Nmb Posted November 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 Hello everyone. As I mentioned in my last post there was snow forecast for our last shoot day and for once the weatherman was correct! There was not a huge amount on the ground but enough to make it feel like a proper day for pheasant shooting. As per usual several of us had our breakfast in a local hotel and after being suitably filled headed over to meet everyone else at our old bothy. Sadly my oldest dog "Emma" passed away during Friday night/ Saturday morning. I had her since she was born and she was my first gun dog and a pretty good one at that so I was determined to shoot well in her memory! First drive of the day would be Tall trees and I would be standing along with the rest of the B-team. I was expecting a decent amount of pheasants due to it being a nice warm wood. I got a surprise however when it was partridge flying like rockets over myself and the next peg! We managed to shoot 6 between us and I even managed a cheeky pigeon to claim the pigeon sweep money! There were a few pheasants flying over the rest of The guns and a few were added to the cart, a good start! Next up for the A team was the Ruinwood. We managed to get the partridge over the guns this time and despite there not being a huge amount of birds present a half dozen or so mixed pheasant and partridge were shot. My teams next drive was the Containerwood and yet again it produced plenty of birds! No idea where they keep coming from but we won't complain. I managed a nice pheasant however I wasn't really in the hot spot for this one. It's nice to see that the new release pen here has worked as we have shot over double the birds this season already compared to last. After a quick bite to eat we headed to the opposite pen. It was hard to see how it was going whilst trying to beat through the thick woodland however there was plenty of shots and after the drive I had a decent amount of birds to add to the cart. the Willows would be my teams last drive and despite it being difficult to beat due to its sheer size we had a good amount of sport. I managed to down 3 pheasants which rounded off my day nicely.In total managed to get 7 pheasants and a woodcock (first of the season) so it had been well worth doing. Last drive of the day was Matt Steeles and much the same as the other drives there were plenty birds present and some nice shots. This drive has been pretty steady again and always seems to hold birds in any weather conditions. The pond was half frozen however I managed to shoot a teal flying over the surrounding reeds. There were a few shot birds which had to be picked the next day and with these added the total was 33 pheasants 9 partridge 2 pigeon 1 woodcock Total shots 200 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted November 25, 2015 Report Share Posted November 25, 2015 I'm sorry to hear of your loss. Sounds like you did you old dog proud with a nice bag for the day and good ratio Thanks for sharing. All the best Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 (edited) Good evening. Had a fantastic day for our annual woodcock shoot! It was pretty cold and windy this morning however I was still looking forwardto walking the large moss on our shoot which usually holds a good amount of birds. There would be 7 of us in the morning so we lined up across about a 1/3 of the moss. The idea being we would have 3 sweeps to cover the area. I had just put a couple of cartridges in the gun when a woodcock zipped ahead of me and I was glad to see it crumple into the heather. After this the woodcock got up pretty steadily and after finishing the first part we had flushed 8 woodcock but there was only my first in the bag. The second part is traditionally good for snipe however it was an early couple of woodcock which beat the guns yet again. After this there would have been at least 20 Snipe flushed and I managed to bag 4 along with another which Ben shot. It was a mad 150 yards and after we picked them up we finished off the 2nd part. We all thought we had flushed everything when a snipe and woodcock rose simultaneously within the last 50 yards of moss however they managed to beat us. We decided at this point to have lunch and upon emptying my game bag it revealed we had managed to shoot 5 snipe and 1 woodcock for 51 shots! After this we did a couple of boundary pheasant drives which held the odd bird however nothing was hit. It was getting late so we decided to have a cuppa before sitting at the pond for some ducks. It was a good flight which consisted solely of mallard. I kicked off with a right and left and managed another single duck after this. (Should have hit a lot more) my dad had a cracking shot however we could not find the duck, will be out tomorow for another look! Everything else was picked and at the end of an excellent day we had shot. 5 Snipe 5 Mallard 1 Woodcock Shots 89 It was a really enjoyable day and although we shot poorly it was nice seeing so many birds left for another day. The ducks did well again with about 30-40 coming in and they added nicely to the entirely wild bird bag. Edited November 28, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted November 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2015 Pics of the bag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted