Update Nelson Farm 22/12/11

Tried the Nelson Farm again this week,close to home as the weather didn't look too good,not that this matters much normally as we shoot indoors but once the mist and fog comes down it really buggers up the night vision even inside the barns,after a quick recce and putting down some bait where we saw some scaly tails last week we waited until the action started.

Well wait we did as it was a very slow start and even when they did come out they were a bit skitty when near the bait my mate had put down even though his laser and scope were set spot on the little buggers did not even give him a shot, where i was in the stable block I was lucky enough to shoot three with two bodies retrieved the other managed to get back into a small drain, after a quick photo shoot we were packed up and away.

have a look at the Christmas photo in the gallery section it wont be hard to see.

Update Nelson Farm 15/12/11

Well we have returned to the Nelson farm after two weeks shooting at a mates farm to clear some of his scaly tails,as you may have read in the previous post the first week was quite productive with eleven shot but the second was a disaster , well the Nelson farm has been very productive since starting to shoot there about eleven weeks ago.

When we arrived at the gate to the farm yard a huge rat ran in front of us which is always a good sign,driving into the big barn (we don't like getting wet) setting up our folding camping table,couple of chairs,electric kettle and table lamp (yes you are reading this right) after weeks of having to warm up the gas cannister to our stove before we try to boil the kettle as the temperature was dropping dramatically every week we had a brainwave there was an electricity supply to the barns so why struggle with gas ?

As we were setting up we had a quick reccy around the yard with our Night Vision units and found there were several around the dog kennel and also by the duck pens,after a zeroing session we set about thinning out the population, I shot four in the cow shed and my mate was not so lucky his silencer adapter was damaged and the pellets must have been slightly clipping the end  he didn't manage to shoot anything even at close quarters,my claim to fame was a clean kill at 24.75 yds (measured with a laser range finder), hopefully we will have our last shoot before Christmas next Thursday.

Update New Ratting Job 1/12/11

Following on from last weeks shooting we were quite exited that we were again going to have a cracking nights shooting,same routine pick up my mate travel to the farm and zero our scopes, then the farmer mentioned that he had put sheep in the barn and had filled in the hole in the floor where we had shot last week,well we are here now so have to make the most of it well we didn't see any sign of a scaly tail all night it just goes to show that the smallest disturbance in any are that is normally good shooting will literally send them to ground we will have to give them a couple of weeks to settle again.

Next week back to the Nelson Farm we haven't shot this for three weeks now so we are hoping for a good nights shooting,update next week

Update New ratting Job 24/11/2011

Well it was due to a bit of luck,I took my Son out to one of my local rat farms to do a bit of day time target shooting as the ratting there had all been shot out, we bumped into the farmer who said he had seen loads of scaly tails running around the barn where a hole had appeared in the floor,we didn't need to be asked twice we arranged to go there the same night.

Picked my mate up at 6.30 pm arrived at the farm at 6.45 pm,I love these local shoots.After a quick chat with the farmer who showed us where he had seen them we brewed up a quick cuppa,zeroed our scopes and took up positions in the barn,my mate set up approx. 15 yds from the hole that had appeared,I set up alongside him looking in the direction of some water troughs that had a load of droppings all around it,it didn't take long before them little bright eyes were lighting up our Night Vision scopes they were so quick running from the one hole to the other it took a while for them to settle enough for us to start getting some shots off , after three hours we accounted for eleven shot with three bodies retrieved the rest had managed to either get into the hole or run behind the big bales of hay,quick cuppa and home to bed we will try again next week.

Shooting Update (Again) 24/11/11 Nelson Farm

Boring update this week we turned up at the farm as usual,right in front of us was a great big scaly tail clambering up a pile of sawdust dumped in a corner of the barn, well my mate tried to whack the rat with a shovel and guess what !!!!!!!!! he went **se over *it hit the wall and cracked a rib,after a very painful journey home has spent the rest of the week in bed.

Hopefully (if hes well enough) we may try again next week

Shooting Update (Again) 17/11/2011 Nelson Farm

OK, another update at "The Nelson Farm", there are plenty of rats left to shoot at this farm otherwise we would have moved on to another problem area,normal routine arrived at the Farm at 7pm made a cuppa,zeroed our scopes and away to go.

