Pheasant feed..

i wish i only had 3 buzzards to worry about. before i took the position of keeper part time (part time my arse) i didnt mind them to much its very strange how your opinion changes.
 
i dont believe how obsessed i have become about this shoot . to make make things worse over the last couple of nights i have been reading the game register dating back to 1979 .not to many years that the return has been below 40%. this is probably one of the best seasons to have started this job so no excuses about the weather. tons of blackberrys on the bushes now and the birds seem to be enjoying them its taking them well away from the middle of the estate. ferral cats buzzards charlie ****ing farm dogs i must be mad.
 
I haven't seen buzzards around where I live for years but since the local keeper has put his poults down we see 3 circling over his pens every evening this year. Makes a change from all the bloody barn owls that were "successfully" reintroduced ;)
 
Your return will vary according to a number of factors.
I would be happy with a 40%-ish return taking into account the quality of some of the guns at times and the very few days we actually shot.
 
I haven't seen buzzards around where I live for years but since the local keeper has put his poults down we see 3 circling over his pens every evening this year. Makes a change from all the bloody barn owls that were "successfully" reintroduced ;)

​Apparently they are "in danger" again PB!
 
Not in danger with us, I've counted 6 circling in the sky about four weeks ago. We have a resident that lives in a tree line conveniently located at the mid point between the three pheasant pens.
Had a pair nesting in the trees right next to a pen last year, but they actually caused no bother, the badger that dug into the pen did that !
I'll be putting up all manner of scarecrows and old mirrors, CDs etc before the nets come off the pens, and around where the partridges are.
 
toad it dont get any better one of my trail cams this morning showed folks picking brambles with doggy running round loose:doh: needless to say a word or two in their shell like will be the order of the day as soon as work is over today:mad:
 
Not in danger with us, I've counted 6 circling in the sky about four weeks ago. We have a resident that lives in a tree line conveniently located at the mid point between the three pheasant pens.
Had a pair nesting in the trees right next to a pen last year, but they actually caused no bother, the badger that dug into the pen did that !
I'll be putting up all manner of scarecrows and old mirrors, CDs etc before the nets come off the pens, and around where the partridges are.

Sorry mate I was refering to the owls.

The problem I had with buzzards was more of a disturbance thing once the young 'uns get on the wing and seemed to spend the days dogging the coveys of partridge but I did witness a few poults getting taken.You just have to take into account losses when working out what you're going to release
 
Perdix, I see, owls in danger. Last year we used to disturb an owl every time we drove through a small wood where one of the pens was, and I had found the obligatory headless poult once or twice there, although not as bad as in previous years when most of our pens were in two areas of woodland now cleared. Open topped pens and birds far too young, I was picking up dead poults in every pen every day, some headless and some completely stripped (rats?). The bad old days.
Anyway, any tips on where to get corn cheapest ?
 
Can't help there Malxwal as we got ours from the Farms Dept on the estate.
Maybe try the farm surrounding the shoot?
 
Farms on and around shoot are all barley,wheat and rape, cattle and sheep. The bagged kibbled maize is £7.95 / 20kg bag, prob cheaper if I bought a sizeable quantity. If I was to scatter this and mix it with the wheat, would the birds eat both or get fussy and just eat the maize ?
 
Back
Top