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comanche

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Everything posted by comanche

  1. comanche
    Sighthounds make very good pets. Thank goodness they do, considering the number that find their way into rescue centres or have to be retired through injury .. They love comfort and respond to affection. They don't need to be run on live prey any more than my friend's jack-russel needs to be stuffed down a fox hole , my brother's staffie needs to be in a fighting pit ,or my neighbour's rescued labrador needs to be taken shooting to have a happy life. How come lurchers chase rabbits but ignore ferrets and livestock ? Or should!.... Coz they know bunnies are fair game . Your job,if you w
  2. comanche
    Victorian naturalist Francis Buckland and his Dad seemingly tried just about everything . They were quite miffed when London zoo buried a dead leopard without giving then first dibs at it. So miffed in fact they insisted it was dug-up and cooked. Apparently despite their cast-iron taste-buds they declared mole to be one of the most disgusting things they ate. Yet according to historians Roman soldiers regularly ate moles. This is based on the remains found in by archaeologists in their camp fires and midden piles. The historians don't seem to consider that the reason Roman soldiers chuc
  3. comanche
    Its great to see the way they enjoy every fish rather than getting all grumpy if they don't get a chosen species or a PB like a lot of grown-ups. Last season Den's Dad and I took him to a day-ticket place and he landed one of the rare carp in the place. At 13lb the owner said he thought it was the biggest that had been caught! And it wasn't luck.He watched that fish hoovering up maggots in his swim,saw his float move countless times, sat motionless like a pro and timed his strike perfectly to add another notch to his Poundland rod. Yet he is still happy to catch tiddlers with me down
  4. comanche
    With my oldest Grand-son Denis not so steathily leading the way we approached our chosen pool on the local mill-stream full of hope. You can imagine our disappointment when we spotted two bedraggled boys perched on the bank peering into the water. They weren't fishing. Apparently they had been in engaged in a bout of bicycle brinkmanship. One had managed to launch his machine off a high bank into the stream and despite wading chest deep had been unable to find the thing let alone retrieve it. So it was off with the shoes, roll my shorts-up and enter the fray . It took about five seconds to lo
  5. comanche
    Paul,I'll be checking out the Red River and Arun when the season starts ,welcome to join me for a couple of hours one evening. Probably just dig some worms though:)
  6. comanche
    One thing this thread had thrown up is that, despite being considered the classic material for a simple bow ,yew doesn't seem to be a first choice for amateur bow-makers on THL. I've never been able to find a bit of English yew that looked like it would be any good for a long-bow.Certainly not one that I would be prepared to desecrate the tree for on the off chance it might be usable. This might explain why many of the famous long-bows of Old England were shaped from imported billets. Though I have read that some longbows were made in two halves and joined in the middle. Anyway
  7. comanche
    No , I'm pretty sure it was the fact that the doughnut was from the reduced counter and, like me, they couldn't resist a bargain.
  8. comanche
    I turned-up for a mole-job and the customer asked me if I could thin-out his squirrels.I told him I would have a little campaign while I had the mole traps out but covered myself by saying I didn't expect to make much of a dent due to the amount of natural food about at this time of year and the fact that he had workmen all over his garden.I also only had three traps in the van. The chap jokingly reminded me of my sage words the next day when I turned up to find two squirrels in the traps. Today was even better. I approached the traps and did a cartoon-style double-take. Three young
  9. comanche
    Not quite ... A bespoke variation of the Aldrich was approved for use by a single person, for a single use, but he's dead now! It is similar but not the same as the production model What was the single use he was approved for? Catching the one thing that MAFF refuse to admit exists ... Ah ,that'll be the large non-indiginous carnivores
  10. comanche
    Hopefully there will be a picture on this post. It'll be the first I've done since getting my computer back from the menders and struggling with new technology. Baby wrens in a creeper against my daughters house.
  11. comanche
    If you do have a small broody available it could be worth setting a few spare eggs under her for a week then finishing them in the incubator. When I was a keeper we found that old eggs or ones of unknown age that would be considered past their best for an incubator would hatch when started under a hen. Then give her another clutch to finish herself.
  12. comanche
    I hatched some quail eggs under a broody Malay. She was an amazingly tight sitter. It went wrong when they hatched and she started killing them. She may have though they were bumble bees! Quail eggs are actually pretty tough.
  13. comanche
    Looks like a Supersport like mine but with the sights removed so they don't blur the scope. Pity : a genuine rear sight will set you back £30 which is why mine has one from an old Chinky rifle.No idea what the fore-sights cost but a good Supersport in original trim could have a tag of over £100 on a dealer's rack. The early ones are know for a good build quality which may be due to them being made at the very beginning of Gamo's take-over of BSA. Basically the Lightening is a later ,trendier ,short barrelled version, but not as good. The Model name will be under the scope mount . If
  14. comanche
    Nothing wrong with supermarket cast-offs. Here's my "off the shelf" ( old Co op rack system actually) effort. Didn't skimp on size as you can see by the dwarfish fox tucked up at the back . If you do decide your trolley cage is a bit short you could always add a bait box on the end and shift the trigger mechanism further back.
