Fieldsports Britain - How to call in great big bucks

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Welcome to Fieldsports Britain. Coming up, we are learning about things this week. How
do you catch a fox in west London. We talk to a viewer. How do you skin and stuff animals.
We find an enthusiastic amateur in Sutherland. First, one of Britain's most popular deer
for stalking. It is fallow.
Just like Bo and Luke Duke diving into the General Lee, Roy slides gracefully behind
the controls of his Argo. With his hip recovering well from his operation Roy has permission,
sort of, to get stuck into those fallow bucks.
Is it in tune?
Just about in tune. We have got..... that was a slightly younger buck. If we want to
get an older buck, then we just move the band down a little bit to the next one and give
it a bit of this. Now this should be a little bit deeper.
Now I have no way mastered this yet and we are just practising and playing about with
it and seeing what sort of results we get, but I had a fantastic go at it the other day
and called 3 bucks in. One mature buck, one 3 year old and a pricket and there was another
pricket coming up behind, but he didn't quite make it to us and they came within 25 yards
of us. So it was absolutely superb to get that sort of result. So hopefully we can emulate
that today and get similar results and get it on camera, fingers crossed, but this is
superb. The rut is definitely full on. It would be aided if it was a little bit cooler,
I think. By Wednesday it should be really cutting in, so I think the temperature is
really dropping down. It was about 14 degrees this morning, so, I mean it is still ok. We
just heard a little bit of grunting there, so we are going to go to 2 or 3 different
rutting stands, just have a quick look about and hopefully we will get some results.
Fallow are spread across central Europe - like a kind of cervine butter - by the Romans.
Until recently it was thought that the Normans introduced them to Great Britain and to Ireland
for hunting in the royal forests. However recent finds at a Roman palace in Sussex show
that fallow deer were introduced into southern England in the 1st century AD. Maybe these
are those animal's direct descendants. In which case, as Erasmus would say, cervus canes
trahit - a buck attracts dogs.
And here is the dog. This morning he is assisted by his girlfriend Becky - who's armed with
antlers and a sense of humour as Roy negotiates ruts in the terrain and tries not to make
too much noise with his crutches catching on the bracken. So, having announced our presence
to any wildlife in a 3 mile radius, surely the wind will be in our favour.
Wind is definitely not good. With the breeze really there is nothing to speak of, but what
there is is going right into the rutting stand and unfortunately this is the only way that
we can approach it. All I am hoping for is that we are going to use the dog walkers to
our advantage this morning, in that the deer are used to people going through the footpath
along this way so hopefully they won't be too distressed when they pick our scent up
going through, but we will see if we get away with it on this one.
So for a change it's not 舛ave Canem' as dog walkers might be a help instead of a hindrance.
As we head to the rutting stand Roy is in two minds about which way to approach it.
However a white doe gives us the answer.
That doe made the decision for us, although we are not hearing any grunting. That could
have been where we had to come quite close with the argo so they might just be a little
bit cautious, but that doe obviously made us behind and she has gone running into the
rutting stand so she is a little bit hyped up. I was going to creep up a little bit closer
and try and call a little bit closer to the stand because this is quite a distance to
call a buck out. But with her going in there it has curtailed their action plan. So we
are going to set up here, have a call here, have a little bit of a rattle and see what
results we get from here.
Roy starts blowing and rattling but to no avail. We move to another favoured spot. We
stop short and Roy powers through the undergrowth. We take it steady through the wood and finally
hear that wonderful fallow roar. Knowing there will be does about we have to be cautious
otherwise the alarm will be sounded.
Roy has a blast - it sounds like he's responding but we're probably too far away for him to
bother about - we edge closer.
Finally we get close enough to get under his skin, and with his manhood being threatened
this nice looking buck comes out from his boudoir to have a look-see. He is an old aquaintance
of Roy's who is happy to leave him be.
