Can we still shoot ???

[philpot 4,927]

11 minutes ago, Dervburner said:

A friend of mine has one, but I’ve never had a shot with it.

If it is a .177, try Air Arms Field Express as they work really well.

Phil

[Sausagedog 7,381]

Yes and no.....it's cheap junk but it keeps my eye and trigger finger in tune with each other.

My other air gun is a hw99 and that is an amazing little rifle. Lightish and super accurate. Very quiet too.

[bob.243 7,527]

[Stavross 13,720]

Bernard sausage put some pants on for gods sake

[BenBhoy 4,706]

29 minutes ago, Stavross said:

Bernard sausage put some pants on for gods sake

[shovel leaner 7,648]

Hi guys ,  how are you all doing ? Hope my old mates , Sausage , Stavross, BenBhoy , Si , David , Ian M , Walshie, longshanx , and any one else that I haven’t mentioned . Just thought I’d check in with you guys . Hope you are are all well ? Ive  been thinking what to write ! But where do I start ?  I’ve been controlling foxes . But only on the egg producers. The shoot can wait !!!!! I’ve been reading some posts without signing in . Bottom line ? I contacted my firearms  dept to see where I stood, as I have  lambing and chicken farms to look after , not to mention my shoot . The reply was , if it’s pest control then it’s ok . I was contacted by the owner of the poultry unit and sheep farmers to sort out problem foxes and I’m on it . I wouldn’t go out with the  dogs or one for the pot , but pest control is fine. See  the attached image , a reply from Gloucestershire Firearms Dept , who I contacted. I suggest that you all send an email to your local Firearms team and find out where you stand . None of us I’m sure need to fill our freezer with stuff we’ve shot . But if we shoot foxes then surely it’s not for fun ? I shoot foxes and enjoy doing it , but only where they are a problem!!! Carry on shooting , is my message, but only where it is benefiting the food chain and not because you need to get away from the Mrs . We are all in this together, it’s serious shit , i hope we can all look back on this in a few months and laugh about it .... but I doubt it !!! 

Edited March 29, 2020 by shovel leaner

[Sausagedog 7,381]

Good to hear from you old friend.

Good to hear more common sense from you too

I have a job on at the moment on the chucks.

Got these two rascals conning in.

Think this is one of them.

Just going look for the other. Then it's visiting the earth to tidy up!

[shovel leaner 7,648]

Well done Sausagedog , I have shot three in the past week on the chicken farm, two dogs and a vixen . The vixen was nursing young , I don’t know at what stage they are but my guess is that they could be about a month old now . I have checked the earths that I know that are near but they all looked dead . I hate these call outs as inevitably you orphan young and dealing with them becomes a headache.

[Sausagedog 7,381]

56 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

Well done Sausagedog , I have shot three in the past week on the chicken farm, two dogs and a vixen . The vixen was nursing young , I don’t know at what stage they are but my guess is that they could be about a month old now . I have checked the earths that I know that are near but they all looked dead . I hate these call outs as inevitably you orphan young and dealing with them becomes a headache.

I know. They often survive quite well. Other adults help and I have seen them grubbing and catching beetles at a very early stage.

An old keeper many years ago told me of a tiny cub he found eating sheep muck. He took it home for his daughter to rear. He said the thing hardly ate a thing and expected to find it dead but it survived and grew into adulthood.

 

What gets me though, no one minds orphaning rats or crows, muntjac too, then there are rabbits! If someone hits a badger on the road no one worries about orphans! It's usually how much is the damage to vehicle going to cost!I    It'show it is.

 

[BenBhoy 4,706]

11 hours ago, shovel leaner said:

Hi guys ,  how are you all doing ? Hope my old mates , Sausage , Stavross, BenBhoy , Si , David , Ian M , Walshie, longshanx , and any one else that I haven’t mentioned . Just thought I’d check in with you guys . Hope you are are all well ? Ive  been thinking what to write ! But where do I start ?  I’ve been controlling foxes . But only on the egg producers. The shoot can wait !!!!! I’ve been reading some posts without signing in . Bottom line ? I contacted my firearms  dept to see where I stood, as I have  lambing and chicken farms to look after , not to mention my shoot . The reply was , if it’s pest control then it’s ok . I was contacted by the owner of the poultry unit and sheep farmers to sort out problem foxes and I’m on it . I wouldn’t go out with the  dogs or one for the pot , but pest control is fine. See  the attached image , a reply from Gloucestershire Firearms Dept , who I contacted. I suggest that you all send an email to your local Firearms team and find out where you stand . None of us I’m sure need to fill our freezer with stuff we’ve shot . But if we shoot foxes then surely it’s not for fun ? I shoot foxes and enjoy doing it , but only where they are a problem!!! Carry on shooting , is my message, but only where it is benefiting the food chain and not because you need to get away from the Mrs . We are all in this together, it’s serious shit , i hope we can all look back on this in a few months and laugh about it .... but I doubt it !!! 

