New Shoot

[tasha]

I'm off to look at a new shoot today should be interesting the grounds have both traditional driven grounds for birds (pheasant / partridge) and lakes for duck and for fishing because of its location it also has a good site for waterfowl and should be good for rough shooting too ;D ;D Only thing it does seem to have is deer which is a pity.

Its not been used in three years because the original keeper retired but the land owners want to use it again so we are thinking about starting a syndicate which means I will have permanent grounds in two counties all year round and this one can be used for training purposes ;D ;D ;D

These things come up so rarely and the price is good so crossed fingers....

[marjolein]

That's great Tash!!!

[cummel]

you are so lucky, its a dream to have such grounds to train on.
Good luck!

[tasha]

I have to admit its fantastic grounds I looked at them yesterday and I am very happy with it, there are two large lakes one of which is stocked with fish and had wild duck and geese already on it so with a bit of feeding will have no need to introduce reared birds, there is plenty of pheasant still on the grounds which I was surprised at and red leg partridge that is breeding so I think those will be eradicated and replaced with the english greys and left to breed. There was lots of rabbit as well and a little fox so again not too bad, the grounds are farmed but have good hedges and small woodlands so there will be plenty of opportunity to have a nice driven shoot approx 8 days next season plus some rough shooting and we did a little pigeon shooting yesterday which was good fun.

The only down side is that it is on the Isle of Wight so you have to travel on the ferry to get to it but its not too expensive and two of the other members already live there so it should work out ok. The bonus is that being a small island off the south coast it has fantastic wildfowling potential because its the birds natural habitat... I have to say I am very excited about it.

The land owner is elderly and is happy to give a lifetime lease (99 years) for the shooting and he's happy to let us do whatever we want with it. He has long horn cattle on the ground which are a rare breed but they do not go onto the shoot grounds and the rest of his farm is left fallow because he no longer runs it as a working farm which means that I can put alot of cover crops and beetle banks in that will encourage the partridge to breed

It is a very rare opportunity on the island so its very exciting... I think because its a tourist venue it will be a good place to hold training there are euro links via portsmouth and then a ferry direct to the island very regularly and lots of dog friendly hotels so I am hoping that prehaps we can hold some of the training here in the future... very very exciting!!

[jai]

H Tash,
That sounds so very exciting! I actually know where that Island is too, which is even great! I hope this turns out wonderfully for you. Take some pics when you can.. would love to see it!
jai

[tasha]

will do At the moment my friend whose taking this on with me has been on the phone every five minutes raving about the pigeon shooting... I can see him swapping his lab for a 'proper dog' soon haha!!

[jacksar]

You are so lucky to have such wonderful property to shoot on and be able to shoot what ever you want. Here in Queensland Aus, it is now illegal to shoot duck or quail, the greenies got their way. We can shoot most furred ferral animal, rabbit, fox etc, but for the avid duck and quail hunters things are not good. So it put an end to Utility field trails. Hope you have some great hunting days, keep us up to date with your adventures
Jckie

[tasha]

We still have some restrictions because our game has a season that is allocated to it but we do have something most of the year round because we have to maintain the fox population, corvids, rabbits and pigeons which are deemed a pest species here so can be shot all year round.

Such a pity that Australia has closed their door on hunting birds sad thing is I can see it happening here too. Could you not do what we have here if they don't want you to shoot wild birds??

The majority of the game birds that are shot are not truely wild they have been bred a little like chickens so we take the eggs, hatch them and feed them up and then they are sold either as day olds or as poults which are then taken care of until deemed able to look after themselves, once they are released we still feed them but its extended out from the pens until the birds are fending for themselves. We never shoot the numbers that have been released and although there are losses to predators there are always some that managed to stay free and breed the following year.

I've got quail to release this year on the shoot but they are the boobie prize and carry a fine of £100 if shot. We usually have white pheasants but this year because its the first year we've had the shoot and are only shooting whats already on the grounds we're using european quail.

We won't be shooting till October/November on game. I don't know if your interested or not but this is the season timetable for game in the UK including deer.

www.basc.org.uk/content/shootingseasons

Funny enough they don't have any information on the Wild Boar that are now spreading nicely around the countryside