Closed Season

[jasper65 6]

without being controversial whats your opinions on a closed season for certain species now shot all year round?

 

I know certain pest species needs to be controled through out the year but some need to be able to reproduce to maintain our sporting activities. Just for instance I was given 12 Bunnies the other day all shot with a 12G so all only good for the Ferrets, in the 12 there was 9 milky or Pregnant doe's! the disapointing thing is I know these Rabbits was shot in a area where the population is low anyway, it seems a shame to have knocked them over this time of the year when from a sporting point of view there would have been more for this fourth coming winter for me ....

 

I'm not talking about a Law change here! just a self imposed sensible option on certain quarry on land thats Hammered time and time again.

 

Just a opinion lads but whats yours?

 

atb Jasp

[Ideation 8,216]

Some people just can't help themselves mate, and will very quickly reel out the 'pest control' rubbish when someone pulls them up on it. Each to their own i suppose, but i think it's just got something to do with understanding the land and respecting it. At the end of the day a lot of folk that hunt these days are kids, desperate for a big bag and recognition / acknowledgment of their 'hunting prowess'. Same kind of folk who rush home to update their 'kill count' in their under sig after a day out. Obviously having said all that, there are occasions and situations where extreme prejudice is needed in order to remove a pest successfully, but for most folk that's in their mind rather than a reality.

[pointer 543]

Let's face it the airgun section has always come alive in the summer. As for those with the kill counts i usually think I wouldn't admit to doing so little hunting lol

For me summer is a time for some ratting,minkhunting and as much fishing as possible.August will soon be here and then its back to hounds and lurchers and a bit with guns.i think if your out doing enough in the season you can let most stuff breed for four months.

[rossy08 33]

If i'm shooting for the land owner for pest control then yes im afraid its all year round all shapes and sizes, as its what im there to do. its why i'v been granted the permission, to do a job,not to enjoy myself

 

if i'm hunting for sport or fun (yes fun call it sport all you like but you do it because you enjoy it ie,fun) then i do still shoot in summer but will leave the young or pregnent, not always perfect at this,as non of us are but do the best that i can,

 

my land in derbyshire is very very quiet this year, and the farmer has cattle not crops in the feilds this year so its been well rested, will be going back to that in winter, as the camping is better up there and hopefully the numbers will have returned, ..

[The one 8,396]

I dont think you would need a closed season if most folk showed common sense .There will be some farmers using the strong arm tactics wanting everything killed or somebody else will do it ,but in areas wheres theres no a lot of rabbits we lamp it lightly just to be seen and hold the permission for the next ferreting season .But in other areas' there are bit's that need to be hit hard and you can call it pest control if you like .for instance last time i bred a litter of ferret kits i was going to one small holding and shooting forty rabbits a week just to feed the ferrets and i still got good ferreting there you cant have a close season and leave that many rabbits on the ground ??.

[secretagentmole 1,701]

I shoot to remove a pest! I have been allowed onto my permissions and asked to show no prejudice to age or condition. That means in order to maintain my shooting rights I have to kill all rabbits, kits, nursing does, pregnant does and bucks! I do not put up photos of all the kits I have killed as some people will find it distasteful. Where I shoot is a mixture of horse paddocks (where rabbit scrapes can cause a horse to break it's leg) and crop fields where there is extensive pigeon and rabbit crop damage. They are also undermining access tracks, causing bank damage and undermining trees. So they have asked for a total kill policy.

 

I am a tad more sporting than another guy who comes on and blasts kits with a 12 bore shotgun (tad excessive methinks). But he is under the same instructions so live and let die and all that! I have not plugged a hare yet (not seen one on the permission), but should I see one I personally would leave it so that it may be around and bigger in the autumn.

 

Unlike fishing, rabbits have no close season as they are recognised as vermin and therefore have had the ability to reproduce in peace and quiet removed. If you feel you need to have a close season on your permissions so be it. But on mine there are more rabbits than I could eradicate so by shooting all and sundry! As said before I have even let stoat kits live as they will be after the rabbits too (and they were very entertaining to watch). Each to their own, but farmers will never allow a close season when the cotton tailed varmints are causing millions of pounds worth of crop damage.

 

They also can close railway lines (true you know, they burrow in embankments and can make railway lines and cuttings dangerous. I am sure London Underground still have ferreters on the payroll to control them). Would you introduce a close season on rats? Dont forget rats nurse young too!

[SEAN3513 7]

common sense SHOULD prevail

 

 

where rabbits are concerned it would be foolish to wipe out an entire population, i suppose pest CONTROL should be just that, control.

 

[Ideation 8,216]

People always claming to be doing pest control. Now, if they need to do so in summer, it means, either there are genuinly a huge number of pests (so the bags should be massive right?), it's a new permission they have just gained and so need to make immediate impact on the pests, or lets face it true for most, they are just not that effective at removing the pests, if it really was 'pest control' and the land owner was genuinely wanting every thing dead asap, they would hardly be keen on you nipping up a couple of times a week and knocking over one or two pests each time, they would want full day and night shifts till the problem was sorted or get someone else. So it remains that in most cases, people confuse permission to keep 'pest species' down, with some kind of order to be a pro pestie. You should know your land, how much it holds and what you need to do, if you always desperately chasing your tail trying to cut them down, then you need to look at your methods, or just accept your just having some sport and helping put a wee bit.