Not quite as good a response as I was hoping, but unfortunately that boy there I have called
him a couple of times. I have called him when he was a 3 year old. I actually got him on
film coming in then and I have called him another time. So as he was coming up there
he knew what the game was but he still had to come in and have a look. He is still looking
at us. What we did then, we actually started calling previously just outside of his territory
and he wasn't that bothered, but this time we actually got onto the side of the territory,
onto the side of his leg and started grunting a little bit, and insulted the poor old boy,
so he decided to come in and have a look and investigate. Sometimes you get them coming
steaming up to you, very similar to roe bucks, when you are calling roe bucks, but he was
a little bit more cautious. You don't get to being that big by being silly.
It's been a worthwhile outing - and Roy knows that unless you have a vast area to patrol
fallow are tough to manage AND produce quality trophy animals.
It is something that we need to bear in mind when we have got a decent rutting stand and
we have got some bucks coming in, just to ease off them a little bit and let them come
and see what can progress. Because so many people shoot fallow bucks far too early and
don't let them progress and see how they turn out. It is only when they really become mature
animals that you are able to see the quality and see what you are doing and though he is
nothing spectacular compared to some of the park animals and to some of the other fallow
you will see about, but for wild fallow in this area, he really is something special.
Now if you like fallow deer next week we're in fallow heaven learning all about bow hunting
with Danish professional hunter Max Hunt.
For several generations fallow deer meet here, nobody knows why it is exactly this spot.
The problem is as we are about to hunt with the bow, we need to get even closer now.
He takes us to a famous estate in South-West Hungary to witness some of the most spectacular
animal behaviour in the world.
From going after large animals to news about large animals. It's David on the Fieldsports
Channel News Stump.
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This is Fieldsports Britain News.
Following our piece last week on poachers shooting at Andy Crow, Surrey Police has contacted
members of its anti-rural crime Country Watch initiative to explain its poor response.
Surrey says the original call about the incident was routed to another force, which explains
the delay. It also says that it was acting on information that only one shot had been
fired at Andy and his son rather than lots. So there you are - one shot? Hardly worth
getting out of bed for.
WHSmiths' ban on the sale of shooting magazines to under-14s has drawn fire from magazine
readers. One of them, James Reynolds has started a campaign on the petition website Change.org.
Go to Change.org, put WHSmiths into the search box where you will find two campaigns. James's
campaign has more than 6,000 signatures as we recorded News Stump. The campaign by antis
has just topped 60.
There is a new swap shop for shooting, but without Noel Edmunds. Whether you go grouse,
or pheasant or pigeon shooting or you are a stalker, there is a new website for swapping
shooting and stalking in the UK. Created by 26-year-old keen shooter and stalker Sam Clatworthy,
visit ADayToTrade.com
Not fairing so well is British airgun company Theoben, which has gone into administration.
It does not necessarily mean the end for the Cambridgeshire-based firm. Three years ago,
Webley went into administration, but was bought out and continues to trade today.
And finally, more and more Americans are going hunting, shooting and fishing according to
the US Fish and Wildlife Service. After a 20 year decline, the survey found 11 percent
more Americans fished in 2011 compared to 2006, and hunting was up 9 percent over the
same period. In South Dakota, the number of people hunting increased by 58 percent and
the numbers of people who went fishing doubled.
You are now up to date with Fieldsports Britain News. Stalking the stories. Fishing for facts.
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Thank you David. Now one of our viewers watched all the muck and muggage about foxes this
year on the television and thought to himself, well I have had the answer for a long time.
We went along to find out more.
Dealing with foxes in the countryside can be tricky enough, but imagine what it's like
when you live in suburbia, where the neighbours don't take kindly to things that go bang in
the night.
That's the problem facing Keith, a viewer who lives in Middlesex. He keeps chickens
and wildfowl in a wildlife oasis surrounded by suburban towns full of, well, townies.But
he's come up with an ingenious solution...
