Holding Your Birds: How Modern Bird Pullers Improve Season Success

Bird pullers, sound ride management and a proper grit routine work together to keep pheasants and partridges holding on your drives rather than straying onto the neighbour’s ground. So long as you get these three things right, you’ll have no problem ensuring your birds are present on shoot days, season after season.

Every headkeeper knows the frustration of birds drifting off managed land just when you need them where the guns are standing. The good news is that this is rarely down to luck. It comes down to how you plan your rides, feed your birds and use the right kit to hold them. Below, we explain what a bird puller is, and what makes them invaluable to gamekeepers everywhere.

What Bird Pullers Are and Why They Hold Birds on the Drive

In gamekeeping and field sports, a bird puller is a specialised feed additive, often a spice blend containing aniseed, other spices or B vitamins, mixed into grain. Scattered along straw rides, it gives birds a reason to keep returning to that exact spot rather than wandering off the boundary.

Bird pullers for pheasants work because pheasants are creatures of habit once a feeding pattern is set. A bird that finds a reliable food source in one place returns to it day after day, which is exactly what you want when holding birds on drives ahead of a shoot day. Partridges follow the same pattern, though they range less if ground cover suits them. When used consistently, a puller becomes part of the daily routine on the pen and the drive alike.

Ride Management and Grit Routines Through the Season

Good ride management starts well before the season opens. Rides need to be wide enough to let birds fly well and low enough in cover that they walk out onto them naturally, rather than skirting the edges into the neighbour’s ground. Cutting height, timing and the width of headland strips all affect how confidently birds use a ride, so it pays to walk your ground each spring and adjust as the cover grows.

Grit plays an equally practical role. Pheasants and partridges need grit to break down grain in the gizzard, and birds that are short of it digest less efficiently and range further to find their own supply. Placing pheasant grit near your feed points, rather than scattering it randomly, keeps birds closer to the rides you want them using. A simple weekly top-up through late summer and autumn is usually enough to keep birds settled and feeding well ahead of the season.

At Collins Nets, we supply a range of grit options, including Oyster Shell Poultry Grit and Chick Grit. We also sell Red Grit Stations for neat and tidy setup.

Choosing a Bird Puller Hopper for Better Drive Presentation

Regarding bird pullers for pheasants, a purpose-built hopper should ideally do more than hold feed. It should also dispense the puller mix consistently, resist damp, and sit where birds will actually find it along the ride. Remember that if you get the siting wrong even the best puller mix goes to waste.

When choosing and positioning a bird puller hopper, keep these points in mind:

• Site it on the ride edge, not deep in cover, so birds associate the spot with an easy find.
• Keep it away from standing water or low ground where feed can spoil quickly.
• Choose a hopper with a weatherproof lid to stop the mix clumping in wet weather.
• Position hoppers at intervals along the ride to spread birds evenly rather than bunching them at one point.

Get this right and drive presentation improves noticeably, with birds sitting tighter to the rides and flushing more evenly when the guns are in position.

Cover Crop Strips and Feed Rides Working Together

Cover crop strips give birds somewhere to sit between feeds, and feed rides give them a reason to stay close to that cover rather than drifting into open fields or neighbouring land. Used together, the two do more for holding birds than either does alone.

Maize, kale and quinoa mixes are common choices for cover crop strips, offering shelter from wind and overhead predators while keeping birds within easy reach of the feed rides running alongside. Positioning feed rides on the sheltered side of a strip, rather than exposed to prevailing wind, encourages birds to use them more consistently through poor weather.

Bird pullers for pheasants work best when this layout is right because a puller mix scattered along a well-placed ride, next to cover the birds already trust, gives you the strongest chance of keeping birds settled through to shoot day.

Anti-Stray Feeders and Keeping Birds on Your Land

Even with good ride management and the right cover, some birds will always test the boundary. Anti-stray feeders are designed to reduce this by giving birds a consistent, attractive feeding option well inside your land, so there is less incentive to wander towards a neighbour’s crop or cover.

Positioning matters more than the feeder itself. Anti-stray feeders work best sited a reasonable distance inside the boundary, ideally backed by cover, so birds have no need to venture further to find food or shelter. Restocking them regularly through the weeks before the season keeps the habit established.

Bird pullers for pheasants can be added to anti-stray feeders in the same way as hoppers on the main rides, reinforcing the pattern. Remember that birds that have learned to associate a specific feeder with a reliable food source are far less likely to stray, whatever the weather or shooting pressure elsewhere on the estate.

Shoot Day Planning: Presentation That Reflects the Groundwork

Shoot day planning is where all the groundwork through the season pays off. Rides that have been managed well, grit and feed placed consistently, and pullers used correctly all combine to give you birds that sit tight and fly well when the guns are in position.

And a few checks in the days before a shoot day help confirm your presentation is where it should be:

• Walk each drive to check rides are clear and birds are using them as expected.
• Confirm hoppers and feeders are topped up and undamaged.
• Check pheasant grit supplies near main feed points.
• Review ride management from the previous week, noting any areas birds are avoiding.

Bottom line is that good drive presentation depends on the equipment behind it as much as the routine, and that’s where we come in. At Collins Nets, we manufacture and supply netting for game rearing alongside a wide range of related products, including gas brooders, feeders, and drinkers. So, whether you are setting up release pens or maintaining rides through the season, we can help you get the setup right from the ground up.

Speak to Collins Nets Before the Season Starts

Holding birds on your drives comes down to the groundwork, and that is simply ensuring sound ride management, consistent grit and feed, and using bird pullers for pheasants used in the right places. So long as these three factors are accounted for, your presentation on shoot day will reflect the effort put in through the season.

If you would like advice on netting, feeders or any of the equipment that supports this, get in touch with our team on 01308 485422 or fill in our contact form. We have been supplying gamekeepers and estates for over 35 years, and we are happy to help you plan for a strong season ahead.