[The one 8,396]

I will agree with some of what your saying but you cant let a pest species breed unchecked ,and you cant hibernate all summer and wake up for the hunting season you got to be seen and actually doing your bit and ive still the same amount of dogs and ferrets to feed during the summer as the winter and i know what the ferrets like .

I will agree about the tally's under the posts its no worth the effort and why list all your gear did you no get toys as a bairn?.

[Ideation 8,216]

I will agree with some of what your saying but you cant let a pest species breed unchecked ,and you cant hibernate all summer and wake up for the hunting season you got to be seen and actually doing your bit and ive still the same amount of dogs and ferrets to feed during the summer as the winter and i know what the ferrets like .

I will agree about the tally's under the posts its no worth the effort and why list all your gear did you no get toys as a bairn?.

 

 

What i'm saying is, if you have had the permission a while,and it's not totally over run, there shouldn't be much left to breed and so you should be able to slacken off over the summer. Not stop totally, but if your doing a good job, you should have it under control by breeding season or you are just playing catch up.

 

Same with me for feeding animals, thats why i freeze down a few hundred corpses..

 

And as for the tallys, if the farmer saw that as the 'pest controllers' body count for a year '30 rabbits, 10 pigeons, 4 rats, 1 dove', it would get than reaching for the card of the other guy that dropped by.

 

No need for a closed season everywhere, but also, no need to hunt summer everywhere either. Know your land, that's all.

 

And believe it or not, in most areas, most farmers have FAR bigger worries than the odd bunny, and by letting some guy with an air gun have a walk and pop a few off, he's doing YOU a favour, not the other way round.

 

The One - i'm not talking bout what you do, cos both you and i know what hard work is when it comes to it (i.e long lamping shifts over summer )

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Oh I got toys, but you can also get fed up keep typing in what wou have got, so I list mine underneath so people can read it! Lol, had plenty of toys, 12 foot beachcaster, 30lb boat road, 50 lb boat rod, 3lb test curve carp rod, as well as the more usual toys! Besides quite a few people on here list their guns as a sig!

[Ideation 8,216]

Oh I got toys, but you can also get fed up keep typing in what wou have got, so I list mine underneath so people can read it! Lol, had plenty of toys, 12 foot beachcaster, 30lb boat road, 50 lb boat rod, 3lb test curve carp rod, as well as the more usual toys! Besides quite a few people on here list their guns as a sig!

 

 

Wow, you have a 50lb boat rod? That's so cool! Did you 'score' much with it?

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Yes, had plenty of scores on that, plenty of mackeral, bass, tope, skate, stingray and a 120lb porbeagle! Not to mention cod, haddock, hake, ling, you know, usual stuff. But chaps this is getting off topic again, we were talking about a close season on rabbits!

Edited April 28, 2011 by secretagentmole

[The one 8,396]

Its about all year round season for me ive about 22 farms that we hunt then come the season theres another dozen that let us loose after the pheasant season or the deer rut etc . And im often playing catch up and trying to figure where can we go these off days and who would want a day out and where will i get a bag of rabbits .Ive also put down two freezers full of rabbits no bad considering i like to offer folk there share of the bag when we finish for the day . And on some of mine the rabbits are scares so they will be lightly controlled but i still need to top up the freezers and with a pest like the rabbit causing 120 million pound of damage to uk agriculture a year there must still be plague numbers out there that need common sense controlling ?.

[moxy 617]

Ideation, out of interest what is it you do exactly?? You seem to have a lot to say about everything on every topic going but yet (without searching) i have failed to read anything really of value, in terms of your fieldsport endevours.

I would love to have a read about these long lamping shifts over the summer and the hard work that goes in to them as would most of the people on here.

Im not having a pop matey, far from it, just interested as to where your wealth of knowlageable input comes from?

 

On topic, its both sides of the coin for me, i have permissions where we control the rabbits in order to preserve the population for the winter months, so through the summer we make an effort to show our faces and BE SEEN to be doing a bit but thats all it is.

Again like most just to keep the freezer stocked for the ferrets. Over the years this has been a lesson learned, as some spots which had good rabbit numbers we slowly knocked them down through summertime shooting and the numbers are now very sparce. I dont find it enjoyable trecking several miles up and down dale for the odd rabbit.

On the other hand there is a lot of other land i work where i am paid to control the numbers and keep the population down. Part of this pest control work will be done by shooting but more often than not other methods will be employed.

 

If i had very limited permissions, as a rule i would be leaving them well alone at the moment, letting them get on with the breeding and ensuring i had something to look forward to in winter.

 

As for kill chart tallys, well