recession= more people out hunting than ever!!

flanum

not a good thing.. there seems to be a bit of an explosion of people out duck shooting in this county never been seen before.. i reckon its lads that have nothing to do anymore but go out shooting morning,noon and night... cos there is no work to keep them occupied also the night flighting stops them going to the pub and spending all!!... this is starting to have a negative effect... several farmers in my county have already closed off their lands to anybody as they were getting sick and tired of non-stop banging in the drains/rivers near the houses also gates being eft open .. etc .... cant see an end to this (in my particular neck of the woods) can only predict more and more landowners closing off land etc ... maybe it might be a good thing for a year or two for the wildfowl to boost the population etc..... comments?

Birdnuts

This mother of all recessions is only warming up - I can see a big increase in everything from poaching to sheep rustling in the coming years as desperate times call for desperate measures when it comes to putting food on the tables of many familes around the country, not to mention an exploding black market:(:(

primavera85

hunting dogs are being robbed all over the place. ****e lurchers and terriers are being bred out of season for ££££££££££ im searching for a decent lurcher... been looking all summer and seasons started and still all i see around the place is muck!
shooting lads are poaching as much as dog lads, many shouldnt have a dog or a gun.

bad sign of things to come.

homerhop

Bird stocks will be gone as bad as the fish stocks but this time it wont be the "foreigners" that will be getting the blame. As stated in another post, farmers will start pulling permission and once that starts it is all down hill.

dicky82

ye there was an awful lot of lads out near my way today. i know they've as much right as the rest of us but it was just a bit off-putting for me personaly.

homerhop

dicky82 wrote: »

ye there was an awful lot of lads out near my way today. i know they've as much right as the rest of us but it was just a bit off-putting for me personaly.

I know a lot af lads give out about clubs and membership but I do think some clubs have to take responsibility and realise that they only have a certain amount of ground and base their membership on that, an open door policy was ok when you had x amount of members in a club and only half that number used to shoot due to work etc, but now with a lot of lads off work you are going to get situations where in one day you may have 4 or 5 different groups of lads shooting on the one farm. Its going to be a tough one in the near future, you could say first up best dressed and all that but personally I think that will lead to trouble and arguements both among members and with the landowners.

lamper35

homerhop wrote: »

I know a lot af lads give out about clubs and membership but I do think some clubs have to take responsibility and realise that they only have a certain amount of ground and base their membership on that, an open door policy was ok when you had x amount of members in a club and only half that number used to shoot due to work etc, but now with a lot of lads off work you are going to get situations where in one day you may have 4 or 5 different groups of lads shooting on the one farm. Its going to be a tough one in the near future, you could say first up best dressed and all that but personally I think that will lead to trouble and arguements both among members and with the landowners.

Since when was there an open door policy???????

Feargal as Luimneach

Birdnuts wrote: »

This mother of all recessions is only warming up - I can see a big increase in everything from poaching to sheep rustling in the coming years as desperate times call for desperate measures when it comes to putting food on the tables of many familes around the country, not to mention an exploding black market:(:(

3 Farmers in Donard west Wicklow have had sheep stolen in the last month. One farmer had 30 lambs stolen. He had them marked ready to go to the factory and the next morning they were gone.
Another farmer had a round feeder stolen and a cattle trailer lifted.

kfod

the local club here has had less members renewing this year. I thought people would be getting out of shooting rather than in to it during times when money is scarce.

tfox

kfod wrote: »

the local club here has had less members renewing this year. I thought people would be getting out of shooting rather than in to it during times when money is scarce.