Well we were looking around for a quiet method and one which is acceptable in the area we
live in. So I set about designing a fox trap myself. I made mistakes with mark 1, it was
too small. With my experience now is that you need to have a fox trap at least 6 foot
long, so they don't feel frightened of it when they approach it and it must be strong.
Foxes are strong animals and light gauge weld mesh they will bend. The great secret of the
trap is to have a tunnel with a door either end. The advantage of that is you can lift
up both doors, you can bait the tunnel to get the foxes used to coming into it, seizing
to be frightened of it and then you set it and Bob's your uncle.
It really works. Last year Keith trapped 26 foxes in this one spot, the year before it
was 28. Already this year he's had 15.
And he's got the film to prove it. This was filmed by the trail camera he's set up to
watch over the trap.
He starts by propping the trap open at both ends, and placing a bait nearby.
Then as the fox becomes more confident, he brings the bait inside.
Once the fox is walking boldly in for its meal, he closes one end, sets the trap and...
Bang, he's caught. This one is looking for the way out, but he's not going to leave his
dinner behind.
So what's the best bait for a suburban fox?
Quite definitely the favourite bait is, in spite of the noise that these chickens here,
it is not chickens, but in fact rabbit, quite definitely . And in fact we have changed bait
from a chicken to a rabbit and caught a fox the next night. No 2 is probably a partridge,
a pheasant is the next on the list and last, strangely enough, is a full size cockerel.
Maybe because a fox looks upon it as slightly too big and slightly too frightening, I don't
know, but certainly rabbit is number 1.
That is how to keep your poultry safe from suburban foxes. All you need is a bit of ingenuity,
some weldmesh, and a ready supply of rabbits and partridges.
From foxes to the map that matters. It is calendar.
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Now for those seasonal reminders and dates for the diary.
With the first quarter last Monday, moon is waxing jibbus and heading for full on 29th
October. It's also the end of British summertime this weekend so school children will be able
to go out wildfowling, and lamping before bedtime..but after homework.
The weekend saw the changeover in Northern Ireland between the two big deer seasons.
Red and sika stags and fallow bucks ends on 20th October every year in the Province while
red and sika hind and fallow does begins on 21st October.
Next week sees the start of the red and sika hind and roe and fallow doe in England, Scotland
and Wales.
As for countryside events, Independent Shooting Supplies in Mountnessing is holding an open
evening, starting at 5pm on Thursday the 25th October. There are bargains galore with Caesar
Guerini turning up to show off their full range of guns. Plus there's a charity raffle
- all proceeds going to the Essex air ambulance and the star prize is a day's pigeon shooting
with our own legendary Andy Crow and we'll be there to film it too.
The evening goes on until 9 and includes wine and cheese. For more information call Andrew
Stephens on 01277 356181 or email admin@independent-tool.co.uk.
That's it for this week if you want to publicise an event shoot, vacancy, sale, tea dance,
weeks or days before the doors swing open - talk to james ..james@fieldsportschannel.tv
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Now have you ever looked at a badly stuffed animal and thought well I could do that. Well
here is someone who does do that.
In the north west Highlands a little cottage industry is springing up dealing with skins.
My Dad was actually a poacher in Sutherland. One of the old kind you know. He always said
to me try not to waste any of the animal you kill for the table. So he used to home tan
the sheep skins, because he took the occasional sheep or deer hide, rabbit skins anything
like that and he showed me how to do it. You can do a squirrel and mink and occasional
birds. They do look like Frankinstein creations at the moment, but I am getting there that
is the thing. It is amazingly tricky when you think, to skin a fox for example for the
taxidermy. This one is headless because I just want the pelt from this. With a fox for
taxidermy obviously you have to leave the head on and the legs and feet and when you
think how fiddly it is to skin the head so that you are not ripping the eyes and not
ruining the face so that when you are finished you have a beautiful fox face at the end of
it. It is actually quite tricky and time consuming you know and to skin a fox ready for tanning
for taxidermy purposes, it will take me about 3
hours. I am sure other professional would do it a lot quicker, but I am getting there.
