing and drilling done well into the autumn when you need peace and quiet so that your birds can get into a settled routine moving from game cover to roost area on a daily basis. So, weather, weather and again weather are the most important factors in my book. I think these shoots that make returns of 100%+ are being helped by their neighbours... Have one very close to me - Thankfully not immediately on my boundary. Two good shoot days a year and they release nothing, have very little cover but feed a lot all round their boundary. Then they complain because one of their neighbours, who releases and keepers, puts a maize block about 150 yards from the boundary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I have no doubt our rough shoot returns are greatly helped by our neighbours, but as I've said before, there is so little land around here which doesn't have a shoot on it. Our nearest neighbour is just over the river, and there's another less than a mile away. As long as everyone is releasing birds and not just enticing those of others then it's swings and roundabouts as far we're concerned. I agree about the weather. We have made (and are still doing so) our woods very habitable for pheasants now, where they can get away from the wind and rain, and find that although they tend to wander a bit in the nice weather, come the season, come the birds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted February 5, 2015 Report Share Posted February 5, 2015 I have no doubt our rough shoot returns are greatly helped by our neighbours, but as I've said before, there is so little land around here which doesn't have a shoot on it. Our nearest neighbour is just over the river, and there's another less than a mile away. As long as everyone is releasing birds and not just enticing those of others then it's swings and roundabouts as far we're concerned. I agree about the weather. We have made (and are still doing so) our woods very habitable for pheasants now, where they can get away from the wind and rain, and find that although they tend to wander a bit in the nice weather, come the season, come the birds. Totally agree with you Scully. If shoots release birds then its swings and roundabouts. We can't all release 40,000. As long as some are released it's OK. You can't release more than your land will hold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmos05 Posted February 6, 2015 Report Share Posted February 6, 2015 51% on the Pheasant 39% on the Partridge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul T Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 I think we're just over 40% return on 1000 birds. Partridges did better than in previous years, but they were big strong youngsters when we got them. We're happy anyways... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trxnav Posted February 7, 2015 Report Share Posted February 7, 2015 40% on pheasants and 22% on partridges our best season ever now preparing for next tryin to improve even more Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tollerman Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 Despite the best efforts our farmer ( logging throughout the season and the occasional bonfire at the start of our third drive)we achieved 35% . We put down 600 pheasants and lost at least 60 in the pens (Buzzard) so I feel we did quite well in the circumstances.Due to the dry summer the cover crop failed to prosper but hope for better results next season.Just finished our annual accounts and looking at the cost per bird realised that we must be slightly mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 (edited) Just finished our annual accounts and looking at the cost per bird realised that we must be slightly mad. Know how you feel. Neither our syndicate nor rough shoot makes any money; we just pay pay pay. But that's what it's all about on small DIY uncommercial shoots. Is there nothing you can do to subsidise expenses? We sell rabbits and deer to a local game dealer, and sell logs as fuel. It still doesn't come anywhere near to covering our costs but it's better than nothing. We also do a lot of cadging stuff. Edited February 8, 2015 by Scully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tollerman Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 No there is nothing we can do to subsidise the running of the shoot.The lease was drawn up nearly thirty years ago with many restrictions including the use of rifles.there are many things we have to grin and bear but the topography makes it a beautiful place to shoot.One of the guns gets us cheap quality wheat but that's about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr pigeon Posted February 8, 2015 Report Share Posted February 8, 2015 We have a clay shoot annually, makes £300. A hog roast inviting people along, makes £150. At this we raffle a 50 bird day, went for £300. Surely you can make a few quid somewhere? 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.