THE PRETEND KEEPER
- Thread starter stavross
- Start date
Rhodesianjess
Well-Known Member
To be fair, I mixed pure aniseed oil with cooking oil then tumbled the wheat in a cement mixer to hopefully coat it with the brew. Maybe different methods might work better?
Cant beat a bit of mixed seed in the covers to draw them in later in the season
Sunflowers and kibbled maize
stavross
Well-Known Member
I completely agree with that, but one thing I’ve found is if you get spiced pellets and then don’t use it in the wheat they are a nightmare to get to go onto it, presumably because they think that don’t smell like me dinner, same as if you put it in one feeder but not the other, I have a keeper mate who mixes by the tonne and will not feed without it, but another I know says it’s nonsense, one thing is for sure the deer love itI actually experimented with aniseed in wheat for one season. As a professional keeper, everything is accounted for and " by the book" for costing purposes, the boss wants to know how much he's actually spending as opposed to what he tells his memsahib
I kept records of birds shot on drives, amount of feed consumption per wood/game cover then the following season did exactly the same again. Conclusions were that no advantages whatsoever using aniseed. No increase in holding power,no increase in total birds shot for the season. Only sure result was that I now used aniseed on wheat to trim the squirrels out,they love it so it goes in the cage traps. Deer too, spray it on trees where they'll offer an easy shot from a high seat, gets them to linger so guests don't miss them
Personally think it's one of those old keeper tales,best taken with a large pinch of salt.
Squirrelbasher
Well-Known Member
. Of course the rats are on it so I need to keep on the traps all the time now.
Squirrelbasher
Well-Known Member
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
You aren't slipiping the odd rat now and then into them currys are you?A few rabbits about as well so it’s tandoori rabbit, vegetable curry and rice time
Squirrelbasher
Well-Known Member
Ahh, you got me SDYou aren't slipiping the odd rat now and then into them currys are you?
stavross
Well-Known Member
Rain stopped, boots on, out the door, I thought I’ll at least get the last couple of hours of light, well, I did but it wasn’t long before the rain started again, anyway, no foxes seen, I did see a young fallow buck at last light but after a little bit of consideration I decided to allow it to go about its business and I hope forestry don’t come across him as he will be no more, it was almost like autumn this evening hopefully it will change in the coming week and we can enjoy what’s left of summer, I did manage to spread a couple of rabbits along a ride with the.243, so they should keep any foxes busy picking the bits up
Had the delight of watching seven wild poults heading for home as the sun went down last night
Just been shooting pigeon SD and had the same pleasure as i was leaving the field
A dozen perhaps 5/6 weeks old
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
Big hen gos has just flown past here....
Big hen gos has just flown past here....
What a bird though !
And great to see them hammer crows - squirrels - magpies - buzzards !
Anything really !
Smellydog
Well-Known Member
They nest in a valley I frequent. Before they came it was full of magpie. Not any more lol
I've seen magpies dive bomb hedges trying to escape! Payback is sweet
I have largely given up on work parties, most promise empty promises. We have had to borrow a digger and trench the water pipe in under ground because of the constant attack by squirrels. Our poults are £6.50 each this year at 8 weeks old. Most of the smaller shoots round here are getting their birds this week or next. Hope we get some decent weather.
Goshawks are proving a real problem hereabouts, once they start on the poults they won't stop.
As far as aniseed goes, a keeper mate of mine on a very large shoot never used it but one of his underkeepers was very keen to try it on his beat. My friend who has been a head keeper for fifty years said it made not the slightest difference to the end results.
As far as aniseed goes, a keeper mate of mine on a very large shoot never used it but one of his underkeepers was very keen to try it on his beat. My friend who has been a head keeper for fifty years said it made not the slightest difference to the end results.
Good thing this year is the cover is so high in the pens - the Gos has had a bit of a harder time hunting
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