villaman Posted June 16, 2021 Report Share Posted June 16, 2021 Another reason not to shoot jays https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jun/16/half-the-trees-in-two-new-english-woodlands-planted-by-jays-study-finds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted June 16, 2021 Report Share Posted June 16, 2021 (edited) Double post Edited June 16, 2021 by Mice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted June 16, 2021 Report Share Posted June 16, 2021 But Jay's in large numbers can be a problem, and aren't grey squirrels supposed to bite out the growing point of acorns to stop them germinating, which makes you question the article. Jay's will and do spread acorns, but if there weren't oaks there to begin with then how did they do it? The wood where I shoot has oak saplings everywhere at the moment, they were scattered across the floor and everywhere you step at the moment has a tiny oak tree. I also know I'll see Jay's when I'm in the wood because they are coming to my feeders, but they are incredibly wary, I couldn't imagine getting a shot on one, they land then are gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve s×s Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 Just another miss guided missile 🙃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 Landowner of our syndicate shoot preferred us not to shoot them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 I generally don't shoot jays, because there doesn't seem to me to be a high population in my area, so therefore if they are causing problems for other wildlife then those problems will be less due to the small numbers of jays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 I’ve just shot one under my wife’s orders, to protect red listed nesting birds. Alongside two grey squirrels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 11 minutes ago, Scully said: Landowner of our syndicate shoot preferred us not to shoot them. He had obviously not seen them take eggs or chicks from other birds nests then. They are a menace. In a life of very few achievements one of my best would have been shooting five Jays on one drive on a game shoot at Kings Somborne in Hampshire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 43 minutes ago, JDog said: In a life of very few achievements one of my best would have been shooting five Jays on one drive on a game shoot at Kings Somborne in Hampshire. Good work, I have never even seen five in close succession. Must have been early season on the acorns? If I had a jay and pheasant over me I would take the jay. My wife has seen them tear apart nests, hence the hatred. @robbiep‘s considered approach seems worthwhile. Deal with them when they are in excess. Entry wound just below my thumb in upper thorax, 12ftlbs exited through behind the opposite leg. Wouldn’t normally bother dressing a jay but my sons wanted the feathers to make pillows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 1 hour ago, WalkedUp said: Good work, I have never even seen five in close succession. Must have been early season on the acorns? If I had a jay and pheasant over me I would take the jay. My wife has seen them tear apart nests, hence the hatred. @robbiep‘s considered approach seems worthwhile. Deal with them when they are in excess. Entry wound just below my thumb in upper thorax, 12ftlbs exited through behind the opposite leg. Wouldn’t normally bother dressing a jay but my sons wanted the feathers to make pillows. I have looked out my original Game book. The date was 26th January 1983 and the extract from my game book reads: Bag 18 Pheasants 8 Partridge 3 Pigeon 10 Hares 6 Jays A strange day, totally still and not good for shooting yet a reasonable bag. I will remember this day for a long time as I shot the highest pheasant I have ever fired at plus five Jays on one drive. A very friendly day, good company, good sport and a nice lunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 I have a ten acre wildlife area which I have worked very hard to develope for songbirds. I was delighted to see nuthatches and tre creepers return and now bullfinches. There are so many small birds that they eat around 25kg of food from 7 purpose built feeding stations every three weeks and at the mement are inundated with small birds just after dawn as they stock up for the day. Magpies , Jays and Grey Squirrels are not welcome and I shoot them on sight. In the last 25 years since planting this wood I have seen song birds numbers explode because of this approach. These so called experts need to live in the real world for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 4 hours ago, JDog said: He had obviously not seen them take eggs or chicks from other birds nests then. They are a menace. In a life of very few achievements one of my best would have been shooting five Jays on one drive on a game shoot at Kings Somborne in Hampshire. I dare say he had, in a lifetime of shooting and Forestry work. He didn’t stop us from shooting them, and no one was rollocked for doing so, he just preferred us not too, as like many folk he believed they planted oaks. A fly tying friend was always pleased when I took him Jays if we ever shot any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 5 hours ago, JDog said: I have looked out my original Game book. The date was 26th January 1983 and the extract from my game book reads: Bag 18 Pheasants 8 Partridge 3 Pigeon 10 Hares 6 Jays A strange day, totally still and not good for shooting yet a reasonable bag. I will remember this day for a long time as I shot the highest pheasant I have ever fired at plus five Jays on one drive. A very friendly day, good company, good sport and a nice lunch. That’s a great record, wish I kept a game diary. Don’t want to make you feel old but that was before I was born! May buy myself one as a Father’s Day present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 We have more Nuthatches and Tree Creepers in our woods than I have ever seen in my near 60 years, we also have more Jays, in fact I would say over the last 2 years I've seen more Jays than in the rest of my life. I would never shoot one unless I had no choice, they seem like a magical mysterious bird to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 6 hours ago, JDog said: I have looked out my original Game book. The date was 26th January 1983 and the extract from my game book reads: Bag 18 Pheasants 8 Partridge 3 Pigeon 10 Hares 6 Jays A strange day, totally still and not good for shooting yet a reasonable bag. I will remember this day for a long time as I shot the highest pheasant I have ever fired at plus five Jays on one drive. A very friendly day, good company, good sport and a nice lunch. I wasn't quite 3 years old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldfish Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 (edited) I protect SSSI, as per the general licence I shoot Jays along with the Squirrels, I don't care about natural planted woodland I care about endangered woodland birds. They are a Corvid, people get conflicted views because they are a pretty bird but they are a pest. Shot 14 so far this year😁 Edited June 20, 2021 by Goldfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldfish Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 5 hours ago, Walker570 said: I have a ten acre wildlife area which I have worked very hard to develope for songbirds. I was delighted to see nuthatches and tre creepers return and now bullfinches. There are so many small birds that they eat around 25kg of food from 7 purpose built feeding stations every three weeks and at the mement are inundated with small birds just after dawn as they stock up for the day. Magpies , Jays and Grey Squirrels are not welcome and I shoot them on sight. In the last 25 years since planting this wood I have seen song birds numbers explode because of this approach. These so called experts need to live in the real world for a while. good man 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimfireboy Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 I usually shoot them if the opportunity crops up, not so many about on my land at the moment so I’m not bothered really. Nice to see bullfinches about though so the jays need keeping to low numbers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mice! Posted June 20, 2021 Report Share Posted June 20, 2021 1 hour ago, bruno22rf said: We have more Nuthatches and Tree Creepers in our woods than I have ever seen in my near 60 years, we also have more Jays, in fact I would say over the last 2 years I've seen more Jays than in the rest of my life. I would never shoot one unless I had no choice, they seem like a magical mysterious bird to me. That's probably because they are coming to your squirrel feeders I would imagine?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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