Nargc vermin control

tikkamark

I am just courious is anyone taking part in this years count on in september i have a good few tails and wings just wondering is anyone else here taking part?

E@gle.

I will probaly give it a go this winter i was too busy last year for it

Terrier

The Galway counts are on for Dec to April ...
It's amazing how many clubs don't take part.. NARGC need to do something to more clubs envolved !

stevoman

yes definitly, as far as im am aware my local gun club has not involved itself in a count for years. it seems to be dyin out in the midlands. is there anything that can be done to rally another

Vegeta

There's only one or 2 active members in my local gun club and the ribbon development in the country side has ruined most of the perfect places to get foxes, gerys and magpies.

I wish I lived in an area with a few active members like JohnGalway, yourself tikkamark and eoin. You lads do some amount of vermin control

stevoman

yeah i do a lot i have to say. mostly magpies and crows. to be honest i hunt with guys who go after foxes and i could be making a lot of enemies here on the forum by saying this, but i dont shoot them myself (not that i have any problom with anyone who does!), but personally im too fond of the creature to hunt them, but again thats my personal preference. its funny though, my friend i hunt with is always on the look out for them and last week one walked right past me in a field whilst i was out after rabbits with the shotgun and he even walked into range, and only last night one ran by me about 20 yards in front of me and again i had the gun in my hand, but its just not for me. i do a lot of magpie hunting with the caller but the crows and greycrows are the good day out. we got 40 odd on saturday morning just after the silage had been cut, it made for a great day out

Vegeta

cant understand that myself stevoman but to each their own I suppose

stevoman

well my philosophy is if im the the field hunting for rabbits and a fox comes my way, i cant see him doing any different than i am, he's out hunting too. i dont have any stock of my own, chickens, pheasents, lambs etc so i cant sat i know what its like to have your stock eaten by a fox, but i do presume its very annoying, but where the way i look at it like that is, we raise pheasents for shooting and eventually eating ourselves as we do lambs for food and wool, and chickens are farmed in some of the most dire circumstances in their millions also for our benifits, and the way i see it is its not as if the fox cant head down to super valu and pick up a couple of breasts for dinner that evening, you know. thats just my opinion though, again i have no problom with anybody hunting them, i mean who am i to judge!!!

Vegeta

Hey man don't get me wrong, one of my newest friends and shooting buddies doesn't hunt at all and is against animal cruelty completely so I wouldn't think one bit less of you for not shooting a fox

I am fine with the fact that you choose not to shoot foxes

What confuses me though is that you have no moral issues with killing crows and magpies.

stevoman

yeah i know and its been said to me before on occasion. i guess its because a fox is too close to a dog for me, as i have i am a big fan of dogs of all kinds. id say thats where it all stems from

peter-pantslez

just wondering do you have to be part of a hunting club to take part in the counts or can you shoot away and take the tails somewhere

alan123

Give us the low down on the vermin count. Do you have to register for it. Is it a competition? What do you keep and who do you show them too (pigeon heads, fox tails etc)?

tikkamark

alan123 wrote:

Give us the low down on the vermin count. Do you have to register for it. Is it a competition? What do you keep and who do you show them too (pigeon heads, fox tails etc)?

I am in charge of that side of things in my club the official count is on in september i have a large chest freezer for that purpose it goes like this 20points for fox tail 20 points for mink 5 for magpie(pair of wings)5 points for grey crow head or wings.So far i have 314 fox tails,232 magpies,and 90 grey crow heads not bad going for just me and two good friends of mine in an area about 15sq miles.85% of the foxes were shot by myself it takes a lot of effort to get to them amounts.

tikkamark

peter-pantslez wrote:

just wondering do you have to be part of a hunting club to take part in the counts or can you shoot away and take the tails somewhere

Its done through the nargc peter if you are a member of a gunclub you could take part.

tikkamark

Terrier wrote:

The Galway counts are on for Dec to April ...
It's amazing how many clubs don't take part.. NARGC need to do something to more clubs envolved !

not really any member who shoots game should really get involved in order to give wild game a good chance of survival anyone can operate a larsen trap and that alone would get a good few mags and greys i could give any nargc member the guys number that runs the countrywide competition for more detailed info.

peter-pantslez

tikkamark wrote:

Its done through the nargc peter if you are a member of a gunclub you could take part.

thanks tikka im a memeber of a club but its only a target shooting club!do they take part?

