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Shooting under the moon ?


marsh man
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Since looking at the posts in the wildfowling section I have seen very little on shooting under the moon. Do any of you chaps do it ? if so what on , foreshore, flooded marsh, saltings or where ever you do your fowling , and at what sort of fowl. To get the right conditions you are lucky to get 3 or 4 nights in a season although up to 3 days before the full moon and the same after the full moon it is still possible to have a go. a clear night with no cloud might look nice but for shooting it is next to useless , with no background cloud you would have a job seeing anything coming over you , but fowling is like that every time you go you learn something and you learn by your mistakes ,what is handy is if you live on or close to the marsh so you can go if the condition are ideal. Looking in my diary the other night one entry was 4 Mallard and 1 English Partridge in Dec in the 70s, nothing unusual about that your thinking but when I went that night under the moon there had been two days of snow and most of the flashes were frozen over but our dykes are connected to the fleet dyke so when they pump the water off the dykes are the last to freeze as there is running water in them. So I went about 8pm to walk the dykes up my old dog then used to walk along the edge and I would be about 15yds in front of him set in the marsh a bit so if he put a duck up I would be level with it which then made it a easyier shot. This night was like daylight once your eyes got used to the snow on the ground, and after we had walked 4 or 5 marshes we had a pair of Mallard in the bag and when we came to the next gate we nearly stood on a covey of Partridges and all I could see was some black shapes going over the snow, I fired one quick shot over them and one was left behind when the dog brought it back I didn't think anything about it but afterwards I thought I must have broken a few rules that night. But I doubt if there are many people who have shot a Partridge flying at 10pm in December.

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Marsh Man I have flighted under the moon hundreds of times over the last 40 years in the Broads , The Wash and N Norfolk Coast. The number of times its been successful have ben few and far between. On my local saltmarsh the geese frequently do not move at all until the following dawn on moon light nights though there have been a few occasions when I have bagged a few and once on the night of a full moon a storm brewed up driving the pinks off the fields at dusk. The weather man said the storm would clear at 9 pm and it did. I knew the field they were using and had watched what sandbank they had roosted on so it was easy to get under the flightline. Once the rain cleared the wind remained strong and the first geese started to come in as soon as I got out of the car. The sky was poor , but the birds low and within an hour I had half a dozen pinks in the bag and called it a night with the geese still comming in.

 

Like wise I have shot the odd duck , but I have never made a bag of duck. Only once was there a good flight of duck. Full moon sub zero temperatures and storm winds with sleet showers. Hundreds of wigeon poured into the creek I was hideing by , I shot out of cartridges with just 2 ducks to show for the flight. In was just too cold and the conditions were very rough to say the least. Some moonlight nights have been magic for the atmosphere , but all too often the bag has been empty.

 

Give be a dark night when I know the birds will move with the dawn over cold fruitless moonlight nights any time. Having said that I know of some marshes where I have been told that the moonflights can be good , I have just never found them.

Edited by anser2
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think less moonflights because its more of gamble than normal you know when the tide is in etc . it can be a hour plus walk to some of our spots for no cloud or 5 minutes worth. but do like the feel of being in the moonlight where nature still rules the roost ..

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I shoot the Wash under the moon, but like you say if its clear you may as well stop and pester your friends on here. If we have a nice fluffy white cloud as a backdrop I will be there. Its never been brilliant but it beats being sat watching all the rubbish the Mrs has on TV. I find it best after the full moon.

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I found the best time for the widgeon to move was from around 8pm round our way as on the night of the full moon the top of the tide is around 11pm so the tide start to cover the mud flats 3 hours earlier and if there is a bit of a blow on duck will come on the marsh for a bit of shelter, up North Norfolk the tide is 2hrs earlier than us and down in Suffolk its 2hrs later. I used to take my punt out sometimes and row up the river for 3 miles and then come back down so the moon was in front of me.I never used to get much , maybe a few duck now and again but that was magic just being out with just the sound of the bird life to keep you company. One night when I was pushing about the mist turned to fog and it got a bit scary as you didn't have a clue where you were after a while I made it to the wall and I put the oars upright in the mud tied the boat up and walked home then got up in the morning and brought the boat back to the shed.........All part of the package.

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Well for I live for Moon fighting especially Geese. October can be tricky as can November depending on when the moon falls generally December January are fantastic and if weather and moon fall right February can be good. The definitely messes the Geese about and you have to put a lot of effort in and study the Geese more I can honestly say I can't remember many moons in 40+ years I've not managed success on Moon Geese.

As I've stated live for a love this form of shooting for me nothing better than sharing a Moon light flight with Dog Mate and fighting Geese roll on October Moon

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I like shooting the moon! The venues are often "different" to those selected for evening flight, the fowl are often coming for different reasons. Shooting evening flight under a big moon can be poor and involve a longer wait unless the night has some weather to force duck off the roost to feed and geese back from the feed to the coastal roost.

 

I think its the best of all shooting if conditions are good for it but not in way of numbers ( more can be taken at peak times in shorter periods) Wildfowling is not about numbers though. I also like sitting on a rock and drinking coffee in the summer when out chasing seatrout, I think its that quiet reflection time in the open air under the cover of night.

