Hand feeding V Hoppers

[Holland 0]

Who out there still hand feeds their pheasants? Who only uses hoppers? And who does both?

 

is hand feeding better, or are hoppers just as effective?

[danw 1,748]

Who out there still hand feeds their pheasants? Who only uses hoppers? And who does both?

 

is hand feeding better, or are hoppers just as effective?

 

I use both methods it is not as simple as to which is the most effective some drives lend themselves to hoppers where as some are better handfed, trial and error is the only way to find the best option. Of the 2 I do prefer hand feeding though.

[ratattack 111]

Birds fed from hoppers stuff themselves then bugger off for a wander usually, hand fed over a straw ride will mean the birds have to scrat around for food keeping them occupied longer and less prone to stray as far. But that said pheasants are a law unto themselves at times

[kbtfowler 2]

I hand feed all my drives because there all cover crops on tops of hills. If i used hoppers theyd feed and f off!. hopper feeding is ideal in some woods though.

[burnie69 376]

I feed with a trail spinner on a polarus ranger all my birds are kept tight and will run to the buggy and i'll feed about 45 bags aday before we start shooting and thats a combination of gamecrop and mature woodland drives.

[hily 379]

as our shoot is diy and we can't visit every day we have to use hoppers we feed only the release pens first and use a few auto feeders with whistles to get the poults to cotton on that the whistle means a feed then in oct we feed out to the other drives we also use the auto feeders to draw the birds into the better drives we scatter straw arround the aut feeders and this keeps them happy scratching about and staying put.having said that i have beaten and helped out on a few shoots and if the keeper is spinning and hand feeding he does seam to have the edge and know where his birds are most of the time.

[rowey 1]

We use both but then we have double the amount of partridge than pheasants. We get pheasants used to the hoppers on the rearing field but hand feed them on straw before release. When they go to wood they are hand fed but there are a few hoppers in the pen. It works for us and we get good returns. Have to dog in well though.

[2434me 13]

Without hand feeding every day I just wouldnt have a shoot !(or job!)

[Jebus 3]

We spin feed through the woods and use hoppers. When we put the poults out first of all we use the Manolas that we use in the rearing sheds then we progress on to filling hoppers and spinning.

[dog gone 21]

prefer to hand feed or spin on the drives you get to see what birds you've got about, can't recommend it more to put staw down and feed on it keeps the birds busy and tight to the drives, also plenty of dogging in. cant expect to chuck a bit of food down and its all done.

[perthshire keeper 1,237]

we have most drives on hoppers and spinning with feed scatterd thrue the pine woods in bad weather.

two drives in the forestery platation are whisle fed just to stop the birds buggering off and red deer ruin the hoppers, i like whisle feeding if i have to move the birds a distance from pen to drive or hold them in a very tight place.

[ad22 1]

I Hand feed twice a day, like everyone has said getting the pheasants to stick around is all about giving them just the right amount, too little they wander too much they wander. If your full time and have to shoot a good percentage dont have thousands and thousands of acres and arent surrounded by big neighbouring shoots i think you need to hand feed prodimently.