I again took to climbing the builders trestle as it is a great vantage point as it overlooks the cattle pens, my mate took to stalking the duck shed, after around 5 mins. or so the rats started to go about their business mooching about around the feet of the cattle and horses probably around 15 metres or so away, as my scope was spot on at that distance I quickly took out three in a quick time,my mate started off very slowly with the odd sighting or two before they started to stop for a split second this was all he needed and accounted for five in as many minutes, time for another cuppa and discuss tactics now refreshed we spent another three hours and accounted for a total of 16 shot bringing the total at this farm to 123 shot in Eight Weeks

Shooting Update 10/11/11 Nelson Farm

Ok another update decided to visit the Nelson Farm this week on a Thursday night instead of our regular Wednesday night as we have for the last seven weeks hoping to catch them sleeping, as usual we called to the house to pick up the keys for the gates and barns and parked the Landy inside the big barn nice and dry to brew a cuppa before we started, after a quick reccy with the hand held Nightvision  to see where the action was we set about taking up position I made for the ladder platform as in previous weeks my mate decided to try sitting in the yard about fifteen yards from the duck shed where he had seen a lot of action the week before.

It was probably ten minutes or so before the action started in my area although the scaly tails seemed to keep at the maximum distance away I was scoped up for around 15 - 20 metres and with stock in the pens as well the shots were very challenging (although safe) my body count after four hours was five shot, my mate started very slow in the yard as the scaly tail was playing peeb bo through a small hole in the bottom of the door but after putting down a small amount of cat food as bait he finally managed to shoot four.

The number shot this week was nine this was down in number compared to previous weeks but as we have been shooting this Farm every week for the last eight weeks and having good numbers shot including this week the total is now 105 less scaly tails, there are a lot more there but we will have to work a lot harder to get them.

Shooting Update 19th September 2011 Nelson Farm

Another quick update,arrived at the farm 7.0 pm had a reccy around the buildings using our new nightvision, my mate bought a Yukon Spotter and I bought a Yukon Tracker pair of NV binoculars with a head mount,I quickly found that the head mount was a right pain to use especially trying to alter it in the dark so I just took the binoculars after a quick scan around there were rats everywhere especially under the feed troughs in the cow shed.

After a cuppa we zeroed our scopes and took our positions my mate covered a container in the yard where there were signs of activity,I climbed a small builders type platform ladder that meant I was about eight foot above the cow pens and a cracking vantage point, the binoculars worked very well as a spotter as you had a much wider field of vision compared with my Newton monocular which although better at distance has a lesser field of vision,As I was looking down on the rats as opposed to my normal shooting position which is looking more or less directly at the rat they were less spooked,as I had zeroed my dedicated NV to fifteen yards I was more than confident shooting amongst the cattle who were happily feeding as some of the shots taken were no more than two feet from the cattle, after a four hour shoot we accounted for eighteen rats shot, as the bodies were lying amongst the cattle they unfortunately had to stay there as there is no way I was going to chance picking them up as them horns looked very sharp, anyway the farmer is not really bothered whether or not we pick them up or not as they normally disappear by the morning.

Shooting Update 1st October (Cant Believe Our Luck)

Well we arrived at the farm and yes we couldn't believe our luck it hadent stopped raining all day the heaviest rain we had seen for weeks and with no proper shelter and no waterproofs taken we had a reccy around the small barns and outbuildings there were plenty of signs of the scaly tails but after two hours we were dripping wet so we called it a day or in this case night,we are now waiting for a break in the weather preferably a cold night and I think we have plenty of them to come.

More updates to come.

If by chance anyone actually visits my site and reads this information can you please leave some comments for me on any of the pages.

Shooting Update 1st October (Cant Believe Our Luck)

Talk about being in the right place at the right time this week has given us some hopefully cracking new shooting venues,after talking to the farmer at the Nelson Farm last week he has a friend who has a pig farm not too far away and would be more than happy for us to shoot his rats, also during a conversation I had this week with an elderly family member and and her support worker it appears she has a farm also not too far away that has a number of rats she would also like cleared, is this some very very good luck or what !!!.

