Rough shooting

[harveykeitel22]

well my uncle has now let me and my cousin(his son),to start shooting pheasants etc on his farm, he's got about 600 acres, with little bits of woodland, hedges etc, but he wont let us lay any down for nxt year etc, so im totally new to this kind of thing, as i normally do pigeon and vermin shooting, so any advice would be welcome, on how to attract pheasants and holding them.

[anser2]

Shooting wild walked up pheasants with a dog is a great sport , better in my opinion that driven shooting. As for attracting them onto your shoot that depends on the amount of cover you have and how much time you have to feed during the week. You can just broadcast corn in sheltered patches of good holding cover , but you are also feeding all manner of other birds and rats. A feed drum or two might be a better answer that just needs topping up once a week. However as you get to know your farm you will find the birds will use a variety of habitats during the season. Stubbles early season , followed by foraging under oaks for acorns and at the end of the season perhaps frequenting weedy or reed patches. They will prefer some sheltered places in a cold north wind , others when the wind blows from another direction. A sunny morning following a frosty may find them along warm sheltered banks or hedges. On a wild shoot you plan your day around were the pheasants want to be.

 

Perhaps the most important thing to attract them is feed rich cover. Without any cover the pheasants will leave in search of it once the weather gets cold and you will find without it the pheasants can be hard to get within range of epically later on in the season.

 

If there are any odd corners where your uncle would let you plant a strip odd game crop or even a few berry bearing bushes. Where I shoot in the Fens we have a couple of strips of asparagus and the pheasants love the berries and it makes good holding cover. If you want some free food take a brush , sack and shovel and walk the quiet lanes where there are plenty of oaks. In a good year it does not take long to sweep up a couple of sacks full of acorns and there few better attractors than acorns.

 

As for not being able to release any birds……. The best answer is to go easy on the hens and only take cock birds after December. If you have a surplus of hens you will always attract wandering cocks. Shoot to many hens and you will lose your seed crop for next year.

 

If the farming is a intensive with little natural cover you may find you have to shoot strong in the early season as after the farmer has cut the hedges and field margins the lack of cover will result in the birds moving elsewhere. On the marshland where i shoot we hardly see a pheasant after November.

Edited December 11, 2008 by anser2

[harveykeitel22]

well many thanxs for your advice, im very grateful, well we have made 5 hoppers to place around the farm, theres one wood my uncle doesnt want us to shoot cos he says they breed in there, which i fully understand, but the best place i have seen so far on the land is a field called the heath, its nxt to a forrest, and we walked through a strip of neddles about 500 yards long, and about 20 came out, so i will be placing a hopper there, also can i ask, does aniseed oils and other attracts work?

[anser2]

I have never used aniseed , but some keepers swear by it. It sounds like you have some good holding cover on the shoot.

Edited December 11, 2008 by anser2

[Browning]

Good answers by anser2.

 

One thing I would say is don't start shooting too early in the season, especially if it's been a poor breeding summer like the past two years,

and limit your days, give them time to recover and settle down after you shoot.

 

I never shoot more than once a fortnight on my rough shoot, and even then I rarely shoot the same beats.

This means I have birds around all season.