Time To Invest In New Hide Poles , But What Ones ?

[marsh man]

Today I went in the middle of a barley field to put a hide around a bale , to say the ground was hard would be an understatement , it was as hard as concrete and my poles wouldn't touch it , the first one bent at the kick plate and after looking for any cracks I finally put the other three up in a v shape and tied the two ends to the top of the bale , this wasn't ideal as the poles were not well in the ground and the dog got put on rations every time he sat on the net?, I know some of you will say take a hammer and chisel and put pilot hole in first but I was wondering if you use any poles that are man enough for these type of situations .

I used Pine wood for a number of years and looking back these were the best I have used , one of the farm hands made his out of half inch reinforced rod with a kick plate welded six inches from the bottom and the top had a split in to hang the net , these would have done the job with out fail , the downside is the weight and are not adjustable , now over to you wise men . 

[kenholland]

I use dinesmore corkscrew poles have done for year's now try fishing tackle shops or any fairs that you can get to . good luck.

[PPP]

I use auger ended fishing poles too, never fail

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, Decathlon do some like you mention but with steel tube and adjustable for height, £15 in pairs,  very sturdy, i sometimes use 1 in the middle of net, you can buy online, they do other shooting gear, i picked mine up from store but they do post

Edited July 14, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper

[ditchman]

use guy ropes when the ground it too hard......i have used bungee's in the past

[marsh man]

Auger type seem the way forward , but with the ground being as hard as it is now , how easy or hard is it to turn the pole in by hand ? , I have got my doubts weather I could have turned a pole in the rock hard ground by just turning the pole itself , still you don't know until you try , failing that , I might have to resort to taking my lump hammer and cold chisel , as they say , wheres  there's a will there's a way. 

[wymberley]

Welcome to the club. I shoot on the edge of a pebblebed heath so this is a permanent condition for me. I use Pinewood but even so modify them before use. I don't know whether or not these are still in use by the army or whether they're still available in ex MoD stores, but you can't beat  the bottom end of the pole being modified to accept the pointy bit of a trip flare stake/picket. Even so, as a matter of course, I keep a big old screwdriver and lump hammer in the truck.

Edited July 15, 2018 by wymberley

[marsh man]

I have got , or did have three sets of different make hide poles , the only advantage I have found is the lightness , the down side is the weakness and the point is to short up to the kick plate , when you can get them in the ground you could do with them being a couple of inches longer so they go into the ground a bit deeper , still I recon you get what you pay for , and although Pinewood are a bit pricey , to me they still take some beating .

[Sprucey]

Electric fence poles and a pack of cable ties this time of year for me. 

 

As the Electric fencer poles have narrow spikes they go in the hard ground alot easier.. then just cable tie your existing pole to it. 

[Kraai]

On 14/07/2018 at 23:11, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, Decathlon do some like you mention but with steel tube and adjustable for height, £15 in pairs,  very sturdy, i sometimes use 1 in the middle of net, you can buy online, they do other shooting gear, i picked mine up from store but they do post

+1

[PPP]

On 15/07/2018 at 09:59, marsh man said:

Auger type seem the way forward , but with the ground being as hard as it is now , how easy or hard is it to turn the pole in by hand ? , I have got my doubts weather I could have turned a pole in the rock hard ground by just turning the pole itself , still you don't know until you try , failing that , I might have to resort to taking my lump hammer and cold chisel , as they say , wheres  there's a will there's a way. 

Mine have a hole drilled through that a cross bar slots through to get extra grip.

[marsh man]

1 minute ago, PPP said:

Mine have a hole drilled through that a cross bar slots through to get extra grip.

That was exactly what I thinking , the only problem , with the majority being lightweight would the metal be strong enough to to put a thin metal rod through the pole ?

[PPP]

Yep, the walls are quite thick and the holes line up with the plastic collar on the pole where the adjust, the rod that goes through is maybe 5mm rod

One tip, get the longest poles then you can use them in winter too, they push a long way into soft ground.

Edited July 16, 2018 by PPP

[marsh man]

16 minutes ago, PPP said:

Yep, the walls are quite thick and the holes line up with the plastic collar on the pole where the adjust, the rod that goes through is maybe 5mm rod

One tip, get the longest poles then you can use them in winter too, they push a long way into soft ground.

THANKS for that , same problem with a lot of the poles from the suppliers , the length of metal is to short from the point to the kick plate , if the ground is soft the kick plate stop it going in deep enough and its forever more moving about , someone , someday will come up with the ideal solution , but when ?

[PPP]

Just now, marsh man said:

THANKS for that , same problem with a lot of the poles from the suppliers , the length of metal is to short from the point to the kick plate , if the ground is soft the kick plate stop it going in deep enough and its forever more moving about , someone , someday will come up with the ideal solution , but when ?

The kickplate ones I have are fitted with Alan bolts to move the plates up or down, not that I use them after getting the auger ends