Old Poachers tricks

[filcon]

Thought I would start a wee trail of Poachers tricks and tales,.I have read about .?Rabbits;1Watch where the rabbits return at dawn, next day when they are out block their burrow at arms length with rocks then grass. Chase them into their burrow and then you can reach in easily.
2 Cover all the burrows with netting then , in a baccy tin put 3 -4 boxes of match heads then light them and push in as far as possible. The rabbits panic at the smell of sulpher and bolt.
3 Pheasants, feed for a week till they get into a routine preferably near a wire fence. Then soak the feed in cheap whisky, once they are shaky chase them into the fence they need 20 ft to run before they can fly.
4 EELS,A bit of road kill in an old bag chucked in smooth water, the eels smell it and try to get into it but hide below the big stones. Get a bit of roadkill and dab it in front of the stones then stab them behind the neck with a kitchen fork.

cheers FIL

 

[big_swede]

I would like to see somebody catch an eel with a kitchen fork! Sounds a bit tricky, think I'll eave that one to the (poacher) pros. And isn't the eel on the brink of extinction? Sure there must be an easier catch?

 

[brasst]

Sure there must be an easier catch?

yea tescos LOL

pickled pheasant sounds cool tho'

 

[big_swede]

I mean there has be an easier way to catch fish then to harpoon eel with a kitchen fork! And probably more tastier. Eel, yuck!

 

[scottishwolf]

Eel is actually very tasty, especially when smoked

 

[Joethefish]

Dunno about it being endandgered but yes very tasty and really good smoked, easier way of catching them.. shown to me by a gamekeeper is to get a cloth bag.. thick hessian/canvas works best.. half fill it with straw/hay, put your roadkill inthe middle with bit more straw or hay on top. Tie it up, tie it to the bank and drop into an eely looking bit of water in the evening, return the morning after to find eels have chewed through the bag and spent the night munching the roadkill and snuggled up in the straw.
Joe

 

[big_swede]

Tried a couple of times, every time with the same result, YUCK! Even smoked eel, eeew!

But all to his own.. I just think there is easier ways to catch yummy fish like bass, cod, pike, plaice, pollock, perch, grayling, mackerel, and so on...

But the scavangeing eel, that's like eating a slimy crow, and no smoking in the world would make eat that!

 

[hammock monkey]

poachers tricks and tales are where a lot of 'core' bushcarfty skills have survived in a modern world. They are seriously worth looking at. there loads of humour there too, and 'folky' wisdom that is (to me) a modern uk version similar to nessmuk. Its interesting that a lot of the original WW2 special forces originated and ghillies and poachers, or at least were taught by them.
I'm not too sure about the eel with a fork, the principle is sound, depends on the size of the eel. they are a little to tough to take with a normal fork tho possibly!
i find poachers stories and tales contain exactly the same info - with regards to bushcraft as all the expensive modern guides and 'tricks'. the one difference is that the old fellers that only took for the pot didnt wear any dpm, just normal clothes they adapted to work for them.
Game keepers vs poachers is especially interesting.
These people are the modern equiv of the hunter gatherer in our society to me. their love and respect for nature permeated everything they do - and is a fantastic resource for us lot.
its a shame that there always were the ones who would take far too much - just to prove a point to the gamekeeper.

stories my grandad has tells me usually contain tricks that i've never tried before - but to him, walking home with a bag full of trout or eel or two as a young lad was no big deal.

if you're lucky enough to have a grandad who did the same - or just know anyone who is old enough to remember these things talk to them! i wish i could record eveything my grandad tells me on the subject - i think he'd be a bit put off buy it tho.
great stuff

 

[big_swede]

(Sorry for the hi-jack...)
And as for the eels possible extinction:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18024151.700-eels-slide-towards-extinction.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/10/1009_031009_endangeredeels.html

and possiby some explination:
http://research.leidenuniv.nl/index.php3?c=166

from now on, I won't mention eel again, I promise

 

[Big Bad Stu]

I've just thought of another old poacher's trick - avoiding a kicking from the local gamekeeper

Stewey.