  15. comanche
    I had an old foreign W&S bolt action lookalike with short moderator. The moderator was a lot less effective than the things we made out of ordinary house-hold items(won't go into that ). I ended-up improving it by dint of a few holes combined with aforesaid household item technology. To test if your moderator is doing anything ,stand in the middle of a field and fire directly skyward. Then fire level with the ground or in some woodland-often the sound resonating against the ground or trees negates the silencing effect of the moderator.
  16. comanche
    Whatever you charge is your own business but now you have declared yourself a professional prepare for the knock on the door late at night . Or maybe a group of hooded, velvet gloved enforcers from one of the "Chapters of the Church of Earth" will ambush and drag you aside in Tesco's car-park, force you to sign-up as a prospect and demand their cut of the profits. You may even be approached in a pub toilet by a man asking to see your Duffus. Only agree if he offers to show you his Putang first to prove he is a fellow mole-catcher rather than a pervert. Luckily you should be able to off
  17. comanche
    I'm lucky that most of my moles are local ;hence the "no mole no fee" promise isn't going to cost me much if there really is no mole to be had. On the rare occasion I'm drawn further afield(anything much over five miles from my hovel is bandit territory for me) I start considering an appearance fee to cover time and fuel and if I am busy or get a "feeling" about the job on offer this may be tailored according to my enthusiasm -even to the point of me saying "I'm sure you can find someone more local because we could be looking at a bill I would be embarrassed to hand you and you would
  18. comanche
    Bottle feeding is a chore even with a couple of pet lambs. Far better to get one of these . Or Its easy enough to make something similar if you only have a couple of lambs and want to save money ; all you have to do is drill holes in a clean container to accommodate the required number of teats-about £3 for a packet of six from any farm supplier. Obviously these devices are standard kit for farmers but enthusiastic pet keepers don't always realise their value. They only need filling once a day and produce far better results than bottle feeding. The lamb happily feeds itself
  19. comanche
    My granddad's poodles-Noddy,Bobo and Lulu(I kid you not !)-were sh*t-hot ratters. Just as well really because he was the first to buy a bungalow on a new estate while building was still in progress and he moved in while work demolishing the old farm next door was going on. Bearing in mind that poodles have a good coat,were originally used as water-fowling dogs and are scored as the most intelligent of all breeds I've often wondered if -assuming their feet are up to it- they might make a better choice of lurcher cross than the ubiquitous Bedlington.
  20. comanche
    I need that to put over the biscuit tin when the grand kids come round .
  21. comanche
    Yep wonder how they react to foxes? But the Scottish wildcat will be extinct in no time Lynx kill and eat foxes as a matter of course. They also have ranges of up to 200 square miles and cover 12 or 15 miles a day when hunting even when game is plentiful . This means any claims that they would control deer or hares are weak as the lynx's hunting pattern simply creams off a few animals over a large area. It also means I would have thought that they are bound to encroach on wildcat territories. Bearing mind that young lynxes habitually kill their siblings to ensure survival of the
  22. comanche
    Ghetto-blaster in loft,Couple of hours of a Motorhead CD played loud on repeat 'll see mummy squill hurrying for the trees with babes a'mouth one after the other. Doesn't have to be Motorhead but if the customer is too tight or squeamish to let me kill em, they deserve Motorhead:)
  23. comanche
    The first couple of weeks of march is the traditional time to tap a birch tree according to my self-sufficiency book but even here in the Deep South I've found that a little early to get a good flow. Maybe "my" woods are a bit cold.I'll be having a go in the next day or two. Over the last few years and come to the conclusion that a brace and 3/4 inch bit make an effective hole when combined with a bit of wide-gauge pipe to match. I made the mistake of using small diameter tube for a few years and the process is slow. Apparently the quicker you get the draining done and the sap on the bo
  24. comanche
    If its wearing a moderator make sure it comes off without too much hassle.If it is tight the thing might not have been off for years and the end of the barrel could be eroded due to fouling. It can take the edge off accuracy but can be sorted. Its a bargaining point.
  25. comanche
    Foxdropper's gibbet picture makes me want to rummage in loft for some old photos. It wasn't that long ago a few rows of corpses dangling from a bit of barbed wire or baling string was de-rigueur to stop the boss thinking you just b*ggered-off home after throwing a bucket of corn on the rides twice a day. Even in the 80s it wasn't exactly PC but I suspect these days camera technology has replaced the gibbet -maybe not entirely .
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