Goldfinger:
Is it me, or are pheasants this year being more suicidal…?
I’m up to (now), [zb] 7 in just the last 2 weeks!
Hi Guys, the reason these Pheasants appear to be stupid is because they are purpose hand reared from chicks in captivity in the spring /summer and kept well fed etc ,they are released this time of year into the wild in large numbers in country areas and are 'lost ’ as it were - ready for the winter shooting season ,they have never seen a road /cars /trucks before so are sitting ducks for so called ‘sportsmen’ who glory in their trophies for Xmas.
Scum balls worthy of burning at the stake.If theres a more handsome creature in our countryside than the pheasant,I ain’t see it.
The pheasants were probably released late August/early September and the feeding will continue right through the shooting season.The idea is that it keeps the birds where they’re meant to be i.e.the land on which the shooting takes place. Essentially pheasants and any other of the ‘reared’ game birds are a food source, shooting is just the method of despatch, arguably more civilised than a slaughter house/abatoir. Bizarrely, the shooting of the pheasants pays better than the what they’re worth as food - Imagine paying £500 to slaughter a cow and getting £50 for the meat!!!
For many farmers the shooting rights on their land provides a valuable income stream that may just be helping to keep their heads above water, whist we can buy milk and the like, at under cost price!!
I don’t partake in game shooting myself but, I know a few who do and believe me shooting game is nothing like shooting sitting ducks. You have to be good with a shotgun and there are ‘rules’ to be followed, anybody taking the easy shots just for the ‘fun’ of killing will certainly be escorted from the shoot and not be welcome back. As for trophy shooting, pretty well eliminated from the game shooting scene I would think, perhaps someone who knows about taxidermy would be able to qualify that.
Couldn’t agree more about the pheasant being a handsome bird but, ironically, would probably disappear from the countryside if shooting were banned. They’re not a native species and shoots go to a lot of effort to create a suitable environment for them. Once the shooting stops there’s no new stock being brought in, habitat maintenance stops and eventually as a ground nesting bird the classic predators - foxes, magpies, jays, rooks, crows, jackdaws and the birds of prey will soon wipe out the rest of the population.
There are no doubt a few despicable creatures that go pheasant shooting, same as there are that go to football or out drinking on a Friday/Saturday night. Burning at the stake should be reserved for those, whatever their favourite pastime might be.
That’s a very coherent and balanced counter argument to my perhaps,citified romantic delusions appropo,rural affairs.
Cruel to be kind very much the game in town here.
edd1974:
If the worst does happen…at least your have something for xmas.dinner instead of a turkey
No you don’t have Christmas dinner as the vehicle that hit the bird is not aloud to keep it. The vehicle behind is aloud
But not the vehicle that hit animal . I heard that about 35 years ago.
Worst one last year sheep all both sides road one must have ran out as I went past hit the landing leg never heard a thing wasn’t till I got to the dairy I saw the mess
If I ever could stop and pick up a freshly deceased pheasent I would be tempted to take it to a taxidermist and give it the glass case treatment.Did this once years ago when my mum scooped up a Snipe following it’s demise courtesy of a bus impact.
She put the majestic thing in the bin for gawd sake.I claimed the corpse and eventually had it,er…taxidermied,and 30 years later it still looks glorious in its glass display with assorted floral embellishments
Taxidermists are darned hard to find these days but they seem to command top dollar whenever you chance upon them in random shops I notice.
Few years ago one of my EE colleagues was coming out of the Grain when a pheasant flew off the field and mullered his windscreen. Still don’t know how he got it back to Tilbury but the manager asked me to fill in his insurance claim form with him. Strangely had a mental block and couldn’t spell pheasant!
'I was driving alongwhen this budgerigar flew out of the field and hit my windscreen…
Beau Nydel:
Few years ago one of my EE colleagues was coming out of the Grain when a pheasant flew off the field and mullered his windscreen. Still don’t know how he got it back to Tilbury but the manager asked me to fill in his insurance claim form with him. Strangely had a mental block and couldn’t spell pheasant!
'I was driving alongwhen this budgerigar flew out of the field and hit my windscreen…