 

[gwing]

My favourite, from when I was a kid, was to sow some parsley seed in the corner of an appropriate field. Too small to be noticed by the farmer or keeper but all the hares from miles around will find it and then you know where to find them

 

[Buckshot]

These people are the modern equiv of the hunter gatherer in our society to me. their love and respect for nature permeated everything they do - and is a fantastic resource for us lot.
its a shame that there always were the ones who would take far too much - just to prove a point to the gamekeeper.

Not sure about this I'm afraid
I take your point that these old, old time poachers know lots about nature but the romantic notion that poaching is about getting 'something for the pot' is no longer correct - and hasn't been for a while.
Modern day poachers are generally only interested in one thing - money
They have no respect for nature, people, property or anything else that gets in the way. They're happy to denude the area of thier target species so they can make more money, ripping the ground with thier 4x4's if that's the most effective way to get them.
They have very little of that knowledge left now because technology and greed has replaced it.

That very much goes against the romantic old time poachers stories of taking the odd trout etc.

Please don't be fooled by the olden days.

Mark

 

[mrostov]

Most poachers I know of over here do it simply for the cheap meat or the thrill of an extra, clandestine 'hunting season'.

A lot of US poaching is targets of opportunity, i.e. you're driving home one night and you see some deer drinking water in the ditch, so you stop and pop it with your pistol - free meat for you and the kids.

We lose about 100,000 deer per year here nationwide just in road accidents with vehicles and we currently have an estimated 2x the number of deer we did in the days of the old frontier.

Quite a few hunting tactics that can be called 'poaching' were commonly used hunting tactics that the Indians employed to keep fed. When living a primitive existance, your #1 long term priority is to stay fed and the Indians considered the ability to be a good hunter to be, by far, their most imporrtant bushcraft skill. All of the other bushcraft skills in the world don't mean much if you starve to death. For the Indians, starvation was often a very real possibility that was always looming on the horizon. The hunters also weren't just keeping themselves fed, but they lived it 24/7/365 and they had women and children along for the ride as well, all of whom relied upon them for a successful hunt.

So, effectively, anything that worked was kosher,and some of the stuff they used was both cruel and ingenious by modern standards.

 

[leon-b]

i have no problem with the old style poachers, the type of people who maybe fish every now and then or shoot a few rabbits infact i quite admire them but the poachers that kill for ivory and that to make money are just greedy and i hate them
leon

 

[gregorach]

Not sure about this I'm afraid
I take your point that these old, old time poachers know lots about nature but the romantic notion that poaching is about getting 'something for the pot' is no longer correct - and hasn't been for a while.
Modern day poachers are generally only interested in one thing - money
They have no respect for nature, people, property or anything else that gets in the way. They're happy to denude the area of thier target species so they can make more money, ripping the ground with thier 4x4's if that's the most effective way to get them.
They have very little of that knowledge left now because technology and greed has replaced it.

That very much goes against the romantic old time poachers stories of taking the odd trout etc.

Please don't be fooled by the olden days.

Mark

While I'm sure that you''re largely right, I'm not convinced that "old time" poaching is entirely gone. There were a couple of guys in the village where I grew up that would take game or salmon for the pot, and maybe pass a little on to friends, but they certainly weren't doing it as a money-making venture. And I'm pretty sure they're still there...

 

[bent-stick]

one of my christmas pressies was New Poachers Handbook published in about 1940. As soon as I get round to reading it I'll post a review.

 

[Carcajou Garou]

I have heard pressing granulated salt in mud near a watering site to attract game to take photos of course

 

[Mungo]

I remember a book my mum read to us when I was a little one - something about soaking raisins in rum to catch Pheasants...

Ah - the poacher in Withnail and I was frightening... stuffed his eels down his pants. Shudder.

 

[bushtank]

i have been a poacher for at least 20 years now and still love to out wit the game keeper/keepers i have never been collered by a game keeper . and that is all down to knowing the land better than him. i have allot of respect for the keepers but if they will keep farming pheasant for me then i will keep poaching.the same goes to trout fishing as well

 

[moocher]

most of the poachers i knew did it for beer money or because it was illegal ,if you offered them permission to hunt on the land,they wouldnt bother anymore.books by ian niall are good reads.