Ellie & Lucy

Not so the puppies any more...if you want a nice garden and house then Basset's are not for you!

Chilled

Yesterdays buck hanging in the chiller unit. At least I can leave the carcass until next weekend to butcher it.

Cull Buck Video

Short video re this mornings successful stalk at Alton in Hampshire.

Cull Buck

Stalking at the Alton wood is always a difficult one. Dense woodland and thick undergrowth makes for a tough time although I have found that it does hone the mind into thinking about every move you make. This mornings stalk thankfully resulted in a young cull buck which was taken on the bottom ride. After a few squeaks on the caller it came in from behind me. The unmistakable crunch of a deer foot on some dry leaves alerted me to his location. The first look and he was only 15 yards away looking directly at me. After a few nervy minutes I managed to get in a shooting position only for the buck to take a small fright and bound up the slop back into the tree's. All was not lost though as he stopped about 30 yards away and took a few steps showing his flank, the scope was filled and a freehand shot taken.

As you can see the bullet was a good hit which left a good blood trail thus the buck was found another 20 yards in to the wood.

Then the dreaded walk back to the car with a carcass, uphill most of the way....small price to pay.

Thats what a fox looks like!

Won't be long now before we can get out lamping, the farm started the harvest yesterday, so all those lovely crops that our reynards use to hide in will be gone, oh dear, what a shame...............

Vermin Control

Twins

Yes there are twins along with the doe in the pic. Couldn't get closer for fear of spooking them as the doe had already clocked the car. Double click on the picture and it should enlarge a little.

Picture taken this morning, no bucks to be seen...crafty gits!

Butterfly Heaven

Whilst out stalking this morning came across a hot spot for butterflies along one hedgerow. The pictures do not show how many there were. Lets just say have not seen a gathering of such before.

Made the morning!

Hundreds Of New Pets!

The poults are in.....so here starts the feeding season. All went smoothly eventually after one of the electric fencing units went tits up with a cable that had come loose therefore no anti vermin device. It was fixed rapidly and installed just in time. The weather was not at its best first thing this morning although by 11am the sun was out ensuring the little blighters had a warm welcome into their new surroundings.

Still it's a nervy time when they go in hoping that everything has been done to enhance the well being and protection. Back up to the shoot over the next two days just to make sure then it's some one else's turn on the rota.

4th July Work Day

The two pictures here show the game farm where the poults are coming from this year. The batch that our birds are being selected from looked fit and strong even at 6 weeks old.

The delivery date will in less than ten days time so Saturday's work party was a hectic number of hours trying to get as much done and I was pleased with the work that was achieved. There are a few jobs to finish off but all should be good by the time the little blighters are installed in the release pens.