Oooooooh for god’s sake . . . .will it EVER STOP RAINING !!!
The thought recycled around my head as I sat stuck in the landy AGAIN. Waiting for it to let up enough for me to venture out from my sanctuary. I’d only just started baiting up round the shoot, when the heavens opened, forcing my hasty retreat back to the car. So there I was. . . trapped !!
Much as I was determined to get out and let pellets fly. It was one of those time when, basically, I just didn’t fancy getting wet., certainly not so early on in the evening. To add that the wind was blowing at warp factor 10, meant not only would I be wet, I would be cold as well. I don’t mind getting wet & cold, not in the pursuit of doing something I love. Friday nights are my regular shooting night, and even though it had been bright all week, the last few have seen it start raining when I’m 10 minutes away from the shoot. This time though I thought I was in the clear, it had held off, until I was the furthest I could possibly be from any cover, when it decided to throw it down, the wind aiding a horizontal rather than vertical fall, so no escape in the cow sheds without the need for a wetsuit. The probability of any rats venturing outside was one less than nil. As much as I wanted to, nothing was endearing me to getting out of the vehicle and getting cold and wet. . . .again.
I put the MP3 player’s painful ear thingies in my head, I have no idea what happened to decent headphones. It fired onto some learn Spanish in 6 seconds thing. Was of those impulse buys in a motorway service station and I thought it might help me learn something handy one day, so much so I put in the MP3 player. Es muy asoleado - It is very sunny. At the moment its not, it’s chucking it down.
I curled up in the car to wait it out. I was still there, when the MP3’s power died. It was the only thing that would dir that night. Although I had half killed my flask of coffee. I called it an early night and went home. El tiempo es malo yo va a casa.
THAT was three weeks ago, and now, at the shoot. Él muy caliente y asoleado - - It is very hot and sunny It’s the first time I’d ventured back to the shoot since that night. Numerous things had stopped me going. Friends visiting for a weekend, a charity night, a visit to see my girlfriend’s mother in Spain, (the reason behind my trying to learn Spanish) a new job to start and an endless list of vital chores on the “Fridge That’s Must Be Obeyed” kept me away from the shoot. Now everything was done. I had a week before my new job started, I was a free man. And in my language that meant I had a week shooting.
Over the past few months, my regularly visits had made a big dent in the rat population. I was seeing less of the little critters every time. The ones that were left had wised up to the lamp, and I had had to employ more cunning techniques to draw them out of the shadows. Leaving a light on in a shed created enough ambient light for me to see them be and help them connect with a pellet. I’d also been eating loads of carrots. I’d had a few conversations with the farmer, he’d seen loads here and a few there, but that was during the daytime. My night visits were beginning to draw blanks again. He added that he was having a few problems with crows and magpies pestering his lambs. Time for a newer even more cunning technique, Daytime visits.
5am saw me up and getting ready to go up the shoot, much to my girlfriend’s dismay:
“How come you can’t get up at when I want you to take me shopping, but when it something you want to do you jump straight out of bed?”
I raised an eyebrow and flashed her my smile. She laughed and realised she had answered her own question.
“That reminds me the bike racing is on at 4am next weekend”
She rolled her eyes, laughed and said “you better bring me breakfast in bed” before snuggling into the warm spot I’d left in the bed.
“Have fun” she called after me as I shut the front door, and it rang in my ears until I got to the shoot.
The first 30 mins returned a salvo of rats. I knew they’d never expect a dawn raid and I had well and truly caught them on the hop. As the sun slowly rose, I rattled through mags of pellets like I had speculated on the price of lead and a dozen or so rats found a got free ride the silage. Most of the rodent activity was centred around an area that was at the lower end of the shoot, where a bank edged track, ran along the back of the sheds. I had many successful nights clearing the sheds on my night visits. The weather had helped me focus there. Now the little monsters had moved and were living in the bank protected by a forest of nettles. They were speedy too, You could hear them shout “BONZAI” every time they made the life or death dash to the feed that had been spilled by messy cows around the troughs. It’s no mean feat for the little guys, as it wasn’t just me hunting them. If your only source of food is a drive thru fast food place and you have to run a gauntlet of zombies, dinosaurs, cannibals or things that want to eat you. You’d run . . and run fast.
