POW!

As a newcommer to this excellent forum , I was saddened that the topic "I like PW , was locked , As grown men we should be able to spot who are the serious shooter s and who are the internet ones , I read All opinions , and try to form a mental picture of each poster , [ often wrong] . Shooting is more than boasting of who done what etc , It is a JOY to be anle to walk in fresh air , at one with nature , taking the villans [ vermin] out , even holding back on a shot you are unsure of can later in the day prove to be the right decision , This is a thought full hobby , and even here though provoking posts can be worth while , before computers it was much more seretive in where you told folk about shooting , even though it was far more acceptable . If this sounds like another "old ****" post Tuff , I ENJOY my shooting , I ENJOY shooting with like minded folk . I ENJOY reading posts about folk who ENJOY their shooting . BUT >>> We al have opinions , and some times you have to agree to dissagree !!! WE have enough to contend with in our sport/ hobby than argue among ourselves , I am lucky enough to walk with my gun daily , I dont concider myself an expert , I do belive I can be good company , often on paid shoots there are folk who I belive are "Not suited to handle a gun , " , Most times a good Keeper spots this and is usualy diplomatic enough to have a word . [ OR pocket an early tip} My late father who introduced me to shooting from the age of 2 , [ Try that now ] Used to say . " There is no such thing as a stupid question > Only a stupid answer . If this post is un acceptable , my apologies . I know it must be difficult to decide when to " Pull the post" . but while we still have the freedom to voice our opinions , a little more tollerance from all Thank you for this opertunity , to erxpress my view , if I have offended !!!!!!! I just felt passionate enough to post , POW!

I too like a lot of others read this forum a while before posting again probably due to the generation I am in [mid60s] , I have to agree I often want to comment on various topics but feel that I will be classed as a "Know all " , far from it I an after a lifetime shootin still learning and ENJOYING my hobby . It is comforting to know I am not on my own in this thread , plus I often am unwilling to contribute as computers are fairly new to me , as a lad I wes often shooting rather than going to school , so my spelling stops me too , even worse is the small keyboadr compared to my FAT one finger typing . All this realy fades into nothing when I can enjoy the postings of like minded folk . I too LIKE PW !!! POW !

Any one notice he had rabbits tatooed on his chest >>>> From a distance they look like HARES !!! Bet his kids are missing the tame bunnies now!!! POW

Go back for sure , It shows you are serious about your intentions , Plus the above is sound advice . POW

I must agree that more often than not pigeon will follow the lines , or close to . a common flight line petern , in my experience . POW.

pewww !!! that hit a nerve Wookie , [ There was a time>>>>> ] POW.

Why should this level headed young man who clearly has a ballanced opinion of his chosen sport/ hobby , " Go back to caps and tin cans"?? This has been a most excellent debate for a young man with vision , I started shooting with my father at a far younger age , and by the age of 14 had shot more than most of double my age then , It realy is a ballance of concience and where an individual feels comfortable with themselves , I only wish we had more of his callibre entering this sport , POW.

Thanks for the offer Paul , I dont thinkl I will travel that far these days , There is fortunately plenty left in wales and there is a dedicated team who do sterling work to repair and , police them against the few idiots , What a shame that so many clash in the outdoor persuits , be it ramblers shooters trail riders , or 4x4 . I wont be popular for saying this but , on some shoots when ramblers pass in a legal manner I have heard shooters make such foul remarks , likewise ramblers who go 300/400 yards off a footpath to vent their anger , Still its a funny old world now . I have friends who live in Yorkshire , and though not taken the Green Lanes we have enjoyed the surrounding countryside and a nice !"Pub Lunch" . Cheers and maybe meet on the lanes or on a peg , [ thats happened before ! ] POW.

I was out green laning with a small group last weekend , a long time since I did it , Was most enjoyable but, a few were off the track and cutting up the land along side , Even trying to explain the dammage to land and the immage fell on deaf ears , Not much different to most hobbies these days , We heard some shooting going on and the leader took another route , saying everyone should enjoy the countryside , He even stopped to chat to walkers and quad bikers , a top bloke who knew his stuff , It was pleasing to pass some of the old drives[shooting] I did 30 years ago on paid for days . there is NO substitute for good terrain shooting or off roading , pitty the are usualy the same ones , North Wales has some of the best lanes and ,shooting , great to be out there again .POW

Like you and many others , I also feel like this at times , even after 50 years of shooting , Good post from someone so young , It shows what a well ballanced young man you are , Credit not only to you but, your parents , POW

Says it all realy !!!! POW.

A year ago now , an old Mate who was moving house dropped of some 35 year old Eyly Alphamax 5s , paper cases , rolled turnover one and a quarter oz ? , used them now but , boy the can knock a pigeon out good style . Later foung they would have fetched a good price to collector , NO WAY , what fun , [ good old days!] POW .

