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Branchers


ladyjack
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Just had a call from one of the farms I shoot,farmer has asked me to stay away, until further notice, gutted as there are thousands of corvids already nesting, look like another year not shooting branchers, hope other farms don't react the same way 

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1 hour ago, ladyjack said:

Just had a call from one of the farms I shoot,farmer has asked me to stay away, until further notice, gutted as there are thousands of corvids already nesting, look like another year not shooting branchers, hope other farms don't react the same way 

don't worry,there will be more next year

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Farmer was well happy to see me last weekend there was trespassers all over trying to see the new lambs

A few loud bangs later they left 

Farmer had signs out no right of way due to virus it was just ignored

As the farmer said if he or his family catch it who looks after the farm..

I was speaking to him 10 yards away

It's worrying times

Hopefully people will do what Boris says..stay at home

Edited by psycho
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I'm staying home and have plenty to do here.  I did have a high seat needed moving before the field is ploughed next week and the farmer has offered to move it up to the location for me with his Front Loader, so when this eases off a bit I can just walk across and put it up. Only a week or two before they cut the silage in the next field and saw four foxes in the thermal across there last week.  My place will be so tidy by the end of three weeks, I just feel for those of you who should be at work and maybe not earning. 

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I see Rooks are off the Welsh and l think Scottish GLs. It may go same way here in the future perhaps.

Personally l think shooting young birds near the nest cruel and opens us up for more bad press that we don't need and would be happy to see it stopped.

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I totally agree Meldon - I used to do it every year but then, about 10 years back, I simply couldn't justify slaughtering chicks anymore. Rooks can be as beneficial as they can be a pest. We had better put our Tin Hats on because a lot of guns still consider the practice essential Pest Control.

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Don't know how much impact on farming crows have. One farmer likes them to take leather jackets of the field but then complains when rows of seedlings  are pulled up by crows in search of insect life.

Our permission is mostly barley  beef  this farmer wants control of crows he says they damage the black plastic bags covering his winter feed   and like feral pigeons foul feed and water stored in his barns .

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29 minutes ago, scutt said:

Don't know how much impact on farming crows have. One farmer likes them to take leather jackets of the field but then complains when rows of seedlings  are pulled up by crows in search of insect life.

Our permission is mostly barley  beef  this farmer wants control of crows he says they damage the black plastic bags covering his winter feed   and like feral pigeons foul feed and water stored in his barns .

You are mistaking Crows for Rooks in your first paragraph for definite and possibly in the second one too.

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1 hour ago, Meldon said:

I see Rooks are off the Welsh and l think Scottish GLs. It may go same way here in the future perhaps.

Personally l think shooting young birds near the nest cruel and opens us up for more bad press that we don't need and would be happy to see it stopped.

:good:

1 hour ago, bruno22rf said:

I totally agree Meldon - I used to do it every year but then, about 10 years back, I simply couldn't justify slaughtering chicks anymore. Rooks can be as beneficial as they can be a pest. We had better put our Tin Hats on because a lot of guns still consider the practice essential Pest Control.

there's a place for everything,no need for tin hats,just return fire:good:

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2 hours ago, JDog said:

You are mistaking Crows for Rooks in your first paragraph for definite and possibly in the second one too.

OK ROOKS FOR THE FIRST ONE AND ROOKS AND JACKDOORS FOR THE BAILS AND BARNS IS THAT BETTER😄

Edited by scutt
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Rooks, jackdaws and crows all need control at times! Folk are kidding themselves if they think rooks and jackdaws don't predate nests or spread disease/contaminate live stock food stuff! Especially in the dry springs we have had lately! Next few weeks would have been the most effective time to do that targeted control. Including shooting branchers. Have you ever tasted them? They are the best eating! And only time many eat rook. 4 and 20 black birds baked in a pie and all that? Yum! It was/is a much look forward to Spring Favorited in Suffolk. Easy way and time to control them. They will never be endangered. They  and pigeons are far to clever and adaptable for that. I like watching there antics. Have a rookery over the road from mine (literally! It's safe) that's been there for many years and part of Spring, and usually has about the same number of nests. Buzzards have been having a go at them in recent years. . . . . . . That's what Wild Justice and other don't seem to get! What we do is pest CONTROL!