As far as I know, a rat’s eyesight, in comparison to just about every other animal on the planet, is quite frankly rubbish. Apart from bats of course, but they have sonar. Rats didn’t get that skill, so I think it’s safe to say they lucked out a bit there. So that alone doesn’t really justify building a hide. To me though, the building of a hide was justified. I wanted a place to sit and wait them out, it would hide any movement alerting them of my presence, and hopefully slow them up enough on the bait, to get them in my sights. If I wanted a chance of getting any corvids I needed a hide. I knew they flew in to feed on dropped milled grain, and pick their way through the cattle bedding, so concealing myself was a necessity. Finally and most importantly, I hadn’t built a den since I was a kid. As I have never grown up. I relished the opportunity to build myself a little place to call my own. I’d also found the perfect place to set myself up.
One end of the track, offered me the opportunity to be able to bait up two popular places where rats came to dine. Setting myself up on the corner meant I could cover both. It also provided a source of building materials, a cornucopia of round bales, wood piles, pallets and farmyard bits and bobs just waiting to be used or burnt. Using this lot not only meant I had enough materials to build a new housing estate, it would be something that would blend in with the surroundings nicely.
I set to work, planning permission, and structural engineering drawings all done as I went. It looked a bit rickety but would do the job nicely. Or so I thought. I could get in, the letterbox to look through was fine. But I couldn’t move my head as I had forgotten to incorporate any headroom at all. A schoolboy error. It was either rebuild it or amputate my neck. I took the rebuild option. Without a neck I’d have to turn my whole body to look around and looking through sights could perhaps become a little awkward. The farmer spiked up a couple of round bails for me to use as sides, a pallet went across the top for a roof, and was large enough that it wasn’t going to collapse at any point. Safety first. I used some lengths of wood at the front pilled up to create a wall, and used some stones as spacers to constructed my letterbox bit. A spare camo jacket covered the rear door and, finally my DIY air gunner pillbox was ready.
I celebrated with a coffee in my snug little place making myself at home and wondered how effective it would be.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out.
A rat shot across the track and straight across the bait I’d laid. Right to where they usually go under the trough. Hmmmm it’s too dark under the trough to see, I’d never be able to scope him up properly. Besides, he’d be back, I’d baited up on the track and he ran right over it. It was also only a matter of time, and I had somewhere comfy I could wait !!
As I pondering what I was going to do for tea, a Goldfinch landed right in front of me. The little fella must have been doing his own bit of DIY, as he hurriedly fussed around, picking bits of sheep wool off the wire fence, oblivious to my presence. I guess that means the dens working then, I thought to myself. Two yellow hammers landing on the grain I’d put down as bait. Brilliant, the hide was working! And to aid me these small songbirds helping to advertising that there was food there. A passing Jackdaw, took note of the freebie and landed like a falling shadow. He eyed the area around a bit with a big whitish yellow eye and started to feed. He was quickly joined by a few of his friends. They weren’t so cautious, they just landed and started eating.
Now I was asked if I would shoot crows and magpies,. No one mentioned Jackdaws. Had the farmer thought, big black bird = crows and want me to shoot these? I’m not 100% sure if it’s legal to shoot jackdaws. Some places like Jackdaws as they can keep pigeons at bay. It’s an easy shot, IT’S IN RANGE.
As tempting as it was there was no way I could let a pellet fly. I just didn’t know enough to know if it was a legal target or not. More importantly whether I could safely despatch it with a single shot. The answer as always was blatantly obvious. LEAVE IT ALONE !! I didn’t know enough to make that shot. I‘d look it up later. I was going to be here all week, so for now the jackdaws were free to go. Better to be safe than sorry. And besides they were helping to advertise my bait.