The Woodies I have shot this week all, stuffed with acorns and hawthorn berries , , Still a few hundred cleaning up the old Maize fields yet few grains of Indian Corn , . Barley in some too , POW

As a newcomer to this forum I have kept out of the debate till now , Having just spent half an hour rereading it , > Qualified or not , I feel my view a now worth airing ! As others here I started shooting before school age , beelng born on Wirral Wildfowling was the local sport , Shooting with the Heswall and Neston boys was competitive , In the 60s I joined WAGBI , Later BASC , Again as others a LOVE / HATE affair , , 20 years ag [ish] I contacted BASC ,when Young shots were being formed , Stella Reece , who was overseeong , camr to my Farm to see if we could support kids , regards Airgun and safety days , , Unfortunately A host af shooting incidents happened at the time [ Dunblane ,etc] >>>>> I gave up membership a few years ago , as I, like most only joined for insurance cover , mainly because of the political stance at the time , In hindsight . I probably got it wrong ,they have along with the CLA , fought well for us shooters , I will again rejopin , BUT not as yet contribute towards the latest £40 effort , As a long tine "Countryman ,and Shooter, I belive if WE as a body can get youungsters away from the electronic devices and BACK into Shooting and Country Sports , The £750K would be better spent , NOT ,only for ourselves but for society in general , SO . lets see Some of this "MONEY " invested in Landowners like myself , who are willing to "REGENERATE " Shooting as a way of life , That Guns NEED respect , as does Wildlife , and your fellow man , YES!!!!!!! Back to BAS iCs even i ff Its with BASC or not , If this sounds like I am touting for the money then you have NO idea the setting up INSURANCE WISE is , it has to be Via an outlet like BASC , , I await the "Brick bats" !!! And as I say to many , " CULLING not KILLING!! POW!

As I already have a good shoot sorted , I hope this does not sound "smug" , its easy when its in the bag to say phone the farmer or just call and ask , I had not realised just how difficult it is local to me to get "Your foot in the door " , Being "Involved " one way or another in Agriculture , it has taken a while to get where I want to be as regards shooting , So here is a ploy I have used in the past , [ if its been posted before I apologise !. ] I used to look up when the Farm Auctions / Cattle Sales were on . A Shooting Wanted or Vermin service board in the back of my 4x4 , I used to put a photo of kills .Fox Rabbit. Magpie etc at first buta few "Flat tyres " later I "Got the message" , Hang about in the carpark , but NOT in cammo , It has worked for me , So maybe iff all else has failed , who knows , One thing more , . on asking around to other local Landowners / Farmers the biggest off put is >>>>>> THE TYPED COPIED LETTER !! now that suprised even me !! POW . Hope this may help someone .!!

As a previous post , Glue or as I do wire on with copper wire , [ Mice are atracted to them , be WARNED!! ] They do work well though , The more I shoot pigeons The less decoys I use nowadays , 10/12 . But as many dead birds as poss after , Some folk may differ but, I would sooner hold back on a shot if not realy sure of a kill ,!!! as they usualy return , but if shot and not dropped , thy can disperse taking lots wih them . I know it looks good on my kill ratio , however overall I find a better average at the days end , Anyone else had similar experience?? POW

Yep thats what I thought , besides I could go out tomorrow if I wanted , But other joys call . I am going Green Laning with a friend to North Wales , Years since I last did this , I look forward to another enjoyable day , POW .

Well as they say > the best laid plans of mice and men!!! , Woke early [ as you do on these days] a light drizzle , NO wind!! , As the shooting is literaly on my doorstep , I watched for a while , coffee in hand , Fewer birds coming in but some!! Gather the gear , load the 4x4 , kettle on to make the flask , , Phone goes , be the lads I think , not so, number 2 Daughter on my way down with the baby [ 3 montht old, , " can you lookafter her for an hour while mum n I collect a Buggy . Had this day planned for weeks , but Family comes first ,> 2 hours later , I set off , Not as many pigeon as in the week but still about 300 , Meet the other lads , who traveled 80 mile , they forgot the Decoys !! So back home for more , only to find Number 1 daughter with the other 2 grandkids [ 6 weeks n 4 year old , Well as 4 yr old lad and me are as close as it gets , what can I do ?? So we take the Deeks to the lads , and off exploring other woods to keep the birds in the air ! another phone call , "bring him home his dinner is ready , just as we are having fun and not hungry , a few hours later they are off home and I grab the gun to make the best of whats left . Mid after noon , the lads have pigeon and Canadas , but its quiet decoy wise , so we decide to split and go to a wood apiece , and wait , Not long before they come in thich n fast , guess what , only one box of cartridge !! in the rush > You get the picture , within half an hour only a few cartridge left , [ and not a lot of birds to show , ] , walk back to the other wood to borrow some more ammo , He,s short but gives me half a dozen , 20 mins later both out [ Fewer birds than before , ] not the usual ones I use I say ,to cover my bad shooting!! . Then we are joined bt our other mate he.s gone through 3 boxes bettr result but not great , back to the trucks n load up , now dark , , An enjoyable end to a hectic day , Does this ever happen to YOU !!!! or is it just ME !!?? My face is glowing , I am waiting for the woodburner to heat the water in the cottage so I can take a well earned bath , I LOVE shooting , BUT I love my Family more!! ... POW!

