Need Help ? , Or Can Some Members Help Themselves More ?

[Smudger687]

3 minutes ago, clangerman said:

it’s not dislike luck or any other excuse if you knock a farmer with a 100 reasons to say yes eating a crop and it’s still no your doing something wrong it’s that simple mate 

I'm not going to start an argument, but suffice to say, myself and almost every shooter I know in my area strongly disagree with your opinion. 

[Rim Fire]

6 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Now heres a thing , Why rats do not like Barley or Hiding in Hay bales ????,

Don't know why you haven't shot rats in bails i find this time of year that's the first place they head for and i have used barley as bait here is some from other week me and the lady of the house moved some bails and the sheep dog went into overdrive killing 21 

Edited September 5 by Rim Fire

[oldypigeonpopper]

1 hour ago, Rim Fire said:

Don't know why you haven't shot rats in bails i find this time of year that's the first place they head for and i have used barley as bait here is some from other week me and the lady of the house moved some bails and the sheep dog went into overdrive killing 21 

Hello, Ah that should have read, Not like hiding in Hay Bales ???, I got 2 big rats from the Straw bales and our Barn Owl was out hunting, I have about 8 feed stations around the barns and inside the Bale barn and the rear of the drying barn , I think it will be a busy winter

Edited September 5 by oldypigeonpopper

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, HantsRob said:

I am looking to get a lab in the coming years, and would want to train it to pick up and be well behaved. I haven't researched yet, and partly shame on me for not doing so and asking, but I am curious if I should invest in a gundog training school, or invest in a wildfowling club and use them for training. Or maybe a hybrid? I am not asking for help but always open to an opinion. 

I look at other breeds of gundogs but I always come back to a lab! ❤️ Professionally curious, do you find girls or boys better, or is it all down to the individual dog? 

The wildfowling clubs would normally have there training sessions throughout the warmer and lighter days of the Summer and age wise would range from a puppy to advance training with older dogs , the club I was in even took on non members for about £20 / 25 the whole Summer and the paid up members were free , you would be welcome to turn up on there training days even though you didn't have a dog , if you then liked how one of the trainee dags was working you could have a yarn with it's owner , despite what some might say , they are a friendly lot and the majority are always willing to help .

As for the sex of puppy you were thinking about it is horses for courses , all my past Labs have always been Black and all of them have been dogs and I have never had a bitch , some say bitches are easier to train but then you have to take in account when they come into season , when I first started to train my first puppy I did make mistakes as the internet was light years away and my wildfowling club was only interested in wildfowling , I found that first dog taught me more about dogs than I ever taught him about retrieving , from then on you learn by your mistakes but nowadays with lessons and videos I would say that most people can train a dog off good working strain to a reasonable standard .

My advice would be get a good insight of whatever breed you are thinking of buying as some breeds can be a bit of a handful if you haven't had any past experience of training gundogs .  GOOD LUCK 

[rbrowning2]

On 05/09/2024 at 14:57, clangerman said:

it’s not dislike luck or any other excuse if you knock a farmer with a 100 reasons to say yes eating a crop and it’s still no your doing something wrong it’s that simple mate 

not always the case, i have done that only to told they have someone and will call them. 

Most who have got ground to shoot over are very possessive of it even when they have thousands of acres and cannot possibly cover all of it by being in two places at the same time. 

[marsh man]

48 minutes ago, rbrowning2 said:

not always the case, i have done that only to told they have someone and will call them. 

Most who have got ground to shoot over are very possessive of it even when they have thousands of acres and cannot possibly cover all of it by being in two places at the same time. 

I agree it can be a bit frustrating when told by the farmer they have got someone and yet you never see anyone shooting , as you rightly say it is impossible to be in two places at the same time , I found it ideal to try and build up a block of land that nigh on border the land you can go on so you have that much more choice without driving to every point of the compass .

