Late Boxingday Flight

[anser2]

Been having PC trouble and had to buy a new one over Christmas and its taken me some time to get my internet set up again.

 

A couple of friends and I had intended to flight the pink feet on our shoot in the Broads, but a mixture of illness and wet weather meant a chance of plans. The geese had been late using our grazing marshes this season with the first 100 only turning up two weeks ago. Only a few odd small parties had been seen since until Christmas eve when I found several thousand on the next door marsh with a few leaking over onto our ground.

A further check the next day found only a few hundred , but enough for a flight boxing morning. Then a combination of illness and wet weather meant we were going to have to postpone our dawn flight until bank holiday Monday. My mate Tom recovered enough for us to have an duck flight Boxing day evening. Three of us met at sunset and we agreed to quietly walk the geese off and not shoot if any sizable skeins were in the air , but pairs and odd parties were fair game. Only a couple of wigeon came into the flash Tom shared with me and I never had a shot , though Tom managed to get a hen wigeon. Just as we were thinking of packing up a little bunch of pinks came into the flash. Tom missed , but I dropped two as they swung past me. One was obviously a dead bird dropped over the water , but the other slanted down well to the right of the flash. Tom’s lab was off in a flash for the dead bird so I sent Meg for the runner. The light was by now so bad that we had little idea where they were working. Both dogs were gone for some time, but at last Tom’s dog returned to him with what I thought at the time was the dead bird. Meg came back empty handed so we cast both dogs out again, but all to no avail. Perhaps the wounded bird had recovered and taken off again.

It was not until We were hanging the birds up in the game shed that I realized Tom had broken the goose’s neck. The goose his dog had retrieved had been the winged bird and probably the dead goose was still lying out on the marsh. I returned with Harry the next morning, but despite a long search we found nothing. I suspect a fox had had found its Christmas bonus.

 

Monday morning

Tom was feeling a lot better so **** and Harry joined us for a morning flight at the geese. The weather was very different to Boxing Day, clear starlight with a hint of a south breeze and warm. Each of us took a different marsh ( marsh = small meadow on the Broads ) and set up out own stands of decoys. I had left mine back in N Norfolk so scrounged just 8 from Tom. It only took a minuet to set them us before finding a snug little hollow in the side of the main creek and settled Meg down next to me.

 

The light came quite fast in the clear air and with it the first bird, a kestrel followed the dyke followed shortly after by a big barn owl that almost flew into the hide with us. Meg looked at me in amazement as it swerved off and faded into the dark skyline. A single goose appeared far out across the marsh heading straight for me just 15 yards up. It was an easy unmissable chance and for once the gun was held straight. I have never seen a deader goose fall out of the sky as that bird before it thumped into the turf. I left it there a while before realizing it was belly up so sent Meg for it after checking there were no other geese in the air. **** had a shot and a few seconds later a pair of mallard sped over heading for the estuary. This is a strange marsh , some nights hundreds of duck come into the flashes and yet its rare to even see a duck at dawn. They all leave under the stars , well before dawn. Hardly had Meg started back with the goose than a second single goose appeared , but this one headed for Harry and he did not let the side down. Three more quickly followed and he took a right and left and the survivor circled back only to fall to his gun.

More geese arrived , a good bunch of 50 or more and headed for **** who trimmed out a right and left. This was good shooting – 6 geese for 6 shots so far. Then it was my turn again. A big skein headed for my decoys several hundred strong. Three hundred yards off the whole bunch set their wings and curled towards my decoys. Just as they slipped into range they must have seen something they did not like as they flared off. My shot went wide, but Tom dropped a nice high bird out of the skein as they passed him. At least we all had bagged a bird.

Then the flight really got going with perhaps 30 skeins coming in over the next hour. Tom and Harry got a couple more each, before stopping shooting and watching the birds coming in, them it was my turn again. A massive skein got hooked on my decoys and slide slipped to lose height coming right for me. Crouching down I failed to notice 20 low geese coming in from behind . Like a fool I took my eyes off the main bunch for a few second and next thing they were landing all around me. It was pinks to the left of me, pinks to the right of me and hundreds in front in the decoys. For several minuets they all stood there standing with their necks held high on the look out for danger. With the nearest only 20 yards off I could have easily lined up half a dozen birds on the ground, the old time fowlers such as BB and Mac did so many times , but I did not want to kill a sack full of pinks so I bobbed up and shot at a trio off to the side. One fell Back onto the grass while I somehow managed to miss with the second shot. The next skein came over Tom who scored and at his shot they turned over me just in range. I picked one bird that staggered to my first shot and then slanted down to the second shot landing a hundred yards off. How it got so far I will never know. Both wings were broken at the joint and it had three hevi shot pellets in the breast yet was a runner when picked up. And still the pinks came at regular intervals. By now we had enough, Harry with 5, Tom and I with 3 each and **** with 2. Though one of Tom’s geese gave us a long search before Meg nailed it in a patch of rushes. The geese were still arriving as we were loading up the cars back by the track. It had been a brilliant flight , a lovely morning, good shooting , not a bird lost and the late arrivals happily feeding where an hour earlier we had set out decoys.

Edited January 8, 2016 by anser2

[fenboy]

Sounds like some fabulous flights shared with friends , it cannot get much better than that.

[E.w.]

Enjoyed every word of that write up you waste your talent good sir anyway very well done thank you and let's have some more.

Edited January 9, 2016 by E.w.

[6.5x55SE]

Happy New Year to Robert well done on your Goose flight

[marsh man]

Glad your still keeping well Robert , as we haven't heard from you for a while and what a very good post to start the new year off , duck seem harder to come across at the moment than geese with just about every marsh holding a fair amount of water and the duck spending all there time sitting around the estuary without hardly moving .

[flippermaj]

Glad to see you back on line again and giving us great write ups.

 

Back to the SXS as well!!!! Them autos all jam in the end!

 

Cheers

 

Flipper

[anser2]

Yes my browning Gold has driven me mad this season. At least a dozen geese owe their lives to it jamming this season. Its been into the gunsmith several times , but within a few shots the damm thing starts jamming again. So back to the old AYA no3 magnum again. Its a good job I have been hoarding a stock of Hevi shot and tungsten magnum shells for the past few years. But I suspect when they are gone that's it for goose shells so I guess I will be looking for a new gun next season. Before that though I will have to get a young gundog to understudy Meg who will be 10 next season. Hopefully off to look at a 8 month old golden retriever pup next week so with a new gun and dog the coffers are looking pretty empty for the remainder of the year. Someone else has first refusal , but my fingers are crossed that I might be lucky. Golden retrievers at that age are like gold dust

[Penelope]

Another interesting and evocative read Robert. I say keep with the AYA, steel goes through my Midland well enough , a lot less agro than them pogo sticks and good luck with getting the Goldie.

[misser]

excellent write up.... :good:

[Continental Shooter]

a dream day!