motty Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 For those of you who think pinnies are stupid,try shooting the ******* late season on the Ouse washes. Very cautious Well, you've certainly shot a lot more of them than I have. Got my first drake on the washes last season. A fantastic guide took me out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted May 3, 2015 Report Share Posted May 3, 2015 I can't wait to see Fenboy laid on his back in the mud on the edge of the tide ! If he lays down in the mud, he won't be getting up again. .that will change this season , i can now take You to them , well if they come ... I imagine I might even nail a few in some nice, new surroundings. I'm really looking forward to it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 I don't actually believe they are any rarer, they have spread out though. We have a fair few inland at the far end of the Trough of Bowland , they like the upper Hodder and stocks reservoir can often have great big rafts of them. Word is cleaning up of some of our estuaries means less available feeding for their tastes (the small snails at the surface they like are less numerous etc) also more grass on marshes and less of the natural marsh seeding plants. Shooting pintail is mainly about Tide shooting when the seed is there as the marsh floods you need to be in among it and fewer and fewer real wildfowlers exist who are able and willing to do this. The Dee holds good numbers but only at the right time, like said they will move vast distances! The very top end of Morecambe bay on Grange and Westmoorland wildfowlers club grounds can also hold good numbers but like wise the flood pains of the upper Ribble is maybe were I have seen the largest gathering at one time and that's near 30 miles from the coast! Shooting as strange as it sounds has no effect on their population its just habitat changes, you wont see many around the middle of Morecambe bay area for instance but get down to the Mersey and Dee and Up to the top edge of the bay an they can be as I say numerous. Why they should gather in such amounts on the upper Ribble , hodder and Stocks I cant honestly say perhaps its the water snail thing again because they certainly taste a good bit worse Possible improvements? maybe take cattle and sheep off the saltmarsh re-seeding marsh plant like Redleg having more untreated sewage into our estuaries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 .that will change this season , i can now take You to them , well if they come ... Thanks mate , hopefully they will show up in decent enough numbers to get a chance. If he lays down in the mud, he won't be getting up again. Cheeky **** ! I can't wait to see Fenboy laid on his back in the mud on the edge of the tide ! Better to lay on the mud than be stuck in it hey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
widgeon man Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 Fenboy have shot pinny on your local marsh, as anser said, on an afternoon tide, but I wasn't laying in mud thankfully Shot a fair few but all hens! Had a lot of pinny inland cock and hen, and regularly shoot a few, though last 3 years numbers have been much lower, 4 years ago was my best pinny year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted May 5, 2015 Report Share Posted May 5, 2015 Fenboy have shot pinny on your local marsh, as anser said, on an afternoon tide, but I wasn't laying in mud thankfully Shot a fair few but all hens! Had a lot of pinny inland cock and hen, and regularly shoot a few, though last 3 years numbers have been much lower, 4 years ago was my best pinny year Yes I have seen a few about both down the foreshore and inland but just not had the chance of a shot yet , that will change sooner or later I am sure ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muncher Posted May 6, 2015 Report Share Posted May 6, 2015 (edited) Yes I have seen a few about both down the foreshore and inland but just not had the chance of a shot yet , that will change sooner or later I am sure !If you want to shoot pintail on the foreshore its tide flights or shoot the Ouse washes on a change in weather patterns preferably very stormy it seems to send them inland . Edited May 6, 2015 by muncher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted May 6, 2015 Report Share Posted May 6, 2015 If you want to shoot pintail on the foreshore its tide flights or shoot the Ouse washes on a change in weather patterns preferably very stormy it seems to send them inland . Yes I intend to do more tide flights this coming season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muncher Posted May 6, 2015 Report Share Posted May 6, 2015 FB I have a film where I shoot ten drake pintail on the last day of the season I will show you some time ,I tried to upload it but the computer said NO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted May 6, 2015 Report Share Posted May 6, 2015 FB I have a film where I shoot ten drake pintail on the last day of the season I will show you some time ,I tried to upload it but the computer said NO I would like to see that ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muncher Posted May 6, 2015 Report Share Posted May 6, 2015 I would like to see that !The last one has a ring on its leg !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 The last one has a ring on its leg !!!! Stop showing off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m greeny Posted May 8, 2015 Report Share Posted May 8, 2015 The last one has a ring on its leg !!!! I was also lucky enough to shoot a drake pintail with a ring on in a bag of 3 drakes and a hen pintail in flat calm conditions in the last week of the season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted May 9, 2015 Report Share Posted May 9, 2015 (edited) I have shot very few BTO ringed wildfowl ( despite putting rings on over 15,000 wild duck and geese of almost all the species you find in the UK). I have however shot quite a few mallard that had BASC rings on them and once a pintail. On one stormy tide flight on the Wash I shot five drake pintail and a female. One of the drakes was carrying a ring and had been reared by one of the Wash Wildfowling clubs ( Holbeach or Spalding I think , but it was 35 years ago so cant be sure). I may have shot 5 pintails that morning I only brought 4 home plus an assortment of mallard and teal. It had been a very big tide pushed higher by a north gale and i had to stand it out ( though I was safe) in a couple of feet of water. My dog on retrieving a drake brought it back to me and with one eye on a aproaching duck I fumbled taking it off her and it dived never to be seen again. I had a similar thing happen with couple of times with BTO ringed teal. One I had winged it early on in the flight and as I had a wildfowl collection kept alive to take home. Several hours later I stopped at the top of the sea wall and opened the game bag to get the flask out and the teal flew out of the bag and dissapeared out of sight across the sea. On another occasion I had a cracking flight at teal on the Wash over a pool ( the brent flash for those of you who know the marsh) with a dozen in the bag before two mates both with dogs came over to see what the hell I had been shooting at. Again I had kept a drake for my wildfowl collection and in the darkness it managed to get out of the game bag and flop into the water at our feet. Amazingly with three labs around us none of them could find any trace of the bird even though the pool it dived in was only a coupleof inches deep. In contrast you sometimes get a lucky retrieve. I once on the way to flight flushed and dropped a teal into a small ditch with almost bare banks ,and the dogs could not find it. We spent 20 minuets looking for it but drew a blank. My lab was deternined to get it , but as it was getting well into flight time and we were still some way from a patch of flood water we could see duck flighting into we tried calling the dogs off intending to return later for a secone look. But my lab refused to give up so after seeing several bunches of mallard come into the pool 50 yards away i left her to it. 10 minuets she came trotting out of the darkness with the teal in her mouth. Her snout was covered in mud and she kept snorting earth out of her nose. I reconed she had dug that teal out of a rat hole. Edited May 9, 2015 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted May 9, 2015 Report Share Posted May 9, 2015 I am glad you have you memoirs to help us through the close season , I am yet to have anything like that happen with a duck but did witness a mate put a seemingly very dead cock pheasant into his game bag only for it it fly off when he opened his game bag back at the farmyard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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