For fox sake ?

[Stavross 13,709]

1 hour ago, shovel leaner said:

The combines are 10 weeks away , and you will probably have poults by then . Just keep at em now , think of different ways you might be able to draw them into a clearing or onto a ride . High seats that you can move around. Your pal needs educating, tell him that when you create a vacuum, nature soon fills it. It amazes me how quickly foxes move in if you have a food source.

I just peck away at them over the summer, there’s not a lot of places to shoot them, baiting up on rides works best up here, I normally get a couple of weeks window after combine to call them out onto the stubbles before the birds go in, my mates just messing with me, he knows how it works he’s ran syndicate’s for years 

they have  clear felled an area at the back of the shoot so this will be somewhere new to bait up

i wasn’t going to put a picture up, but f*ck it, I’m not doing anything wrong, in fact I’m helping many other species out, but there’s no need for the anti’s to thank me, your welcome

[Rimfireboy! 1,463]

Well done Stavross

[j j m 6,478]

nice pics bud

[Stavross 13,709]

Well I’ve had to bring some gear up to the shoot for fence repairs, drinkers, feeders etc, and thought I’d give it an hour calling, so dropped the gear off with my mate and headed to where I know they are, been here a little over an hour and nothing as yet, as you can see from the pictures I don’t have a lot of space to call them into and it looks like I’m about to get wet, but I’ll give it a little bit longer and see how I get on

[BenBhoy 4,706]

12 minutes ago, Stavross said:

Well I’ve had to bring some gear up to the shoot for fence repairs, drinkers, feeders etc, and thought I’d give it an hour calling, so dropped the gear off with my mate and headed to where I know they are, been here a little over an hour and nothing as yet, as you can see from the pictures I don’t have a lot of space to call them into and it looks like I’m about to get wet, but I’ll give it a little bit longer and see how I get on

Looks idyllic mate, no better way to spend an evening.

[Stavross 13,709]

It’s stunning mate, I’ve moved to another ride a bit closer to the farm because I don’t like the look of them clouds and as I got here I bumped a group of 7 fallow deer grazing on the ride, very dark in colour and looked in very nice condition 

[BenBhoy 4,706]

You be careful, I always find the best way of getting fox/pigeon/any quarry, to appear is by checking phone..or getting flask out...or going for a wee!!! 

[Stavross 13,709]

1 hour ago, BenBhoy said:

You be careful, I always find the best way of getting fox/pigeon/any quarry, to appear is by checking phone..or getting flask out...or going for a wee!!! 

Yeah your not wrong, me having a pee seems to be one of the best animal call I can use

well I called it a night without seeing a fox, I did leave some bait on the ride just before I left, a rabbit popped out at 75 yards, so I let it have a 70 grain from the .243, the picture is a little too graphic for here, I should of said I left half a rabbit 

I left a bit later than I intended because I got a bit distracted watching the woodcock flighting out at dusk I counted 14 that crossed the ride, I love the noise they make as the fly

[shovel leaner 7,648]

I was out again last night and only saw one on the cut silage . It didn’t hang around, I spotted it’s head above the turned grass through my thermal , as it mooched about . I got the rifle into place and the second I put the IR on it made off for the hedge like a Jamaican sprinter. I followed it with my scope hoping that it would do the usual look back at the hedge , but not long enough to get a shot off . I did notice that it was bloody cold last night and very still and quiet. Having a night off tonight . Good to be out though isn’t it , better than watching the TV . I’d love to see those woodcock flighting . All the woodcock we get here is mostly migratory birds that drop in on the first November moons . 

[Stavross 13,709]

1 hour ago, shovel leaner said:

I was out again last night and only saw one on the cut silage . It didn’t hang around, I spotted it’s head above the turned grass through my thermal , as it mooched about . I got the rifle into place and the second I put the IR on it made off for the hedge like a Jamaican sprinter. I followed it with my scope hoping that it would do the usual look back at the hedge , but not long enough to get a shot off . I did notice that it was bloody cold last night and very still and quiet. Having a night off tonight . Good to be out though isn’t it , better than watching the TV . I’d love to see those woodcock flighting . All the woodcock we get here is mostly migratory birds that drop in on the first November moons . 

Put your feet up for the evening you deserve it

we have the woodcock all year round up here, we do have a couple of days in the season when you can shoot them, but this is left down to the gun’s discretion if the want to and it’s going on the table, we don’t like to see people shooting them because they can, I think the reason I seen so many last night was because forestry are thinning out part of the shoot so I think  a few have moved further over because they really don’t like been disturbed 

[shovel leaner 7,648]

Cheers pal , I will . The Mrs is starting to feel single . Interesting about your woodcock. You are right in your approach to them . If a gun wants to and it’s a sporting shot and he’s going to eat it , then it’s fine . Despite what the RSPB are saying, it’s my experience that the numbers are increasing. I also think that the numbers shot would have no impact on their overall population. A lot of shoots I think wrongly have a no woodcock rule . Maybe a bit of “virtue signaling “ or more likely they don’t want the gun to shoot a woodcock and miss out on a £45+ VAT pheasant. I’ve taken woodcock days in Cornwall, with a well known “country character “ , and it’s an enjoyable day . We don’t shoot many and they all go home for the table . I’m not brave enough or hungry enough to eat the innards though.

[Stavross 13,709]

Most people on our shoot won’t shoot them because they believe the numbers are down but when you are out and about on your own you will see there is a lot about, you will never get a good count during the day, dusk is the time to get an idea of numbers, I also have never tried them for that same reason

[Sausagedog 7,381]

This is the first year I have not shot one.

We seemed to be short of them this last season.

I only use a muzzleloader on them and they usually end up in my meatloaf.

I came to the conclusion they headed for places holding more than the average lousy shots!