I know my local RFD has been inundated with people trying to offload there guns for a bit of ready cash !! Not a cbeap hobby if you got nothing coming in at the end of the week !!

tfox

primavera85 wrote: »

hunting dogs are being robbed all over the place. ****e lurchers and terriers are being bred out of season for ££££££££££ im searching for a decent lurcher... been looking all summer and seasons started and still all i see around the place is muck!
shooting lads are poaching as much as dog lads, many shouldnt have a dog or a gun.

bad sign of things to come.

primavera85 a friend of mine breeds good working lurchers, normally deer/greyhound/collie etc crosses, pm if you want his details ?

primavera85

tfox wrote: »

primavera85 a friend of mine breeds good working lurchers, normally deer/greyhound/collie etc crosses, pm if you want his details ?

i'll leave it for now, im building kennels at the moment for my own terrier pups and dont have room for a new pup yet! i'll be looking again for a pup march onwards.

driller2

i didnt know you could hunt deer with dogs

primavera85

driller2 wrote: »

i didnt know you could hunt deer with dogs

uh? where'd that come outa? :rolleyes:

Birdnuts

[/B]

Feargal as Luimneach wrote: »

3 Farmers in Donard west Wicklow have had sheep stolen in the last month. One farmer had 30 lambs stolen. He had them marked ready to go to the factory and the next morning they were gone.
Another farmer had a round feeder stolen and a cattle trailer lifted.

Thats scary allright:eek: - you should start a thread on forestry and farming to alert other farmers to this growing threat!!

driller2

Deer lurcher bad news

Don Juan DeMagoo

I live in the country all my life, I never had a problem with hunting of any form. To be very honest I have always thought it pales here in comparison to the hunting i have experienced in France (wild boar and the like), when working there as a kid for the summers in rural farms.

But for the last few months I have been feeding some stock out the back of the house and have been greeted each morning by around six pheasant hens, it was very quaint and unusual as the wild pheasant i am used to would not be so inquisitive.

As they were very friendly towards people I surmised they had been hand reared by the local gun club.

Then in the early hours of the 1st of Nov, the local area sounded like a flipping poorly orchestrated fireworks scene. The following rainfall cleared all the local brave hunters back to there shelters. To cut a long story short, I have not seen the pheasants since.

But before I sound like an auld whine bucket, allow me to ask one question.

What possible sport is there in hunting hand reared pheasants, they practically come over to you.

Again for those that think I am some sad git, I am not. I am just curious is all. Cheers;)

declan1980

we're only allowed to shoot at weekends in our club so it gives everyone the same chance to do a bit of hunting since the lads that aren't working can't hunt during the week

Don Juan DeMagoo

Seems a very fair deal for all in your club. I suppose I got a wee bit attached to those little fellas. Oh well, always next years crop of pheasants to admire:)

But on a final funny note if you ever want to experience a crazy hunt, try and get yourself over to France or Germany for a wild boar hunt. Last time I went i was 15. There were 25 original participants, 3 of those ended up in hospital and one ended hiding up a tree (that was me). Boars don't take kindly to being hunted

homerhop

Unless the club is releasing a large amount of phesants and have applied for a licence to shoot hens you cannot shoot them.

It wasn't me!

Don Juan DeMagoo wrote: »

Seems a very fair deal for all in your club. I suppose I got a wee bit attached to those little fellas. Oh well, always next years crop of pheasants to admire:)

But on a final funny note if you ever want to experience a crazy hunt, try and get yourself over to France or Germany for a wild boar hunt. Last time I went i was 15. There were 25 original participants, 3 of those ended up in hospital and one ended hiding up a tree (that was me). Boars don't take kindly to being hunted

Driven boar is definitely on my to-do list. Love the ceremony and the style of it all, to say nothing of the marksmanship.

jap gt

Don Juan DeMagoo wrote: »

I live in the country all my life, I never had a problem with hunting of any form. To be very honest I have always thought it pales here in comparison to the hunting i have experienced in France (wild boar and the like), when working there as a kid for the summers in rural farms.

But for the last few months I have been feeding some stock out the back of the house and have been greeted each morning by around six pheasant hens, it was very quaint and unusual as the wild pheasant i am used to would not be so inquisitive.

As they were very friendly towards people I surmised they had been hand reared by the local gun club.

Then in the early hours of the 1st of Nov, the local area sounded like a flipping poorly orchestrated fireworks scene. The following rainfall cleared all the local brave hunters back to there shelters. To cut a long story short, I have not seen the pheasants since.

But before I sound like an auld whine bucket, allow me to ask one question.

What possible sport is there in hunting hand reared pheasants, they practically come over to you.

