Outside lambing pest control?

[JohnGalway]

Why you using FMJs?

Expanding rounds are so much better for assured vermin despatch.

Always fancied a set up where a long perch in line with the bullet trajectory could be used in ambush.

Dead is dead with crows, whether they know it at the time or not. Often shot crows with Eley subs with good conditions and bullet placement where the crow could take off and fly for hundreds of yards until they would drop. Thought at first I was missing them.

 

[Nithsdale]

Always fancied a set up where a long perch in line with the bullet trajectory could be used in ambush.

Dead is dead with crows, whether they know it at the time or not. Often shot crows with Eley subs with good conditions and bullet placement where the crow could take off and fly for hundreds of yards until they would drop. Thought at first I was missing them.

I used to use 20gr hollow points in the HMR... once - and only once - I managed 2 rabbits with 1 shot.

There is something unexplainably pleasing about it, I must admit.

Stick to expanding loads. When Scott Country closed its shop to concentrate on mail order I bought 200 FMJs because they were stupid cheap. Great for targets, just plain awful for killing things. Bullet would just pass clean through, with minimal damage, causing a lot of suffering.

V-max is ideal varmint round - maximum body damage and a quick kill. Still prefer the hollow points for rabbits, as it leaves a more useable carcase if you do hit the chest/body

 

[scottish-lleyn]

The best thing i have ever seen for crows is a polecat ferret(no im not mental i know crows fly). You get a harness on the ferret and tie it out in a field near your chosen hide spot and the crows just keep coming every crow that flys over will come down to attack the ferret and be so busy being a crow that they are very easy shot.

 

[Christoph1945]

A most interesting thread.

Polecat ferrets! Hmmm.

Reading that birds eat the eyes and tails of new born lambs set me wondering about the time when farmers would dock the tails of sheep. Was the docking done at birth, or much later when the animal had grown somewhat?

 

[ajcc]

If in a flock they're rooks or jackdaws they don't kill anything except leather jackets and worms but eat corn and sheep cake. The vermin go about in twos, crows and ravens kill sheep and peck tongues off calfs as they emerge from cow, then there's the magpies that love eyes.....but rooks don't hurt sheep.

 

[Nithsdale]

The best thing i have ever seen for crows is a polecat ferret(no im not mental i know crows fly). You get a harness on the ferret and tie it out in a field near your chosen hide spot and the crows just keep coming every crow that flys over will come down to attack the ferret and be so busy being a crow that they are very easy shot.

You got a ferret/polecat??


I will supply the field, peg, guns and ammo if you do - just to see if your actually bull sh!tting us all

 

[Christoph1945]

He could make a good video; may cause a rush on polecat ferret sales.

 

[unlacedgecko]

It's illegal to use live animals to attract birds for shooting.

But a stuffed ferret works very well.

 

[Christoph1945]

That counts me out altogether; I've never stuffed a ferret. Went out with a couple polecats though!

 

[pycoed]

Crows are also suckers for a pigeon magnet (obviously fitted with crows, not pigeons). Once you have two on a magnet & a few decoys & dead 'uns down, they come in even if you don't keep your head down!

 

[Nithsdale]

It's illegal to use live animals to attract birds for shooting.

But a stuffed ferret works very well.

No no, you got it wrong.


The ferret is pegged in the middle of the field - to keep the sun in the sky. We usually check the boundaries of the same field for rabbits with the guns... because they don't like the ferrets out In the middle.

We just shoot the crows to protect the ferret, honest guv'nor

 

[unlacedgecko]

Crows are also suckers for a pigeon magnet (obviously fitted with crows, not pigeons). Once you have two on a magnet & a few decoys & dead 'uns down, they come in even if you don't keep your head down!

A stuff fox with a dead crow in its mouth will draw them in. Same as a bird of prey decoy. They will mob any of these.

 

[Nithsdale]

A stuff fox with a dead crow in its mouth will draw them in. Same as a bird of prey decoy. They will mob any of these.