Vegeta

peter-pantslez wrote:

thanks tikka im a memeber of a club but its only a target shooting club!do they take part?

is the club affiliated with the NARGC? If yes then they probably could, if not then I don't think so

peter-pantslez

i must find out thanks for your help

alan123

314 fox tails from 15sq miles!!!! You know chemical and biological weapons are against the Geneva convention Tikkamark!!!

Terrier

Vermin counts are organized by the NARGC. Every county body organizes there own counts. Every county body should have a Predator Control officer who does this.

In Galway the counts take place in Dec, Jan, Feb, March and April. The clubs are divided up into groups, I'm in a group of 5 clubs (just over 50 clubs in total) Each group winner receives a prise, normally about €100 with the overall winner getting €500 (I think, never won it)

Each county has different points systems, galways is
Mink 20pts, Fox 10pts, Grey 8pts, Magpie 8pts, Crow\jackdaw\Pigeon 1pt.

One year the results are completely points based. Then the following year the points are taken into account while your club membership is also taken in account and a percentage result is given (allowing smaller clubs to win)

Our returns this year for a club of 31 members (3 active) was (from memory as results not given till the AGM report)
158 Foxes
1 Mink
348 Greys
245 Mags
30ish Pigeon\Crows

Last years winners in Galway returned -55 Mink, 191 Foxes, 532 Greys, 689 Mags, 31 Rooks
I have never been able to get the overall results from around the country after many requests to the NARGC .....

tikkamark

alan123 wrote:

314 fox tails from 15sq miles!!!! You know chemical and biological weapons are against the Geneva convention Tikkamark!!!

there is a awful lot of the them round my area there is still as many here now it seems like if you shoot one 4 move in to take its place.

peter-pantslez

have you room for another shooter:D haha

Sparks

Troll deleted, responses to troll deleted. C'mon guys, you know better than this....

Clare gunner

Ahh But Sparks!!!!:( It's fun poking fun at Trolls!And it was too late to go out shooting or on the town.What else are we supposed to do on a Sat night???:D

tikkamark

peter-pantslez wrote:

have you room for another shooter:D haha

Shot five last night and seen at least 15 more:D I dont have room for to many more shooters but i badly need someone that could do the lamp for me id get a good few more foxes if i had a reliable lad to do the lamp for me most of the lads id do shoot with only go out once in a blue moon lazy sods:rolleyes:

Vegeta

tikkamark wrote:

Shot five last night and seen at least 15 more:D I dont have room for to many more shooters but i badly need someone that could do the lamp for me id get a good few more foxes if i had a reliable lad to do the lamp for me most of the lads id do shoot with only go out once in a blue moon lazy sods:rolleyes:

SO so jealous of you. Were you out long or was it just doing the rounds type of thing

peter-pantslez

i was out the other night and got 2 rabbits and saw a **** load more they must not be used to getting shot at they would just stay there when they were shot at.............my scope is **** so had to take a few shots at each:D

where you shot tikka?

tikkamark

Vegeta wrote:

SO so jealous of you. Were you out long or was it just doing the rounds type of thing

Just doing the rounds george i try to get out on thursday nights and the odd saturday night i have permission to shoot a good few farms round my area where a lot of pheasants were released.peter i shoot in meath near enough the westmeath border;) very happy with my tikkat3 .223 very accurate and a very sweet trigger hitting all the foxes spot on every time a good trigger makes a serious difference to accuracy id highly recommend one to anyone thinking of getting a foxing rifle:cool:

jimmythompson

I am in a Gunclub in Meath. We take part every year. We have 90 tails and over the last two weeks we have 100 grey crows and 70 mag pies. We have four larsen traps on the go and two large grey crow traps.

Cass

Hey Welcome aboard,


First newbie mistake. Check out the date. 3 & 1/2 years old.

MarkD.

Was at a club meeting last night, they were on about a count but the count they were on about is every member fills out a chart of what and how many of each speicies they have shot during the year. Apparently its a counting thing brought in the see what numbers are like.
Then a new member asked what happens if no one shoots anything, senior club member said say if everyone says they didnt shoot any crows then crow shooting will be banned altogether by the Green party.