November 29, 2015 Report Share Posted November 29, 2015 Yet again, another great write up of a enjoyable day Well done on the woodcock and ducks and don't worry about the cartridge count. You all had a good day out in the fresh air Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted December 2, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2015 Yet again, another great write up of a enjoyable day Well done on the woodcock and ducks and don't worry about the cartridge count. You all had a good day out in the fresh air Thanks for sharing. Thanks It was certainly an enjoyable day. Next shoot is this coming Saturday so hopefully this snowy weather we have had has pushed he birds back home. I'm off on Friday so will be out seeing where the birds are. Will probably be out lamping on Thursday night. We managed to get one fox last week however another just wouldn't stand long enough to get a shot away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted December 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2015 (edited) Hello everyone Long overdue an update! Our last shoot was on the 5th of December and for the second shoot in succession it was a cold morning which despite the threat of rain/snow remained dry. First drive of the day was Tall trees and although there were a few pheasants flushed it was a pretty poor drive especially give its such a nice warm wood. We did our two strips of gamecrops simultaneously next. The A team stood at one and B team the other, some of the guys just out to work there dogs beat the two crops and a good covey of partridge and a few pheasants were flushed. Kilduthie followed and unfortunately there were very few birds present and nothing was shot. As per usual the containerwood was the drive before lunch and it provided some good sport for the guns and despite a pretty quiet start we had managed to shoot 6 pheasants and 4 partridge for the morning. Opposite pen was next and like the containerwood it had quite a few birds which gave the bulk of the guns some shooting. I managed to get a pheasant and a partridge however yet again the bulk of the partridge managed to sneek out behind the guns and escape the line! The Willows worked well on the last shoot and there was plenty birds here again. its a huge area to beat but we gave it our best shot and 4 pheasants were added to the cart. Last drive of the day would be Matt Steeles, I had seen a lot of birds here on the Friday and luckily they had stuck around to provide an excellent end to the day and make the guns scramble for cartridges! 16 pheasants were shot which really boosted the bag for the day. A few of us waited for ducks however it was pretty quiet and only 3 were shot including a cracker by Ian which must have been about 50 yards out when it fell. Another good day and we still seem to be getting our target bag of 30+ birds.(Long may it continue) Drives Tall Trees Gamecrops Kilduthie Containerwood Opposite pen Willows Matt Steeles Total bag 28 Pheasants 6 Partridge 3 Mallard Thanks for looking Edited December 15, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted December 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 Hello everyone. Firstly hope everyone has had a Christmas. We have had a couple of shoots since my last post. The first was a driven day on the 19th and yet again the weather was mild which makes things a little more difficult to plan. My team started off by standing at the Containerwood, this is usually our best drive and I was surprised by the lack of shooting taking place. I didn't even see a gamebird on my side of the line however the other guys had more success and even managed to shoot a fox which may have contributed to the lack of birds. Next up was the gamecrops which everyone stands for apart from my dad and I who beat. A good covey of partridge broke early and managed to avoid all 16 guns! (Bet plenty of shoot captains can believe this) there were a few nice pheasants which really flew well and despite a smattering of shots they flew on unscathed. We tried a couple of new drives next, the neuk and Hattonburn. Both had plenty of birds and with lessons learned I'm sure they can add some exciting options to the shoot days. A quick bite to eat at the bothy and it was time for the last 3 drives. Opposite the pen did well with both partridge and pheasants producing good sport. The willows was pretty quiet however 3 pheasants and a woodcock were shot with the woodcock a particularly good shot by guest gun Wayne. Last up was Matt Steeles which like the Containerwood has consistently performed. Today however I think we left it too late which resulted in birds being in the trees roosting. A couple were flushed from cover with one being added to the cart. Total bag 17 pheasants 3 partridge 2 pigeon 1 fox Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted December 30, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 30, 2015 (edited) Our annual Boxing Day shoot was attended by 7 hardy souls willing to brave torrential rain and biting winds for what promised to be a small bag! We are blessed with thousands of geese up here so we decided to try and line up behind a wall and try and whack a few which would be flushed by my dad. A goose was indeed bagged however our planning needs to be fine tuned