How did anyone get on at the weekend?

stevoman

Well lads i finally managed to get out for a bit of hunting yesterday! (my first child was born 3 weeks ago and between waiting for hereslef to have the arrival and after her being born its been hard to get out)!

well thats neither here nor there, me and one of the lads got ourselves ready with the shotguns and i got the big ferret out and away we went after rabbits. The day was lovely and the ferret worked as well as id ever seen him and bolted 10 rabbits over the course of the evening. we bagged nine so we were quite happy so we dropped a few off the the ould lads about who love a rabbit. kept on each for ourselves and the rest was ferret food! it was great to get out though!!!

did ny of ye lads stir out this weekend and how did ye get on?

E. Fudd

Didn't get out the weekend, but hoping to get a bit of evening shooting / lamping in this evening! The battery's on charge!:D

kerryman12

no didnt venture out this weekend

whitser

havent had a hunt since march. keeping the hounds out off the fields til august, dont want to be disturbing young hares and foxes. i'll probably get out for a walk with the springer and terrier and gun soon, fields beside me are walking with bunnies. sounds like good craic shooting rabbits bolting from ferretts.

stevoman

whitser wrote: »

havent had a hunt since march. keeping the hounds out off the fields til august, dont want to be disturbing young hares and foxes. i'll probably get out for a walk with the springer and terrier and gun soon, fields beside me are walking with bunnies. sounds like good craic shooting rabbits bolting from ferretts.

yeah its great craic providing you have the right ditches and ferret! where i hunt is very busy with rabbits with very soft soil so they have burrowed everywhere. the ditches have been well cleared by the farmer so it easy to introduce the ferret to the warrens.

also the ferret iv been using is a miller! we dont have to dig down to him at all, he made two kills underground yesterday,but instead of lying up beside it like most ferrets do for dinner, he simply moves along straight away after the kill. a ferret like that is hard to come by!

stevoman

whitser wrote: »

keeping the hounds out off the fields til august, dont want to be disturbing young hares and foxes.

ps - excellent respect for your quarry aswell there whitser i forgot to commend you.

whitser

good working beasts be it terrier,hound,hawk or like your ferret are worth their weight...make the difference between a good day or a bad day. i'd say a ferrett that doesnt ly-up is worth twice its weight.....
i'd say steady safe guns are a must at that type of shooting, get quite frantic shooting bolters like that.

stevoman

thats the truth id rather work a beast than fire a gun any day of the week. much more excitment!

your right you have to be very careful when shooting over ferrets. our approach is one gun on eack side of a ditch directly facing each other and one man laying on the ditch in between the two guns working the ferret. this insures that anything that bolts to my left or right on my side of the ditch i can fire at safely. it also works vice versa for the other gun.

the ferret is a fantastic creature to hunt with and very strong and versatile. i have worked many this year but luckily this one i was using this weekend seems to be the best i have worked so far. very nice to handle also whcih is an added bonus as when you let them have their play with a dispatched rabbit the way the can crush a skull with the jaws so quickly and clinically is quite scary if you were to imagine it being your hand!

thehair

i was shooting crowes all week 2 every night with my .22 rimfire
i might only be learning to (hunt) LOL:D:p

pestshooter7

Stopped shooting foxes since may 1st, But shot 17 grey crows over the weekend after a hoiliday in spain i was mad to get out instead of the beach!! So it was a good week over all!

stevoman

pestshooter7 wrote: »

Stopped shooting foxes since may 1st, But shot 17 grey crows over the weekend after a hoiliday in spain i was mad to get out instead of the beach!! So it was a good week over all!

well done on the vermin control. your living up to your name pestshooter!

digsey

a few pigeons and two rabbits.both head shots on iron sights.i cant wait till i get a scope for my .22. nothing will be safe

spideog7

4 rabbits with the rifle, missed a few crows too, starting to push my range out a bit so I might need to reset my rifle, trying to take rabbits at around 150yds over the weekend with .22wmr. Beautiful day, shooting straight onto the side of a hill, sun at my back, dry ground, lovely soft grass, couldn't ask for better !!
Well a mod would have been nice, was a getting a bit worried about the neighbours !

Saw a young fox pup dead on the road near the wood, only a tiny little fella, they must be out and about already.

Loads of barley sowed near me this year, unreal amount, rabbits are causing mayhem with it as it's just sprouting up now, fields aren't great for shooting on though, very flat and near the road, got another nasty ricochet Sunday, certainly makes you think twice about taking a shot, the field was just too flat.

whitser

i hate seeing dead foxes on the side if the road,especially young cubs.
but if i ever have any young terriers or hounds or lurchers at home that are coming on i pick up fresh road kill and bring it home for them to rag. least your gettinf some use for it.

stevoman

whitser wrote: »

i hate seeing dead foxes on the side if the road,especially young cubs.
but if i ever have any young terriers or hounds or lurchers at home that are coming on i pick up fresh road kill and bring it home for them to rag. least your gettinf some use for it.

yeah thats a good idea, waste not want not!

On a different note i have been keeping an eye on a field on the way home the last few months and there is always a young deer in the field with the herd of cattle. was lamping in it one night and seen him laying up with the cattle aswell. the curiosity got the better of my friend last week and he asked the farmer what was going on with that deer thats always there. he said that the cattle actually suckled the young deer and raised him, the mother must have been shot or died naturally. Its a lovely sight to see!!!! (thank god i was very adament of not letting a shooting partner of mine who wanted to shoot him on nights lamping a few months ago! its reasons like this we have law and rules to abide by, i got great satisfaction in telling him later the story behind the deer!)

whitser

nice to see but that deer wont make the bus-pass,wild animal like that thats not afraid of men wont last long.

stevoman

whitser wrote: »

nice to see but that deer wont make the bus-pass,wild animal like that thats not afraid of men wont last long.

i know and its a real pity. the farmer adores the beast so he wont let anyone hunt the land now and i have brougt the deer to the attention of the gun club and the lads who hunt deer, who are in fairness good lads so iv gave them the heads up not to hunt him. there's herds of deer around where we are so im hoping he should be okay.

meathstevie

About that deer : tell the farmer to try and trap him and give him a blank earmark like the cattle have with the numbers on. At least at first glance it'll make him look like a farm animal.

That chap wouldn't reside somewhere not too far away from Tullamore ? Thought I saw a young deer lying down with a bunch of cattle in a field around there a couple of weeks ago.

stevoman

near portarlington stevie on the portlaoise side! great idea with the eartag. and old brasstag would also suffice id say.

i was talking to a vet also recently and and another farmer raised a young deer with a bottle and now the deer jumps in the back of the jeep with him and all wherever he goes!