baguio
Well-Known Member
Might try this at the weekend.
Feeding Deer to Clearings
- Thread starter Sandy25
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Sandy25
Well-Known Member
Cheers for that. Will have a look and get that sorted.
Might be better having a lick than feed hoppers?
That's the population you have seen that will not be the population you have.
Sandy25
Well-Known Member
We have been monitoring the area a lot, and have identified several distinct groups and individuals on the ground. There is some Roe mark, but the huge majority is all muntjac and fallow. The current estimate is a population of 10 -12, and there may be more, or there may well be less. It is an estimate off the animals we have seen on the ground.
All we can really say is that the population of Roe in the ground is not high enough to be causing any significant damage, and we have no cause to cull any animals. The fallow and muntjac are in high numbers, and do need severely reducing. If we then find that the roe have blossomed and are then struggling, we will take some.
We are just not seeing the numbers of Roe that we would like at the moment.
Regards,
Sandy
Sandy25
Well-Known Member
Brilliant, that seems like the answer!Sandy25
Buy in bulk rather than single salt licks
My mate owns this company, but he is in Ellesmere port. See if any local Agri farm shops have any. Horse feed supplies can be deer
Thanks very much
Feeders and licks to do the job properly, forgot to mention a half bucket of chopped apples per site every other day for the week leading up to a planned visit to the high seats. (Licks and Molasses from EBay sellers)Brilliant, that seems like the answer!
Thanks very much
The apples disappearing and the cameras will show activity, had a sounder of Boar visit 20.30 last week, first Boar sighting since 2018 so well happy.
Willowbank
You'll not shoot many over a feed station before they won't come near it. I'd be looking to be in place in the dark and catch the fallow on their way back from the fields (or last light as they head out in the evening). Ideally shooting from the woodland edge out into the open fields as you will lose light very quickly in the woodlands. They can go very nocturnal, only coming out right on dark.
Not ignoring your need to extract, but bear in mind that Tb and CWD in the States are both linked to the practice of baiting deer. and you are in a high TB area. May be check ibTB - Mapping bovine TB (bTB) in England and Wales first.
I wouldn't be feeding deer.
I wouldn't be feeding deer.
yellow belly
Well-Known Member
Not going to be popular, but if your able to cull at 300m start there and keep going as they come back to the edges/closer if you can team up with your dad and get stuck in if the aim of the plan is to reduce numbers.
Sandy25
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that is a potential option, the only issue we have is that the animals always tend to be very nocturnal already, so very hard to ID, and work out respective body angles in the twilight. Might well be going for a bit of a plink at a longer range though to work out what the drop on the old .308 is and keep it as an option............
Cheers,
Sandy
Put a digital on and use the one hour past other wise you will be scratching around not making any headway, 13 of the 14 fallow I have shot on a new bit have been like that. Start poking out at that 300 and you chip one and wish you had never taken the shot. Pick a decent wind and use that and the lack of light to your advantage to get closer, no different to foxing just deer.
Prickett's are easy to see and if they have a bit on top even better.
Use the kit, use the time allowed.
I'll just add my two penn'orth to the advice given so far if I may?
Although I don't have the level of experience of many of those who have commented so far, I have learned a fair bit about fallow in the relatively short time (12 years or so) that I've been stalking.
My knowledge of the other species you mention is somewhat limited, so my comments below all relate to fallow:
I should say the main thing is to learn your deer. In many ways, fallow are unpredictable, in so far as sometimes they may be on your patch and sometimes they may be miles away. The herds are transient, within a fairly large home range, which may encompass a number of land holdings.
However, on the occasions that they are present on your ground their behaviour follows certain routines that are fairly predictable. They are quite likely to be found in the same place at the same time of day in the same weather conditions, depending also on the time of year. Learn these patterns of behaviour, and your ratio of kills to outings will significantly increase, leading either to more deer shot, or less time spent per deer.
For example, on one place I shoot, I have a highseat from where I get a view along the woodland edge to a field corner about 200m distant. If it's been a wet day, followed by evening sunshine, I can be pretty sure that if (and it's a big if) the herd is in residence, deer will emerge onto the field corner in late afternoon / early evening, presenting good shot opportunities at a distance of 180 - 230 metres. However, if it's been a dry day they won't. They will have been there in the morning instead, so a quick check of the weather forecast the day before ensures I'm there at the most productive time of day. However, if it's a full moon it's not worth going there at all as they don't emerge until after legal shooting time, and then from a different direction.
If the forecast is for high winds they emerge from the woodland edge much closer to my highseat, rather than in the field corner, giving shots from as little as 30m up to 150m.
During rain they remain within the wood, and need to be stalked on foot. If it's actually windy they'll be out in the open, lying in the lee of the wood, but again need to be stalked on foot.
On a dry, still evening that's not sunny they emerge from the wood at the opposite corner of the field, which is behind my highseat, so on those evenings I need to keep an eye open over my shoulder. Shots can be taken behind by kneeling on the seat, at distances ranging from 30m up to just under 200m.