for the next attempt. Next up was the moss which usually holds plenty of Woodcock and Snipe however today it was pretty quiet with only 5 Snipe and 3 Woodcock flushed. I managed to bag a woodcock however I should have had another one which was possibly the easiest shot of the day. We decided to do a couple of boundary drives for pheasants which was an inspired choice as everyone had a few shots and we managed to bag 5 pheasants and a pigeon between the two woods. It was a good day however I was glad to get back to the bothy for a warming bowl of stew! Total bag 5 pheasants 1 woodcock 1 goose 1 pigeon Hope everyone has a great Hogmanay! Cheers Nick Forgot to say we're having another crack at the geese tomorrow so will let you know how we get on. Also will be trying out my headcam so fingers crossed I have something to post! Edited December 30, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted January 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2016 Hello everyone. Yesterday was our first shoot of 2016 and just like the last shoot of 2015 torrential rain and gale force winds tried to spoil our day. We decided to mix up the teams a bit today due to there only being 11 of us braving the conditions. Once pegs had been drawn we left the warmth of the bothy to try our first drive. My team would be shooting first so we split out team into two and walked in a couple of smaller drives to try and fill the Opposite pen for us. This worked well with Simon shooting a cock pheasant in Tall trees and Harrie one in the gamecrop. We only had 5 guns so I had to place us in the most likely spot upon our arrival to the drive itself however quite a few birds broke out to my right and to safety. I hit a cock bird hard however it crash landed through the trees and despite my lab "fern" best efforts it must have legged it. Stewart managed to bag one however so not a bad start. Next up was Matt Steeles for the other team. Once the guns had beat through the large area of gorse and marsh at the end of the drive we started beating. The wood is a long thin pine wood with a strip of willows running alongside it, there is a pheasant pen at the end and it wasn't until we were within 50 yards of the pen that birds started to appear. Quite a few birds were flushed however only malcom managed to get one down. I managed to get a cock bird which swung out side of the guns and I was delighted to finally get my first pheasant with my new toy. (Berreta 862 Supersport.) We tried Hattonburn next and I think the guns drew the short straw as it was freezing standing! Russell and Simon may disagree however as both had excellent shots at testing pheasants. I managed to whack a feral pigeon however the rain was starting to weigh my tweeds down and make me look forward to a coffee in the warmth of the bothy. A quick walk through Kilduthie which didn't provide any shooting and it was onto the last drive of the day The containerwood. Despite being our best drive we only had 3 beaters left so unsurprisingly it was a fruitless mission with only one pheasant being flushed. Upon reflection it was an enjoyable day with plenty of pheasants on show, it's difficult trying to do woods with such a small beating team and lack of guns meant birds evading us. Total bag 6 cock pheasants( 2 more shot but not picked) 1 pigeon 41 shots Here's hoping for some snow before the end of the season! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted January 4, 2016 Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 (edited) Some good write ups there Nick. I've only just got around to readind them, what with Christmas and all. Hope you had a good Christmas and happy hogmanay. The weather is not being favorable to you, although you did miss the rain on the 5th of December. We were shooting by kincardine on that day and got pis wet through. Well done on the woodcock, they can be a very testing bird to shoot with there sporadic flying style. What you think is a "easy" shot, can often leaving you scratching you head as to how you missed. I've done it myself also. Well done on christening the new gun. All the best for the rest of the season and hope you get the weather you want. We haven't had a frost down here this season (well not much of one anyway) All the best Mark Edited January 4, 2016 by shoot and be safe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted January 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2016 It's been a strange season weather wise and we are fast running out of time to get some frost and snow! A few of our syndicate had arranged for a days shooting locally however the keeper had to cancel the day as his whole setup has been literally washed away. Horrible to think of years of work and investment lost due to Mother Nature. Next syndicate shoot is on the 16th so hoping for some better weather! I have been practising with my head cam so will hopefully have something worth posting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted January 11, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2016 I was out at the shoot today for a wander about. Seen a lot of Pheasant and Partridge in the Containerwood which was nice after getting a blank there last shoot. Loads of still lying around the fields from the torrential rain which has been battering us here in the