We already have five local farms all of which have had problems with rats over the last four years, we tend to shoot each one every week until we reduce the numbers significantly then move on to the next and by the time we finish the last one its time to start all over again, any problematic areas like close to the house we also use traps as well.

Shooting Update 28/9/11 Nelson Farm

Better start to this weeks update,arrived at the farm 7pm only to find our best ratting area was now full of horses,thinking we were in for a bad night we put down some extra bait in the corners of the barn hoping they would make their way there so we could get some good shots off.

Well as if by fate the farmer had been doing some electrical work above the pens and had left his small builders ladder platform alongside the pens this was only about six foot high but when I stood on the top platform I was looking way over the top of the pens down over the feeding troughs what a difference this made there were little bright eyes everywhere as I could now see exactly where the horses were and it was safe to shoot,after a very very hectic four hours the tally was 28 less scaly tails scavenging the horse food

Shooting Update 21/9/11 Nelson Farm

Ok, arrived at the Farm at 7pm not a good start as the Farmer had mislaid the key to the gate leading to the barns so we had to park in the lane and walk about 200 yds not far you say but with a dodgy hip seemed like miles.

Now to business,after a quick zero session we settled down and wait,after the last two sessions they were hesitant to make an appearance but after about half hour their little bright eyes started to show, after three hours we managed to shoot fourteen scaly tails not a bad end to an evening.

Shooting Update

WATCH THIS POST FOR AN UPDATE ON OUR SHOOT AT THE NELSON FARM TOMORROW NIGHT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shooting Update 14/9/11

Here we go again, as we had a cracking nights shooting at the farm at Nelson we thought we would give it another try as normally with the amount shot the week before there are more there, after the hiding we gave them they tend to be a bit skitty second time round (well wouldn't you if little bits of lead were chasing your arse !!!!!!!!!!!!!).

well we tried some bait (dog meat) put inside short lengths of ladies tights (old ones with my wifes permission) tied either end this stops them dragging it away and holds them long enough to get a shot off it did work and after four hours and a flask of tea we accounted for 16 scaly tails, back there again next week hope for another good night.

Shooting Update 7th September 2011

As previous post we went to the new farm tonight got there about 7pm had another look around had a chat to the farmer quick cuppa and by now it was 8pm and getting quite dark inside the cow shed, guns zeroed and magazines filled had a look around using our hand held night vision units and there were little bright eyes everywhere from the top of the walls to under the feed troughs, with great excitement we both started to get them little bright eyes in the cross-hairs and the next three hours were hectic we accounted for thirty six scaly tails  not a bad night at all we cant wait for next week, I have posted a photograph of some of them in the gallery section.

Update 6th September 2011

Just a quick update as there has been virtually no shooting for ages all our local "Rat Haunts" that were plentiful are now very quiet, that was until The "Hopmeister" AKA Hoppy a good shooting friend of ours, found us a new venue fairly local very big barns with a mixture of horses,cattle,and some ducks, and the owner has said "There Are A Lot About" music to our ears this was, armed with two sets of crutches as both me and my mate have sustained injuries we set about a reccy this afternoon plenty of fresh Sh** everywhere so hopefully we can expect some action next time out hopefully this week I will let you know the outcome in my next post

Shooting Update

Called to another local farm last night all seems to be a bit quiet since the Barley has been moved we were lucky enough to shoot two scaly tails and managed to video one of them, have a look at the Video and Gallery page .

Shooting Update

called to one of our local farms last night to see if any scaly tails had returned after we gave them a good hammering over the last few weeks, well there was no sign of them anywhere but the Farmer had a few rabbits he wanted sorting,after a couple of hours my mate had shot one and missed another two mind you they were a little skitty, have a look at both the photo and video page.

The night was not totally wasted as our two foxing mates turned up for a cuppa and a chat

Update New Page Added Fox Photos

Due to poplar demand I have now added a page dedicated to that cunning creature that can cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to the Farmer every year and kills its prey almost in total silence, yes you have got it The Fox alias "Charlie" and "Raynard" whilst myself and my ratting mate have done a bit of Fox shooting using shotguns I would rather leave it to the experts, my two other mates.