If there are any game keepers or shooters out there into vermin control who can get
fox pelts and send me the fox pelts, because I just can't get them here. That would be
much appreciated. Just take out the body, leave the legs, the tail end for me, roll
it up, freeze it in the freezer, don't tell the wife, for a couple of nights and then
if they could take it out double wrap it in plastic, tape it up, bung it in a box and
post it and don't tell the post office what they are doing. That would be fantastic.
If you would like to find out more or to donate a fox skin the visit www.northhighlandsheepskins.co.uk
From the north west tip of Scotland to the wider world of hunting on YouTube it is Hunting
YouTube.
This is Hunting YouTube, which aims to show the best hunting, shooting and fishing videos
that YouTube has to offer.
Thank you to Amanda Clement who sends us this clip. Watched more than 6 million times since
it went up on 8th October, Please Move The Deer Crossing is an audio clip from a phone-in
to an American radio station. A lady called Donna asks for help getting deer crossing
signs moved to lower traffic areas. It might take you a moment to realise just how stupid
she is being.
Back in the UK and Game Shooting - Pheasant & Duck is UK01Edmund's instructional video
on how much lead to give driven game. He uses a headcam to show birds going over and the
slow-mo is a useful guide on lead. He is clearly enjoying himself far too much to give a useful
commentary on range.
Thanks to viewer Terje Kvetsad for suggesting Kristoffer Clausen's latest from Norway. The
Scandinavian survival expert is filming red stag stalking in thick birch woodland. It
is the red rut, so there is the superb sound of roaring all around as the stalker shoots
and tracks his beast.
Now to a fishing film that's had more than three million views in less than a week. A
600lb black marlin jumps into the boat that's hoked it and lands on the crew. The crew escapes
with only minor injuries, the feisty marlin is released and, as the title points out,
宋ery scary'.
On the more sedate banks of the River Mole in England, JamesMarchington is catching pike
with his brother. Less scary and the anglers escape without injury.
Now we're off to America for the last three. LeatherwoodOutdoors, who sounds more and more
like Clint Eastwood, shows how to shoot deer from a highseat the way our ancestors did.
It is the opening day of the early muzzleloader season in Pennsylvania and rifle he uses is
a .50-calibre CVA Flintlock Muzzleloader using ITX Bullets and Sabots.
Thanks to viewer Neil Hawkins for a couple of good suggestions. Spinning Steel Rabbit
Target is a clever reactive steel target made for small calibre rifles. The target spins
when you hit the bulls-eye - or bunny's-heart in this case. In the words of one art critic
- it might be art but it's poor welding.
Finally a two-day hunt for ground squirrels. Nikki51888 gets more than 200 of them. The
dead land in the film use to be rows of trees, and the piles of limbs and branches are what
are left of them. The green is the neighbouring maize crop which the animals are now threatening.
Rifle is a Ruger 77/17 with a Tasco 6-24x44 scope and Hornady .17HMR ballistic tip ammo.
That's a lot of squirrels shot.
You can click on any of these films to watch them. If you have a YouTube film you would
like us to pop in to the weekly top eight, send it in via YouTube, or email me the link
charlie@fieldsportschannel.tv
Well if you like shooting you will love the Shooting Show.
It's big on partridge for episode twenty-four, with features on this game bird north and
south of the border. First, it's off to the Angus glens, where the show follows the Rottal
estate's guns and beaters on a day's driven French partridge shoot. In North Yorkshire,
Pete Carr interviews Alan Foster of Farndale, who's got a new method of producing partridges
on a hand-fed pheasant shoot. See his feeder in action. News includes antis harassing farmers
and some joined-up blogging from BASC and the RSPB. If you are watching this on YouTube,
click on the link on the screen.
We are back next week and if you are watching this on Youtube, please don't hesitate to
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