Nice pic! And yep Calis get pretty tame, have a few "pet' ones here
Nice pic! And yep Calis get pretty tame, have a few "pet' ones here
Seen a couple teal ducklings at the pond yesty.
"Thats not a knife, this is a knife"
Rule 2: Always point firearms in a safe direction
CFD
tps://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20180505T00&p0=264&msg=Dundees+Countdo wn+to+Gamebird+Season+2018&font=cursive
Petros is picking up our pheasant chicks today
startig to see lot of chicks now god quail young are tiny.dogs havin a ball with all the points dont think he quite gets why i wont shoot or release him to flush![]()
I haven’t seen any pheasant or quail chicks yet – but I heard a couple of hens calling yesterday so I guess they have chicks on the ground
The quail family groups are gone – just seeing pairs marching round together – so not sure when they will be nesting
I went through our bush yesterday and checked 20 rat bait stations and 5 possum bait stations – a month since I last loaded them – I didn’t use a single replacement bait block and no new possum bait – either the bastards have gone off Pestoff bait – or they are dead
Nothing in a couple of Timms traps or in the cat cage – the GN A24 trap hasn’t smashed anything for ages
During my walk – I flushed lots of roosters and a couple of hens
So after feeding the rats for nearly two years – I reckon that I have got them beat for this breeding season at least - perfect timing this year
My worst predators round the property is a couple of hawks that are flying real low at present – but I have a couple of magpies that chase the shit out of the hawks when they come round
Cutting the hay paddocks next week – unfortunately a few pheasants will perish and if the silly hens have nested out there – they will have to start again
Great pest control Time Out good work![]()
"Thats not a knife, this is a knife"
Rule 2: Always point firearms in a safe direction
CFD
tps://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?iso=20180505T00&p0=264&msg=Dundees+Countdo wn+to+Gamebird+Season+2018&font=cursive
Is it late for hens to be sitting on eggs? There's a nest in the paddock with 10 eggs still. Hen was still on it this morning
VIVA LA HOWA
Just a short addendum to my original story on Page 1 of this thread
We have tried to create a bird haven on a 30 acre rural BOP property about half bush and surrounded by a lot of bush
Killed all the possums over many years of poisoning – bait stations are now rarely touched
Killed all the rats on the property with intensive trapping and poisoning over the last year or two – 20 bait stations and nothing being touched now
Got a mate to clean up all the rabbits because they were becoming a pest
So what is there for the stoats to eat – pheasants and other birds
Still seeing a few big roosters but most of the hens have gone – only a few juvenile birds – I suspect that the stoats took out the hens while they were nesting
I have recently seen weasels and stoats in broad daylight
I am now on a steep learning curve on how to kill these loopy b@st@rds before they clean up the rest of the pheasants – building my own box traps and will start with twelve
If you are into predator control – don’t make my mistake – focus on mustelids early on – they are wicked bird killers
http://www.kiwisforkiwi.org/wp-conte...aigGillies.pdf
Yes was a good read . Was in back blocks of Fiordland and herd a racket going down , birds stretching and performing , then we seen it a stoat running through the bush . Really gutted me to see that , was too small a target to have a crack at the little barstard , but kind of wished I had tryed
Rule 7: Avoid alcohol and drugs when handling firearms
In response to your addendum Time Out, I wouldn't lose heart just yet. All the birds around my place and the spots I usually go to have gone to ground, it is normal for this time of year. Enjoyed your posts, cheers
Hope you are right Pointer – but sadly it is much different to this time last year
I was driving down our access road a week or so back and these guys were in the way – I stopped about 8m from them, I got out and leaned over the front door and took a few pics, I was a bit slow cause while I was snapping, a bl@@dy stoat ran from just in front of me, right through the middle of them – they didn’t even move – he must have been scared of me and the car – I just missed snapping him –
I did a bit of work on shelter belts at the lower end of the property yesterday – lots of lovely dry dirt under the trees – quail numbers were great – lots of family groups of 10 to 20 – saw some young ones about the size of bumble bees – must have seen more than a hundred birds during the day – stoats haven’t got those birds – maybe they are not on the stoat menu
I have set up six traps in that area but may have to refine my bait a bit – two days old and it is moving round – I will clean them out tomorrow and revert to just eggs – Maurie from - Traps NZ Cage Leghold Victor Possum Cat Stoat Rat Mouse tells me they don’t like smelly bait
Also saw a group of about ten juvenile pheasants down there so there is some hope
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