Anyone find the pheasant numbers down

Paullimerick

How's the going lads.
I know there will be fellas with big numbers of the said birds. But I know from my own and the person I go shooting with that the numbers just don't seem to be there this year

richiedel123

Paullimerick wrote: »

How's the going lads.
I know there will be fellas with big numbers of the said birds. But I know from my own and the person I go shooting with that the numbers just don't seem to be there this year

Never seen such a decline in birds in my area. Near non existant. Even released birds weren't surviving. Been a disaster of a year for wild birds.what area u in. I'm midlands and it is same story wit most lads i talk to

gunny123

Talking to a friend who is in a club, and he's been out for days without seeing a bird. Reckons its never been so bad.

Paullimerick

I am in County limerick and we got a big area and released a lot of birds. And from my lay be the second weekend onwards it's been hard going. Even taught the dogs were missing them but then they rise one and you change your mind.

dodderangler

I'm only back from a bit of foxin and I seen 6 pheasants. Never seen so many in my area before.

Tommyaya4

Brilliant season we had 4 again yesterday seen 9 more cocks and 11 hens we have 25 between me and my shooting buddy we had the mixed bag comp in the club yesterday and the countryside is full of wildlife mild winter and a lot of work by a few lads

richiedel123

Tommyaya4 wrote: »

Brilliant season we had 4 again yesterday seen 9 more cocks and 11 hens we have 25 between me and my shooting buddy we had the mixed bag comp in the club yesterday and the countryside is full of wildlife mild winter and a lot of work by a few lads

What part of the country are u in?

Tommyaya4

richiedel123 wrote: »

What part of the country are u in?

South tipp lad but we put a Hugh amount of effort into rearing pens buying in a few cover crops and vermin control even tag birds to see what returns are it's a all year round job in the hope of a good 3 months

Tommyaya4

No shortage

Paullimerick

Fair play. Out Today and absolutely nothing. Had red setter who is young but setting out in morning. No set. Springers and cockers after and only for snipe we would be empty

blackpearl

Buzzards killing cluches of wild birds have see them taking full grown hen pheasants that is the problem its as plain as the nose on your face.wait for it the pretend shooters from the bird watching forums will be along shortly to say that its bull,Buzzards everywhere at the moment time for the gunclubs to lobby the nargc to push the goverement for a countrywide cull.

joe man utd

Have seen a load of pheasants here in limerick.. go out every weekend.. seeing on average 5 more Cocks everyday and for the past few weeks 2 or 3 woodcock and the streams and rivers have teel and mallard where we have never seen them.. between my uncle father and myself we have 28 cockpheasants, 7 woodcock and 42 duck.. we have also trapped 35 or more mink in the past year.

Paullimerick

Good numbers joe. Can I ask what part of the county you in.

dodderangler

blackpearl wrote: »

Buzzards killing cluches of wild birds have see them taking full grown hen pheasants that is the problem its as plain as the nose on your face.wait for it the pretend shooters from the bird watching forums will be along shortly to say that its bull,Buzzards everywhere at the moment time for the gunclubs to lobby the nargc to push the goverement for a countrywide cull.

Let's kill a Native bird of prey for the sake of a couple of tame pheasants? Yeah damn right I'm against it. Bad husbandry is the problem. Not the birds of prey. I've heard same comments and moans from lads who only pop up every November and feck off after January. Typical.

tikkahunter

But its not a couple of tame Pheasants , they are decimating wild numbers as well , over the past 7 years our vermin numbers are basically the same maybe more foxes the odd year on the club land .The only thing that has changed is the number of buzzards have increased from the odd one 10 years ago to counting 18 on a 10 km radius of one of the farms we shoot. We release hens as well as cocks for the bast 50 years and in the last 3 years the returns are dwindling and the carcass numbers around the land are increasing , it is solid facts and it needs to be addressed fairly soon.

Birdnuts

tikkahunter wrote: »

But its not a couple of tame Pheasants , they are decimating wild numbers as well , over the past 7 years our vermin numbers are basically the same maybe more foxes the odd year on the club land .The only thing that has changed is the number of buzzards have increased from the odd one 10 years ago to counting 18 on a 10 km radius of one of the farms we shoot. We release hens as well as cocks for the bast 50 years and in the last 3 years the returns are dwindling and the carcass numbers around the land are increasing , it is solid facts and it needs to be addressed fairly soon.

Reared birds are easy pickings for foxes. If your not on top of that problem then releasing reared birds won't do much good. What hits wild birds hardest apart from that are cold springs(we've had a run of them and they do serious damage to wild broods), disease pressures and the ongoing removal of cover in the form of hedges,scrub and wetlands from our countryside that is hitting much of our wildlife. Plenty of buzzards on Blessington Game club land with out any impact on bird returns thanx to solid habitat work and year round fox, mink and crow control. Its pretty obvious though when you look around at most gun clubs that many come up short in this area and then you get the same people blaming buzzards etc. To prove my point below is a study on the faith of reared birds on a large shooting estate

http://www.gwct.org.uk/research/species/birds/common-pheasant/fate-of-released-pheasants/

dodderangler

Birdnuts wrote: »

Reared birds are easy pickings for foxes. If your not on top of that problem then releasing reared birds won't do much good. What hits wild birds hardest apart from that are cold springs(we've had a run of them and they do serious damage to wild broods), disease pressures and the ongoing removal of cover in the form of hedges,scrub and wetlands from our countryside that is hitting much of our wildlife. Plenty of buzzards on Blessington Game club land with out any impact on bird returns thanx to solid habitat work and year round fox, mink and crow control. Its pretty obvious though when you look around at most gun clubs that many come up short in this area and then you get the same people blaming buzzards etc. To prove my point below is a study on the faith of reared birds on a large shooting estate

http://www.gwct.org.uk/research/species/birds/common-pheasant/fate-of-released-pheasants/

Another thing I find funny is that the same kind of people who blame everything on numbers being down are the same people shooting 5or 6 a day. Just can't get my head around some people

Ecotone

Out for a few hours yesterday and met 5 pheasants and 2 woodcock. Saw a good few wild clutches last summer.