I guess this has notting to do with this competition thing talked about in this thread?

jap gt

MarkD. wrote: »

Was at a club meeting last night, they were on about a count but the count they were on about is every member fills out a chart of what and how many of each speicies they have shot during the year. Apparently its a counting thing brought in the see what numbers are like.
Then a new member asked what happens if no one shoots anything, senior club member said say if everyone says they didnt shoot any crows then crow shooting will be banned altogether by the Green party.

I guess this has notting to do with this competition thing talked about in this thread?

never heard of it mark, id say its just a club thing to see how many are after vermin, green party wont be banning anything in a few weeks time so i wouldnt worry about that, our club and im sure yours does the same, we cut tails from fox/mink, and wings from greys and mags, then in april they do a count and there is so many points for a tail/wing etc

Anto...

lads will ye give more information on the vermin count comp? like for a typical small gun club whats the average fox tail total grey wings total etc... to win the club competition? also what would be the prizes for a small gun club for this and when does this count start and finish? are you aloud collect tails etc.. from previous months and use them on the comp?

jap gt

Anto... wrote: »

lads will ye give more information on the vermin count comp? like for a typical small gun club whats the average fox tail total grey wings total etc... to win the club competition? also what would be the prizes for a small gun club for this and when does this count start and finish? are you aloud collect tails etc.. from previous months and use them on the comp?

its different from county to county, not sure on what points we are getting this year, best ring the club sec and find out what ye are doing, i have all the tails iv shot this year, read all this thread and search back a bit the points are up here somewhere, but that also changes from year to year

tikkamark

Jasus been a while since i was in this thread....:eek: Very early to be talking of vermin comps the counts not on till next sept!

Cass

Its no use Tikkamark i told them its 3.5 years old, i even posted it, but would they listen to me.

NO

ME, ....... the source of all thi................. / okay i can't keep this up.




Might as well leave it running. Lads are adding to it.

Terrier

Anto... wrote: »

lads will ye give more information on the vermin count comp? like for a typical small gun club whats the average fox tail total grey wings total etc... to win the club competition?

A selection of returns in Galway last year (club names removed)
I think Galway won the country overall also

Anto... wrote: »

also what would be the prizes for a small gun club for this and when does this count start and finish? are you aloud collect tails etc.. from previous months and use them on the comp?

Each Group winner gets €100, Overall winner gets €500
We collect all year round, are counts in Galway are in Dec, Jan, Feb, March and April. Our club would normally attend two or as and when the Club freezer is full.

jap gt

tikkamark wrote: »

Jasus been a while since i was in this thread....:eek: Very early to be talking of vermin comps the counts not on till next sept!

thats only your area, count in north cork is april like i said

brianfrancis45

stevoman wrote: »

yeah i do a lot i have to say. mostly magpies and crows. to be honest i hunt with guys who go after foxes and i could be making a lot of enemies here on the forum by saying this, but i dont shoot them myself (not that i have any problom with anyone who does!), but personally im too fond of the creature to hunt them, but again thats my personal preference. its funny though, my friend i hunt with is always on the look out for them and last week one walked right past me in a field whilst i was out after rabbits with the shotgun and he even walked into range, and only last night one ran by me about 20 yards in front of me and again i had the gun in my hand, but its just not for me. i do a lot of magpie hunting with the caller but the crows and greycrows are the good day out. we got 40 odd on saturday morning just after the silage had been cut, it made for a great day out

Must say that I never bother to shoot them either as I don't mind seeing a few around the place. Having said that I have nothing at all against those that do.

If I was in a gun club and putting in the effort with stocking/feeding etc.. or was a sheep or chicken farmer then I have no doubt that I would be shooting them as keeping the numbers down is very important for such people. Mainly I only shoot what I can eat but in contradiction to that I do shoot crows, maggers ,greys and mink (whenever I get an opportunity which is fairly rare) ... don't like the buggers and the damage they cause....

Also on the permissions that I shoot , I regularly see a few young lads who are out rabbiting and foxing almost every Sunday with teagles + lurchers and often stop to have a have a chat with them. They don't kill a whole lot of foxes over the season ( `may be half a dozen at best ) , mainly I think because they are just open hunting during the day and only dig on a couple of occassions during the season. I guess that I feel that there should be room for all and feel it would not be fair of me to be shooting a lot of foxes on that land , which would be relatively easy to do, as I would be interfering with the sport of those young lads.

I guess its everyone to their own .....

Anto...

thanks for that terrior + japgt!

Johnfairfox

Terrier wrote: »

Vermin counts are organized by the NARGC. Every county body organizes there own counts. Every county body should have a Predator Control officer who does this.