Again for those that think I am some sad git, I am not. I am just curious is all. Cheers;)

most decent gun clubs would have birds on the ground with a few month to get them acting a bit wilder, we ran a few pointers out to get them more street wise, i doubt any club will shoot the 6 hens you are feeding as its illegal to do so

Don Juan DeMagoo

The pheasant hens are back today. Rather pleased and feel I gained a lot more respect for the local gun club now.

But for flips sake these pheasants are such a dozy bunch, rather amusing.

Apologies if I offended anyone with my earlier claims. Thanks

cavan shooter

speaking only from my own experience if you rear the birds from poults and let them out in august/sept. and hunt them with the dog they become very wild. If you do that stop hunting them from say mid October to let them settle.

If a young one gets up i.e no tail during the season shoot by it but not it, later on in the season you'll get a great bird

Grizzly 45

Don Juan DeMagoo wrote: »

But on a final funny note if you ever want to experience a crazy hunt, try and get yourself over to France or Germany for a wild boar hunt. Last time I went i was 15. There were 25 original participants, 3 of those ended up in hospital and one ended hiding up a tree (that was me). Boars don't take kindly to being hunted

That sounds more like a Blitzkreig than a boar hunt!!!:D:D:D
But very true,boar can turn narky enough if they are put out of sorts!
Ultimate IMHO is hunt them with a boar spear and the dog pack.Soon find out wether you are a man or a mouse.:D [Small rodent in my case..:o:o]

blackstairsboy

My opinion is that there is alot of lads getting rid of dogs and guns due to the recession. I know my gunsmith told me he would not be able to do some work on my gun for atleast two months due to being run off his feet breaking up guns that were handed in. That was back at the beginning of the summer and it is only calming down a bit now. As for handreared pheasant we have no problems with ours being too tame from running a few springers at them in October. My eperience is that if a pheasant is regularly feeding from a farm trough they can become quite tame and tolerent of humans such as in your case. The problems arise in January though when pheasants are scarce and these very well fed pets may become a tempting target to a greedy immoral half wit who decides to shoot one of them. The result is always the same the farmer falls out with the club and more land becomes preserved.:mad::mad::mad:

Don Juan DeMagoo

Grizzly 45 wrote: »

That sounds more like a Blitzkreig than a boar hunt!!!:D:D:D
But very true,boar can turn narky enough if they are put out of sorts!
Ultimate IMHO is hunt them with a boar spear and the dog pack.Soon find out wether you are a man or a mouse.:D [Small rodent in my case..:o:o]

The crazy thing is they did use spears, dogs, horses and a special ceremonial knife to dispatch the boar. No gun was used, they were available (but that would spoil the chase they said!)

They weren't just hunting any boar that came along. They tracked these old boars, the ones that were the former "bull of the herd", for days before the actual hunt.

Once the old boar gets the "lig amach" by the new dominant boar from the herd. The old boar leaves the herd altogether. This is where I am told they do the most damage leaving the forest and going onto farmers land. destroying acres of crops. A kind of marking out his new territory.

This is the hunt that I saw a few times, it was crazy intense for a young lad. Man, dogs and horse injured (I am not talking a few scraps here:))

There is the other hunting of boars with guns and dogs. But these were special village hunts that I got brought to.

I still to this day remember being handed (as a rather shaken guest to their village) a steaming skinned hind leg of the recently departed boar and having to haul this heavy bloody mess miles back to the farm where i was staying, some gift;) Cannot for the life of me remember how it tasted.

Oh and boars heads on wooden plaques all over the place, every house I worked in had more deer and boars heads with the tusks:D

Don Juan DeMagoo

blackstairsboy wrote: »

My opinion is that there is alot of lads getting rid of dogs and guns due to the recession. I know my gunsmith told me he would not be able to do some work on my gun for atleast two months due to being run off his feet breaking up guns that were handed in. That was back at the beginning of the summer and it is only calming down a bit now. As for handreared pheasant we have no problems with ours being too tame from running a few springers at them in October. My eperience is that if a pheasant is regularly feeding from a farm trough they can become quite tame and tolerent of humans such as in your case. The problems arise in January though when pheasants are scarce and these very well fed pets may become a tempting target to a greedy immoral half wit who decides to shoot one of them. The result is always the same the farmer falls out with the club and more land becomes preserved.:mad::mad::mad:

I wouldn't fall out with the gun club over that. I am not that sentimental over pheasants, especially ones that don't belong to me. My issue is pheasant hens being too young/too tame too be shot.