It was like watching a natural theatrical show. Right on cue, stage left, the rat that had been under the trough, popped out. Now aware that he had run a gauntlet for nothing and could’ve eaten closer to home. He dashed to the relative safety of the nettles around the rat hole, stopped, turned, and waited there, before deciding it was safe and making for the baited area. I brought the gun up to my shoulder ready to duck my head into sighting up. Midway across the Jackdaws and Yellow hammers took off. Startled by what sounded like the warnings of a gossiping Blackbird. Thanks mate for giving the game away. I thought he had alerted them to my presence as I shifted. I was so focused on the scene in front of me that I’d failed to feel the lack of blood in my leg. The shift in position let the blood whoosh back in making my movement a little bit heavier than I had planned. It also felt like I was sitting in thistles
It wasn’t just me though, as the next second I saw the competition land on the end of the gate. The Sparrowhawk settled in its wings, and became an extension of the post, eyeing up the scene in front. It was literally 3-4 metres away from me, I could see it in glorious HDTV Technicolor. I stared, awestruck at this magnificent untamed hunting machine. The theatrical show, became a western. A gunslinger rides in, maidens and old folk, flee for cover before they became a target or the posse rides in and it kicks off. Two woodies, made for the hills, deciding it would be safer if they didn’t hang around much longer. Then the posse rode in
The Jackdaws had made a few calls and rallied up the troops. They came swooping in and hollering to scare the hawk off. He studied them for a bit and stood his ground in a “do I look bothered” manner. Then when he felt like it he casually cruised off like he just wanted an easy life, and perhaps it would be quieter over there. The posse followed him, til he was well and truly off their patch.
Everything was quiet. There was no sign of songbirds, the corvids had found a new game of taunt the bird of prey, and no sign of any rats. I was only a tumbleweed short of a ghost town. I’d had a great days shooting already, my belly was shouting feed me and my flask of coffee had run out. Time for me go home and say howdy to the little lady. Hola senorita
The farmer’s dog trotted round the corner. Sniffing out smells in a world of her own. I was sure the hide did work. Since its build I hadn’t actually bagged one for the team, but with everything that had played out in front of me, I knew it was doing what it was supposed to. Besides as I said earlier I was here all week, there was plenty of time for action. (The next few days despatched about 40 rats to the muck spreader from the hide) I made my exit and as my head popped out of the hide, I was met by a surprised, but playful collie. She had no idea where I’d appeared from. She didn’t care anyway, she’d found someone to bounce around, lick and play with. Which she did all the way back to the car.
NB just in case to clear up my not knowing about the Jackdaws
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981
It is commonly thought that all birds considered as vermin can be shot at any time and by anyone. This is not strictly true. All birds and animals are protected by law and only "authorised" persons who have proper permission can lawfully do so.
Always ensure that you shoot within the legal boundaries and with the proper authorisation. Only use a conventional air rifle on suitable quarry, where you know that a clean kill is likely. It is generally accepted in proper shooting circles that such quarry only includes the following:
Woodpigeon, feral pigeon, collared dove, magpie, jackdaw, jay, rook and crow. Also brown rat, grey squirrel and rabbit.
Whilst there is little dispute that birds such as wild geese and Canada geese are destructive and a nuisance to farmers, etc., they are not legally classified as vermin by either the RSPB or DEFRA. In fact all birds are protected.
Notwithstanding this, the Secretary of State for the Environment issues an official decree every two years which amounts to an exemption from the usual prohibitions placed on the killing of specific species of wild birds with Section 1 shotguns. The following thirteen species are at the moment included in this exemption:
|
Canada Goose
Crow
Collared Dove
Great Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Herring Gull
Jackdaw
Jay
Magpie
Feral Pigeon
Rook
Wood Pigeon |
Branta Canadensis
Corvus corone
Stretopelia decaocto
Larus marinus
Larus fuscus
Larus argentatus
Corvus monedula
Garrulus glandarius
Pica pica
Columbia livia
Corvus frugilegus
Columba palumbus |
On 10th February 2005, under Section 16 of The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, DEFRA issued an amendment to their general licence (WLF18) list. As from 28th February 2005, (commencement of
ew licence year), House Sparrow (Passer Domesticus) and Starling (Sternus Vulgaris), are removed and Canada Goose (Branta Canadensis) added.
I got the jackdaw next time
