Electric clay throwing trap

[Dexter's Shed]

seemed a bit quite in here of late, so thought I'd start this post a day earlier than I was going to, now if you bought your woods from the forum's sponsors then stop reading now, as you will have signed a covenant to say NO SHOOTING,NO CLAY TRAPS,

but there are quite a few that bought via different sellers, you people can carry on reading,
so our woods come with full sporting rights, and no restrictions on shooting clays, funnily enough I bought a wood with the shooting of pest and game at the top of my wish list, yet once an owner, shooting living things does go to the bottom of the list, however shooting is still an enjoyable sport, most of my neighbours (plot holders) are shooters too, my closest neighbour and good friend owns two electric clay traps, and I'd had a day shooting and missing lots of clays but it was still a great day, good banter and all.

so a few weeks back we organised a clay shoot for owners and helpers, and what a good day it was too, even bought some little medals for the winners

http://youtu.be/U_hzcyvNWaM

so it got me thinking, we needed a clay trap too, but true to form, I've gone down the "Import" route, cant let the side down can I
I did enquire to buying a "good one" named brand etc, but the cost of what I wanted came in at £1,800
yet my import which actually comes with more accessories came in at .............................£650, nearly a third of the price, and has in my eyes, better visual safety as it includes the wrap around warning cage so you don't stand near the throwing arm



this is due to be delivered tomorrow, "free of charge" I'll add, compared to the £20 charge on the named brand

so, once I've had a play and fiddle with it, I'll post an honest review of my findings, before taking it to the woods at the weekend for it's first test run, and again, another review from there

I did do lots of review searching before committing to buying this, same as the chainsaws and strimmers and trail cameras, and yes there were good and bad ones, the one thing that made my mind up was an article I read, where the guy said that on taking it out of the box, check everything first and make any adjustments needed, before hooking it up to a battery, where as a lot of the bad reviews stated, they got it straight out of the box and hooked a battery up and things went pear shaped, so again, pointing towards user error in my book

[oldclaypaws]

There's no doubt recreational shooting is part of country life, and the odd shot to take out a pest or pheasant for the pot is part of living in a rural area, so I try not to be too intolerant of it as I have friends who shoot a lot.

However, (there was bound to be one), when you have multiple shooters at multiple targets for a few hours, such as a clay or pheasant shoot, the sound carries a good two miles and it sounds like a battle zone. It is unavoidable and distressing to both animals and those trying to enjoy the peace of the countryside.

Shooters seem to think causing such an impact on the ears of all surrounding creatures is perfectly acceptable. If a similar level of noise was generated by something they disliked, such as a mega loud rave, someone playing with home made explosives, an industrial business or whatever, they'd be straight on to the council to object and the police or council would turn up to pull the plug under noise pollution regs.

Like riding a very loud jet ski across a bay in front of those trying to quietly enjoy the sea view, shooting is one of those activities which gives gratification to a small few while being very annoying to far more. If it hadn't been the chosen fun of numbers of influential toffs and the establishment it would likely have been restricted by now.

[Dexter's Shed]

. It is unavoidable and distressing to both animals and those trying to enjoy the peace of the countryside.

spoken like a true townie non shooter paws, I've stood in our camping area shooting targets with the 12 gauge, yet still had blue tits etc feeding on the bird feeders, less than 15ft away, they get used to it and carry on with their day, but top marks for trying to pretend you know what an animal/bird is thinking when it hears any noise, perhaps you should go on telly as the animal whisperer

as for people enjoying the countryside, good point, but does that not include those that own that bit of countryside too? those other plot holder that also have shooting rights, will they be moaning or standing next to us? will the farmer who owns the fields surrounding us turn off his crow scaring gas gun that is working all day, just so he can complain about us??
should we complain for the constant noise coming from the motorway and channel tunnel train link? perhaps we should all buy silencers for our chainsaws/strimmers or get electric ones like those other members?

we need to remember, us brit's love nothing better than moaning about something,

[SimonFisher]

Well I'm just pleased you're not my neighbour Dexter's Shed.

One of the reasons we bought woodland with restrictive covenants is knowing that we have some protection from nusiance activity of neighbours.

You appear to be slightly misinformed as to the detail of the covenant put in place by Woodlands in your comment "NO SHOOTING". The covenants on the two pieces of Woodlands woodland that we have specifically say that shooting privately for sport and pest control are permitted.

