The Never-Ending Battle

Providing food and habitat are two aspects of successful game management but if you don’t control predators you’re wasting your time, says Liam Bell.

- Liam Bell

Predator control, along with habitat management and supplementary feeding, form the cornerstones of game management. Provide only two of the three and your success will be limited. Supplementary feeding is straightforward, habitat management is always ongoing and the control of pests and predators is a never-ending battle. Pests and predators can be divided into three groups, and the time of year when controlling them makes the most difference is now, before they start to breed.

Foxes

Controlling foxes is vital on any shoot — if you rely on wild birds it is vital and if you rear and release birds it is no less important. A pair of foxes that manage to get a litter away will take out any wild stock by hunting out the sitting hens. If the adults and the cubs are left to their own devices until the cubs start hunting for themselves, they will be drawn to your pens and wreak havoc if left unchecked.

The best way to control them will depend on a number of things, not least the amount of time you have spare and the lie of the land. If time is limited, lamping and sitting out are probably the most effective. A quiet cruise or walk round with the lamp will pick up a few while the crops are short, but as the corn grows and the grass gets up lamping becomes harder.