It might be entirely different in gaining new perms nowadays , but I remember once when a farmer near me bought two farms for his two boys about 20 odd miles away , he hadn't had them long and the Pigeons were giving his rape some stick so he asked us if we could go out and have a look , we did and on the day we went we did see several Pigeons but he had bought two new gas guns and these seem to be keeping them off so we came away and on the way home we saw a freshly drilled field of Beans that was covered in Pigeons so we very soon found out who the field belonged to , we pulled in the farm yard and my brother went to see this chap who as luck with have it was the landowner , my brother went and had a yarn and told him we had just had a run out to look at Mr xxxxxxx rape field as he had several Pigeons going on there but his new gas guns seem to be keeping them at bay , then on the way home we noticed a lot of Pigeons on your freshly drilled Beans and was wondering if we could have a go , the farmer gave it a thought and said he think he had someone coming tomorrow , me brother always had a counter answer and said , would it be alright if I went until your man came ? , again he gave it a thought and said Yes as long as you are not in his way , my brother was out there the next day and got a decent bag and he never saw anyone , he thanked the farmer and could have had more shooting but it was to far for us to do a 40 plus return trip and we never went out that way again .    MM

[39TDS]

2 hours ago, marsh man said:

I agree it can be a bit frustrating when told by the farmer they have got someone and yet you never see anyone shooting

It is a very easy way for the farmer to say no to you without having to offer further explanation, I have used this response myself. 

[clangerman]

for those who get disheartened remember this if you have a pigeon shooter everyone can see your the smartest farmer in the village but if all you have are fat pigeons they can also see your a fool 

[marsh man]

44 minutes ago, 39TDS said:

It is a very easy way for the farmer to say no to you without having to offer further explanation, I have used this response myself. 

Do you have many inquiries asking about vermin control ? and would you let a total stranger on your land with a gun ? , 

I can honestly say that I have never had a complete stranger inquire about Pigeon shooting since I have had the control of the Pigeon shooting on the estate where I do my main Pigeon shooting , any inquiries are from beaters and any helpers , even these are a rarity , as an example , this past year I have one chap who do some picking up came one afternoon for a few shots on the stubble before he darted away to go on a evening b b q. now the Pigeon shooting is all but over due to the game shooting starting soon .  MM

[39TDS]

Yes I have had a few over the years but admit they are mostly from people who have crossed my path before one way or another.

I don't let anybody on my land with a gun these days whether I know them or not. Not that my land is very extensive any more, a lot of farms have single fields bigger than my entire place now. 

It might sound mean but very nearly every single shooter that has ever been has been in it purely for the day out, they haven't contributed anything at all in the form of pest control. Just my experience, I do see plenty of posts on here where folk have done significant pest control.

[marsh man]

10 hours ago, 39TDS said:

Yes I have had a few over the years but admit they are mostly from people who have crossed my path before one way or another.

I don't let anybody on my land with a gun these days whether I know them or not. Not that my land is very extensive any more, a lot of farms have single fields bigger than my entire place now. 

It might sound mean but very nearly every single shooter that has ever been has been in it purely for the day out, they haven't contributed anything at all in the form of pest control. Just my experience, I do see plenty of posts on here where folk have done significant pest control.

We cannot tar them all with the same brush as there are many decent folk about who enjoy Pigeon shooting and that is all they want to do , and then sadly we must look at the other end of the scale when you are thinking of allowing a complete stranger to access your farm and some places that are best left alone.

When we done Partridge days we would often have a minimum of 5k in various release pens , that were put in the cover strips , on top of this would be Pheasant chicks , this is where the money is nowadays , not the game hanging up in the larder after a days shoot as they are nearly worthless this day and age, it is the young game chicks that make good money and they would be hard to replace if they went missing a few weeks before a shooting date.

Also when I worked on the place before I retired we got broken into twice within a month , after all our electrical stuff was nicked they came back again after we replaced it all , so it's all right allowing people who you have known for a while and you know you can trust , it's the ones who turn up out of the Blue who you have to tell them , sorry I have already got someone who do the Pigeon shooting , nowadays it's a case of better to be safe than sorry , a sad state of affairs but that is the real world we are living in .