[Dave and Verity]

Most small woodland plots would be unsuitable for clay pigeon shooting, regardless of covenants. (From what I have seen they vary from wood to wood. The one I have just looked at is different to the one we signed.) It is illegal to allow any shot to leave your boundaries, with a plot of say 5 acres, you would only be able to shoot from the perimeter inwards, as it is a wood, this would be fairly impractical. Shoots do take place in woods, mostly from traps placed high up on scaffolds, so are not really an amatuer concern.

I too wouldn't want it to be practised in "our" woods as we go there for peace and quiet. I do however enjoy it as a sport, a lack of time and too many other interests, prevents it at the moment. My son really enjoys it and thrashes me whenever we do get the chance at the "have a go" events at country fairs.

I wouldn't have thought that the noise is too much of a problem for wildlife, regular noise such as traffic and jet engines are not a problem. Just count kestrels or red kites along busy stretches of the A14, or look at how much airports spend on keeping birds away from runways.

Just for interest, the sport started with live pigeons released from underneath boxes, and I stand to be corrected but I believe this happened at one Olympic event.

Dave

[Dexter's Shed]

It is illegal to allow any shot to leave your boundaries,
Dave

no, I'll correct you there dave, it's illegal for your shot to go onto anyones land that you do not have permission to shoot, our woodland plot, is bordered by more woodland that I have permission on and visa versa with them, most woodlands as a whole are bigger than 5 acres, if one plot was sold with sporting rights, then the others would be, and shooters tend to stick together on permissions etc

[Dave and Verity]

Can't fault your logic, but I certainly wouldn't give anyone else shooting rights on my land, even though I completely support what you do.

Dave

[smojo]

However, (there was bound to be one), when you have multiple shooters at multiple targets for a few hours, such as a clay or pheasant shoot, the sound carries a good two miles and it sounds like a battle zone. It is unavoidable and distressing to both animals and those trying to enjoy the peace of the countryside.

Just throw in my two penneth. My daughter has a rescued greyhound. She is a beautiful, gentle animal but nervous and petrified of loud noises for some reason - maybe she witnessed another dog being put down by it's ruthless owner. At first it was big bangs like thunder and fireworks but now it's anything that sounds very loud - gunshot in particular. We look after her occasionally when they go away and living in a semi-rural (and wealthy town - but I'm not one of them I hasten to add) with moorlands nearby, we often have shooting parties on the moors shooting grouse and pheasant (which have been regularly fed by the local gamekeepers). So whilst those priveleged Hurrah Henry's are stalking and shooting semi-tame grouse and pheasant, having a great time, we will have a petrified dog, shaking uncontrollably, heart rate going ten to the dozen and trying to find a place to hide and traumatised for several hours to a point where she won't venture out for a loo break even and will probably come down with collitis a few days later making her very ill and weak. She once heard a loud bang and immediatley bolted for the bedroom, ripping out a dew claw by the root which took weeks to heal and covered our duvet in blood. But those Hurrahs (whilst tucking into their grouse and supping their port) have no awareness of the massive trauma they have caused to that beautiful animal, let alone all the other nervous animals in the area. So personally, I'm not a fan of shooting for recreation.

[Dexter's Shed]

very good point there smojo, thank god there's no blacksmiths in your town beating on the anvil all day or the rescue greyhound mob would be out to close him down, sounds silly don't it, come on, your baseing you views and answer on a nervous dog, think of all the "loud noises" that can be made by any trade or business on a regular basis, it'll put that dog into the same frenzy won't it
it shows what a stupid outlook people have nowadays,
In my eye's, this becomes a dangerous dog, because if it's as bad as you say, then it could also bite whilst in this scared frenzy, it's what animals do, the far better approach would be to give all similar Animals a lead injection and get a puppy that can be trained not to go loopy over a noise,but too many people in this world think they are right in their actions rather than wrong
in all honesty, that answer has put my back up the most, everyone is entitalled to an opinion, but your letting an occasional guest dog make up your mind on the subject

[oldclaypaws]

Greyhounds are intelligent and sensitive and usually not aggressive to humans.

If your solution to a greyhound nervous of guns is to shoot it, it says the dog is more perceptive and accurate in its evaluation of you, than you are of it.

Logical conclusion; man has gun but dog has higher IQ.