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The final days


anser2
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I had not intended to shoot this morning, but decoy the main creek on my marsh at dawn tomorrow, but a stiff south west wind and the fact that heavy rain is forecast in the morning made me decide to flight it this morning instead. It’s amazing how quickly daylight is increasing at this time of year. I was up just after 5 and out the door by 5.45 and yet there was still enough light to shoot by – just. All the way down to the marsh the light was growing to the east and by the time I was swinging the decoy sack over my shoulder it was too bright to see any stars. I was not too worried as there should have been a marsh tide this morning and I would not be able to get to the creek just yet. However as I topped the sea wall it was clear the strong south west wind had cut the tide, it was big enough to flood the low places with a foot or two of water but with care I would be able to get to my favoured hiding place with out too much trouble.

 

With the wind at my back I soon got the decoys out with no problems and then set about setting up the hide. That did give me a few problems as the wind caught it like a big flapping flag, but with the aid of a few tent pegs that was soon sorted out. By now it was quite light, but there was no sign of any morning flight starting. Even the gulls were late. An hour later the first brent started to move , but as yet I still had to see a duck apart from a pair of shielduck that pitched into the decoys.

 

There a lot of brent on the marsh this year and they started to pour in from the sea by the hundred. Most landed across the creek but a few struggled against the wind and passed overhead heading for the winter wheat fields. It was well after sunrise before any duck appeared. I have not taken a camera shooting with me for years. Salt water and mud quickly ruin them , but this morning was one I wished I had brought one. The light was so perfect and the air so clear every feather on the brents and shielduck stood out sharply. Not just the fowl , also by now there was a constant stream of waders coming up the creek, curlew , oystercatchers , grey plover plus a nice little flock of golden plover and redshanks everywhere. This was a morning that was a joy to be there. I guess that’s what really makes wildfowling for me the sights and sounds of the marsh and bagging a few duck is just the icing on the cake and amazingly I had it all to myself this morning , indeed I had had the marsh to myself all month with the exception of a day I took a guest last week.

 

 

7 teal came up the creek skimming the waves. Just when I thought they were going to give me a shot they landed in the lea of the bank 70 yards away across a side creek. I let them be for now hoping they would swim down the creek with the current until within range. A single and then a pair joined them and I realised I was going to have to flush them or all the duck would go to them instead of my decoys.

 

I fired a shot in the air and if course they flushed away from me, but I was unprepared for the flock of teal and wigeon that got out of a large creek 300 yards behind me. There must have been at least a hundred. One pair saw the decoys and turned towards them. On they came seemingly to take an age as they fought the wind up to me. The drake was easy, but I missed the duck as she flared away. Meg had a long cold swim, but she brought me back the most immaculate cock wigeon I have shot this season, feather perfect and not a spot of mud on it.

 

From then on for the next hour and a half there were duck in the air most of the time, almost all teal. I shot like a fool missing three good chances on the trot. Then a dozen came up the marsh and I cut out a hen bird, though to be honest it was not the one I fired at. Meg had hardly brought it to hand when a little drake appeared hovering over the decoys, but somehow I managed to miss it with all three shots. More misses until I finally connected with a hen well out over the creek. And so the flight continued with pack after pack of teal coming into the decoys. A few stayed behind, but most I fear did not. The tide was well down now but still the teal came , one pair of wigeon seemed hooked on the decoys and while they slowly glided in against the wind a big bunch of teal flew low right overhead. I left them wanting the bigger duck , but the wigeon decided something was not quite right with the decoys or hide and rose up sharply on the wind and were away.

The teal really wanted the shelter of the big creek and kept coming , but now the tide had ebbed away and the decoys were high and dry. All the duck were landing out on the water 60 yards off, all except for one that buzzed the grounded decoys 40 yards out and a single shot sent a cock teal spinning down onto the mud. I had just decided that it was time to pack in when a huge bunch of brent came over the creek. Its always worth checking the brent skeins as sometimes there will be an odd bunch of wigeon with them. Not this time but, there were a pair of greylag !! The swung past me at long range , had I been loaded with BB I certainly would have fired , but they were just a fraction too far for the Mammoth no 3s I was using.

 

 

Ten o’clock and the first walkers were appearing on the sea wall behind me and it was time to pack up. Two cock and four hen teal in the bag plus the drake wigeon , as good a flight as I could wish for , though I fired far too many shots for them. Last season I never fired a shot on the marsh in February but this season it has been amazing the amount of teal on the marsh over the past 10 days and the extra twenty days have given me some of the best wildfowling of the season.

Edited by anser2
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Another first class post anser2 , you will have to relate one or two fowling trips from past seasons , good or bad , we don't mind as its going to be pretty quite on the wildfowling site now your season is all but over.......

 

I would like to say a big thanks to you for sharing your time out in pursuit of wildfowl with your fellow members ........there all been a joy to read .

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Thanks for the comments all. As for the book its planed and half written , but it will be some time before its finnished. Digging out old photos from past years , lots more writing to do , the stories have to be knitted togeather and still sorting out how to get it published. Probably best to finish it when I retire in 3 years time when I have the time to polish it a bit.

 

What I put on here are the write ups from my game diary.

 

 

I had intended for today to be the end of my season as the weather men said heavy rain in the morning. But they seem to have changed their minds and Norfolk should be dry now so another flight is on the cards , but want to try another part of the marsh as the teal have had enough caning for now.

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Having just got back from a quick holiday in Devon, i've chucked all the wildfowling gear back into the landy, reminded the dog it was the last day tomorrow and prepped the gun ready for an early start in the morning!

