Back on the Duck

[tasha]

We start back training the new duck to fly soon, I can't wait!!!

It basically involves us using flags a boat and the dogs to get the young birds flying, they can be very lazy because they are bred rather than wild raised and eat large quantities of food so as soon as their flight feathers are established we get them up off the water and flying. Helps keep them fit, encourages them to travel and use the other lakes in the area or further a field (we do lose a good percentage to the local wild duck population which is a good thing and accounted for) and stops them getting to fat which makes them easy prey for the local mink and fox populations.

Bonnies role is mainly in the water, she's used to guide them from one end to the other, around and off the various islands as well as push them forward when they are flushed to make sure that all the birds are encouraged to fly. She is also used to locate injured birds which are retrieved and dispatched if its required.

Shooting season will soon be upon us, the birds are all in and eating well although we could do with a bit more dry weather to help keep them dry and ward of disease in the pheasants and partridge. Hard work really because damp weather causes a multitude of problems gapes being the main one we are looking out for at the moment (basically a form of worm).

I get to practise my direction work as well which will be interesting last year was a bit of a disaster at times but we are getting there slowly ;D ;D

[sian]

sounds like a very busy time for you....

I never thought that ducks would need encouragement to fly. But I suppose all the "domestic" geese and ducks I see each day are the ones that have gone "feral", so have had to learn to cope in the big, bad world!

[tasha]

its a common thing to do in the uk, we still have as little contact with them as we can get away with though so that they do have the opportunity to join the wild population and we always get wild nesting birds on the lake so they have role models.

Initially we support them by keeping down predators and feeding them as well as encouraging them to fly and travel but there does come a point where they are left to their own devices at that point they either end up in the wild population and will follow the wild birds that come to nest or they stay local and end up as a dinner opportunity...

[marjolein]

It's so forbidden to raise game for letting off in the wild here in Holland. Funny how all these rules can differ so much in countries.

[tasha]

I think over here it was a decision made so that we didn't over hunt species or take too many from the wild population, being an island we only have so much stock and birds like Pheasant are not migratory or a native species.

I know that without breeding our shooting would come to an abrupt end. Grounds are another issue, most shoots don't have large grounds so they have to do the best with what they have and it has to be financially viable.

It was the gamekeepers job to make sure that there were birds on the ground for the owners and their guests to shoot historically, helping with the breeding process gave some guarantees. I am sure that at one point they would have maintained larger game species for the crown but that is no longer the case in the majority.

Duck of course is slightly different, some shoots started to introduce a duck drive for special clients if they were on coastal routes but now you will often find a duck drive on a shoot and keepers will make a man made lake to breed or encourage the birds onto the grounds. The species used is Mallard which is a native wild bird to Europe. Other species like teal or goose are not bred, although they are prized on a shoot these birds would have to come from a wild population. Woodcock and Snipe join this list of wild birds. Outside of that if you wanted wildfowl species you would need to join a club and go wildfowling.

English Partridge is another species that most people prefer to breed wild in fact we have difficulty in breeding them like the pheasant, a shoot near my parents has not been shot on for over ten years to encourage a breeding wild population of english partridge and alot has been done to the grounds to provide them with a proper food source (beetle banks for example).

Birds are the only species that we do this with Deer, Rabbit & now Boar for example it would not be acceptable to breed and then release (although boar started off with a few accidentally released after a storm from a boar farm and a few miguided people) so those are truely wild populations but these are hunted and shot in a different way - stalking for deer and boar, lamping for rabbit. Red deer in Scotland is slightly different again. Grouse is another bird that is not bred but left wild although every effort is made to maintain their habitat... there are differing views on what that is though because quiet often at the moment they have banned things like burning the heather (which would help get rid of the ticks and burn off the old heather giving the grouse new food) and groups like the RSPB have trials being run to reintroduce some species of birds of prey back into the wild which is devastating numbers, rather than look at the whole picture they have concentrated on the species concerned and in the long run I don't think it will be a success like that.

Grouse is one of the few species where a ban on shooting can occur if numbers counted are not deemed high enough. Hence the two counts per year.

I know we get birds from the french (like partridge for example red leg partridge are used alot in the UK) but I don't know if they have the same formal or driven shoots that we have here.

Although every effort is made to keep contact with the birds to a minimum you do have to feed, water, medicate and protect them for a certain period before release and then other than filling the odd hopper with food they are left to their own devices.

Its not ideal and there is debate about some types of shooting being fair (for an example some keepers will whistle in birds or bring them in and release on the day of the shoot - deemed bad practise and totally unacceptable) but most do their best to make sure that small numbers are taken, that grounds are left without disturbance and rotated and that the birds have areas that they can go to that are never shot but are still maintained for them.

There are positives and negatives - positive being the land is well maintained and benefits lots of other species, few birds are taken from the wild population in fact more are often added than taken so helping where numbers would otherwise drop in migratory species for example. The negatives being that its not a truely wild shoot.

There are opportunities for rough shooting, wildfowling, pigeon and stalking if you want to but its difficult to get into without joining a club, owning your own grounds or having your own shooting rights or travelling abroad to do it.

We are lucky on my keepers shoot only one lake is shot and there are lots of others including a river course that they can go to where they will not be disturbed.

The shoot on the isle of wight is totally different no birds have been bred or introduced there is old stock that have bred wild and being an isle off the south coast is ideal for wildfowl but it is not a formal driven shoot, its a rough shoot only.

[marjolein]

Ta for the explanation Tash, interesting to read!

[tasha]

it looks complicated to me haha! I have to say there are a few different sorts of shoot in the UK, you have a formal shoot where you have to dress up and the beaters don't speak to the guns, then you have the syndicate shoots where everyone mucks in with both the running of the shoot on a daily basis and the shoot itself during the season, and then you have shoots like the one I go on each year in Kent.

There is a fulltime keeper who maintains the grounds himself and sells shoot days to individuals for a whole season with the odd single day, he also does deer stalking and the odd rough shoot day on a one to one basis. There is a max of 8 guns (usually only 6) and six drives during the day some will include a duck drive some won't. He works terribly hard to give everyone a good day but its not about the numbers taken, any dangerous shooting and your booted off there and then (with no refund!!).

If you fancy coming along next year I can give you the shoot dates and ask my keeper if its ok for you to come, he's always happy to have good dogs or if you don't want to use them (it can knock a dog off point) just bring yourself for the day

[kags]

This is a really interesting post Tasha. I didn't know that people did that with ducks.

[tasha]

its becoming more popular but is certainly a bone of contention because some people deem it to be unsporting as its not true wildfowling.

[marjolein]

Well, tbh, most hunters I know always keep telling everyone they only hunt to keep the species healthy so to say. If there's too much of a kind, disseases will show up and will kill a big part of the population. You prevent that when you hunt and keep numbers down.
Keeping that in mind, breeding game for hunters has nothing to do with keeping numbers down.......
For the dogs, bred game is difficult as well. They don't react as wild game would. There are loads of dogs that don't work on bred game like they would on wild. They just smell the human interference.

On the other hand, if my dogs point a bred bird beautifully, who gives a sh*t about where they come from?!?!!

[greyghost]

marjolein said:

On the other hand, if my dogs point a bred bird beautifully, who gives a sh*t about where they come from?!?!!

PMSL ;D