Fully grown birds....

Shoot2kill

Well lads, just wondering who ye would recommend to buy a few fully grown cocks from in october. I'm in north cork area so the closer the better.

Ideally they would be birds that are left out, hunted a few times and then rounded up to go where ever they have been sold to. We had our AGM last night and it was agreed that we would buy additional fully grown birds as well as the ones we are rearing. This will only be done if the suitable birds can be seen before hand.

We got birds a few years back not too far from home that were nothing short of a disgrace, short tails, and pecked alive. (definately not the same birds we were shown when we went to view).

Thanks in advance, S2K.

Alchemist2

Shoot2kill wrote: »

Well lads, just wondering who ye would recommend to buy a few fully grown cocks from in october. I'm in north cork area so the closer the better.

Ideally they would be birds that are left out, hunted a few times and then rounded up to go where ever they have been sold to. We had our AGM last night and it was agreed that we would buy additional fully grown birds as well as the ones we are rearing. This will only be done if the suitable birds can be seen before hand.

We got birds a few years back not too far from home that were nothing short of a disgrace, short tails, and pecked alive. (definately not the same birds we were shown when we went to view).

Thanks in advance, S2K.

Been doing it for a few yrs mate and to be honest you may ad well let them out of the crates give em 10mins head start..waste of time very poor returns 10% and less some yrs we are rearing them this year so at least they'll be familiar with the area

Shoot2kill

TBH I wouldn't be a big fan of doing it myself but we have had no release pen the last two years and we are only rearing 100 birds this year. Numbers are way down so it's literally just to boost up the numbers for the star of the season.

Did ye put the birds into a pen for a few days or just leave them off straight away? I'm keen to try make this to work as best we can...

Mezamo

Have done this before with limited success without a release pen. We even put out feeders all over the area to try and hold them but it didnt seem to work that well... If you want to try and see how it goes I would tag the full grown ones and see how many returns you get at the end of the season to see if its worth doing again.

moloney

where abouts in north cork are ya theirs a few around u there but don't do what u are lookin for the bird ure lookin for aidan wogan is ure man in meath but he is too far away

td5

Not very sporting releasing adult birds in Oct to shoot in Nov !! Seems to me to be a lazy mans way ! Whats wrong with putting a bit of work in now with poults that at least will know the area, Lidil do them oven ready might even be a better idea.

Alchemist2

Mods the Op is asking for advice not to be judged is it too much to ask the last post be removed before thread gets locked

shotie

if you ask me birds out there are better then no birds out there.

GoodBridge

td5 wrote: »

Not very sporting releasing adult birds in Oct to shoot in Nov !! Seems to me to be a lazy mans way ! Whats wrong with putting a bit of work in now with poults that at least will know the area, Lidil do them oven ready might even be a better idea.

That's a very unhelpful comment.

The OP asked a valid question. For example, there are people in small clubs who, through no fault of their own, are unable to do that because they have very little time with having to travel the breath of the country for work, young families, etc.

It's no wonder people go elsewhere looking for advice.

shotie

another thing to take in mind is the cost of rearing poults most folk dont have the money so its just easyer to let of adult birds .also you have to be on top of virmin thats not easy if your doing it on your own either.most my birds will be let of the end of september simply because the place is alive with magpies,foxs etc, i know with me i rather be out the 1st and having the dogs riseing birds most birds will probly not even be hit .most ive ever hit in a season is 5 cocks.

td5

Thats right lads give any Antis on here plenty of ammo with which to target our sport. As someone has already posted why bother controling Foxes, Magpies etc. When you can release a few adult birds. Better still why not wait until Nov toss them out off a crate have a cuppa and then shoot them. Sport I think not !! Game Preservation and Conservation is about managing the countryside, Creating good habitat and controling the vermin. Thats what Game shooting is about. No matter how people try and justify their actions this [ INSTANT] type of shooting will bring us all down.

shotie

Shoot2kill wrote: »

Well lads, just wondering who ye would recommend to buy a few fully grown cocks from in october. I'm in north cork area so the closer the better.

Ideally they would be birds that are left out, hunted a few times and then rounded up to go where ever they have been sold to. We had our AGM last night and it was agreed that we would buy additional fully grown birds as well as the ones we are rearing. This will only be done if the suitable birds can be seen before hand.

We got birds a few years back not too far from home that were nothing short of a disgrace, short tails, and pecked alive. (definately not the same birds we were shown when we went to view).

