Anti Scum...

[Wildfowler12]

Sorry folks, but I need to rant...

 

After pleading with a local farmer for the past 2 years, he eventually gave me and a friend permission to feed one of his ponds for some duck shooting - for a small fee of course.

 

Inevitably, this turned into a big project. We spent 4 weekends felling some trees to thin it out, removed invasive weeds and generally tidying it up. Then we built 3 'luxury' pallet hides, cleared some pathways, put down some hardcore, erected bird boxes, and lots of unnecessary jobs too that just made us feel really excited about the place, and the prospect of having our own little duck pond.

 

We also put some feed bins about the place, though we have/had no intention of shooting the game birds. We've been lucky enough to see a couple of coveys of grey partridge, and there are wild pheasant a plenty around the farm.

 

This weekend however, we have been hit by an 'anti scumbag', perhaps even more than one? One of the hides has been destroyed, as has all the feeder bins. Both of our storage lock ups were raided, and about £60's worth of wheat and barley has been cut open and thrown about the place. The ******/s tied all the empty bags to the 2 remaining hides - perhaps as a warning that they will be back?

 

I feel so deflated. I wouldn't mind if I was doing something illegal, but having spent most weekends since February working down there, I feel so bad that some self righteous fool has done this to us.

 

I reported the incident to the police. But whilst they were polite, they weren't interested in the slightest. And said without any CCTV footage, they would not take it further - of course I didn't expect them to be able to do anything at all. Trail cameras WILL be going up this week.

 

Am I kidding myself thinking this could be a one off, or is it time to throw in the towel? Has anyone been through this before? Any tips / advice as to the next steps?

[digger]

keep doing what you have done ie improving the habitat for all wild life. A simple alarm trip wire will scare the hell out of them and is totally legal. If you think you know the route in set a trail cam to get the car registration it will make a hell of a case. If the police don't follow it up pm the reg no and I will tell you who it belongs to.

[Wildfowler12]

Thanks digger. There is a public footpath adjacent to the field that the pond is located in. I'm certain of the way in, as they've cut a hole in the hedge and trampled through the silage field, but it's all on foot so I won't have any luck with reg plates.

 

I do like the look of the poacher alarm things (blank cartridge) though

[Scully]

Just get back up and start again; what else can you do? To pack in means they've won.

Trail cams won't deter even if they're trespassing, as they'll probably be hooded anyhow, because what they are doing amounts to aggravated trespass

I would think, but whatever you do, don't pack in.

If it were me I'd stake the place out the odd day or night, but first it may be worth finding out how they discovered what you're doing. Are you just off a public footpath, or easily overlooked?

[Wildfowler12]

first it may be worth finding out how they discovered what you're doing. Are you just off a public footpath, or easily overlooked?

There's a footpath nearby, but since the farmer cut the field (silage this year), it has been covered in dog walkers who believe they can wander wherever they want. Inevitably, they will have seen the hides.

 

I put some 'keep to the footpath' signs up, but they were all destroyed within 2 days too 😔

[bruno22rf]

Can you not hide a trail cam somewhere?

[del.gue]

As above, hide a trail cam or two. But you really need to film them in the act. Dont advertise the fact you have cameras up and they should have no reason to have faces covered.

Put the signs back up on the path but put something sticky on the back, like anti vandal paint, that should ensure they leave a fingerprint or two.

Also meet with the local bobby and take his advice as he knows the area and probably has an idea of who it might be even if he cant prove it yet.

What are do you live?

[old man]

Sadly again just an indication of society today?

[simjakcal]

Try not to make it so obvious what your plans are there, don't leave food bins around and carry the food to the ponds to feed from your vehicles if you can, pain I know ! Dog walkers are a pain thinking they can roam where they like, uneducated ! Maybe try and get the farmer more on your side to make it harder for the dog walkers so they carnt get to the pond..As said a few trip wires for now will maybe make them think twice ! Its frustrating and I feel for all the hard work you've put in, but keep it simple and discrete and enjoy it !

[Kalahari]

Have you got a crime number. Important to ask for one as it then looks worse on their figures. No crime number then "it didn't happen" so they don't have to worry.

 

David.

[old'un]

One of the problems here is the farmer as you say was reluctant to give you permission and if he starts to get problems he may well tell you to stop what are doing.

