Morning Or Evening Flights ??

[marsh man]

Evening all........Most of the flights ( not all ) posted on here are mornings , so what do you prefer and why ?

 

I used to love the early mornings , in fact I loved any time I went , mornings , evenings or under the moon plus taking my boat out during the day at times to catch the tides.

 

Now as my body is beginning to feel the effect of being out in all the weather that come with the sport and a lifetime of manual labour I am not always at my best first thing in the mornings and to be crouched down the side of a dyke is no longer the appeal that it once was.

 

So I now prefer the evening flight purely because I know how long I will down there and my body is loosened up by then to make the walk to whatever marsh I intend going on . if we haven't got a shoot on I am somewhere most nights of the week so I am now more than happy to give the mornings a miss .

[fenboy]

I like evening flights early season or when decoying splashes on the marsh .

My first 5 pinks this season were also all shot on evening flights though the last 5 have all been shot on morning flights .

 

I had a pw guest out with me yesterday and we had a very good morning flight but put nothing more in the bag on the evening.

 

I guess if I had to choose one or the other then it would be morning flight .

[hifly]

I love morning flight just being on the marsh as it wakes up is magical, only thing that tops it is a flight under the moon

[lakeside1000]

Hi J. Ive been out several time over the last few weeks both morning and evening, best results up to today has been evenings but today after watching the pinks for a few days I decided to try a decoy session , so I got down to the marsh (21) at about 11.30, there were already 500 plus feeding on the young barley, I headed up towards the windmill just two fields, the wind was north east and about 15 mph, I put 8 sillosocks and a hypa-flap out about 50 yards upwind then dropped into the dyke under the approach line, within 5 minutes they were all over the marsh,I gave them a squeak on the caller and in they came, missed a couple, still trying to get the speed and lead right, then took 2 in a row, I had just picked up the 2nd when I spotted about 20 coming in fast, another squeak on the caller and they homed in on the decoys , I made a hasty retreat to the dyke, sliding in feet first I turned just in time to see them pass overhead , took number 3 with a perfect head shot. I had only been there 1 hour and had 3 in the bag, It went quiet for a while then I had a single overhead, hit it hard, the head went back and it dropped into the next field, I had a walk to get around the dyke and as I got within 100 yards it jumped up, shook itself and flew off, I watched it for a while and it seemed non the worse for the experience , so back into the ditch, just poured a coffee and looked at my watch, 2.00 I heard a squeak right behind me, I grabbed the gun, trying not to spill the coffee and turned to see a pink coming straight at me about 20 feet up, My favourite shot head on, I had the bead on him in a second and squeezed off the last of the Remington 42 magnums, it was dead before it hit the ground, so my limit bag, 4 birds in 2-1/2 hours, I didn't realise how much they weigh, dragging 4 and my gear back to the van, I didn't want to pack up so had a walk along the river looking for ducks but nothing, just managed to dodge all the showers, what a day, my first max bag, the decoys work a treat.

[marsh man]

Your doing a grand job ( A ) Lakeside1000 on your first season , fenboy will have a serious contender for the no 1 apprentice spot, now your got your eye in and your socks out .

[Konnie]

Morning flights I like watching the marsh come to life, and can be as long as you want.

 

Evening flights if you get it right can be fast and furious, and don't last as long.

 

Both for me depends on tide though love shooting a good tide, it's all good though.

[m greeny]

Morning for me

[Smokersmith]

In a choice between morning and evening, then am every time .... just love to be there when everything is waking up. The long walk off at the end of a blank evening flight gives me no pleasure.

 

My favourite by far is a daytime tide flight though .... preferably in a snowstorm !

[silver pigeon 3]

Prefer morning flights as just being there as the marsh and its inhabitants wake up is very special. However evening flights have always proven to be more successful.

[Smiler23]

Morning .. Every time,..... can spend more time out there,

[Penelope]

Morning flight for me, especially if extended by a tide flight, but any flight is better than no flight.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Penelope

[6.5x55SE]

For me most exciting is Moon flighting

As for Morning or Evening flight the weather and tide dictates which I do but I enjoy them both.

Morning fight for Geese tend to be longer than evening but in the right weather I've enjoyed long flight's when they have came out in small bunches early right up till and after pitch black.

Evening flight in general tend to be short hectic and quickly over may you be after Duck or Geese.

But as I first stated give me the right tide weather Rising Moon Geese getting restless Duck already flighting the only sound of the Foreshore "Creme de la creme" Can't wait till next week

[widgeon man]

Enjoy them all, but from a practical point of view, mornings sometimes give more time/opportunity, and light to mark down or pick birds which drop at distance, pick cases etc etc...... And it always great seeing the shore 'wake up'

[marsh man]

Thanks for your replies ...........Mornings seem to be most peoples choice and I can fully understand that when your shooting the saltings and fore shore , nothing can get close to seeing every where come to life , even more so when the weather is what we used to wait for with the first fall of snow and the inland waterways iced up resulting in huge amounts of wildfowl coming on our estuary.

 

Sadly, sights and sounds like that are only now in the memory bank and not on the mud banks as our estuary is all but finished as far as wildfowling goes , but its not all doom and gloom , with the place now mostly left alone there are as many ( if not more ) wildfowl on there than there ever was which can make the surrounding marshes ideal for ALL forms of wildfowling and not just goose shooting.

 

I now limit myself to around 10 geese a season and in the past that would have been wishful thinking , whereas now giving the time I have got and the amount of geese in the area it is not as hard as it once was and I have to admit shooting geese don't no longer give me the buzz like it once did.

 

I have now got over half of what I want as far as geese are concerned, so most of my time is spent flighting duck and I have found the evenings are far better than the mornings on my marshes for that type of wildfowling .

[SuperGoose75]

I suppose it Can be Different depending on Where you are located. I love them both but I will buck the trend and opt for evening Flight.

Being where I am located and our main Quarry goose is Greylag the morning flights tend to be very late. Sometimes it is after 10 o Clock before the geese move early season and that is a long wait from from First light and the duck flight. We have such a short goose season it takes some of the Joy from later season flights.

 

But give me an October evening..First when the light is beginning to fade against an Autumn Sunset,the Whoopers in their Thousands will start to flight back from the fields and come in over the marsh low overhead. Often a few Duck will be on the move at this stage and offer a few shots.When the Swan flight Starts to thin out' you will hear the distant noise of Geese on the move and you Scan the sky before you see a distant line on the horizon as Small skeins start to appear and then the noise goes up in Volume as the big lots Start coming mixed with a few skeins of Canadas ,Again some duck will be on the move. After the geese are all on the roost they make a right din before settling down and it then goes quite for about 10 minutes,then the Duck Flight will start proper and maybe last 15 to 20 mins and When all that can be heard are Snipe dropping in unseen its time to go.

 

Back home in the dark and hopefully with a few birds to hang,Dry off the dog and then into the Comfort of a warm home and something hot to eat,Then to sit in front of the fire with a hot Cuppa and reflect on what took place at Flight time in the secret world of the fowler.

 

So although both are magic in there own sense and I recently had a Morning Flight that will Stay with me forever although I never raised the Gun,I will opt for Evening Flight.

Edited November 17, 2015 by SuperGoose75

[GREG FAGAN]

GREAT RIGHT UP PAL