I wish they weren't so noisy tho! They the first to see and start calling at first light from there lofty vantage point.The worst of the dawn chorus.      NB

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I have to say, in defence, NatureBoy that there are a fraction of the Rook population left compared to, say, 20 years ago. Rooks can eat as many Bugs as they do seeds so, for my part, I will no longer shoot the young - Crows  are different matter and I will happily shoot the young, Jackdaws if they are around barns/feed but out in the fields? non.

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The term ‘branchers’ refers to young Rooks which have left the nest and have clambered along branches nearby. No one will be shooting branchers at this time of year. The second week of May is the average date for such activity to start.

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3 hours ago, NatureBoy said:

Rooks, jackdaws and crows all need control at times! Folk are kidding themselves if they think rooks and jackdaws don't predate nests or spread disease/contaminate live stock food stuff! Especially in the dry springs we have had lately! Next few weeks would have been the most effective time to do that targeted control. Including shooting branchers. Have you ever tasted them? They are the best eating! And only time many eat rook. 4 and 20 black birds baked in a pie and all that? Yum! It was/is a much look forward to Spring Favorited in Suffolk. Easy way and time to control them. They will never be endangered. They  and pigeons are far to clever and adaptable for that. I like watching there antics. Have a rookery over the road from mine (literally! It's safe) that's been there for many years and part of Spring, and usually has about the same number of nests. Buzzards have been having a go at them in recent years. . . . . . . That's what Wild Justice and other don't seem to get! What we do is pest CONTROL!

I wish they weren't so noisy tho! They the first to see and start calling at first light from there lofty vantage point.The worst of the dawn chorus.      NB

Puts it in a nutshell. Rooks can be a farmers friend but also his enemy and personally I will only shoot rooks if they start to flatten and eat ripening corn or damage crops, otherwise they stay safe.  Carrions I will knock off as and when one is stupid enough to present iteself but they rarely do that.  magpies I control mainly in a farm yard/feed area where the farmer wants them and jackdaws stopped from getting into the feed and feed lanes.  Unless you want half a dozen to make a rook pie , then i would leave rooks alone during breeding.  My three best days on crop control on rooks, where a day on laid barley, 265 and another day on laid wheat, which they had laid 100 in 1 hr, which stopped that game and a morning stopping them pulling up maize just as it was showing and my memory fails me but it was in excess of 140 in a couple of hours at dawn and a lady in the village was enquiring at the shop the next day as to why there where no crows in the rookery the next day. 

No, unless you want to have rook pie then leave 'em alone.

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Drilled just over 150 acres in the last three days of barley, oats, and beans, at 2 o’clock this afternoon there were 600/700 rooks, jackdaws and pigeons all feeding on it. Whoever said they don’t need controlling, are deluded. Most of the rooks came from the rookery a couple of miles away in the middle of the  village which obviously never gets shot. They will be “controlled” this weekend. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I see Rooks are off the Welsh and l think Scottish GLs. It may go same way here in the future perhaps.

Personally l think shooting young birds near the nest cruel and opens us up for more bad press that we don't need and would be happy to see it stopped.

 
Rooks can still be shot in Scotland under general license 02/2020,. Jim.
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3 hours ago, wigeon jim said:

I see Rooks are off the Welsh and l think Scottish GLs. It may go same way here in the future perhaps.

Personally l think shooting young birds near the nest cruel and opens us up for more bad press that we don't need and would be happy to see it stopped.

 
Rooks can still be shot in Scotland under general license 02/2020,. Jim.

Thanks for the clarification. Still think shooting 'branchers' is immoral and unethical and should be banned. 

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