Seen The Culprit.

[neil cooney 10,416]

I put all my cage traps in tunnels except for one rat trap that I always cover in grass and weeds.

Bait in this trap is a handful of wheat and for three days in a row the trap was stripped of the grass covering and moved six or so inches to one side so the wheat could be eaten.

Yesterday I seen the culprit in action. A cock pheasant.

Fair play to him.

[mad4it 695]

fair play to him, I thought you was going to say it was a person moving the traps

[Chicken_man 1,651]

Clever pheasant :-)

Atb

[neil cooney 10,416]

Yes, he's a bit of a survivor this fellow. I release pheasant in the same area every year and they usually hang around. This year because of a pair of Buzzards all the Pheasants moved on but this fellow stayed.

[neil cooney 10,416]

The bloody idiot of a pheasant was actually in a squirrel trap this morning.

I released him and he seemed to fly off OK but 2 fields later the Springer put him up and the Lurcher caught him. A pity as I was getting fond of him seeing him there everyday and he was the only pheasant around not intimidated by the 2 resident buzzards.

[stop.end 4,082]

pity...if you had of knew what you were doing and the laws regarding trapping gray squirrels the pheasant would have survived...

 

when you knew you had a non target species visiting your traps...the pheasant...you said you saw him.... then your traps should have had 2 sticks pushed down vertically nearly crossing at the top at the trap door entrance to prevent your non target pheasant from going in or it should have been raised 1 foot of the ground preventing the pheasant from entering the traps.... and another thing your setting your rat trap far too heavy if a pheasant can come in remove the grasses and weed and pull the trap six inches from its original run.... your rat trap should have been anchored to prevent it from being shifted also....

[neil cooney 10,416]

LOL, you're giving me advice on the law Stop End, now that is funny.

Like I say before, you'll pick through my posts for arguement. Some day you'll have your chance to say these things to my face.

The trap in question is a squirrel trap set for rats among small out buildings.

All my traps set for squirrel's are set in tunnels.

LOL, don't the laws in N.I. regarding pest control differ to the South ?

This time last year you didn't know what a trap was, now you're an expert on trapping in both North and Southern Ireland.

[neil cooney 10,416]

Also Stopend, in your expert opinion could you tell me why the pheasant pulled the trap to one side for the grain for a few mornings but this morning was actually in it ?

[stop.end 4,082]

LOL, you're giving me advice on the law Stop End, now that is funny.

Like I say before, you'll pick through my posts for arguement. Some day you'll have your chance to say these things to my face.

The trap in question is a squirrel trap set for rats among small out buildings.

All my traps set for squirrel's are set in tunnels.

LOL, don't the laws in N.I. regarding pest control differ to the South ?

This time last year you didn't know what a trap was, now you're an expert on trapping in both North and Southern Ireland.

.

Edited January 21, 2016 by stop.end

[stop.end 4,082]

Also Stopend, in your expert opinion could you tell me why the pheasant pulled the trap to one side for the grain for a few mornings but this morning was actually in it ?

you see I think your confused neil.... if your using traps for rats outside then its say mk4s or a cage ?....mk4s by law both north and south have to be set in tunnels and the trap anchored... and sticks set over the entrance to prevent non target species like rabbit pheasant from entering... if its cages which would be a squirrel cages its off the ground a foot to prevent non target species and the sides have to be covered to protect in from the elements and has to be check morning and dusk... so in my opinion would be the trap was set very poorly by an incompetent individual, thus a pheasant had been caught and not intended species.... and if it was a cage...il presume that's how you caught the pheasant wouldn't have had the strength to pull the weight of a cage with his beak and neck ill presume that's how you saw him do it?

[neil cooney 10,416]

No Jack, I had moved the trap because of the interfering pheasant and it was anchored, hence the reason the pheasant went in for the grain.

It's an old trap with a bar outside the top, they don't work in tunnels. It was covered on all sides.

The reason I don't use the Fenns I have is because there's flocks of song birds around my pens and sticks at the end of a tunnel doesn't stop the sparrows.

Now Jack, I can see by your post on trapping rules and regulations that it's time you actually did some of the practical side of the practice.

Now f**k off and stop annoying me, I've got snares to check.

 

To add, Jack you're new to trapping and hunting etc. but I'd say you'd be good at the vermin game.

To catch a rat, you have to think like a rat.

And you are a well known rat.

Edited January 22, 2016 by neil cooney

[EDDIE B 3,170]

We all know how vague Irish legislation is towards traps and trapping! So I don't think the op has broken any laws here imo!

 

The fact that he's using live cage traps, in a area with lots of birds present, shows he's taking into account the risk of non targets being caught.

 

Now, I for one have never caught a pheasant in a squirrel cage, so recon it don't happen very often. Sometimes a non target gets caught no matter what precautions are taken. Shit happens!

 

On another note, I do believe the op thought that bird was perfectly fine to release, or he would have dispatched it! Seen it before, especially with gamebirds!