THE PRETEND KEEPER

[stavross]

Mate rang me earlier saying they’d had a downpour which had stopped them drilling if I fancied a look about, well, it’s Saturday, what else you going to do. Arriving at around half 8 I headed for the game cover to get rid of a few hoppers that have taken up residence, I managed 5 with the .17 before I lost the light, now if you have a low land shoot, this is what your cover should look like, my mate doesn’t release any birds on his farm but with 2 large strips of cover like this they don’t half pull some birds in giving them 2 or 3 cracking little days. Once I’d lost the light I swapped over to the.243 and grabbed the caller, headed for the plantation, gave it an hour but there was a lot of moisture in the air and with the scope fogging up I decided to call it a night, not how I intended the evening to go but at least i was out

 

[User00053]

Very evocative touch of north in the wind smells like autumn

 

[bumpy22]

Check of pens this morning all looking good

 

[bumpy22]

One mangy old fox taken last night below pen

 

[Smellydog]

I was out until 1:00am stalking a fox. If only I had a 223.....
I was wondering why I hadn't seen any wild birds down there .
You think your on top of them.....

 

[Squirrelbasher]

Checked a squirrel feeder that I set up last week, it’s been refilled three times now and I’ve had a wildlife camera on it showing activity all day so I’ll be on that this week if I have time. Meanwhile, here’s one I trapped and found a late hedge sparrows nest and had a couple of bunny burgers I made earlier.

 

[Smellydog]

Checked a squirrel feeder that I set up last week, it’s been refilled three times now and I’ve had a wildlife camera on it showing activity all day so I’ll be on that this week if I have time. Meanwhile, here’s one I trapped and found a late hedge sparrows nest and had a couple of bunny burgers I made earlier.

Them burgers look good. What's in them?

 

[David.evans]

You won’t believe me but these two were following behind the combine 40 yards both vixens , I’ve never seen anything like this befor

 

[stavross]

Them burgers look good. What's in them?

Rabbits?

 

[Smellydog]

Rabbits?

I wondered if anything was added clever clogs

 

[stavross]

Up feeding again yesterday afternoon, they are just starting to wander a little further, it was the first time I’d seen a few on the tracks, they are still not a long way from the pens but it’s something to keep an eye on, being a woodland shoot you are unable to walk them all back to the pens ( mainly because you can’t see the buggers in all the cover ) and have to hope they have learned where they live or the birds still in the pen draw them back

Rant time

As I was leaving the shoot I came across two vehicles parked up on the side of the road with the hazard lights on, I stopped to find a group of holidaymakers from London with their phones out videoing a young fallow that the front vehicle had struck, the animal was clearly distressed and in a sorry state, they said they didn’t know what to do, too which I replied “ so you thought you’d video it’s suffering “ I ask them to leave and that I would deal with it and the drive that had hit it said he was staying to see what I was going to do, a few 4 letter words and they were back in their cars and away, now I know accidents happen but if you think the best thing to do is to get your phone out and put it on Facebook or wherever else you tell people about your pointless life, then there’s something seriously wrong with you, Tw*ts

 

[Smellydog]

Well done Stav

 

[David.evans]

Did you do the right thing stav

 

[stavross]

Did you do the right thing stav

If you mean a foul mouth rant and putting the unfortunate beast out of its misery, then yes, I think I did the right thing

 

[Squirrelbasher]

Them burgers look good. What's in them?

Rabbit, bacon, coriander, chopped peppers and onion, pinch of salt.

 

[Smellydog]

Rabbit, bacon, coriander, chopped peppers and onion, pinch of salt.

Sounds great

 

[Squirrelbasher]

View attachment 326419View attachment 326420
You won’t believe me but these two were following behind the combine 40 yards both vixens , I’ve never seen anything like this befor

Good job David

 

[David.evans]

If you mean a foul mouth rant and putting the unfortunate beast out of its misery, then yes, I think I did the right thing

And there is not a man on this earth that will contest that , well done mate

 

[stavross]

Feeding again today and they are getting through a serious amount of feed, I fed on Sunday afternoon and by this afternoon every feeder was empty and they are hungry, this is to be expected as a poult will eat almost double what an adult bird will on a daily basis, hopefully if I’ve worked it right, I’ll have enough pellet for 6 weeks and I’ll start to introduce wheat in the 5th week, at the moment I’m pleased with things but I’m ever aware that these little idiots can go wrong at the drop of a hat, the old girl came out to see me when I arrived to give me a bag of tomatoes and some brambles ( for my gin ) and she said she’s never known them so settled and me so calm, not chasing them around the farm and up the fields

 

[bumpy22]

Looking good stav I also have a lot of pellets this year managed to get some grower pellets off a farmer I shoot for. He was rearing quails and had a few tonnes. So I took a punt and so far the birds are doing great. Saved a fortune on the price of normal pellets and have a lot more so hoping to feed the pens well into season on pellets and wheat on outer feeders. Hoping to hold birds to the wood but time will tell.
Bloody pheasants seem to take over my life more than foxes this time of year