The hunting crack is it gone.

Cass

I've moved the discussion on bag limits, laws, changes, etc. to it's own thread as we're staying off the original topic.

So all posts regardnig the craic of shooting sports stay here, and all the posts about how to further the sport of hunting/fieldsports can go into the new thread, HERE.

blackpearl

Uinseann_16 wrote: »

Not everyone has a major interest in shotguns i didnt i have two rifles. a single barrel would still cost around 100 quid

A second hand one you could get for 50 quid what ever floats your boat but if you really whant to get into the sport you will find a way,years ago loads of people got into the sport who had no conection to the sport fathers ,uncle ect now even sons of hunting fathers are not geting into it as i said hopefully at my age i will not see the end of hunting in this country,but of the few young ones starting now they will see it end ,3/4s of the hunters in this country are from their mid 40s up a lot of them with their locals only way of thinking and greed have a sin to answer for.

J.R.

I acknowledge your point about younger people finding it difficult to get into a gun club. Many clubs do have mostly over 40’s whereby it’s difficult – if not impossible - for the younger, aspiring shooters to join. I personally, do not understand why clubs, that have plenty of land, do not encourage younger shooters to join. Correctly vetted & selected - they would be a help, an asset and would continue on the work of the club into the future.
I also understand why it is very difficult to get into some clubs – we are one of them. In our club it is not because we don’t want to share it with the younger generation or that we want to hog it all for ourselves.
Living in Dublin – I realise that being a member of a club in is very difficult to achieve for the younger generation. It can be very difficult (if not impossible) to get game/pheasant and vermin shooting in the Dublin region and surrounding counties. I presume the same applies to many other larger town & other cities.

The fact that Dublin is so built up & a lot of land in surrounding areas has been lost to motorways / dual-carriageways / Luas lines / Dart lines /large housing estates in the surburbs (built during the boom) means lots of clubs have lost large tracts of land - plus land still in gun clubs territory beside motorways is practically useless and unshootable (for safety reasons) means that many clubs have limited membership & many are full at present.

Many lads residing in Dublin are in clubs in Dublin, Meath, Kildare & Wicklow but these are now beginnning to restrict membership due to demand & loss of shooting land also. With the price of housing rapidly increasing people are being priced out of the Dublin market. They purchase cheaper in surrounding counties. That means that many clubs in counties surrounding Dublin now have long waiting lists.

Although I'm in Dublin myself I'm a member of a club in Kildare at present (no vacancies due to loss of large tracts of land – long waiting list to join and a vacancy will only arise when someone leaves). I have a few friends who have tried to join clubs in Dublin & Dublin's surrounding areas for years but are still on a waiting list (preference given to locals on list living in these areas, which is only fair, I suppose)

What has been outlined above may explain why it is difficult to get into a club in large urban areas.
For those clubs lucky enough to have large tracts of land in rural areas I cannot understand why they do not encourage younger members to join. It would be the lifeline of the club.

J.R.

Pheasant hunting getting worse

I notice that the pheasant shooting in our club has been very poor to date this year. Last few years weren’t much better with poor returns for birds released.
Talking to members in other clubs in various parts of the country many members have noted the same – don’t know where the bird are gone this year.
I see from posts here on boards.ie that some lads are having a great season & meeting lots of birds – lucky devils!!....best of luck to them!
We have plenty of feeders out and quite a few hedgerows but still pheasants seem to have disappeared.
I have as few reasons why I think it is worsening – just guesswork but here it goes.

1. Ploughing in winter
A trend that seems to have caught on here in North Kildare is whereby all the tillage farmers now plough & plant after the harvest. No more stubble fields in the winter. These stubble fields used to be great for duck coming into. Also they made walking easy and provided ground cover.
Now the land is very heavy and sticky. It’s muddy, boring and difficult & tiring to walk. My dog (quite old) finds it tiring with clods of mud stuck to all paws. Perhaps the birds also find it unattractive & boring to remain in – perhaps lust green fields in stud farms are more attractive.

2. Rabbits - food
Rabbits which were plentiful are now very scare. They provided food for vermin to feed on. Perhaps now with their disappearance the pheasants feature more on the menu. Just guessing – but I found many piles of pheasant features where a kill had taken place.

3. Vermin
We are not hammering the foxes as much as we use to or should – definitely intend to increase this in the near future. Greycrow & magpies are being well controlled.

4. Buzzards
Buzzards – there are lots of buzzards about this year. Three times while decoying I had a buzzard dive down to attempt to take a decoy. With the loss of rabbits they need to turn their attention to other food sources,. As well as eating carrion, rodents etc. are they supplementing their diet with pheasants??
I am not for a moment suggesting that buzzards should be controlled – no way!!
I think they are magnificent and enjoy watching them soar overhead – I’m just trying to figure out why pheasant numbers have decreased so much.

5. Hen Pheasants
In years past we used to rise lots of hen pheasants – we meet very few – if any- in the last few years. Where are they all gone? Is it because clubs mostly only release cocks? With no hen in an area there will be no new clutches for next year.

6. Stud farms nearby
Perhaps pheasants quickly that realise nearby stud farms (preserved) are a safety spot and remain there throughout the season undisturbed. I don’t know.

