silver pigeon 3

An evocative read, and I fully agree with all you have wrote. I think you have also summed up the issue that a lot of clubs (including ours) is having with new members, it seems that Wildfowling used to be something that you ended up doing after serving your apprenticeship learning without gun in hand observing the natural world, or came to after gaining experience shooting vermin etc. Now most (not all) new members seem to just want to turn up and shoot a bag full of duck, with no regards for rules or general etiquette of the sport.

Be very careful jump starting modern cars, make sure that any jump pack has surge protection. An employee at work jump started a 2011 Mercedes sprinter and wiped out the engine ECU and clock pack. In total about a £1000 to fix!

More like cider rugby!! Good times though.

Sounds like a good day to me, I am planning morning flight on the estuary followed by a leisurely breakfast before I play in a 2nds vs 1sts rugby match. I retired from rugby 6 years ago but have made a return this season, only 2nds and for a team that are 7 leagues below where I retired but absolutely loving it. No doubt a beer or two after surrounded by friends and family. Merry Christmas to all PW wildfowlers.

I am out in the morning. Got a chap on a "taster flight" for his first experience wildfowling. Looks like it will be in at the deep end for him!!

Only use the gamebore steel and haven't felt the need to try anything else. Kills well in the shot sizes I use which are bb, 3's & 4's. The 4's are rapidly becoming my favoured load for ducks.

Not going to go down in history as one of the greatest fights, but it will be remembered as a Briton going to Germany and taking the belts off of one of the greatest heavy weight champions in history against the odds. I think we will now get to see the real Fury, be that good or bad.

Good video, funny enough two of us were only talking over the weekend and wondered when we would get a video from you!

Season started ok with a few resident birds around. October for me was like hitting my head against a brick wall! Didn't even manage a shot out there all month. But things have improved this month with more duck on the river. Where are you heading too? As the birds seem quite localised.

Have you had any luck yet?

Cheers Ian, when they are as hard to get as they seem to be this season then anything is worth looking for. Hoping for a few over the weekend. Out local Saturday am, then off to sunny Devon for some stalking Sunday and then am flight on the Exe and tide flight on the torridge Monday.

One of the greatest players and a true legend of our sport. RIP

That's a great season Fenboy, I am a little behind you with 4 ducks and 2 geese!! What's the house prices up by you!!

Went out this evening in the high winds we are having here hoping that it would stir the ducks up a bit. The flight was very uneventful, apart from the wind picking one of my decoys up and flinging it a good 20 yards! I stuck it out for as long as possible in the hope that there would be a late flight, by now it was 6.15pm and all the light had gone. Just as I was going to unload the gun I heard a faint quack and 3 Mallard were over head a good 40 yards up and battling against the wind, there was just enough time for an instinctive snap shot and the birds peeled off in the wind. I watched them for as far as I could and the one bird seemed to part from the others but didn't look to come down, and the shot didn't feel like I had hit the bird. I packed up and was starting to get ready to walk off but I had a nagging feeling that I had to have a look in the direction the bird headed in. Me and the dog set off and walked a good 450 yards in the rough direction, he didn't look interested until we came to a drainage ditch and he hunted the far side, to my surprise he appeared with a dead hen mallard. Just goes to show that it's always worth a look if you have any suspicion that a bird was hit.

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.