Pheasants came into season on 1st September - how did my dogs know that??????

We always have pheasants in the copse in front of our house - they can be a blasted nuisance when they start shouting at 6.00 am in the mornings - and our dogs know that they are there.

So why, this morning, did the Aussie girls decide to chase after them, dragging OH after them - and Vinnie actually caught a tail feather??????

Poor Adrian - they managed to catch him off balance - he was about to take their leads off as they came into the garden (good job, really) - he lost his glasses & I had to find them in the undergrowth.

Girls are vvv satisfied with themselves - are busily planning on getting remaining feathers next time (I DON'T THINK SO!!) - poor Adrian is sitting down with a nice cup of coffee :D :D

Margot - who is glad that she took the boys out this morning ;)

My lot have caught some in their time - the silly things don't take off quickly enough! It's great because you don't have to be worry about breaking your teeth on lead shot! :D

The pheasants round here must have calendars! They are all over the place all summer and all of a sudden last week they disappeared.
They can run but they can't hide! ;-)

Our springer that we had caught a pheasant in our garden last year - unfortunately he only left us the right leg so it wasn't enough for a meal :( :D

Springer cross likes to catch wood pigeons and they are lovely fat plump ones over here (we like to feed them up all year LOL) and the cat is quite partial to slow worms (yuk)  just waiting to see what the boxer will catch - oh hang on, just found out - snails !  escargo in garlic butter anyone :)

Margot,

Perhaps, you should let your dogs have a look at the following : http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/gamebird.htm#close-season I wouldnt want to see them hauled before the magistrates. :-D

Pheasants are out of bounds until October.

Partridges & duck are fair game though. ;-)

Whoops!!!  Not only illegal by hunting game, they are doing it out of season!!!!   Criminal girls :D :D

ASBOs being handed out as I type ;)

Margot

(I could have sworn that it was pheasants from 1st Sept, partridges from 1st October - my memory is playing tricks on me - obviously blonde moments coinciding with senile moments :D)

you also cant take or shoot on sundays and xmas day too :D
Ah bless even the birds get a day off from being hunted lol :D :D

You will find that its because they are all freshly released from the pens, thats why there are none all summer & heaps now.

No pheasant pens near us now - the nearest release pens are over 1 mile away - these are genuine wild birds (and boy, are they wild when the dogs start stalking them :))

Margot

Are all pheasants stupid ?  The road I have to go on when doing the school run has a very sharp bend in it and all of us who know this road go round the corner *very* slowly as the dumb pheasants choose this spot to cross the road - why the walk across a road when they can fly heaven knows !

I've got a lovely game calendar pinned on the wall in our conservatory that I do encourage my dogs to read (I won't say digest!).

I am not sure which one of us is looking forward to October most!

Pheasants MUST be the thickest birds on the planet ..the times they dive out on a suicide mission when we are driving around here in Lincolnshire is amazing!!

One even dive bombed our car whilst hubby was driving down the A1 ...needless to say the pheasant met its end, as did out headlamp

Delta has come close to catching one a few times  ;)

Agree with Mel :D   Pheasants are most definately thick.   The pheasant pens are only 150yards away from me, but across the river.. But my garden is the best feeding and playground for them, forget the couple of hundred acres of woodlands that surrounds my house,,,,, nope a garden that has 8 Labs in is much more fun.  Suicidal or what????? :D :D

they must be thick, my cat is very petite and she managed to bring home a live female pheasant AND got it through the cat flap   I got up in the morning to find the cat and Alfie sat looking at this pheasant sat on the top stair. I picked it up went to throw it over the back fence  and it turned around and flew straight back into my garden :rolleyes:

Oh I can just imagine it!!! A pheasant in the kitchen - and one proud pussy cat, having brought home dinner for her family!   And what does her grateful family do with her offering???? Throw it out :D :D :D :D

My cats would have been stalking around in disgust, tails in air, twitching with annoyance every time they looked in my direction for WEEKS after that :D :D

Margot

LOL Margot. My dogs always perk up about this time of year, dont know if it is the fresher mornings or the game birds about the place. Id does make me laugh how I have seen dozens of partridge and phesant just wandering around the fields and yet the first week in september they all dissappear, yet we dont start shooting partridge until next week. Mind you the dogs remember where they found a bird tucked up from pervious years. Its amaizing what they remember. Just a pity its not their training :D