comanche
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Everything posted by comanche
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I used to send squirrel tails jay wings and similar body parts to Veniards in Thornton Heath to be made into fly-tyimg materials. I think they paid 30 pence for mole skins. They gave instructions for stretching and pinning them into roughly five or six inch squares and drying them on a board before dispatch. To be honest it seemed like a great idea for making a few extra quid at 8 in the morning. By tea time the idea of messing about on a winter's evening with a pile of soggy moles had lost its appeal. I stuck to the squirrel tails! Which brings me onto Ken's bit of first hand in
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That brought a thought to my mind. Many years ago l had a famous , or infamous depending on your stan-point, politician as a regular customer. While chatting to his elderly wife l learned that her uncle or Grandfather, l can't recall which ,had been a mole-catcher. Apparently back in those days an apprentice mole-catcher was considered to be on the way to being a journeyman when he'd made his first moleskin waistcoat. Then ensued a surreal conversation as we tried to decide just how many skins it would take ,dependent on the chosen style, size of the wearer and whether it
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" temporary territories inherited from previous generations of moles" ,or something like that anyway ?. l bet that if we could interview long dead gardeners and farmers from 100 or more years ago we'd realise we're dealing with moles in exactly the same patches of ground as they did. Probably during comparable times of the year and weather conditions. Even new housing estates are not without problems . They might not suffer the curse of an old indian burial ground( not in Sussex anyway) or a pet cemetery , but no Estate Agent dare speak of the sinister horror that may
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I came to believe a long time ago that moles return almost immediately to sort out their flood damaged tunnels. A trap set in a flooded run is often perfectly placed when the water recedes.
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Physician heal thyself!?? I've pretty much doubled my mole prices since the New Year and become shamelessly mercenary about adding travel costs. I seriously hoped l would end up doing less work for a better return instead of running about trying to please everyone and ending up a well-liked but poverty stricken fool . I've lost several long standing regulars, both farmers and domestic customers , who seemed offended by my desire to earn more than a Mc Donalds waiter . Has it reduced the workload though ? No ; the loss of people who only liked me for my reasonably
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Crikey that place looks like its full of food! Belgian chocolate amongst it too. From the debris it should be easy to see what foods the squirrels are favouring and where to put traps. Sweep up the loose food so all that's easily available are some choice samples in and around the traps. Apart from the risk of punching holes in ceilings with stray pellets or bullets, shooting means you being on site at the right time. Traps will be working as the day is long. Traps ; as many as you can get set. Inside and outside too if practical.?
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This reminded me of when l was a Keeper and l'd spent some time crouched in a thorn thicket at dusk trying to pick off magpies as they came in for the night. When it became too dark to see l set off ,with the gun under my arm, across the fields using the distant glow of the yard lights to navigate by. Unfortunatly l'd forgotten about a newly erected , mains-powered sheep fence. .. l blundered straight into it , and in so doing was afforded first hand knowledge of the electrical conductivity of AYA No 4 side by side barrels. But worse- still ; l became briefly entangled an
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Yesterday l was offered an unexpected opportunity to spend an afternoon shooting along the private banks of a river . It was a great offer and as l knew it is unlikely to be repeated l was eager to take it up. With no time to buy cartridges l was glad that at home l had half a pocket full left from the last time l used the 12 bore. The "good thing" was that the shells were bismuth ; thus ducks could shot. The "bad thing" was that my shotgun had been dormant in the cabinet for about three years and l didn't exactly excel myself with it before that . Thus my chances
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These two popped-out yesterday. I thought there were at least two or three weeks to go . This one was half way out when l went to check them this morning.
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There are various brands of non- non poisonous rodent bait available based on dehydrated plant cellulose. The idea being that as rats and mice mice can't vomit they stuff themselves on the free food which absorbs the moisture in their guts and swells- up. The little creatures then expire from a combination of dehydration and constipation. It's supposed to be relatively safe for other animals. Though one of my customers had a dog that stole and ate a whole box of the stuff. It didn't die but apparently it blew up like a balloon and waddled about in a decidedly uncom
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I reckon you'll have 100% success rate. In fact you'll pretty much be able to guarantee the whole island mole free. A modern day St Patrick, verily .
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Yep . I reckon all these mole- catching registers are counterproductive in many ways. They give an impression to the public that anyone not on the "approved" list is probably not a proper mole- catcher. In truth only a minority of mole-catchers are members of these Organisations. In truth, any good mole-catcher has no need to be a member of any of them to get work. They also have no need to dance to any tunes whistled by the founding Masters and Grand Dragons of these minority groups . There was a time when simple folk such as myself regarded Phillips cassette
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Those Cooeys tend to be a bit over choked . I had an El Niño .410. It had a ridiculously tight choke and also shot stupidly low . Rather than trying to compensate for it l cut it down to 24 and a bit inches Thus making it true cylinder. It was a brilliant little gun after that! I regret selling it Still , l have this left No maker's name, no serial number; one of the millions of .410s to come out of Belgium no doubt. Oh, and one of its firing pins is half a nail?
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Thank you for your experienca personal . Its always interesting to know how people work their dogs and ferrets in different countries and to know about the different Laws that affrct them. ?Do the all dogs belong to the same owner? ?Or do individual owners bring their dogs together to make a pack on hunting days?
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I've really wanted to like this programme . Bob Mortimer , Paul Whitehouse,fishing ; a winner surely? Nah. It misses the mark by enough to be frustrating rather than entertaining.
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Or lower the ceiling of the trap with a block of wood? Have the bait well beyond the trap in a block end so the squill is intent on passing over the trap to reach it? Though just to be contrary to the last suggestion; l've had success smearing bait to the roof of the tunnel above the plate. It seems to work well in CWS and Fenn tunnels. If the bait is on or under the plate some squills will reach for it with their hands rather than put their heads or bodies in the killing zone. Same if the entrance tunnel is too short; the squirrel may grip the "door frame" with its back feet
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Mad frontman alert! I remember seeing this lot originally OGWT after coming home from the pub one night when l was about 18 . Had to check em out again after seeing a repeat a couple of weeks ago .
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? Forgive the outfit ; l'd just got back from a night's clubbing.
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I don't know where the Trail Cam thread went; l thought there was already one in Photography section lt would make sense if there was. Anyway, l set my el cheapo camera, all £25 worth of it, in a customer's loft . She was being kept awake by rats or possibly small wilderbeest. Droppings indicated mice but who was l to argue . I could've simply set a trap or two to identify the species but following the recent thread on cheap cameras l opted for the latter. Clearly l had set the sensitivity too high because when l retrieved it the thing had been triggered 2800 times!
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The Mk4 is light to carry and convenient in that tunnels and boxes can be made of standard sized timber and stepping down the entrance is easy. It also catches squirrels very well. Unfortunatly even with a perfectly orientated grip the jaws are not always equal to dealing with the bull necks or muscular fat-lined bodies of the the more prime specimens . As Tyla touched-on and Old Phil mentioned in detail ; there are sometimes signs of a struggle. A dead squirrel found in a position with its back feet braced against the bars of the trap might be glossed over as the resu
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Soooo, looking at Micky's trap ; is this how it would look when set? The triangular flap acting as a catch between both plates while holding the jaws open?
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Good luck . Really looking forward to the catfish on cane reports .
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Easy to see why Pink Floyd and Peter Green valued him so much . I saw him when he was with Thin Lizzy . He didn't really fit the group style-wise but easily not only out played Gary Moore but did it without any fuss or Moore's annoying grimaces and poses.
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This , over and over. Till l finally worked out how to play ( or at least blag?) the bassline .