Grizzly 45

1

. Ploughing in winter
A trend that seems to have caught on here in North Kildare is whereby all the tillage farmers now plough & plant after the harvest. No more stubble fields in the winter. These stubble fields used to be great for duck coming into. Also they made walking easy and provided ground cover.
Now the land is very heavy and sticky. It’s muddy, boring and difficult & tiring to walk. My dog (quite old) finds it tiring with clods of mud stuck to all paws. Perhaps the birds also find it unattractive & boring to remain in – perhaps lust green fields in stud farms are more attractive.

SOP in the EU for generations.At least over there with Winter snows the ground is going to be hard.Proably the fields will be like the Somme over here doing that. This is where hunter/farmer relationship comes into play. Can and is your relationship strong enough to ask him to leave an acre unplowed for the Winter to get the ducks onto the stubble?

3. Vermin
We are not hammering the foxes as much as we use to or should – definitely intend to increase this in the near future. Greycrow & magpies are being well controlled.

literally, you need to be committing fox genocide if you want a good pheasent shoot.

4. Buzzards
Buzzards – there are lots of buzzards about this year. Three times while decoying I had a buzzard dive down to attempt to take a decoy. With the loss of rabbits they need to turn their attention to other food sources,. As well as eating carrion, rodents etc. are they supplementing their diet with pheasants??
I am not for a moment suggesting that buzzards should be controlled – no way!!
I think they are magnificent and enjoy watching them soar overhead – I’m just trying to figure out why pheasant numbers have decreased so much.

Roadkill... Start collecting it.Buzzards are carrion eaters as well, so give them something a lot easier to dine on than the live game.They are opportunistic and if one species isn't available they will catch the other.Also, keep an eye out for where they roost to observe their countryside.Usually a tall isolated tree, or power line pole, etc.They'll spot the cadaver in no time.

5. Hen Pheasants
In years past we used to raise lots of hen pheasants – we meet very few – if any- in the last few years. Where are they all gone? Is it because clubs mostly only release cocks? With no hen in an area, there will be no new clutches for next year.

Bad gender mix alright.It actually should weigh a bit more to the hens, as they are the ones more likely to be killed in nesting season by predators.

6. Stud farms nearby
Perhaps pheasants quickly that realise nearby stud farms (preserved) are a safety spot and remain there throughout the season undisturbed. I don’t know.

without a doubt.. Have a waterfowl reserve next door to me.Up until Aug 31st, I have mallards aplenty in my rain puddles on my land, where they scoff all my provided wheat and barley.Come Sept1st, they are all in the Wildfowl sanctuary.:rolleyes:

blackpearl

We had a good supply of wild cluches this season due to foxs and mags and greys getting hammered but the big plus was the corn getting cut very late the buzzards could not get at the young birds .

Birdnuts

Large numbers of pheasants are killed on our roads - especially the reared variety. A recent study in the UK confirms this. With the vast increase in the amount of traffic across urban and rural Ireland its not hard to see it being a significant factor

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-41487536

Indeed I've seen on some rural roads more pheasant carcasses then the likes of your rabbits or foxes

ezra_

ezra_ wrote: »

I might try the NARGC route - what is the best way, just drop them a mail?

Nothing back from NARGC so far...

Cass

I've removed a couple of posts that inevitably crop up every time the topic of buzzards comes up.

I'll say this once and once only. Don't start it. There will be no warning, no more Mod Notes. It'll be a ban straight away.

richiedel123

ezra_ wrote: »

Nothing back from NARGC so far...

What county u in? Could u not look for county rep and get them to find out information for you?

clawback07

I am shooting for well over 40 years - if I was to look back through rose tinted glasses I could say the craic is gone out of shooting .Yes , the landscape of Ireland has changed dramatically over those 40 years and mostly not to the benefit of hunters as we are already aware , but I still go shooting where I can within the club I am in and on land where I have permission . It ain't what it was but it still gets the blood going whether it's one pheasant and three grey crows as it was on the 1st of November last or wood pigeon coming into roost as many evenings as I can or rats with an air rifle it's what you make of it .
I've packed it all in twice ,got rid of everything to do with hunting , only to get withdrawal symptoms and start all over again ! So I just enjoy every opportunity that arises and keep the regrets for the (many ) misses !

ezra_

richiedel123 wrote: »

What county u in? Could u not look for county rep and get them to find out information for you?

Am in Wicklow. Have looked before for a wicklow contact but haven't found anything

useurowname

clawback07 wrote: »

I am shooting for well over 40 years - if I was to look back through rose tinted glasses I could say the craic is gone out of shooting .Yes , the landscape of Ireland has changed dramatically over those 40 years and mostly not to the benefit of hunters as we are already aware , but I still go shooting where I can within the club I am in and on land where I have permission . It ain't what it was but it still gets the blood going whether it's one pheasant and three grey crows as it was on the 1st of November last or wood pigeon coming into roost as many evenings as I can or rats with an air rifle it's what you make of it .
I've packed it all in twice ,got rid of everything to do with hunting , only to get withdrawal symptoms and start all over again ! So I just enjoy every opportunity that arises and keep the regrets for the (many ) misses !

Your lucky, I'm afraid shooting crows and rats doesn't stir my blood. If that's what we're being reduced to I don't think it's much to look forward to.

clawback07

useurowname wrote: »

Your lucky, I'm afraid shooting crows and rats doesn't stir my blood. If that's what we're being reduced to I don't think it's much to look forward to.

I can see your point ,but hunting stirs my blood whether it's rats , pheasants , woodcock , snipe or whatever and with the ever encroaching monoculture of silage grass and electric fences you gotta improvise and adapt ,and shooting rats with an air rifle has given me access to hunting land I wouldn't have otherwise !