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First season over


Smiler23
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Close season blues.

 

This is the time of year for WFWD , wildfowlers withdrawal depression.

 

Wildfowlers withdrawal symptoms ; bored , always glancing at the sky and wind , watching wildfowl on the marsh , cleaning the gun for the first time since September , counting down how many days to the start of the season , clearing wildfowling gear out of the car , telling the dog how many full moons until September 1st, bringing the game diary up to date , but this can cause worse problems when finished as you just want to pick up the gun again. For married wildfowlers there may be acute problems as spouse will have all those odd jobs that have piled up over the past 6 months for you to do. O I nearly forgot , writing rubbish in wildfowling chat rooms.

 

There is not much you can do to relive the symptoms , a few days pigeon shooting does help , but the relief is short lived , club AGMs and meeting with other wildfowlers also gives a short respite though the more drink consumed the better the results.

 

Then the final stage is anticipation , country shows and buying all that gear that you really do not need like the latest in decoys that you can add to your collection of 99 others , repainting old decoys and sorting out gear and at last as the summer draws to a close visits to the marsh again and planning your tactics for the opening day.

 

And as your first duck of the new season hits the water you will be cured for the next 6 months, but beware like malaria the disease is not gone away , just lying dormant but will return next February 21st.

Edited by anser2
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I do agree with most of anser2 reply , as for being bored no I am sorry I very rarely ( if ever ) get bored , sometimes the weather might upset your plans for whatever you intended to do on that particular day but then you can catch up with the chores that had built up over the winter months.

 

Time is also a big healer , I looked forward to Sept 1st the same as most people , where two or three weeks leading up to the big day I would be down the marsh watching and waiting till it got dark to see what was about and where they were going and for a number of years it paid off as there wasn't many first days where I didn't have a few duck and the odd goose hanging up in my shed.

 

Then three years ago I passed my 50th first day out and if I am honest the two or three years leading up to it was just going through the motions as I didn't really had any intention to shoot what few duck there were on the marshes I go on , so the last two years I have given September a miss as far as taken my gun with me . I still enjoy the sights and sounds of the early season , but the shooting wildfowl bit is gone now , so the craving will ease and get slightly better but it will take time.........a lot of time.

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However despite the above post there were times when i almost enjoyed the closed season. I ran a pub on the banks of a Broadland river. Great for the odd shot in winter and for a month or so at the end of the season things were a bit difficult , but once easter arrived so did the holidaymakers and their boats. And with the holiday makers came girls . For the warmer months the sight of bikni clad girls sun bathing on the boats coupled with the nightly dances keep us teenagers happy and then as if by magic they would dissapear with the end of the summer holidays and we could apply our minds to the more serious things of life , like trying to outguess the local greylags.

 

 

O it was a hard life in those days !

Edited by anser2
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  • 1 month later...

Well, I've not had this feeling you are all talking of yet, however I can imagine how it feels - I am eagerly awaiting September this year, my first full season of wildfowling as I have joined my local club for this year (after being shown the ropes by Marshman on here which really inspired me).

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Well, I've not had this feeling you are all talking of yet, however I can imagine how it feels - I am eagerly awaiting September this year, my first full season of wildfowling as I have joined my local club for this year (after being shown the ropes by Marshman on here which really inspired me).

 

I am sure you will be hooked just as I was when I started two seasons ago, totally different for me than my pigeon shooting, with the pigeon shooting I am always looking for a good bag and will rarely set up if a good few are not on the cards ,

 

With the wildfowling just being out there is enough and the bag is secondary

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I am sure you will be hooked just as I was when I started two seasons ago, totally different for me than my pigeon shooting, with the pigeon shooting I am always looking for a good bag and will rarely set up if a good few are not on the cards ,

 

With the wildfowling just being out there is enough and the bag is secondary

With the wildfowling just being out there is enough and the bag is secondary

Well said fenboy

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Thanks chaps, I am really excited and can't wait.

 

 

I am sure you will be hooked just as I was when I started two seasons ago, totally different for me than my pigeon shooting, with the pigeon shooting I am always looking for a good bag and will rarely set up if a good few are not on the cards ,

 

With the wildfowling just being out there is enough and the bag is secondary

 

 

With the wildfowling just being out there is enough and the bag is secondary

Well said fenboy

 

 

I will agree with that I could sit out there for hours without shooting anything,and quite often do !

Roll on September :-)

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Without a end you would not need a start would you !

 

While of course we need a close season I am sure people are quite entitled to miss their shooting during it.

 

Kent I am sure you have been fowling long enough to know its far from just killing if that was the case there would be nobody doing it.

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without an end there can be no start, no preparation, no anticipation, no time for habitat work. Without all that it mainly just killing!

So I am not allowed to enjoy crop protection as in pigeon shooting?

Of course there should be a close season but to say it is time for us to get rested etc is just plain daft.

Habitat work goes on all year.

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Pigeon shooting is not wildfowling and what Kent is talking about.

 

People appreciate the wildfowling season on and off in different ways.

 

Quite correct some just cannot except that fact, it is what it is and out of all the clubs I have been and am in today I don't see work part stuff being booked in the season . My family have put up with a lot trips all over the world for fishing and shooting sometimes you need to sit on the sofa take the kids out to do kid things stop in bed with the wife on a weekend rather than get up and out three hours before first light. I asked my youngest what her favourite day would be like and she said "fishing, birdwatching then watching a film at home with the familly a tub of Ben & Jerrys" In the season that just wont happen

 

Found myself stopping or at least wishing to go less once the birds are locked in pairs Feb time, don't know why, it makes little difference to conservation if they have no nest yet but I have normally bagged my fair share by then

 

Why should I care about pigeon shooting? I have two big fat ones nesting here at present but no crops for 30 miles other than grass , heather and Pine. Cant remember the last date I shot Woodies

 

Dogs never get closed season though I was killing some Magpies the other day in the grounds and the dog was thrilled when he saw the gun so I let him out to flush all the cover with me ( he didn't know the gun was empty :whistling: ) Perhaps some people need to be " a bit less dog" as the advert says :lol:

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