last week. Managed to get a headcam footage of me shooting a couple of jackdaws which I have added to the video section but here is a link https://youtu.be/tNgqSmmfTgg There is a shoot this Saturday and with the potential of snow arriving later in the week I am hopeful that we could have a good day. Also having a whiskey tasting and Chinese carryout after the shoot in the bothy which should be good. Cheers Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted September 2, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 2, 2016 Hello everyone. It's been a busy few months recently getting everything sorted for the coming season. Things will be similar to last year however we have raised the numbers of birds released to 1300 pheasants and 450 red legs. Lots of work has been done to improve the main drives which were starting to become overgrown and most of the pens have had a facelift to ensure the birds would be well catered for. We have been busy on the pest control front shooting over 400 corvids and a few foxes however the huge increase in pinemartins, badgers and birds of prey have meant that birds are still being lost daily. Our first shoot is on the 17th of September so fingers crossed the partridges will be where we want them! I have a few pictures from work parties which I will post up tomorow. Cheers Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted September 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 (edited) Good evening everyone. Yesterday was our first day of the season and it was great to see everyone's enthusiasm to get the guns out. its lovely being out shooting in glorious sunshine and puling the trigger didn't seem to be foremost on peoples minds which was just as well as the first drive "L-wood" was a blank with only a couple of pheasants being flushed. This wasn't a surprise as its a boundary wood however it let everyone get warmed up for what we hoped would be the busier drives later on. Next up was "Jaffreys" which tends to hold quite a few partridge and today was no different with good numbers of both Partridge and Pheasants being flushed. On a personal note i was delighted to get my first kill with my new Beretta 690. Only concern i had was the fact that most of the birds tended to fly low which is understandable at this time of the year but we need them higher for the Let day in two weeks. We then headed to the "Ruinwood" which we beat uphill, this being opposite to normal. Like the previous drive there was no lack of birds and quite a few shots were had.This is one of our best drives and i was glad that after us spending a lot of time creating areas for the sun to hit and also creating some warm covered areas for shelter later in the year that the birds were here. Also worth mentioning that my dads homemade toffee was great despite my mums dogs best efforts to knock it all off the back of the 4x4! Last drive before lunch was the "Containerwood" and yet again there were plenty birds on show and like the Ruinwod we drove it the opposite way to ensure all the birds were driven into the heart of the ground as much as possible. Much like my first stand i was right on the edge of the action however i managed a nice pigeon which appeared from nowhere. Total bag at lunchtime was 8 partridge and 3 pigeons. After everyone had eaten lunch and a good drink of water we headed to the last two drives of the day "Sunflower crop" and Jaffreys crop" the latter had alot of partridge which provided frantic shooting for those in the middle of the line. Unfortunately the Sunflower crop didn't have nearly as much birds as we had expected but im sure it will be great over the next few shoots. We had a couple of walked up areas on the way back to the Bothy which accounted for a few more birds in the bag. Overall it was a good start and there is definitely plenty of birds on the ground. Nobody had expected a huge bag but the bulk of us had managed to open our accounts for the season. A healthy number of us stayed on for a BBQ which was meant to be a good way to end the day however as it became darker the more enthusiastic of us decided it would be criminal not to try and add a duck to the larder. Unfortunately we failed to hit any but we did see 10-15 coming in just when it was getting too dark to shoot. Now the planning begins for our first ever let day on the 1st of October which happens to be the day after i move house- great timing! Total bag 26 Partridge 3 Pigeon My total 2 Partridge 1 pigeon Edited September 18, 2016 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted September 18, 2016 Report Share Posted September 18, 2016 A good opening of the season for you, well done How are your pheasants looking and did you find it easy to tell them apart from the partridge when they flew together? The ones local to me are still looking like poults, hopefully they will feather up in time for their first day. Enjoy the let day for what it is, treet it the same as your syndicate days and don't rush things. I'm sure you will be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted September 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2016 A good opening of the season for you, well done How are your pheasants looking and did you find it easy to tell them apart from the partridge when they flew together? The ones local to me are still looking like poults, hopefully they will feather up in time for their first day. Enjoy the let day for what it is, treet it the same as your syndicate days and don't rush things. I'm sure you will be fine The pheasants look fully grown apart from the length of tail feathers which are still pretty short compared to last years birds.I'm sure we will have a good day. Just hope the weather is favourable! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted September 30, 2016 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2016 (edited) Well that's everything ready for the shoot tomorrow. Went out early yesterday morning and spent the majority of the day putting pegs out and seeing where the birds were. Really healthy numbers of both partridge and pheasants so hopefully we can provide some good sport. I will try and get a good write up done at some point over the weekend and if I get any good head cam footage from the beating line i can put that up as well. Good luck to everyone for the season ahead! Nick Edited September 30, 2016 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted October 18, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2016 (edited) Hello everyone, I haven't forgotten about the thread but unfortunately I'm still waiting for Internet in my new house so can't get write ups about our last two shoots up yet. Will hopefully have internet on Monday! Edited October 18, 2016 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted October 24, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 Hello everyone. I finally have internet which means a late write up of our last two shoots! As I mentioned in my previous posts we had our first ever let day on the 1st of October. Despite having a few nerves I was so busy getting prepared for moving houses that I didn't have time to panic! it was an early start on the big day as I wanted to dog in a few areas, plenty of birds were around the drives so early signs looked promising. No matter how many birds are on the ground without the members coming out to help with beating, picking up etc we wouldn't have been able to provide any sport and it was brilliant to see so many members and non members turning up. I had planned 6 drives which I hoped would provide varying amount of sport and the idea would be to have a good first and last drive along with a cracker before lunch. First drive of the day would be "Containerwood". The beating team started of by blanking in the duck pond and Jaffreys wood which resulted in a healthy number of birds flying in to the main drive. The guns were positioned in the traditional way around the front of the wood as well as along the side of the Red-moss. It was the latter where most of the birds tended to fly and judging by the shot tally it had been a good start to the day. Next up was "Hattonburn" which is a relatively new drive on the shoot and one of the few which has the potential to produce high birds. As the name suggests the drive is a burn which runs along the bottom of a den. There is farm steading which has a fair bit of set-aside around them which seems to prove popular with the pheasants. As an added bonus there is whole field of Turnips which I hoped would provide a good Launchpad for the pheasants to fly high over the den and back home to the kilduthie pen. However three quarters of the way through the drive I was fearing a blank may be on the cards! Luckily my springer Isla started to flush bids out of the Turnips and as predicted they headed back to their pen providing good sport. After this birds started to spring out across the line and we could all enjoy watching them testing the team of guns. After the 13 birds on the first and the 7 on the 2nd drive we were looking pretty good for making the 60-70 birds we were aiming for and I was confident that the "Sunflower crop" could really add to the tally. This drive is a real haven for Partridge and they did themselves proud by providing a constant supply of high birds over the guns, in addition some of the pheasants flew like January Veterans and we couldn't have hoped for it go any better . Last drive before lunch would be "Jaffreys crop" which is a couple of fields over from the previous drive. Again a good amount of birds were flushed and some good shots were taken. after a quick sweep behind the guns everyone was looking forward to a hard earned lunch! After loading up the cart we had shot 44 head of game which was a good result. I wanted to give the guns a good end to the day so we decided to try "Matt Steeles" which we hoped would add a few to the bag but leave enough to really finish on a high. This was the first time through this drive and some of the birds didn't fly well but 5 pheasants were added to the cart. Last up was the "Ruinwood" which until the last couple of seasons had been our showpiece drive. We started beating slowly and making sure the dogs were kept in and within a few minutes the stops were letting me know via the radio that birds were building up at the flushing points. It was like the old days when there would be an almost constant barrage of fire for a mad 10 minute spell. After flushing a last hen pheasant i sounded the horn for the last time and headed back to the bothy to hang up the birds. We offered the beaters the chance to take