In Galway the counts take place in Dec, Jan, Feb, March and April. The clubs are divided up into groups, I'm in a group of 5 clubs (just over 50 clubs in total) Each group winner receives a prise, normally about €100 with the overall winner getting €500 (I think, never won it)

Each county has different points systems, galways is
Mink 20pts, Fox 10pts, Grey 8pts, Magpie 8pts, Crow\jackdaw\Pigeon 1pt.

One year the results are completely points based. Then the following year the points are taken into account while your club membership is also taken in account and a percentage result is given (allowing smaller clubs to win)

Our returns this year for a club of 31 members (3 active) was (from memory as results not given till the AGM report)
158 Foxes
1 Mink
348 Greys
245 Mags
30ish Pigeon\Crows

Last years winners in Galway returned -55 Mink, 191 Foxes, 532 Greys, 689 Mags, 31 Rooks
I have never been able to get the overall results from around the country after many requests to the NARGC .....

Where do the NARGC Get the money to run this?!!

cavan shooter

Johnfairfox wrote: »

Where do the NARGC Get the money to run this?!!

The same place they get money for pheasant and duck subsidies the coffers. From the raffles ran through the year, the sale of merchandise, I assume some of the "membership money" not ring fenced for the fund.

There are also grants available through the Regional Game Councils for vermin control, habitat improvement, duck ponds etc. Also Club of the year competition exists.

The results of the vermin returns should be available through the Regional Game Council in the first instances for the County and Nationally. I know last weeks Regional AGM the result of Cavan's were put to the floor for the year past. Your Secretary should be able to get these as a norm from attending meetings and pass it on, it isnt top secret.

However, Bag returns should be treated with care I remember a time that you could see national returns on the website, however a couple of articles from ICABS and the ilke stating how many thousands of pheasants got shot millions of wild duck blasted and trillions of magpies decimated put an end to that. On one side returns can be used as a stick to beat us and on the other side to back up the numbers out their.

Johnfairfox

Thanks for that Cavan Shooter! I was always unclear as to generally how they got the money. Was it from the government or through their own channels.
Makes sense that they no longer post how many vermin were killed! There are people out there who wouldnt exactly consider them vermin!

Johnfairfox

I take it IFA Countryside or Countryside Alliance dont offer this scheme so. Thats a pity.

cavan shooter

Johnfairfox wrote: »

I take it IFA Countryside or Countryside Alliance dont offer this scheme so. Thats a pity.

In fairness these lads arent set up for it. You would need an association of clubs etc and some sort of pool of funds to draw from.

PippaSpaniel

Hi Lads,
We had our vermin count in Kerry last sat, here are the top clubs results.
Club 1 : FOXES 363, MINK 47, MAGPIES/GREY CROWS,2219.
Club 2 : FOXES 418, MINK 20, MAGPIES/GREYCROWS,773.
Club 3 : FOXES 97, MINK 20, MAGPIES/GREYCROWS 1049.
Club 4 : FOXES 92, MINK 56, MAGPIES/GREYCROWS 451.
A total of 17 clubs submitted vermin on the day.

homerhop

thats some numbers

cavan shooter

Maybe Im being silly but becareful posting up numbers or wait till you read about it in the sindo;)

ace86

Can you get the total of every countys vermin count from the N.A.R.G.C or is that information classified?

ace86

I said I'd ressurect this and ask how fellows are doing this year as to compared to last year. I know the weather probably favoured alot more lamping of foxes and I have seen alot of magpies especially this year. I have all so seen a lot more Raven this yr( I know there protected)has anyone else come across this? Our own count is nxt wknd and the club is going counting on Friday the 13th :eek:to see what we have.

Mauser 308

PippaSpaniel wrote: »

Hi Lads,
We had our vermin count in Kerry last sat, here are the top clubs results.
Club 1 : FOXES 363, MINK 47, MAGPIES/GREY CROWS,2219.
Club 2 : FOXES 418, MINK 20, MAGPIES/GREYCROWS,773.
Club 3 : FOXES 97, MINK 20, MAGPIES/GREYCROWS 1049.
Club 4 : FOXES 92, MINK 56, MAGPIES/GREYCROWS 451.
A total of 17 clubs submitted vermin on the day.

Holy f***, They are some serious numbers.
Fair play to the clubs involved.