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comanche

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Everything posted by comanche

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  11. comanche
    I need that to put over the biscuit tin when the grand kids come round .
  12. 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
  13. 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:)
  14. 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
  15. 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.
  16. 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 .
  17. comanche
    Some people like to get their dogs after game and then do the steadying training. Others start with the steadying them move on to the real thing when they hope they have a bit of control . It depends on the dog's temperament ,the owner's outlook and the room for error. Round my way there's little room to manoeuvre and overly eager young dog can be in trouble if let off without the preliminaries. Two dogs together though will often egg each other on bit so be a bit headstrong . Good luck . Sounds like you should be set up if you decide to use your ferret after rabbits though.
  18. comanche
    Get yourself a couple of cheap ex laying hens and keep them as pets. Not pheasants I know but if you can get your dog steady to the point it ignores them as they scratch round the garden it will be a start. I always make sure to have a couple of hens about whenever I buy a pup. The result (famous last words) is that I end up with a dog that ignores feather- unless told otherwise;). Otherwise it back to square one basic obedience and stock training before you even think of letting it off the lead.
  19. comanche
    Cobbledicks and Veniards;those names bring back memories. The latter were paying 25p a squirrel tail in the late 80s and I recall making £125 one winter with the .22 and just a couple of Fenn traps . They were good payers and rarely rejected a tail. I didn't bother with the mole skins. They paid 30p a skin but they had to be pinned and dried into six inch squares and sent off in bundles of ten. By the end of the day enthusiasm for spending the evening at the kitchen table with a razor blade and pot of drawing pins had waned. A few of my moles still go to a fly-tying instructor who ski
  20. comanche
    Three mates walk past a brothel after a boy's night out and notice an unconventional price list that includes the words "Gentlemen are required to pay according to their endowment @£10 per inch". Bob goes in first and comes out after brief bout of Rogery and with a grin announces," Well that was 70 quid well spent". Not to be outdone Kirk takes his turn and breezes out boasting of his £85 bill. That just leaves Kev . He sneaks inside and about twenty minutes later joins his mates on the pavement with a very smug look on his face and presents a till receipt for a mere £40.25p. Pre
  21. comanche
    Pork has a reputation for going "off" quickly. Supermarket-bought pork might not be as fresh as one likes to think and having been trapped in a plastic wrapper full of dormant bacteria might be more liable to give a ferret a bad time than a bit of well refrigerated stuff straight from an abbatoir cold store. I've fed dead piglets and only last November my ferrets had a day feasting on a pig's head from one of my animals. Bits of liver,lights and odds and ends in small amounts have never had an ill-effect on my ferrets but I don't risk allowing them to store pork products in the nest for as lon
  22. comanche
    Oh Lord . The mind boggles at the potential for embarrassment. Imagine shuffling into A&E with an unnaturally placed steel probe and a dangling Talpex and trying to explain that you really did slip on a cowpat. .....
  23. comanche
    I would explain that a cricket box was a health and safety requirement in case a mole shot out of the ground at close range . Especially if the weather was cold! That's what I would tell the customer. You might be "luckier":)
  24. comanche
    Cheers Comanche, thanks for some sound advice. I am a travel light type of guy when I go foraging, so your advice fits me well. Just been looking at locator and collar prices and though I would love to get this kit straight away it's simply out of my price range without saving. What would be a fair price for a second hand locator and collar out of interest? Also What books would you recommend to get me started? Robbie The grey box Deben ferret Finder was the first really good locator and fortunately they last a long time so there are quite a few offered second hand. Unfortunately becaus
  25. comanche
    The answers you get will vary in detail because everyone has their own ideas about how things should be done but the basics of ferreting are simple . You keep your ferret clean and well fed. You make it tame . You find some rabbit holes ,put nets over them and pop your little pal into the holes to chase the bunnies into the nets . Not rocket surgery or brain science . Luckily there are clever blokes and blokessess who have worked this simple theme into a money-making career in book writing. Read as many as you can. A single ferret kept as it is a pet with lots of cuddles and familia
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