 They have many many years of experience in all aspects of field sports and excel in calling and cleanly shooting problematic Foxes if you attempt to shoot any vermin it must be carried out humanely and with the correct kit .

I will update you all shortly with some information on the type of kit they use and will keep a tally on the number of Fox taken so far.

If anyone would require their services please e mail me first until their details are published

In the meantime please take a look at the new page added to this site with some photographs but be aware they are graphic and if you are in any way squeamish please do not open the page

Update May 7th 2011

Well nothing of any real interest to report on until now the other farms we shoot are more or less rat free we must be doing too good a job !!!!!, never mind it gives us plenty of time to sharpen our skills on the targets.

Well now to the update proper, we were invited to have a look at a potential rat problem at a local farm in Pontsticill we had been to this farm six months ago and believe it or not at that time it must have been the cleanest most rat free farm we had been to, well now with a delivery of Barley feed this must have sent out an invite to the local rat population they were now everywhere Hip Hip Horray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

First reccy we done saw rats out in daylight bold as brass with not a care in the world,so out came my day gun an Air Arms S410 in .177 cal and my mates Brocock .22 shooting was a bit tricky as there was both cattle and sheep housed within the barns we had five or six on the first outing along with putting a hole in a piece of alkathene water pipe well I didn't see it I swear !! the farmer was very understanding even with a pen full of very wet sheep,well we still shoot this farm every week and have had between three and seven each time they are now getting wary of us so some trials using bait is now underway I will update you next week, have a look at the photo gallery at the Pontsticill Rat

Shooting Update 2/3/11

Here we are again another update although this one is a bit better than the last.

We had a call from my Pest Controller mate from Builth Wells saying that a client of his had seen more rats in his barns,bearing in mind we only shot this farm a short while ago with a nights count of 95 scaly tails we were not complaining that we were again having a nights shooting.

The farm is stocked with both cattle and sheep so there is an abundance of foodstuff lying about the barns, a quick reccy  to make sure there were no new obstructions that we wouldn't see in the dark as the week before on another farm we shoot my mate fell over a JCB bucket not the smallest thing to miss but in the dark can be quite easy.

Anyway away we go there seemed to be a lot of rats about but were very skitty for some reason maybe something to do with the farmers wife blasting in and out on a quad bike but after a while settled down not the best nights shooting but we accounted for twenty five by the end of the night.

Another update next week with a bit of luck

Update 24/2/11

Just a quick update out tonight nothing to report no scaly tails perhaps we are doing too good a job, never mind we had a good plinking session and watched three Hares playing on the Common on the way home, we are hoping for a trip up to Builth Wells soon so hopefully something better to report

Shooting Update 2/2/2011

Evening All

Been a little while since I have updated this post, basically there has been nothing of consequence to report since getting our permission back for one of our old farms the once healthy population of rats seem to have disappeared possibly due to the new owner having done a proper job of clearing all the rubbish that once held our scaly tail friends and of course our five previous years of shooting,

Bit better news today my Pest Controller mate from Builth Wells has had a couple of rat calls from local farmers that we help out with from time to time so I hope my next post will have some better productive news.

In the meantime please have a look around the rest of the site and leave any comments

Shooting Update 13/1/2011

Better news for a change after a year out from one of our old Farm shoots due to a change of tenant we now have permission from the new Farmer to have a look and clear out any scaly tails,we turned up only to find the whole farm and buildings had been transformed  with all the rubbish having been removed, setting up in one of the newly cleared barns exited as to the prospect of shooting dozens of scaly tails and also trying out my camcorder fixed to my dedicated Night vision to record any action we waited with baited breath, after about twenty minutes or so two ran through the barn at such speed they were gone before either myself or my mate had chance to get our sights on them but seing they were running into a floor drain made it a bit easier another couple of minutes went by and I was lucky enough to shoot one and get in on the camcorder by the end of the night we had four shot and a couple more seen.

We are now looking forward to next week at the same farm to hopefully shoot some more