I have seen similar problems where farms are close to built-up areas and you have lots of walkers, had one once that kept letting the magpies out of the larsen, it was a good 100 yards from the public footpath but just viewable.

 

I think you have perhaps been a little bit to enthusiastic and gone over the top making it obvious what you are doing even if its legal.

As its your first year on this pond I would take down all what you have done and for the first year or two just feed and shoot the pond using natural cover for your hide.

 

How far is the pond from the farm buildings?

Can you get vehicle access during the winter?

Can someone get to the pond most evening?

[Scully]

One of the problems here is the farmer as you say was reluctant to give you permission and if he starts to get problems he may well tell you to stop what are doing.

I have seen similar problems where farms are close to built-up areas and you have lots of walkers, had one once that kept letting the magpies out of the larsen, it was a good 100 yards from the public footpath but just viewable.

 

I think you have perhaps been a little bit to enthusiastic and gone over the top making it obvious what you are doing even if its legal.

As its your first year on this pond I would take down all what you have done and for the first year or two just feed and shoot the pond using natural cover for your hide.

 

How far is the pond from the farm buildings?

Can you get vehicle access during the winter?

Can someone get to the pond most evening?

Valid points and good suggestions.

Your farmer will want a hassle free life.

Our ponds are well away from public view and we have just made use of natural cover and broadcast feed whenever we can. Even if someone walked right up to it there is very little to suggest what goes on there.

[panoma1]

One of the problems here is the farmer as you say was reluctant to give you permission and if he starts to get problems he may well tell you to stop what are doing.

I have seen similar problems where farms are close to built-up areas and you have lots of walkers, had one once that kept letting the magpies out of the larsen, it was a good 100 yards from the public footpath but just viewable.

 

I think you have perhaps been a little bit to enthusiastic and gone over the top making it obvious what you are doing even if its legal.

As its your first year on this pond I would take down all what you have done and for the first year or two just feed and shoot the pond using natural cover for your hide.

 

How far is the pond from the farm buildings?

Can you get vehicle access during the winter?

Can someone get to the pond most evening?

Agree with this, give em nothing to sabotage and they'll soon get fed up of looking, loose feed as appropriate in the shallows, watch in the evenings for ducks flighting in, keep up a presence and shoot sparingly and occasionally, don't let em win!

[spanj]

As above, hide a trail cam or two. But you really need to film them in the act. Dont advertise the fact you have cameras up and they should have no reason to have faces covered.

Put the signs back up on the path but put something sticky on the back, like anti vandal paint, that should ensure they leave a fingerprint or two.

Also meet with the local bobby and take his advice as he knows the area and probably has an idea of who it might be even if he cant prove it yet.

What are do you live?

the local bobby......... are you living in the 1920s ?

[Scully]

the local bobby......... are you living in the 1920s ?

😄

[spanj]

Sorry folks, but I need to rant...

 

After pleading with a local farmer for the past 2 years, he eventually gave me and a friend permission to feed one of his ponds for some duck shooting - for a small fee of course.

 

Inevitably, this turned into a big project. We spent 4 weekends felling some trees to thin it out, removed invasive weeds and generally tidying it up. Then we built 3 'luxury' pallet hides, cleared some pathways, put down some hardcore, erected bird boxes, and lots of unnecessary jobs too that just made us feel really excited about the place, and the prospect of having our own little duck pond.

 

We also put some feed bins about the place, though we have/had no intention of shooting the game birds. We've been lucky enough to see a couple of coveys of grey partridge, and there are wild pheasant a plenty around the farm.

 

This weekend however, we have been hit by an 'anti scumbag', perhaps even more than one? One of the hides has been destroyed, as has all the feeder bins. Both of our storage lock ups were raided, and about £60's worth of wheat and barley has been cut open and thrown about the place. The *******/s tied all the empty bags to the 2 remaining hides - perhaps as a warning that they will be back?

 

I feel so deflated. I wouldn't mind if I was doing something illegal, but having spent most weekends since February working down there, I feel so bad that some self righteous fool has done this to us.

 

I reported the incident to the police. But whilst they were polite, they weren't interested in the slightest. And said without any CCTV footage, they would not take it further - of course I didn't expect them to be able to do anything at all. Trail cameras WILL be going up this week.

 

Am I kidding myself thinking this could be a one off, or is it time to throw in the towel? Has anyone been through this before? Any tips / advice as to the next steps?