I find it amazing how nuts they go for birds of prey. 2 lambings ago I sat and watched 3 carrion's gang up and attack a red kite.

 

[MRT]

You are an energetic bunch. A magpie in a Larsen moved around the farm occasionally by quad will catch no end of carrion crows, no need to stuff foxes or peg ferrets!

 

[scottish-lleyn]

You got a ferret/polecat??


I will supply the field, peg, guns and ammo if you do - just to see if your actually bull sh!tting us all

my son has loads of the smelly little f***ers. Come and get a few.

 

[Nithsdale]

my son has loads of the smelly little f***ers. Come and get a few.

Actually would, considering getting some again. Can't beat a day bolting rabbits with the shotguns...


Untill one twunt gets laid up and you've to dig it out

 

[Dry Rot]

I bought two ferrets last summer, then had my guns seized, then myxy -- now I have my guns back, I have two fat ferrets with no experience and lots of rabbit holes for the horses to break their legs in! Duh!

Interested in crow shooting using decoys so did a search. Some found a plastic owl of no use at all but I did find the video below. It seems there is a bit of a technique to it. This guy seems to be getting them OK.

 

[Christoph1945]

And an other one bites the dust! (Crow that is.)

Looks like that guy has it well sussed but I can't help wondering, at what cost?

Out of interest, how come your guns were temporarily taken away?

A good none FAC air rifle and some stalking could drastically reduce your bunny population; or perhaps some old fashioned wire snares. Would prefer to see the air rifle route taken my self. Never liked to think of poor old bunny rabbit struggling, for God knows how long, with a wire round his or her neck.

An older brother, who served as an officers cook in the Royal Navy, once told me this story. He and a serving farm boy were returning to base one night in the dark and they heard strange noises coming from a nearby field. Aaaah, ses farm boy; that's rabbits caught in snares. Back to base to collect a sack and then returned to said field to collect their booty. The first rabbit our kid picks up is still alive and kicking. "What do I do with it now?" "Easy peasy; just hold it up by its' back legs and strike it hard behind the base of the skull and you will break its' neck."

Well, ses Big Bro, we left with half a sack of rabbits, having left plenty for whoever had set the traps. Upon returning to base we entered the galley and upended the sack on the floor........."and all these fecking rabbits ran everywhere!!!!"

 

[Nithsdale]

I bought two ferrets last summer, then had my guns seized, then myxy -- now I have my guns back, I have two fat ferrets with no experience and lots of rabbit holes for the horses to break their legs in! Duh!

Interested in crow shooting using decoys so did a search. Some found a plastic owl of no use at all but I did find the video below. It seems there is a bit of a technique to it. This guy seems to be getting them OK.

Glad to hear you have your guns back.

Does that mean the matter has been resolved?

 

[Dry Rot]

Glad to hear you have your guns back.

Does that mean the matter has been resolved?

Well, sort of!

My townie neighbour put up a building right next to my access without consultation and made false statements on his application for prior approval. He is claiming he needs a 24m x 12m x 6.1m high building to farm his two acres and the council have let him get away with it! (No comment). We had an altercation about that and next thing the cops were at my door. It is a long story but fortunately I have most of it in writing! There could be considerable mileage in that yet! Neighbour has since gone very quiet and is behaving. If he doesn't, he may find he has a web page all to himself!

A good none FAC air rifle and some stalking could drastically reduce your bunny population; or perhaps some old fashioned wire snares. Would prefer to see the air rifle route taken my self. Never liked to think of poor old bunny rabbit struggling, for God knows how long, with a wire round his or her neck.

Guns are something I use rarely but it is comforting to know that I have the means to put an animal down if I have to (the vet is >30 miles away). I usually shoot the rabbits off the quad at night as it is fitted with a gun rest, roll frame, and spot light mounted on the roof.

I'm a great believer in snares too, especially for foxes, and if fitted with a stop and checked promptly are humane enough. But up here we have to have a ticket and I'm not going on a course to be told how to do something I've been doing for the last 50 years!