And that's just one highseat. I have others on the same permission, each suited to intercepting deer at different times of day, in different weather conditions, or at different times of year.
And so on.
But all this knowledge is wasted if the deer are elsewhere, so I've learnt to stop and scan surrounding fields (not on my permission) using binoculars or thermal (depending on the time of day) as I drive to and from my ground, to see what's about and where. And again, I get to recognise certain patterns of behaviour. For example, if there are deer feeding or resting on a particular roadside field about half a mile from my ground at around midday, I can be pretty confident that they'll be on my ground by tea-time, and I'm ready and waiting for them.
Of course it has taken me some years to gain these insights, but I think with the greater experience I now have I could get there a lot quicker by making better use of trailcams and thermal.
It's also worth remembering that, as creatures of habit, fallow are also very quick at clocking on to predictable patterns in your behaviour, and adjusting their own behaviour accordingly. So, for example, if you only stalk at weekends you'll very soon find that the land is devoid of deer at weekends, even if you've got the landowner grumbling that he's been seeing deer around the place all week!
Although I don't have the level of experience of many of those who have commented so far, I have learned a fair bit about fallow in the relatively short time (12 years or so) that I've been stalking.
My knowledge of the other species you mention is somewhat limited, so my comments below all relate to fallow:
I should say the main thing is to learn your deer. In many ways, fallow are unpredictable, in so far as sometimes they may be on your patch and sometimes they may be miles away. The herds are transient, within a fairly large home range, which may encompass a number of land holdings.
However, on the occasions that they are present on your ground their behaviour follows certain routines that are fairly predictable. They are quite likely to be found in the same place at the same time of day in the same weather conditions, depending also on the time of year. Learn these patterns of behaviour, and your ratio of kills to outings will significantly increase, leading either to more deer shot, or less time spent per deer.
For example, on one place I shoot, I have a highseat from where I get a view along the woodland edge to a field corner about 200m distant. If it's been a wet day, followed by evening sunshine, I can be pretty sure that if (and it's a big if) the herd is in residence, deer will emerge onto the field corner in late afternoon / early evening, presenting good shot opportunities at a distance of 180 - 230 metres. However, if it's been a dry day they won't. They will have been there in the morning instead, so a quick check of the weather forecast the day before ensures I'm there at the most productive time of day. However, if it's a full moon it's not worth going there at all as they don't emerge until after legal shooting time, and then from a different direction.
If the forecast is for high winds they emerge from the woodland edge much closer to my highseat, rather than in the field corner, giving shots from as little as 30m up to 150m.
During rain they remain within the wood, and need to be stalked on foot. If it's actually windy they'll be out in the open, lying in the lee of the wood, but again need to be stalked on foot.
On a dry, still evening that's not sunny they emerge from the wood at the opposite corner of the field, which is behind my highseat, so on those evenings I need to keep an eye open over my shoulder. Shots can be taken behind by kneeling on the seat, at distances ranging from 30m up to just under 200m.
And that's just one highseat. I have others on the same permission, each suited to intercepting deer at different times of day, in different weather conditions, or at different times of year.
And so on.
But all this knowledge is wasted if the deer are elsewhere, so I've learnt to stop and scan surrounding fields (not on my permission) using binoculars or thermal (depending on the time of day) as I drive to and from my ground, to see what's about and where. And again, I get to recognise certain patterns of behaviour. For example, if there are deer feeding or resting on a particular roadside field about half a mile from my ground at around midday, I can be pretty confident that they'll be on my ground by tea-time, and I'm ready and waiting for them.
Of course it has taken me some years to gain these insights, but I think with the greater experience I now have I could get there a lot quicker by making better use of trailcams and thermal.
It's also worth remembering that, as creatures of habit, fallow are also very quick at clocking on to predictable patterns in your behaviour, and adjusting their own behaviour accordingly. So, for example, if you only stalk at weekends you'll very soon find that the land is devoid of deer at weekends, even if you've got the landowner grumbling that he's been seeing deer around the place all week!
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I feel the same about roe, and let far more walk than I ever shoot.
On my friend's ground in Devon, he often puts windfall apples out to bring in reds out of the woods--seems to work. Perhaps if you have access to windfalls, seems a low-cost bait.
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This exact point was made by Peter Green, chief vet for the BDS, yesterday at the Forestry Commission event.
It is his opinion that artificial feeding poses the greatest risk of transmission of bTB amongst the wild deer population, and it should be discouraged wherever possible.
He made the point that M.bovis can survive for weeks on root crops like beet, and elsewhere I've read that it can also survive for several days on salt licks in fields.
Pheasant feeders may also be harbouring the virus - something that I was particularly interested in as 3 of the 4 cases of bTB we've encountered in muntjac came from the same small area that was heavily populated with pheasant feeders. The large commercial shoot that was running has now stopped, and we will be monitoring whether this has an impact on future incidences of bTB amongst the muntjac on that ground.
If you are going to put out feeders to attract deer then please be fully aware of the potential risks involved. All it needs is for one infected animal to use that feeder and you then have the perfect vector for transmission to others.
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