Flight ponds

[MC]

Guys,

 

Some advice if you please,

 

I am going to be getting the shooting rights to a couple of flight ponds for the coming season. My questions are, how much do you feed, what do you feed and when?

 

I have a supplier for grain so that is no problem, but do you have to feed it daily, weekly or what?

 

The ponds historically are a home for mainly Mallard with a few teal.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Martin

[Chess]

I normally start feeding mind the first week in August so there is a good head of duck coming in to the water by september. Feed every day and only shoot the water once a month.

[2shots]

BOILED POTATOES IN THE SKINS WORK WELL FOR KEEPING THEM COMING BACK

USED TO FEED THEM TWICE A WEEK

[Blackbart]

Try a specified amount, say a bucket full of feed,if there is some left the next day then a bucket full is too much so try half a bucket and so on untill you find the right amount.If you feed to much you will get inundated with rats moving in on your pond.It is best to have or create shallows where the feed can be put as ducks like sifting through stuff to get their food.

[harv]

You should up the amount as the pond shows increasing numbers, the extra wont come back if there aint enough to go round.

[Suffolk shooter]

You could also go to your local bakery and get the day old stale bread to use as feed. Reading up about the feeding side of things, it would seem as some have said MC the fishermans adage of little and often applies until you have built up knowledge of how many birds and how much feed they want.

 

All the best.

 

SS

[starlight32]

I feed two or three times a week, use mainly potatoes and piles of bread from the local bakery. I only use about a bucket of barley once a week just to give them a treat.

 

I also put down other left waste from home and they love it.

 

As mentioned earlier don't put reared ducks down- They get too comfortable and won't shift and just sit there all day scoffing doing absolutely sod all- Just like the wife

[bob300w]

As mentioned earlier don't put reared ducks down- They get too comfortable and won't shift and just sit there all day scoffing doing absolutely sod all- Just like the wife

 

And ontop of that its bloody sickening to see them fly round and round getting shot at, most unsporting thing ive ever seen reared ducks are

:thumbs:

Yep, I've yet to see a reared duck offer a sporting shot, in fact I have seen them too heavy to get off of the water, even with dogs swimming behind them.

[M ROBSON]

Feed it with Barley not wheat. Split stuff from a grader is ideal, especially if there is oil seed rape mixed in, Teal love it.

 

 

Mark.

 

 

PS,

Our local estate do 100 bird days on "Reared" Mallard, driven over 30 meter Scots Pine trees. Most of the birds are too high to shoot, a lot more sporting than reared Pheasant!

[henry d]

Feed it with Barley not wheat. Split stuff from a grader is ideal, especially if there is oil seed rape mixed in, Teal love it.

 

I`m with Mark small tailings are adequate, tried tatties once in the winter, never again the birds tasted awful

[Highlander]

Feed it with Barley not wheat. Split stuff from a grader is ideal, especially if there is oil seed rape mixed in, Teal love it.

Mark.

PS,

Our local estate do 100 bird days on "Reared" Mallard, driven over 30 meter Scots Pine trees. Most of the birds are too high to shoot, a lot more sporting than reared Pheasant!

 

Id agree with point 1 but not point 2, 'reared mallard' are generally the pits and most unsporting duck to shoot. Pitiful to watch and bad news if a shoot has to resort to them to get the bag numbers in for a day. MR it sounds like those on your local estate might be a bit different but I'd still rathjer shoot truly wild ducks.

[sandersj89]

In the past I have made up a couple of floating feeders and these reduce the need for visits and disturb the duck a little less, I also margin feed.

 

For the floaters I use 2 styles.

 

1: Barrel feeder with pheasant spring fitted in the base, this is held in a frame supported on each end by a standard wooden pallet. The pallets have ply tops, bottoms and sides and then filled with expanding foam or polystyrene to add buoyancy.

 

Hanging under the spring is a metal plate, this is set at a depth of about 8†to 12†and catches grain as it comes out of the spring allowing the ducks to dabble for any spilt grain.

 

2: Similar to above but I use a letter box feeder in the side of a barrel, again suspended between two floats with a tray under for dabbling split grain.

 

To position and hold the feeders in place attach a loop of rope, on opposite sides of the pond set up pulley points and run the rope through both, you can then pull the feeder out to the middle or suitable location in the pond and pull it back to the bank for filling.

 

If had feeder I like mid afternoon soon the feed is waiting there for them when they flight in for the evening.

 

Don’t over feed as it can make the water manky.

 

HTH

 

Jerry

[M ROBSON]

George,

 

Fair enough they may be high but every reared duck i have ever seen has just got up and flown round and round in circles over the gun line....Sporting ?? Not my cuppa tea.

 

I guess you've never seen it done properly then? Sounds like the shoots you've been to only drive off 1 pond which is why the birds circle to get back into it. On this shoot they have a series of rearing ponds and feed ponds which are upto 1/2 mile apart and often up a steep hill. The keeper spends weeks feed trailing them up to the feed pond and then driving them back to the rearing pond long before any shoots occur. They do 4 differant drives like this with a team of 8 guns normally firing around 10-12 shots each per drive. They shoot 80-120 depending on how the guns perform and only do 4 shoots every September. The ducks fly at 35-60 yards high and are motoring on! Tell me that isn't sporting?

 

I'm a wildfowler born and bred so I know a tricky shot when I see one and these aint no puddle ducks. This is how a real driven duck day should be.

 

Mark.

[32 grams of pain]

put little corn in the shallows at first then come back 1 or 2 days later and check for foot prints, feathers on the water and food eaten, then after about a week feed more and more untill you see food left over and dont feed as much then .

 

me and my dad have used old (going hard) bread and rolls from courner and off licences, you can often pic it up cheap (couple of quid for a bag full) or even free

 

then you just feed the shallows every 3 or 4 days or so ,

[Quist]

How big are your ponds?

Sometimes the small ones (about 20 foot across) with a ring of trees most of the way round practically covering it give the best shooting.

If that's you, then make sure you cut away the canopy towards the sunset so that the teal will be visible against the evening light as they come in. Make yourself a hide platform opposite, an old pallet will do. Then plant a barrier in front to conceal you and the dog.

Don't feed too much. They'll be feeding elsewhere during the day, so there should be enough there to make it rewarding to visit but not so much as to attract vermin.

They come to flight ponds in the evening for security more than food so make sure it looks fox proof and gives good shelter from the weather.

Don't shoot them too often. If you've got two, alternate so that you shoot every fortnight but only hit each pond once a month.

Go in too heavy and they'll go elsewhere and it'll take months to get them back.

[nav54]

hi guys we shoot 4 duck ponds start feeding barley then go on to wheat the only reason i have been told to feed barley is that some floats so its more visable but from experience wheat is just as good providin it is fed in the shallows.