Hey Willdfowl , its a while since you posted , lots of folk here would be interested what was the outcome of the small parcel of land you were after !! On this subject , I state the obvious , you cant learn good hunting shooting with out a place to shoot over , idealy with the peace of mind that its your "baby" , I give you an instance regarding myself > 40 odd year .s ago I subbed my labours to an Agricultural contractor , he worked for most Farmers /Landowners within a 35 mile radius , , Being a "cheeky B, I all ways asked could I shoot , even offering a few " Free" hours with the macines , [ usualy ditching on a 360 ] , I got plenty for free , Over the years syndicates offered "plenty cash" , and slowly I lost most , One in particular had fantastic roost shooting , plus flight ponds and a woodcock flight line , The guy offered it to me for £ 350 as a syndicate had done , [ showed me the letter ] I said NO , got plenty . Boy do I regret that now !!! each time I drive past I see birds everywhere , [ A good shoot and flight line NEVER changes ] Now I have 300 acres , on my doorstep, , I dont pay for it now but , if I had to I would , I have shot here for over 50 years , To lose it would "break my heart " I have seen the Offers made by syndicates to buy in , Thank GOD its mine till I die , So look after what you have , and those still searching , NO amount of letter writing will match the " personal" aproach , they want to see who they are dealing with , Farmers have Favorites , be it human , or stock !! Be bold be funny crack a joke , but most of all " Be yourself" . As this resession starts to bite folk who have Shooting will now look to take the "COIN", belive me , a bottle at Xmas looks the same as the others , Cash in the pocket is sweet , I have just helped with the insurance paper work here , I see for the first time > Risk assesment forms introduced , > To Quote > Does anyone shoot on your land? see the premiums rise , !! I dont want to sound like gloom and doom on early posts but , the writing is on the wall , I stopped being a mamber of BASC because of the political stance , saying they were wrong , > Now I eat my words , its not nice to be humbled , but the truth can not be ignored , Again a long but , PASSIONATE post , I love my fieldsports , but complacency will, be the undoing , I will close now , If any offence was caused I am sorry , Just my view , I shoot almost daily , for how long depends not just on me , BUT , also the attitude of others , Thanks for allowing me to post on here , Any comments will be thoughtfully mulled over , Cheers POW!

Thanks Tulk , Must remember NOT to stoop in front of you !!, I have done a lot of shooting in NWales , in a good few syndicates over the years , and on most of ther fox shoots 20 years ago , Time marches on , just concentrate on my own patch now !!! even if I dont shoot I walk it most days Cheers POPW.

Excelent post , Good level headed debate too , even the funnies ! , is todats society , training is the Buzz word , So yes we should do more , Gone are the days when I started shooting , then it was " Buy hin an Airgun mother itll shut him up , "" some turned out to be the best folk I have shot with , Now 50 years on , a whole new aproach , Legislation will soon dictate acsess to the country side , lets take this post and see if the allready good work for youngsters , cant be improved , to provide education and enjoyment for the future shooters , I have a Grandson now 4 yrs old , at that age I had a BSA cadet !! , I dearly want him to explore the joy of shooting , his Mum n Dad dont mind but, legislation dictates " NOT SO" , This hobby has SO much to offer to youngsters , The Hunter /Gatherer , is still in our Genes , often " Boiling over in Teenagers!! , once that is lost , it rarely returns , and the real lessons of life ,[ Death can be Fatal!!] are lost , POW

Like your observation , likewise your sense of humour H , POW!.

Soon have a massive post count if I reply individualy . So Hello and thanks , Maybe its just me and a different generation , who reply out of curtesy ? all the forumds seem to just give a one line reply now , Whichever way just to be part of the shooting fraternity is as allways a pleasure , Please forgive my typing , these "fat fingersc" were never meant to use a keyboard , in the old days , alettr to the "Field" , Shooting Times or other magazines were so long winded , and often edited to mean something quite different!! Well hear I go again , long winded , but , not short of enthusiasm for our hobby , look forward to more friends on here , POW.

Early days for me on this forum , however I did manage a few hours this afternoon with the gun , I had been watching the patern from the weekend as Maize harvest was completed , The birds were feeding from first light , large groups flighting strait in , Feed and rest in local trees for abot 2 hours , Then up and away as if startled , but, as this was a regular patern just how they feed , Then the Crows arive noisy as ever , again feedind and resting , around mid day pigeon arive back in small groups 5/6 but feeding tight to a leaward hedge . A few Canadas start to show mid afternoon , making the most of the spilt grains , the pigeon disperse to local roost woods to settle for the night , I waited 200yds from a small wood took a couple of birds and lpan for a day on Saturday with a couple of friends , I know where I wanf to place my hide now , just need to be first on site , Looking forward to some fast sport , [ Life is good!!] POW.

Well this is pleasant , Gentlemen all . > The calm before the storm maybe , any way thanks Tom.