Just wondered if people may wish to post pictures of their relevant areas that they shoot on. Just a quick few shots to show what you have, if you can include quarry pictures on your land before any lead injections then that would be good too! I've got a couple, nothing great as this is just something I have thought of. I would like to build up a rough idea of the area The Ratbag and I shoot on over time, so I'll start you off with the few pictures I have just from walking about over the last year or so.
I'll kick off with a picture of The Ratbag! His identity has been protected for your own sanity!
This was a few days back, a spooked rabbit in an area that we rarely see rabbits was the object of quite some attention. Behind the fence is Silverwood, we are not allowed to shoot in there and a public footpath runs very close to the fence so we have to be quite careful when shooting there. The direction The Ratbag is facing is towards the railway line that runs NE-SW. Further along the line, behind where the picture is taken from, there are more rabbits who all seem to be fairing OK as opposed to the other rabbits in the area that are suffering from Mixy. Behind The Ratbag, to the left of the picture, another public footpath goes through the farmland, which joins up to the picture below showing my two girls (one young, one old!) coming towards me. We have to be very careful not to disturb people who could possibly think we are crazies running about with rifles! Most people are OK, but you get the odd one who stops and stares in the day time.
Another shot shows the field that usually shows sign of rabbits, with Abigail running towards me and the missus with blanked out face. She'll kill me if I show her face on a public forum! (Look to the left of the picture and you can just make out the Farmer's Dads' house. That'll become apparent later.) This field is totally open, to the left it rises and crests at the top with a bowl depression. This is where they sit and it is extremely difficult to creep up, spot the quarry and then set up for a shot. Along the top of the ridge is the boundary between our farmers' land and Old Toms' land, which he won't give us permission to shoot on. The rabbits that sit in the bowl seem to be the very fringe of the warren and the majority sit in Old Toms' field relatively safe. The fox does OK in there I expect!
To show how close the footpath is to where The Ratbag was sat, here is a picture showing two of my girls (one young, one old!) on that very footpath a few weeks back or so. It was very cold that day, the missus was not happy and therefore again, she has the black square of hiding! the field is just behind the fence and that was where The Ratbag was sat.
Here is another part of the farm that we often shoot on. The white farm house belonging to our farmers' Dad is out of shot just to the left of this picture. Rabbits live along the right hand side in the wood line of the second field back (where the rook is) and come out on top of the rise. Last year, we did quite well here although the mixy has hit them hard here. This is where I shot the infected rabbit shown in one of my previous posts. They used to fill the field in the fore ground too, but we haven't seen any in there since last year. This field is known as the Gate of Hate as there is a particularly nasty gate that if used gives the game away. It is a solid wooden gate that also weighs a ton and is held on at the hinges with blue string and a prayer!
The rooks live in the woods to the right there, and there are hundreds of them. We will never make a dent on their numbers with air rifles, not unless we start concentrating on controlling their numbers and bait/decoy them down. Pigeons also live all over the farm, we've had limited success with them as we don't have access to a hide. We hope to try out for one this year. the orientation of this picture is facing towards The Ratbags' back in the first picture, so we have quite a sizeable piece of land to shoot.
Here's a view of The Gate of Hate, looking towards the rook woods. The footpath that runs right through the farmland is where this picture was taken from. The twit in the picture is yours truly!
There is more which I will add to over the coming weeks and months, but you will notice that we have minimum cover as it is primarily sheep grazing land. There is a lovely beech wood with pigs and that has many squirrels and pigeons in it during the warmer months. We don't shoot the pigs, in fact I like to stay as far away as possible from them, especially Elvis the nasty boar!
There is a final field which we have seen badgers and a large tawny owl, I have no pictures of that apart from the pigs that sit in the corner. Don't aaaaaaah! too much, the piglets are from last year and were probably made into bacon months ago!
I'll kick off with a picture of The Ratbag! His identity has been protected for your own sanity!
This was a few days back, a spooked rabbit in an area that we rarely see rabbits was the object of quite some attention. Behind the fence is Silverwood, we are not allowed to shoot in there and a public footpath runs very close to the fence so we have to be quite careful when shooting there. The direction The Ratbag is facing is towards the railway line that runs NE-SW. Further along the line, behind where the picture is taken from, there are more rabbits who all seem to be fairing OK as opposed to the other rabbits in the area that are suffering from Mixy. Behind The Ratbag, to the left of the picture, another public footpath goes through the farmland, which joins up to the picture below showing my two girls (one young, one old!) coming towards me. We have to be very careful not to disturb people who could possibly think we are crazies running about with rifles! Most people are OK, but you get the odd one who stops and stares in the day time.
Another shot shows the field that usually shows sign of rabbits, with Abigail running towards me and the missus with blanked out face. She'll kill me if I show her face on a public forum! (Look to the left of the picture and you can just make out the Farmer's Dads' house. That'll become apparent later.) This field is totally open, to the left it rises and crests at the top with a bowl depression. This is where they sit and it is extremely difficult to creep up, spot the quarry and then set up for a shot. Along the top of the ridge is the boundary between our farmers' land and Old Toms' land, which he won't give us permission to shoot on. The rabbits that sit in the bowl seem to be the very fringe of the warren and the majority sit in Old Toms' field relatively safe. The fox does OK in there I expect!
To show how close the footpath is to where The Ratbag was sat, here is a picture showing two of my girls (one young, one old!) on that very footpath a few weeks back or so. It was very cold that day, the missus was not happy and therefore again, she has the black square of hiding! the field is just behind the fence and that was where The Ratbag was sat.
Here is another part of the farm that we often shoot on. The white farm house belonging to our farmers' Dad is out of shot just to the left of this picture. Rabbits live along the right hand side in the wood line of the second field back (where the rook is) and come out on top of the rise. Last year, we did quite well here although the mixy has hit them hard here. This is where I shot the infected rabbit shown in one of my previous posts. They used to fill the field in the fore ground too, but we haven't seen any in there since last year. This field is known as the Gate of Hate as there is a particularly nasty gate that if used gives the game away. It is a solid wooden gate that also weighs a ton and is held on at the hinges with blue string and a prayer!
The rooks live in the woods to the right there, and there are hundreds of them. We will never make a dent on their numbers with air rifles, not unless we start concentrating on controlling their numbers and bait/decoy them down. Pigeons also live all over the farm, we've had limited success with them as we don't have access to a hide. We hope to try out for one this year. the orientation of this picture is facing towards The Ratbags' back in the first picture, so we have quite a sizeable piece of land to shoot.
Here's a view of The Gate of Hate, looking towards the rook woods. The footpath that runs right through the farmland is where this picture was taken from. The twit in the picture is yours truly!
There is more which I will add to over the coming weeks and months, but you will notice that we have minimum cover as it is primarily sheep grazing land. There is a lovely beech wood with pigs and that has many squirrels and pigeons in it during the warmer months. We don't shoot the pigs, in fact I like to stay as far away as possible from them, especially Elvis the nasty boar!
There is a final field which we have seen badgers and a large tawny owl, I have no pictures of that apart from the pigs that sit in the corner. Don't aaaaaaah! too much, the piglets are from last year and were probably made into bacon months ago!