their guns out and have a duck flight and 5 of us decided to give it a go. it was the best flight we had ever had and i managed 2 teal with a single shot which was a bonus. i was really on fire and managed to shoot 9 teal and a mallard out of a bag of 13 Teal and 3 Mallard. It was a great day all round and really showed what our little shoot could achieve when everyone pulls together. Total day bag. 42 Pheasants 26 Partridge 1 Pigeon Evening Bag 13 Teal 3 Mallard Thanks for reading Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted October 24, 2016 Report Share Posted October 24, 2016 Sounds like a fantastic day, well done to your them and yourself on offering a great days sport for the visiting team. Keep up the good work and enjoy your season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scutt Posted October 25, 2016 Report Share Posted October 25, 2016 good day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clarket Posted October 26, 2016 Report Share Posted October 26, 2016 Hello everyone. I finally have internet which means a late write up of our last two shoots! As I mentioned in my previous posts we had our first ever let day on the 1st of October. Despite having a few nerves I was so busy getting prepared for moving houses that I didn't have time to panic! it was an early start on the big day as I wanted to dog in a few areas, plenty of birds were around the drives so early signs looked promising. No matter how many birds are on the ground without the members coming out to help with beating, picking up etc we wouldn't have been able to provide any sport and it was brilliant to see so many members and non members turning up. I had planned 6 drives which I hoped would provide varying amount of sport and the idea would be to have a good first and last drive along with a cracker before lunch. First drive of the day would be "Containerwood". The beating team started of by blanking in the duck pond and Jaffreys wood which resulted in a healthy number of birds flying in to the main drive. The guns were positioned in the traditional way around the front of the wood as well as along the side of the Red-moss. It was the latter where most of the birds tended to fly and judging by the shot tally it had been a good start to the day. Next up was "Hattonburn" which is a relatively new drive on the shoot and one of the few which has the potential to produce high birds. As the name suggests the drive is a burn which runs along the bottom of a den. There is farm steading which has a fair bit of set-aside around them which seems to prove popular with the pheasants. As an added bonus there is whole field of Turnips which I hoped would provide a good Launchpad for the pheasants to fly high over the den and back home to the kilduthie pen. However three quarters of the way through the drive I was fearing a blank may be on the cards! Luckily my springer Isla started to flush bids out of the Turnips and as predicted they headed back to their pen providing good sport. After this birds started to spring out across the line and we could all enjoy watching them testing the team of guns. After the 13 birds on the first and the 7 on the 2nd drive we were looking pretty good for making the 60-70 birds we were aiming for and I was confident that the "Sunflower crop" could really add to the tally. This drive is a real haven for Partridge and they did themselves proud by providing a constant supply of high birds over the guns, in addition some of the pheasants flew like January Veterans and we couldn't have hoped for it go any better . Last drive before lunch would be "Jaffreys crop" which is a couple of fields over from the previous drive. Again a good amount of birds were flushed and some good shots were taken. after a quick sweep behind the guns everyone was looking forward to a hard earned lunch! After loading up the cart we had shot 44 head of game which was a good result. I wanted to give the guns a good end to the day so we decided to try "Matt Steeles" which we hoped would add a few to the bag but leave enough to really finish on a high. This was the first time through this drive and some of the birds didn't fly well but 5 pheasants were added to the cart. Last up was the "Ruinwood" which until the last couple of seasons had been our showpiece drive. We started beating slowly and making sure the dogs were kept in and within a few minutes the stops were letting me know via the radio that birds were building up at the flushing points. It was like the old days when there would be an almost constant barrage of fire for a mad 10 minute spell. After flushing a last hen pheasant i sounded the horn for the last time and headed back to the bothy to hang up the birds. We offered the beaters the chance to take their guns out and have a duck flight and 5 of us decided to give it a go. it was the best flight we had ever had and i managed 2 teal with a single shot which was a bonus. i was really on fire and managed to shoot 9 teal and a mallard out of a bag of 13 Teal and 3 Mallard. It was a great day all round and really showed what our little shoot could achieve when everyone pulls together. Total day bag. 42 Pheasants 26 Partridge 1 Pigeon Evening Bag Cheers Nick Yes a good day by any standards, just as well some of the guns didn't shoot too well otherwise we