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Moon shooting was always the cream of Lindisfarne wildfowling where when conditions were right 2 1/2 shells and quarter choked barrels sufficed. The three nights either side of full moon were the best , but required a covering of light low cloud which rendered the widgeon as visible as it were in daytime. No cloud and it was like staring into a black pit where only the sharpest sighted might get the chance of a shot. This of course was in the days when boxes were sunk in the mud for cover and shooting could take place in "relative" comfort once you had baled out umpteen gallons of sea water, sat down on a bag of straw as the sweat generated by the effort began to cool on you. Happy days.

 

Blackpowder

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A big thanks to all those fowlers who have replied and who have took part in a lovely time of the night to be wildfowling , its seems most of us who have done it have got several seasons under our belts , do the younger ones have a go ? like you all say bags are mainly light but there are times when every thing goes right and also when things goes wrong ,like the cloud cover clear or the other way round to much heavy cloud. But to me it was another way to get a chance at a duck or two when you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark and once I tried it there was no going back. My life then was dedicated to wildfowling ,I couldn't get enough of it, I remember the first goose I shot but I cant remember the first time I had sex, just goes to show what was more exciting .

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A big thanks to all those fowlers who have replied and who have took part in a lovely time of the night to be wildfowling , its seems most of us who have done it have got several seasons under our belts , do the younger ones have a go ? like you all say bags are mainly light but there are times when every thing goes right and also when things goes wrong ,like the cloud cover clear or the other way round to much heavy cloud. But to me it was another way to get a chance at a duck or two when you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark and once I tried it there was no going back. My life then was dedicated to wildfowling ,I couldn't get enough of it, I remember the first goose I shot but I cant remember the first time I had sex, just goes to show what was more exciting .

 

Marsh man, yes I am a young one and have a go :lol::whistling: . (surely having 35 years experience and being 56 & 11/12ths counts as being young).

 

There is something special about a moon flight. It reminds me a bit like when I used to wait for my school bus many years ago You have no idea if its going to show up, maybe it would sooner or later but do you wait for it or not. You wait until you think there is no chance of it moving even though you can hear something in the distance, or until you are frozen solid. As soon as you start to make your way home and look round you see it passing where you had been stood.

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I got promotion, Harrycat realised my quality and nominated me as AYA no1. :good:

 

If you was to meet some of the undesirables who shoot with me you would see why they go in the dark. I just go to reassure other guns that they are safe to be in the same county :yahoo:

I thought it was your more generous older brother :lol::lol:

 

I have to agree though some of those that go on the marsh look better in the dark :lol:

 

Not those from Derbyshire though. :innocent::innocent:

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I got promotion, Harrycat realised my quality and nominated me as AYA no1. :good:

 

If you was to meet some of the undesirables who shoot with me you would see why they go in the dark. I just go to reassure other guns that they are safe to be in the same county :yahoo:

Sounds like a rummon lot of boys up North , anyone who had a AYA No 2 let alone a No 1 round our way would be in the super rich bracket and you would be a candidate to open the village fete and the little Polish kids would then be queing up for your autograph.
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A big thanks to all those fowlers who have replied and who have took part in a lovely time of the night to be wildfowling , its seems most of us who have done it have got several seasons under our belts , do the younger ones have a go ? like you all say bags are mainly light but there are times when every thing goes right and also when things goes wrong ,like the cloud cover clear or the other way round to much heavy cloud. But to me it was another way to get a chance at a duck or two when you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark and once I tried it there was no going back. My life then was dedicated to wildfowling ,I couldn't get enough of it, I remember the first goose I shot but I cant remember the first time I had sex, just goes to show what was more exciting .

 

Good grief, it wasn't that great 1st time but at least I remember it

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:lol:

Yea I know what your saying but I was in short trousers then , when I was 13 the second time was brilliant.

 

I remember one moon flight in particular on a flooded tatty field on the eastern side of Loch Leven. There was about 4 acres of flood water in a dip of this field and the pinks came in strong, all in groups of 3 to 10. There was a good wind and perfect cloud cover. I think the most evocative part of the flight was when 4 Whoopers came in, trumpeting away and ploughed a furrow nigh on the full length of the flood. There were 6 of us and we all had pinks.

 

It was like something straight out of BB's writings.

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A big thanks to all those fowlers who have replied and who have took part in a lovely time of the night to be wildfowling , its seems most of us who have done it have got several seasons under our belts , do the younger ones have a go ? like you all say bags are mainly light but there are times when every thing goes right and also when things goes wrong ,like the cloud cover clear or the other way round to much heavy cloud. But to me it was another way to get a chance at a duck or two when you go to work in the dark and come home in the dark and once I tried it there was no going back. My life then was dedicated to wildfowling ,I couldn't get enough of it, I remember the first goose I shot but I cant remember the first time I had sex, just goes to show what was more exciting .

Hi Marsh Man,

 

I'm not a fowler yet, alas this season looks to be possible of a flight watching it done, but I haven't the gun for the job yet (not steel proofed) and can't afford a nice shiny new one until next year now :-(. However I am hopeful to see it done first hand this coming season.

Shooting my first goose and shooting under the moon both are ambitions of mine I one day would hope to realise, and I'm still fairly young (25).

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