Hey good to hear from you mate, hope you're keeping well. 

How is the virus affecting your plans for next season? Heard some already talking of either putting less down or offering less days already. 

Stay safe mucker 

[shovel leaner 7,648]

8 minutes ago, BenBhoy said:

Hey good to hear from you mate, hope you're keeping well. 

How is the virus affecting your plans for next season? Heard some already talking of either putting less down or offering less days already. 

Stay safe mucker 

Hi Ben , keeping well over here . It’s business as usual so far . I keeper a syndicated shoot , and all the guns have indicated that they wish to pay their money and carry on . Fortunately they are all fairly local . There are a lot of shoots near me that aren’t shooting this season , and a lot that are shooting fewer days . The problem is the uncertainty at the moment and getting teams of guns to commit to days and pay a deposit , this is particularly the case with foreign teams . I hope that all my guns survive this bat flu , but most of them are knocking on a bit now and fall in to the vulnerable bracket, so who knows . Loads of really big commercial shoots aren’t shooting , Blenhiem , Chargot , Badminton, the list goes on . Maybe I will get paid by the game dealer this season , every cloud and all that !!! How’s things with you ? Them lambs will be popping out soon won’t they ? 

[Tyla 3,179]

3 hours ago, Sausagedog said:

I know. They often survive quite well. Other adults help and I have seen them grubbing and catching beetles at a very early stage.

An old keeper many years ago told me of a tiny cub he found eating sheep muck. He took it home for his daughter to rear. He said the thing hardly ate a thing and expected to find it dead but it survived and grew into adulthood.

 

What gets me though, no one minds orphaning rats or crows, muntjac too, then there are rabbits! If someone hits a badger on the road no one worries about orphans! It's usually how much is the damage to vehicle going to cost!I    It'show it is.

 

I guess everyone has their own moral compass to a degree. Sometimes it's genuinely necessary pest control but there's a lot of shooters who just like summer shooting and justify it as pest control.

Im not keen on orphaning anything. Always feel bad killing milky rabbits so end my season when they start appearing and start again around august. That's what the seasons are for for deer. Munties don't help themselves by breeding all year but best practice is to whack the heavily pregnant ones.

Pigeons get a rough deal as they are mainly shot during breeding season. 

[ukhunter 105]

iv'e just sent a email off to TVP asking where i stand with this lets see what they come back with

[Stavross 13,720]

13 hours ago, shovel leaner said:

Hi guys ,  how are you all doing ? Hope my old mates , Sausage , Stavross, BenBhoy , Si , David , Ian M , Walshie, longshanx , and any one else that I haven’t mentioned . Just thought I’d check in with you guys . Hope you are are all well ? Ive  been thinking what to write ! But where do I start ?  I’ve been controlling foxes . But only on the egg producers. The shoot can wait !!!!! I’ve been reading some posts without signing in . Bottom line ? I contacted my firearms  dept to see where I stood, as I have  lambing and chicken farms to look after , not to mention my shoot . The reply was , if it’s pest control then it’s ok . I was contacted by the owner of the poultry unit and sheep farmers to sort out problem foxes and I’m on it . I wouldn’t go out with the  dogs or one for the pot , but pest control is fine. See  the attached image , a reply from Gloucestershire Firearms Dept , who I contacted. I suggest that you all send an email to your local Firearms team and find out where you stand . None of us I’m sure need to fill our freezer with stuff we’ve shot . But if we shoot foxes then surely it’s not for fun ? I shoot foxes and enjoy doing it , but only where they are a problem!!! Carry on shooting , is my message, but only where it is benefiting the food chain and not because you need to get away from the Mrs . We are all in this together, it’s serious shit , i hope we can all look back on this in a few months and laugh about it .... but I doubt it !!! 

Good to see you back on here mate, I hope your shoot comes good this season, I think the small private syndicates will be in a much better position than the commercials, who wants to lay out 10’s of thousands of pounds when so many are not willing to commit to days,  one of the big worries for us is the old boys and our landlady who is well in her 70’s, I’ve got about 6 weeks before we have to make a decision if we are going ahead as once the eggs go in we are committed, I’m not to hopeful at the minute but if the worst was to happen the members will be getting told that the rent will be getting paid and I’ll still be doing some kind feeding, hopefully we’ll get a couple of ruff days out of it, maybe some squirrel and pigeon shooting for the kids just so they have something to look forward to  

[BenBhoy 4,706]

2 hours ago, shovel leaner said:

How’s things with you ? Them lambs will be popping out soon won’t they ? 

Lambed his first batch (indoor) January/February. Second batch (outdoor) due from April 6th. So yeah I'm still working as per. Obviously not a key worker, but as far as the ewes are concerned I'm pretty essential!