Hi mate, get some of the aldi trail cams and dot them about the place. Let me know if you need a hand with walking through at odd hours and I'll see if I can help. It'd be good to catch them and get a nice criminal damage charge brought against them

[Cranfield]

We had a very similar experience about 20 years ago and like others have suggested , we gave them nothing to destroy.

 

No permanent hides, no feed stored , no signs, nothing "un-natural" left there at all.

It meant a bit more work lugging feed to and fro, but it didn't take long to build a hide on the shooting day (we also planted some willow whips to give us more natural cover) and the problem went away.

 

Leave the Farmer out of it, he doesn't need the aggro and trail cams/sentry duty, etc., are a waste of time and could lead to unwanted confrontation.

[junglebert]

I can't see anything to say it's antis, more likely to be bored kids on the rampage, people are too paranoid and assume the worst.

[subsonicnat]

Kids,,,on holiday,nothing better to do,,had my hides in the middle of a big field,same thing,

Bailing twine cut thrown pallets all over the field,took ages to diguise them..

Put them back up,,,no more trouble,,hope it happens this way for you too.

[old'un]

I can't see anything to say it's antis, more likely to be bored kids on the rampage, people are too paranoid and assume the worst.

Does it matter who did the damage, just keep it low key and don't give them anything to destroy, kids or antis.

[39TDS]

Leave the Farmer out of it, he doesn't need the aggro and trail cams/sentry duty, etc., are a waste of time and could lead to unwanted confrontation.

The farmer won't want any aggravation and is as likely to send you on your way if it causes him problems.

[fortune]

As above. Whoever has done this has seen you working and you may have even spoken to them. They think that they have the right to go and do this. If they have the time to spend out there it is probably someone who has an amount of time on their hands. I wouldn't go putting trail cams up because they will either dissapear or end up in the pond and if you do see who it is what are you going to do about it. it's one thing to know who it is and another to go and beat the **** out of them. the picture quality isn't going to be good enough for the law and they wont want to know anyway. just take a carrier bag of grain and broadcast it into the shallows. unless you have got rakes of ducks coming in then you wont want anymore. it was quite common for our pond to have 20 odd duck coming in. Mallard early and teal later in the season. we just used to spread out around the pond and one would creep into one side and put them off. the ducks would always go out over the same trees so thats where the guns stood. if the person / people that did the damage feel strongly about it then there will be some sort of confrontation and you have got to think about how you are going to deal with this. I would be pro active and put up a few signs about private land and no dog walking. ok they are going to be knocked down but you have got to go there as often as you can to find out roughly what time of day this is happening and who is doing this. if you see anyone, talk to them and ask if they have seen anyone out on the land as damage has been done and plod has been informed and is looking for the purpetrators (Even though they aren't) Know your enemy and keep on top of them.

[shoot and be safe]

It sounds like you have put in a lot of work and as such will be in for a good bit of sport.

It's a shame that your work has been vandalised.

As others have said replace your signs, maybe add "please keep dogs under close control, conservation area".

 

Stick with it Todd.

Don't let the ******* grind you down

[fortune]

I would not be using the word "please."

[Wildfowler12]

Well I've just got back home having spent the morning sorting the mess out. I'm feeling abit better about it all now.

 

The wife was kind enough to join me last night, and as it's been dry, we actually managed to salvage almost all of the feed. It's been rebagged and moved back to my garage

 

The damaged hide is repaired - maybe this was a folly move, but I just couldn't help myself! I figured if it was kids, they'll be back at school next week, so perhaps we're over the worst of it. The only thing that makes me question that is why they tied the empty feed bags to the other hides? Surely kids would have just trashed the lot?

 

I go there every night to feed and check on things. The pond is close to home, and is on my dog walking route, so the 'little and often' approach shouldn't be too difficult.

 

Thinking again with a clear head, I don't think I want to risk losing our trailcams to the pond - so I think I'll just persevere.

 

And regards the farmer - I have decided not to bring it up. The less stress for him the better I would have thought. It's been a difficult enough few weeks as it is with the pigeon shooter snotting the Canada's without his permission. One of which dropped onto the canal next door and smashed a mast on one of the sail boats The sailing club are understandably furious about it, so I suspect all shooters are on thin ice as it is.