Paullimerick

Out today and eventually got one for the red setter. Brilliant.
Took the springers out after and got 2 woodcock.
Things are picking up.
And I agree people going out as I say for slaughter premiums are ruining clubs . I always was of the impression that you were only allowed 2 per day

Bad_alibi

dodderangler wrote: »

Another thing I find funny is that the same kind of people who blame everything on numbers being down are the same people shooting 5or 6 a day. Just can't get my head around some people

I got caught talking with two whingers down my way the other day. They were blaming the buzzards for destroying the pheasant numbers. When I asked how much vermin control they were doing they replied sure who has time to stay up all night lamping sure that's a young lads game.
I followed with why do they both oppose letting new lads into the club and got silence. It's a shame they and so many like them across the country haven't the IQ points to rub together and are slowly destroying the sport.
Them and their kind will always find something or someone to blame for their failings.

grassroot1

dodderangler wrote: »

Let's kill a Native bird of prey for the sake of a couple of tame pheasants? Yeah damn right I'm against it. Bad husbandry is the problem. Not the birds of prey. I've heard same comments and moans from lads who only pop up every November and feck off after January. Typical.

Buzzards are not native and are having an impact on irish wildlife and our biodiversity
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00063659509477146
They have to eat something

Bad_alibi

grassroot1 wrote: »

Buzzards are not native and are having an impact on irish wildlife and our biodiversity
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00063659509477146
They have to eat something

Lads there's 1000's upon 1000's of pheasants released each year do people think that buzzards are killing everyone of them.

dodderangler

grassroot1 wrote: »

Buzzards are not native and are having an impact on irish wildlife and our biodiversity
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00063659509477146
They have to eat something

Buzzards are native. They were always a part of Irish countryside but were shot to extinction before the 1900s. They've since been bred in England and taken over to Ireland and released. They've more right to be here than pheasants which are a Asian species of game bird.

flutered

there are supposed to be birds of prey nesting in the galtees having made their way from killarney, there is a shortage of most animals including hares, the upcoming lambing season will be watched with interest by farmers rangers and wild life experts, i expect a lot of ink to be spilt between now and next june, btw a mate counted 32 magpies helping themselves at a suckler feeding trough today

grassroot1

dodderangler wrote: »

Buzzards are native. They were always a part of Irish countryside but were shot to extinction before the 1900s. They've since been bred in England and taken over to Ireland and released. They've more right to be here than pheasants which are a Asian species of game bird.

There is no word in the Irish language for Buzzard and no record of when in the 1900's the last one was shot.
While most of us here worry about the Buzzards impact on Pheasant numbers its impact on all of our wildlife is what concerns me.
The buzzard is certainly not the only reason wildbirds are under pressure but equally it is wrong to say it is not having an impact.
A recent survey in one RGC put the buzzard density higher than that of the UK.
I am not calling for the extermination of buzzards but rather an acceptance that they do in fact have an impact.
On a side note we control foxes, mink and various corvids and yet they are still plentiful in the countryside.

EPointer=Birdss

dodderangler wrote: »

Buzzards are native. They were always a part of Irish countryside but were shot to extinction before the 1900s. They've since been bred in England and taken over to Ireland and released. They've more right to be here than pheasants which are a Asian species of game bird.

I knew it!
The English hatch a new plan 16 years ahead of us!
Crafty buzzards that lot!!

grassroot1

EPointer=Birdss wrote: »

I knew it!
The English hatch a new plan 16 years ahead of us!
Crafty buzzards that lot!!

BUZZIT rather than Brexit

Roksan

Pheasant numbers in South Kildare/Laois are reduced this year. Lot of buzzards in the area too.

reniwren

IN my area, pheasant numbers are down, pigeon are down and rabbits only come out at night and are reduced in numbers.

I will presume that when buzzards were native they were not the top predator having to compete with larger birds of prey?

Do larger birds of prey also bed in fewer numbers?

Birdnuts

grassroot1 wrote: »

Buzzards are not native and are having an impact on irish wildlife and our biodiversity
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00063659509477146
They have to eat something

I'm sorry but that is nonsense- buzzard bones have been found in, Neolithic, bronze age and Viking remains in this country and they were present on the Island up until the late 19th centuary. I suggest you read Gordon Darcy's "Lost birds of Ireland" - all the references are their from scientific papers on the subject. They were wiped along with other native BOPS thanx to persecution based on the type of ignorance we sadly continue to see by some on this thread.
Their diet has been well studied too on this island and consists mainly of vermin species - of which none are in short supply in this country

http://duhallow.blogspot.ie/p/buzzards-in-duhallow.html

" Early indications from dietary analysis of Buzzard pellets in Cork has shown that they are feeding largely on rabbits, rats, bank voles, rooks, magpies and woodpigeons."

Birdnuts

grassroot1 wrote: »

On a side note we control foxes, mink and various corvids and yet they are still plentiful in the countryside.

Some species are more sensitive and adaptable to human hunting and other pressures than others. That's why some go extinct and others become pests. Most of our native BOPS were driven to extinction so there's your answer on that one.

PS: The Irish name for buzzard is "Clamhan" with a fada on the second "a"