would have gone way over the bag 13 Teal 3 Mallard Thanks for reading Nick Hello everyone. I finally have internet which means a late write up of our last two shoots! As I mentioned in my previous posts we had our first ever let day on the 1st of October. Despite having a few nerves I was so busy getting prepared for moving houses that I didn't have time to panic! it was an early start on the big day as I wanted to dog in a few areas, plenty of birds were around the drives so early signs looked promising. No matter how many birds are on the ground without the members coming out to help with beating, picking up etc we wouldn't have been able to provide any sport and it was brilliant to see so many members and non members turning up. I had planned 6 drives which I hoped would provide varying amount of sport and the idea would be to have a good first and last drive along with a cracker before lunch. First drive of the day would be "Containerwood". The beating team started of by blanking in the duck pond and Jaffreys wood which resulted in a healthy number of birds flying in to the main drive. The guns were positioned in the traditional way around the front of the wood as well as along the side of the Red-moss. It was the latter where most of the birds tended to fly and judging by the shot tally it had been a good start to the day. Next up was "Hattonburn" which is a relatively new drive on the shoot and one of the few which has the potential to produce high birds. As the name suggests the drive is a burn which runs along the bottom of a den. There is farm steading which has a fair bit of set-aside around them which seems to prove popular with the pheasants. As an added bonus there is whole field of Turnips which I hoped would provide a good Launchpad for the pheasants to fly high over the den and back home to the kilduthie pen. However three quarters of the way through the drive I was fearing a blank may be on the cards! Luckily my springer Isla started to flush bids out of the Turnips and as predicted they headed back to their pen providing good sport. After this birds started to spring out across the line and we could all enjoy watching them testing the team of guns. After the 13 birds on the first and the 7 on the 2nd drive we were looking pretty good for making the 60-70 birds we were aiming for and I was confident that the "Sunflower crop" could really add to the tally. This drive is a real haven for Partridge and they did themselves proud by providing a constant supply of high birds over the guns, in addition some of the pheasants flew like January Veterans and we couldn't have hoped for it go any better . Last drive before lunch would be "Jaffreys crop" which is a couple of fields over from the previous drive. Again a good amount of birds were flushed and some good shots were taken. after a quick sweep behind the guns everyone was looking forward to a hard earned lunch! After loading up the cart we had shot 44 head of game which was a good result. I wanted to give the guns a good end to the day so we decided to try "Matt Steeles" which we hoped would add a few to the bag but leave enough to really finish on a high. This was the first time through this drive and some of the birds didn't fly well but 5 pheasants were added to the cart. Last up was the "Ruinwood" which until the last couple of seasons had been our showpiece drive. We started beating slowly and making sure the dogs were kept in and within a few minutes the stops were letting me know via the radio that birds were building up at the flushing points. It was like the old days when there would be an almost constant barrage of fire for a mad 10 minute spell. After flushing a last hen pheasant i sounded the horn for the last time and headed back to the bothy to hang up the birds. We offered the beaters the chance to take their guns out and have a duck flight and 5 of us decided to give it a go. it was the best flight we had ever had and i managed 2 teal with a single shot which was a bonus. i was really on fire and managed to shoot 9 teal and a mallard out of a bag of 13 Teal and 3 Mallard. It was a great day all round and really showed what our little shoot could achieve when everyone pulls together. Total day bag. 42 Pheasants 26 Partridge 1 Pigeon Evening Bag Cheers Nick Yes a good day by any standards, just as well some of the guns didn't shoot too well otherwise we would have gone way over the bag Tom 13 Teal 3 Mallard Thanks for reading Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted October 26, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2016 (edited) Few pictures from the shoot firstly the aptly named Sunflower crop View of the Ruinwood from peg number 2 Containerwood from peg number 6 [/uR some of us after the let day ] And finally a young vixen we shot a few weeks back at the tall trees. was using my Tikka 243 Edited October 26, 2016 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AberFowl Posted October 26, 2016 Report Share Posted October 26, 2016 Sounds like a great little shoot, best of luck with the rest of the season. If only I had had the spare funds to join when had the chance. Live just over the hill in the 'darkside' (donside) and work for a building contractor just down the road from banchory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.