Thanks in advance, S2K.

did you try donedeal lad .

johnny3

Fg

johnny3

We wd get 7 wk old birds hold them in release pens for 5 wks or so and start letting them out feed them really well dog them in for the first wk every day til they no ther way home then from oct everyone's out dogging the birds by nov you hav very good and stone mad birds I wd recommend Stuart mc intosh can buy all cocks for 4€ish

td5

Another vote for Sturat at Brackenhill in Donegal he rears top class stock

natdog

td5 wrote: »

Thats right lads give any Antis on here plenty of ammo with which to target our sport. As someone has already posted why bother controling Foxes, Magpies etc. When you can release a few adult birds. Better still why not wait until Nov toss them out off a crate have a cuppa and then shoot them. Sport I think not !! Game Preservation and Conservation is about managing the countryside, Creating good habitat and controling the vermin. Thats what Game shooting is about. No matter how people try and justify their actions this [ INSTANT] type of shooting will bring us all down.

Think you will find you are the one giving them ammo.
If I put a pen on the land I shoot it would be broke into every night and fcuk all you could do about it. I don't see the problem with releasing early October other than the poor returns.

Shoot2kill

Christ lads, I definately didn't think I was going to get stick on here for asking that question.

Fact of the matter is that we are bursting our balls trying to get birds back into the country side. Our landscape has changed so dramatically in the last 10-15 years due to intense dairy farming and motorway infrastructure that alot of it is no longer suitable to hold birds. We, like everyone else, go heavy on the vermin control, put out our hoppers etc etc etc but the returns are just not there.

So, if it means us buying some fully grown birds the start of october and scattering them out in release pens to hopefully get a shot on the 1st then so be it. We would designate area's of sanctuary to ensure it's not total carnage on the 1st and hunt the surrounding area's.

We had our release pen vandilsed last saturday night. All one side of it pulled down, they cut all the netting, broke our water feeders, spilt all our feed and stole our electric fence. We have spent the last few days trying to fix it up but the long and short of it is that this game is getting harder and harder to do.

And the last a fella wants to be is accused of being unsportsmanly, especially when all I was looking for was advice.

Think its time to leave this Forum, there is alot of sound guys on this but as far as I can see the whole thing has turned into a dick measuring competition. No offence intended or directed at anyone.

J.R.

GREAT POST!

Your post practically sums up our club over the past few years............divided by motorway, lads too busy working, vandalism, gear stolen etc. etc.............in fact your post could be describing our club.

We have purchased 50 adult birds each October and released them into the grounds the same day............advised not to put them in release pens by game dealer...........they were wild birds caught up and all we needed to do was release them early enough in the day to let them get their bearings and find a roost spot for the night.

There is never a massacre or slaughter of birds as some may think would happen.

Each season 6 -8 birds are got the first day, 3 -4 each day out for the next few outings and then it drops off rapidly after that.

Usually our return is about 20 birds shot for 50 released over the season............plus we have lots of feeders enticing local and wild birds in............definitely not unsporting or a slaughter.


I wouldn't leave a forum, if you enjoy it, just because some think their opinion is correct, ignore the advice and opinions of others and are convinced that what they say and think overrules all others........as the old saying goes you have to listen to the wind!!!

natdog

only one lad giving you sh1t.
Don't think its time to leave just yet.

shotie

i see no harm in letting birds off any month of the year chances are most will be fox food .sure when ya think of it lads that sell pheasants all ways sell adult birds come september on wards sure and they must be selling enough to do it every year other wise they would just sell them when there poults if the adult birds wernt selling .i know loads of lads that have been buying adult birds and letting them of near november for years now and come the 1st they only be bout 4 shot betwen lads .the best thing about hunting and shooting for me is been out in the wild watching nature go by and watching the dogs work back and fort sometimes id be caught up in a moment watching somethng and a bird will rise and it be too late for a shot .these memories last and are most best .
my area is now full of these wind turbins with loads of good shooting/hunting ground gone

dto001

I let off about 30 adult birds( mainly hens) every year in march April last year didn't work out to well it was a very wet year but this year I have seen a couple with clutches of 5/6. My father does the same he's been doing it for a good few years and gets clutches every year this is confirmed by his local farmers you should try it next year. The birds I get have usually been on a driven shoot the previous year so are a bit cuter than released poults and have been shot at.

Vizzy

dto001 wrote: »

I let off about 30 adult birds( mainly hens) every year in march April last year didn't work out to well it was a very wet year but this year I have seen a couple with clutches of 5/6. My father does the same he's been doing it for a good few years and gets clutches every year this is confirmed by his local farmers you should try it next year. The birds I get have usually been on a driven shoot the previous year so are a bit cuter than released poults and have been shot at.

Our club is does exactly the same and we are lucky enough to be able to release 500 fully grown birds that have been on a driven shoot previously.(Another vote for Brackenhill and the 2 lads who delivered them were spot on as well)
Amongst the 500 there were about 20 white pheasants and about the same number of black.
They are definitely breeding as I have come across loads of black birds in the last 2 or 3 weeks and this would also seem to indicate that they are sticking around as well.
November will tell a lot.

philbk

Releasing fully grown birds in Oct that are not clued in in living in the wild usually only provide fox food and will probably be dead before Nov1!