1888andybhoy 7 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Hi lads i have just started keepering on our small shoots last year in july. So far this season we have shot 78% of the pheasants put down. I was wondering how all you lads whistle feed your pheasants and how to get the pheasants onto the whistle as im interested in trying this next year. And also how long after the shooting season do you continue to feed ? Many thanks Andrew Quote Link to post
ratattack 111 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Whistle them in as you feed, works well with hand feeding they will soon get it. Quote Link to post
Lab 10,979 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Hi lads i have just started keepering on our small shoots last year in july. So far this season we have shot 78% of the pheasants put down. I was wondering how all you lads whistle feed your pheasants and how to get the pheasants onto the whistle as im interested in trying this next year. And also how long after the shooting season do you continue to feed ? Many thanks Andrew Well if you really had shot 78% of birds down then i would see no reason to stop what you are doing since theres a month to go yet.. Quote Link to post
perthshire keeper 1,237 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 like he said 78% is bloody good we got 58% on avrage we just use hoppers ut whisle on 2 drives and they fizzle out after 2-3 goes at them whsle feeding is ok if the birds are hungry and you can feed them twice a day and can feed them every day! Quote Link to post
masmiffy 82 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 When I helped on our local shoot we always whistle fed. Twice a day every day! Laborious but it does work they soon get to know that the whistle means food. You can get the birds into almost any drive you are going to shoot on a particular day. Most shoots would love a 78% return thats for sure well done! Quote Link to post
A1an 4 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 why on earth would you want to hand feed when hoppers are obviously working? Hand feeding is a pain in the ass, many a 'keeper would love to have the luxury of hopper fed birds. Its very tying, you HAVE to be there, EVERYDAY, twice a day at first release. My advice......dont bother. Quote Link to post
perthshire keeper 1,237 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 like he said^^^ Quote Link to post
1888andybhoy 7 Posted January 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 (edited) Thanks lads. How long after the shooting season do you lads continue to feed the birds ? Andrew. Edited January 5, 2011 by 1888andybhoy Quote Link to post
A1an 4 Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 Thanks lads. How long after the shooting season do you lads continue to feed the birds ? Andrew. How long can you afford to keep feeding them for? Thats what it boils down to at the end of the day. Wheat has gone through the roof, if you are managing to shoot 78% of what you put down, I would stop feeding at the end of the season. Quote Link to post
mudman 14 Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Thanks lads. How long after the shooting season do you lads continue to feed the birds ? Andrew. How long can you afford to keep feeding them for? Thats what it boils down to at the end of the day. Wheat has gone through the roof, if you are managing to shoot 78% of what you put down, I would stop feeding at the end of the season. So what are the poor devils going to eat then ?? Not much natural food about in February and March, you will be condemning the survivors to starve, maybe not to death but they will certainly be very hungry. 78% returns rate, well not impossible but most likely either not releasing many birds..or benefitting from someone elses. Quote Link to post
hily 379 Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 we top up a few hoppers in the areas that we see birds at the end of the season and with experience you find out when you come to bring in the hoppers which ones are feeding and which still have corn left as we have a small stock of wild birds and they naturaly hang about our shoot we give them something to eat . but if your ground does'nt hold birds unless you feed them then i would'nt bother because they will do a runner as soon as they find natural food in other areas hope this makes sense also depends on how many birds are left on the shoot after shooting 78% + .ps we have had a poor season due to heavy snow and we have lost a lot of birds to shoots lower down the valley tracks in snow show this so these shoots are showing very good return added this comment in case you think i doubt your figures atb Quote Link to post
bullmastiff 610 Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 (edited) Training the birds to whistle feeding is handy when your trying to draw them away from the pens/established woods and up into the more remote drives. Cover crops will attract their own birds but a small lonely wood on top of a hill will never hold many birds well, but is an excellent place to drive them from. So you use Whistle training to get them up there. As has been said it's a ball ache of a job and if you don't have to do it then don't!!! As soon as the Poults are in the pens and left to relax for the first day/night (with feed/water already down for them) we then used to start whistling them whilst feeding first thing in the morning. We never hand fed twice a day, just laid it down fairly heavy all at once and just stayed on top of any vermin in the pens. This way they were a bit hungry in the morning and are more likely to come to the whistle. (after all it's announcing that theirs food down for them). We used to only ever hand feed the pens but would have Hoppers ready for them on the edges of the Woods, coverts, game strips etc. for when their flight feathers grew back and they started leaving the pens. Try and make it a clear single tone whistle that you can do for a while though as when your lugging bags of feed and drums of water about with you the last thing you want to be doing is trying to whistle a 'Duelling Banjos' tune!! Also depending what type of bird you buy, some seem more wild than others and would be over the wire and off down the hedges pretty quick so get someone to walk them back to the pen for you whilst you whistle them in (Don't forget to open the pop holes for them to get back in). They don't need much encouragement to come back to the pen in the beginning. After a month of Whistle feeding they should be running into the rides behind you when you start whistling. Once their whistle trained then to get them feeding in certain spots (a small wood/covert on top of the hill above the pen for example) then it was simply a case of heading there first thing in the morning and whistling your lungs off! within minutes you'll have the first birds arriving so make sure there's food down for them. Stay their whistling and occasionally throwing a handful of feed about and every day you'll be getting more and more birds coming in to feed. We used to clear a zigzag shaped feed ride in the wood and run a topper over it to keep it short to start with so they could get straight on the feed then gradually spread the feed into the cover either side of the ride or lay down straw on the ride as this makes them work for their food and keeps them in the area for longer. Once we started feeding the drives then we'd stop feeding the pens and then slowly remove the hoppers from the surrounding area (still leaving Water/Grit down for them though) so although they still roosted in the pen and surrounding woods, at first light they'd be off to the drives/coverts to feed. We never whistled them in on shoot days though. Hope this helps a bit, I'm sure theirs loads of other ways of doing it but that's how I was taught. 78% return is VERY good, I guess you must be pulling birds from neighbouring shoots to get that amount of birds back, so whatever your doing, it's working well enough already! lol We used to get low 60's and thought we were doing exceptionally well! lol All the best. Edited to add, when hand feeding watch out for rats/mice, their population can explode with all that food laying about so make sure you keep on top of them or it can get out of hand. Edited January 20, 2011 by bullmastiff Quote Link to post
East coast 2 Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Do any use the spinner on quad bike? Heard a few keepers working the quad bike with spinner on back. 78%, good going. Quote Link to post
eddie2 1 Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 (edited) Do any use the spinner on quad bike? Heard a few keepers working the quad bike with spinner on back. 78%, good going. excellent write up mastif man. Edited January 20, 2011 by eddie2 Quote Link to post
Jordan 1 Posted January 21, 2011 Report Share Posted January 21, 2011 Agreed excellent right up extremely informative. Quote Link to post
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