Myths, Lies, and old Wifeys Tales

[Tulloch]

Over the last couple of weeks like everyone else I have been doing pest control , most of it has been real fun but it has been hard work.

So far count for me
In 4 weeks foxes - 4
In two days - 26 crows Mix between hoodies and rooks,
In four weeks - 20+ Rabbits ( bear in mind really not been wanting to shoot the rabbits is there is not that many anyways)

However on the course of my last months worth of pest control ( couldnt really call it a full months work as took a lot of time off as wife had a wee baby girl ) I have come across so many old wifey tales and myths and worst of all lies on what we can and cannot do under general License. Lies mainly from the police officers that don't know. so here is my list.

Tying a fox to the fence wards foxes off the farm - Well if this is this is supposed to work then it don't on my permission, before I started the boys at the farm took a "charlie" and tied it to the fence and it is still there, not my fox not my problem to be fair, now all four foxes I have shot have been within a field or so away from where it is tied. I think this myth is designed for the lazy keeper or farmer who thinks if he shoots one fox he doesn't need to shoot anymore.

Tying dead hoodies to the fence - again as above.

Lies questioned on other farm recently by new police officer - Shooting Hooded Crows is Illegal, using Larsen and cage traps are illegal, you need a special license to shoot foxes at night, pigeon and magpies are illegal to shoot also..... Codswollop , farmer in the other glen was telling me this yesterday he had to go to the station in Inverness to get this rectified as we are all in the height of the lambing and things like hoodies do danger to Livestock so it is under general lisence in Scotland (no idea about anywhere else but I presume the same).

What weird myths and old wife tales have you lot heard???

 

[Klenchblaize]

Not so much a wifey tail but ...........

Kent Police FLO:

“You need to have evidenced boar on a piece of your ground to get the condition” (put back) on renewed ‘open’ FAC.

K

 

[Caberhill]

Tying dead hoodies to the fence - again as above.

It doesn't ward them off or keep them away but it does drive them nuts and helps when you've got problems during lambing with a few problem birds. They really don't like seeing there own dead. It doen't work with Rooks mind!

For those that are not 100% clear the links to the general licence which states what can be shot are as per below and remember they change year on year. So don't assume.

http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A1148732.pdf

General licences - Scottish Natural Heritage

 

[8x57]

The keepers gibbet doesn't work and certainly doesn't portray the right impression to the general public. There's certainly no place for it in this day and age.

It's only real purpose was for underkeepers to be able to demonstrate to the head keeper or boss that they were on top of their job in days long gone by.

 

[Tulloch]

It doesn't ward them off or keep them away but it does drive them nuts and helps when you've got problems during lambing with a few problem birds. They really don't like seeing there own dead. It doen't work with Rooks mind!

For those that are not 100% clear the links to the general licence which states what can be shot are as per below and remember they change year on year. So don't assume.

http://www.snh.gov.uk/docs/A1148732.pdf

General licences - Scottish Natural Heritage

Yer I said to the old farmer boy who came and asked me about it yesterday I told him what he can and cant shoot without applying for a license, I am kind of lucky I trained on a bird estate so it was drummed into me me what I could and couldnt shoot

 

[Mr. Gain]

The keepers gibbet doesn't work and certainly doesn't portray the right impression to the general public. There's certainly no place for it in this day and age.

It's only real purpose was for underkeepers to be able to demonstrate to the head keeper or boss that they were on top of their job in days long gone by.

I was going to post to add the second sentence above - of something very like it - but it popped up in the autoquote all by itself!

 

[Gazza]

I believe the tying of vermin to fences was not so much to ward of others of the same species but to show the landowner that the keeper was doing his job. Shooting crows over laid barley and then breaking them into pieces and scattering the parts over the laid crop does work (for a short while anyway).

General Licences are fairly specific and don't just provide open season. As alis says - don't assume.

 

[Tulloch]

I pick up what I kill and dispose of where I need it, I may keep the tail if it is a fox but even then I feel thats not needed

 

[daven]

I pick up what I kill and dispose of where I need it, I may keep the tail if it is a fox but even then I feel thats not needed

When I was a kid, the "seasoned hunters" always tied squirrel tails on their car antennas.... Idea musta petered out before the internet came along cause I couldn't find an example for you

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

that practise used to be the norm everywhere but now i only tend to see it around shropshire for some reason, as the others have said its just to let the farmer/landowner know the pests are being sorted,

 

[8x57]

The Shropshire lads have always been a bit slow to catch on.

 

[AN DU RU FOX]

very true they have a healthy disregard for moles mostly ,

 

[reiver]

The jibet is Back in fashion again with mole catchers as now they are paid per head not by the lack of mole hills £5-15 per velveteen around here .

 

[pitiliedon]

I really liked seeing the keepers heart or jibbet, really interesting the range of species that you used to be hung up. Let you see what " was" about.
I think it was more for the era when owners were absent most of the year and only came up for the season. It gave them confidence that their man was about his work when un supervised.
Even more interesting is if you get a hold of old vermin ledgers from 18th- century and see just what was taken on an annual basis.

 

[Klenchblaize]

The jibet is Back in fashion again with mole catchers as now they are paid per head not by the lack of mole hills £5-15 per velveteen around here .

It must be age as I find it all but impossible not to recall one of the finest lines in poetry whenever someone mentions moles!

"By Langley bush I roam but the bush hath left its hill
On cowper green I stray tis a desert strange and chill
And spreading lea close oak ere decay had penned its will
To the axe of the spoiler and self interest fell a prey
And cross berry way and old round oaks narrow lane
With its hollow trees like pulpits I shall never see again
Inclosure like a Buonaparte let not a thing remain
It levelled every bush and tree and levelled every hill
And hung the moles for traitors - though the brook is running still
It runs a naked brook cold and chill"

John Clare

 

[Mr. Gain]

It runs a naked brook cold and chill"

John Clare

John Clare, a fine poet, but a thoroughly gloomy cove.

 

[mudman]

What problems do mole cause ? Never quite been able to work it out myself ?

 

[nell]

What problems do mole cause ? Never quite been able to work it out myself ?

Apart from the mess they make, a major problem is soil from thier hills being picked up in silage which is a cause of lestiriosis in livestock..

 

[Pheasant Feeder]

Apart from the mess they make, a major problem is soil from thier hills being picked up in silage which is a cause of lestiriosis in livestock..

Farmer mate of mine moans about it knocking hell out of his mower blades, so much so he leaves that field till last.

 

[countrryboy]

I mind reading an old keepering book years ago and in the old days if the keeper got a fox he would half bury it in a ploughed field (dunno why has to be ploughed?) then surround it with gin traps, think he said his best catch was 4 or 5 in a nite.

There was an old saying shoot 1 fox and 2 come to the funeral

Nell has it right about the soil in silage and listerosis, lot of farmers will not feed silage to sheep as they seem to be very affected by it resulting in stillborns and miscarrages, heard of dairy cows going temperarly blind too. The soil does somethng as the silage ferments.
At this time of year soil can get into young lambs umbilical/belly button causing some other problems

Nell have u heard of farmers spraying there bales before wrapping for listerosis? 1 of the moors i go to over ur way sprays his bales think about £1.50ish a bale but it means he can feed silage to his sheep. Means not dependent on getting hay.
Never heard of this before on any other farm i go to