I would never get in the way of peoples past times as I myself am an avid angler and occasional hunter. But I would have a good eye for what is fair game and what is too young.

But as I said previously, all is fine and dandy. I spoke in haste as all the the young pheasant hens are still circling my troughs.

I think I will let my dog run them a couple of times just to smarten them up a bit though, as you had suggested.

blackstairsboy

I understand that you as a rural person accepts that the pheasants are released to be shot. What I am saying is that I do not know what sort of person considers these semi-tame pet pheasants from around the farm a sporting challenge.
I know myself as on our dung heap every morning there is a grand cock pheasant and although I am an extremely keen shooter I would never dream of hunting him. He is our pet almost. But there are " sportsmen " out there who will shoot these birds. People like this who cannot see beyond the end of their gun barrel should be banned from hunting and only allowed shoot at clays or something IMO. Their actions only worsen relations between shooters and the general public.

doctor evil

I don't get those that don't shoot what is on their on doorstep, sure the bird may appear tame/painfully retarded (which pheasant are IMO) but the flightier bird you shoot elsewhere may appear more tame at times to whoever lives there. It's like you want to have your cake and eat it. I know the birds are released, this is a more general thought to all quarry.

mattock

Dont know about more people out hunting, I was in with a gunsmith in Wilkinstown about 3 weeks ago and on that particular day he had upon 300 guns to destroy and this is every couple of months, I think a lot of lads decommissioned there weapons/firearms due to the new licence debacle and the fact there is a lot of them not working and cannot afford to keep guns and buy ammo.
In my local GC there were fewer lads out on the 1st, so I think the recession has the opposite effect on shooting.

Don Juan DeMagoo

doctor evil wrote: »

I don't get those that don't shoot what is on their on doorstep

Right so, I will be waiting on my doorstep tonight and the first thing that comes up to it, is getting it..... Alas this does not bode well for the dog:eek:

doctor evil wrote: »

sure the bird may appear tame/painfully retarded

I know a local lad who nearly blew off his own foot while trying to cross a gate a couple of years ago. So in general around here the hunted are equally paired with the hunter;)

doctor evil wrote: »

It's like you want to have your cake and eat it.

I do regularly

I am only taking pulling your leg though and partially agree with what you are saying.

But I sure as hell haven't noticed a drop in hunters this year. Especially with the hordes of rabbits and hares around the place. Noticed a pick up in the number of fox as well.
Must be well feed though as they haven't taken one of the pheasants yet!?!

doctor evil

Perhaps it will be a case of a drop in legit hunters and an increase in poachers.

Cass

mattock wrote: »

........... weapons ........

We don't use weapons. (Armed forces maybe). As hunters and sports shooters we use firearms. Please use the word firearms.

Carry on.

Thanks.

mattock

ezridax wrote: »

We don't use weapons. (Armed forces maybe). As hunters and sports shooters we use firearms. Please use the word firearms.

Carry on.

Thanks.

Just using the terminology of sir John de chastelin because most of these poachers do not have permission to use there forearms/ weapons.

Cass

AFAIK he doesn't post here, and if he did i'd ask he call them FIREARMS also.

Its fine distinction betwen the two, but when the word weapon is used it conjures thoughts of violence, killing people, etc. Its even described as such in the dictionary;

Weapon - any instrument or device for use in attack or defense in combat, fighting, or war, as a sword, rifle, or cannon

None of these discriptions apply to the firearms we all use. (Poachers included). We do not intend to use them for any other purpose other than following our sports pursuits of target shooting and game hunting. So as bad as it is others outside of the shooting community calling them weapons we should not do so ourselves.


Apologies for going off thread lads.


Ezri.

Birdnuts

I've been coming across more and more rabbit snares recently in a place I work the dogs near the Curragh. I know the usual lads who shoot bunnies down there and they've noticed the trend too but have no idea who these new guys are - who ever they are, their pretty professional going on their work and apparent success rate!!.