 

Heading to abit of marsh that i've not been on in months as i've been busy shooting elsewhere!

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well that's it. Final flight was down the hare & hounds ( on the Wash)

while walking out along the sea wall saw a couple of mallard drop down into the river, looking through the binoculars could see another couple of fowlers heading out one on kirton, and the other possibly on Frampton. Tide was a 8+m at @7pm which meant it would just about top the river about 6pm late dusk.

 

After a half hour walk reached my chosen point, hoping for a mallard at best, had some nice splashes in front of me, but did not take decoys as I thought I would have to be on the move. Anyway I did not fire a shot as I watched the season slip away, but what a pleasure to sit and watch the sun go down with the dogs by my side. Even though I blanked I did see widgeon, a pintail, and a good show of mallard but none presented a shot. watched a couple of buzzards and a barn owl hunting.

 

Once loaded up at the car park it was time for the drive home, 9 minutes later I was in the chair blowing the froth of one.

 

Looking forward to the 1st.

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I am also looking forward to the 1st , I am also looking forward to not getting up at silly o'clock for the next 7 months or so :lol:

I have some new challenges for next season hopefully as a member of two new clubs and looking forward to continuing my wildfowling education while hopefully putting the odd one in the bag now and again.

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I am also looking forward to the 1st , I am also looking forward to not getting up at silly o'clock for the next 7 months or so :lol:

I have some new challenges for next season hopefully as a member of two new clubs and looking forward to continuing my wildfowling education while hopefully putting the odd one in the bag now and again.

so season over how do you rate that ridgeline smock for the foreshore? tried a couple of options on at the shooting show.
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so season over how do you rate that ridgeline smock for the foreshore? tried a couple of options on at the shooting show.

 

Its kept me 100% dry no problem , a couple of niggles , its not as breathable as I would like and does get damp on the inside on a long walk but then I have yet to own a breathable jacket that does not , perhaps top end stuff is but I am not spending out on that for the marsh .

 

Though it does not let water through it does penetrate the outer layer it then seems to run down and accumulate around the bottom and can seep inside the pockets.

Zips etc have lasted fine.

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Feb 20th

After a hectic week I decided to give the morning flight a miss and only do the evening flight. There are two days of the season I hardly ever miss the first and the last days. I am always amazed I have for the last 20 seasons always had the closing flight to my self unless I take a guest and this day was no exception. On the N Norfolk coast there seems to be little tradition of seeing the season in and out for some reason, a very different story in the Broads and when I used to shoot on the Wash.

 

The weather men did not give much encouragement for wildfowling giving a grey afternoon with little wind. I got down on the marsh early as I was undecided where to go. I had forgotten it was half term and from the number of day trippers about there was little point in trying for the mallard flight over the dunes. A flight on the main creek would almost certainly offer a few chances at teal, but I have already flighted there once this week and it’s rare I revisit a flighting spot more than once a week so I plumped for some mud pans that would flood at high tide that sometimes attracted a few mallard at dusk. The tide was going to be a big one tonight so a little care would be needed picking my flighting spot. I followed a sizable creek that twisted between the mud pans walking along a very narrow ridge that would be the last land to go under water at the top of the tide. I had not settled long when a huge crowd of brent lifted from a larger creek across the salt marsh, a sure sign that the tide had reached them and before long it came roaring up my creek too. More brent came in long croaking lines from other parts of the saltings passing on out to the sea for the night. Of the duck I saw few, a handful of mallard far out towards the tides edge and one bunch of seven wigeon.

 

I heard the dog growl and looking behind me I saw some tripper wander out onto the marsh wandering towards my creek. He was stopped short by another creek and stood for an age looking my way, perhaps wondering what I was doing there. A single teal dropped into the creek almost at my feet, typical this guy was just too close for me to fire a shot. The teal saw me and was gone in a flash, low and fast over the sea asters.

 

The tide was pushing up fast when the guy behind me realised his peril and the last I saw of him he was running back off the marsh for all he was worth. I too was going to have to think about moving soon too as the tide was rapidly filling my creek and the mud pans around me were rapidly filing too. Wings over head, too late to shoot a pair of mallard zoomed over me from behind hardly 10 feet up and raced out across the marsh. If only I had seen them coming they would have been a gift. It was time to go and I splashed a few hundred yards to the edge of the sueada bushes at the top of the marsh. Hardly had I settled than a pair of duck landed right where I had been sitting for the past hour. It looked as though it was going to be one of those nights and I resigned myself that my last flight of the season was likely to be a blank.

 

By now it was getting quite dark, but to the west several patches of yellow from the sunset were trying to pierce through the thin cloud giving a good background to shoot against. Meg’s head swung around and a pair of teal flicked overhead. Just time for a quick snap shot before the shadows vanished into the darkness and I was sure I heard a slight splash. Meg was off in an instant and after a minuet or two I could hear her snuffling as feathers tickled her nose and then saw a pale belly firmly clutched in her mouth as she delivered a hen teal into my hand.

 

We waited a little longer as the water started to creep up my boots, and

Meg could obviously see duck passing close by, but now it was just too dark to pick them up, it was time to go.

 

 

Walking along the back of the marsh to my car I reflected on the past season. That one teal had turned the flight into a success. I had started the season with a teal on the seasons opening day in the Broads and ended it on the foreshore with a teal too. Indeed teal have been the main feature in the bag all season and almost half the duck I have shot this season have been teal which is unusual for me. I had done well too for mallard, but the wigeon had never showed in any numbers on my marshes and I have

shot very few this year. Not a vintage year but I am more than happy with the 2014-15 seasons, roll on the next.

Edited by anser2
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