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WCS Collarum - Fox Trap

2/22/2014

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The Collarum Baited
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The Collarum Buried and Armed
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A fox captured in my garden.

I keep chickens, ducks and quail in the garden. My children love them and collect the eggs daily.

We had a plague of fox. They chewed through the wood and wire of the coups. They also dug under them. They regularly defecated on them as well. They clawed at them nightly, scaring the poor birds to death. Eventually they got in by breaking through one of the Perspex windows, killing a quail. They then started to turn up in the day trying to kill the birds.

I bought an WCS Collarum. It's basically like a giant mouse trap that throws a snare over the foxes head. It had second spring that fires just after the first. This spring whips the snare tight around the foxes neck.

The good thing about it, is that when it is buried, only the bait can be seen, as in the picture.

It's also canine specific and won't catch cats for example.

It's quite effective. I managed to catch 3 out of the 12 foxes in the garden with it. To be honest it failed on more foxes than it caught, despite trying to be meticulous in its set up. Once it failed on a particular fox and I moved the Collarum to a different location, the foxes would often scratch the ground to uncover it and leave it alone. But it does help remove some foxes, which saved me some trouble.

It also doesn't harm the foxes, if you don't want to kill them. I personally dispatched them.

After the foxes were removed, we didn't see a fox from April until September. Leaving the birds to roam freely around the garden, without the worry of losing them.

The Collarum in action: This is not my video.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=9SvO0HUGg4U&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D9SvO0HUGg4U%26feature%3Dyoutu.be

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The mass of foxes in my garden, taken with a Bushnell Trophy Camera. I paid £60 delivered for the camera delivered. It takes the most amazing night shots. I have found stealth camera extremely useful in determining exactly what animals there are in a particular area.
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Collarum Fox Trap Set - A few seconds before it was triggered and captured this fox.
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Fox caught in the Collarum.
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Wild Sea Bass - River Severn

2/8/2014

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We caught 2 Bass from the River Severn that afternoon last summer. You can see the Severn Bridge in the back ground. We cooked them there and then on the BBQ.

We have caught Cod, Whiting, Plaice, Flounder, Dabs, Eel and Bass from this sport at Severn beach.

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Beach Casting Severn Beach - River Severn
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Grouse Shooting Over Pointers Scotland

2/8/2014

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Grouse Shooting on Ben Rhinnes
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Roy Cullen and his outstanding pointers
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Me with my comedy outfit on!
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Stunning views!
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Mr Bloor
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Rolling hills of pink heather
Grouse Shooting Ben Rhinnes Scotland. Stunning weather and views! We shot 8 brace. We stayed in Findhorn that evening which is the most beautiful place. 2 pubs on a sand estuary. The seals were feeding off Salmon in the sea in front of the pub. People were wild camping on the opposite beach, against a pine covered horizon. We swapped 1/2 of the Grouse for beer in the pub that night.
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16 hard earned Red Grouse
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Stunning pink heather! Shooting Red Grouse in Scotland with Dick Bartlett.
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Avon & Tributaries Angling Assiciation

2/8/2014

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River Cam

My fishing syndicate is Avon & Tributaries Angling Association.

The club has several rivers around Bath. They have got stretches of the Cam, Wellow, Midford and Frome.

The club stocks the rivers with several thousand brown and rainbow trout each season and so the fishing is relatively easy.

They also have some good stretches of catch and release sections for wild trout. I have also caught several grayling, face and chub on the fly.

I much prefer river fishing for trout where you can stalk and catch trout rising to flies.

They have a good mayfly hatch each year. My record catch in a day whilst the mayfly are hatching is 27 fish.

They have got some good course fishing for chub and barbel on the River Frome around Iford Manor. Although the barbel numbers have reduced in recent years.

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2 stocked rainbows and a brown trout. Avon and Tributaries Angling Association.
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Rabbit Shooting & Cooking

2/8/2014

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2 Rabbits shot with my 17HMR.

A couple of rabbits shot for the pot.

I use 3 main methods.

Sitting and waiting for them to appear fr their burrows and shooting them at distance with my 17HMR.

Or lamping them at night with my 22LR.

I also enjoy working the hedges with my Cocker Spaniel - Purdey and shooting them with my shotgun as they bolt.

Occasionally I will use an airgun.

You have to "pee" them immediately as rabbits are a Mediterranean species and retain their urine in order to preserve the water in their bodies. If you don't "pee" them immediately they taint and taste of ammonia. You do this by squeezing the middle of the belly between their legs I order to make them wee.

My preferred way to cook them is in a pie with mushrooms and chicken soup.

If you simmer a rabbit in salt water for a few hours, the meat just falls off of the bone. In my opinion this is the best way to get the meat off off the rabbit. You can then do whatever you wish with the meat.

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2 rabbits flushed my Purdey my cocker spaniel and shot whilst on the run with my Beretta A391.
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Pigeon Shooting Over Decoys

2/8/2014

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Shooting pigeons over decoys at Manton near Marlborough.

Another passion of mine, shooting wood pigeons.

Wood pigeons generally land into the wind and so by arranging the decoys in a "U shape" the base of the U facing the wind, the pigeons will tend to drop in and land in the middle of the U.

A pigeon magnet can draw the pigeons in from miles away. It's quite amazing to watch. You can see little dark specks in the distance coming in the distance and head towards your decoys and magnet.

I find pigeon shooting very exciting. The pigeons can drop in at many speeds and angles, or just fly over to have a look at the decoys. When they see you, or they hear a shot, they often jink and fly away at speed. This makes the shooting highly varied and exciting!

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Traditional "U Shape" pigeon decoy pattern.
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Pigeon Magnet
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Thornback Ray Caught off of Aberystwyth Beach

2/8/2014

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A few years old now. A Thornback Ray caught off of Aberystwyth Beach, opposite the Glengower Pub

The boys regularly go back to Aberystwyth, our University. Occasionally we beach cast on the beach outside the pub that we frequented the most at Uni. A few years back we managed to catch this Thornback Ray.

Beach, beer and a lucky catch - happy days!

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