Gareth

General shooting matters... General computing matters... It's all the same Do you have the latest version of firefox installed? If not that would be my first port of call. It's up to v5 now.

Thanks for all of your opinions Seems like some people like them and others only bother in the winter. I agree with the no movement until needed, but at the same time wearing a camo veil on our heads has made a noticeable difference. I'll take a look at your suggestions and see if I can pick up a cheap pair from somewhere. If not then it's probably not worth it until winter kicks in again! Cheers, Gareth

Hi all, I'm looking for some lightweight camo gloves to wear during the summer when pigeon shooting. My hands are now the only part of my body not covered up. All of my camo gear so far is English Woodland. I think I would like an open-able trigger finger and I'm a lefty if it makes any difference. Do you cover your hands when pigeon shooting? If so, what do you use? Do you think it will/does it make much difference? Can you recommend any products? Thanks, Gareth

Spent a couple of hours roost shooting, got 4 a few nights ago and 1 last night. Total: 5649

Only 5 on Saturday, decoying on rape. Total 4884

Hey everyone, Just to let you all know, Jack has now been re-homed and last I heard was doing really well. He went to a member of these forums, but I will let them announce who they are if they want people to know. It was really hard to let him go, but I know he has gone to a good home so I can take comfort in that. Apologies to anyone that had shown interest but did not get to come and see him. Regards, Gareth

Hi all, Decided to go out for a quick bash last night, at a small area where only a few birds roost (there are a couple of barns and some old abandoned houses). It's nice because it's so close to me, but not a great spot otherwise. After walking up the long dirt track and seeing practically nothing my hopes were not high. I walked past the barn and to my surprise a pigeon shot off. It was a really hard shot (for me, I'm new to this game) and was the first bird I had seen, so I decided to leave it in the hopes that there would be more in the buildings. I didn't want to scare those off with a shot to nothing. As I walked up to the buildings I regretted not taking my shot as it seemed dead. As I was thinking that, a bird dropped from the rafters and scared the **** out of me, it was pretty much on my head and then shot away. I swung round and shot it with the first barrel, a pretty rare feat for me. Those two birds were the only ones I saw that night, so headed off soon after that. I was just happy to be out for a 30 minute walk and to bag a bird too

Wow, thanks for all of the responses. I also think it would be a good idea to sticky a post with those sites listing the coaches. The searches I was doing didn't bring up any of them. Maybe I was looking for the wrong things though... When I pick who to go with I'll let you know, and tell you how I got on Thanks again, Gareth

Hi all, I've been looking on Google for a while now, but can't seem to find any nearby shooting coaches. I want someone to show me the correct stance, how to judge lead and so on. I have been shooting a few times now (very much a beginner though) but my accuracy is not good, so I thought it would be best to get some professional help. Do you have anyone that you would recommend in the area? I can travel, but was hoping not to go too far afield. Many thanks, Gareth

Hi all, As per previous post, here are the pictures I said I would take. Sorry for poor quality, they were taken on my phone. I think they are good enough to get a nice look at him though! Click on the pics to make them bigger if you need to. Jack means a lot to me, and naturally I really care about where he goes next. I have contacted a few of the people who have asked about him, but not everybody yet. I'm struggling to handle this a bit as I don't want to get peoples hopes up simultaneously and then can only give him to one person obviously. I will get round to everybody at some point, whether it's about Jack maybe going to them, or just to say that he has found a great new home. Regards, Gareth

Hi everyone, First of all, thanks for all of the replies. I can't believe the response this has had, and so quickly as well. Secondly, I'm sorry for being so slow with any sort of response. I've had a lot going on this last week. I will do my best to get back to anyone that has sent me a message as soon as I can. I will only be able to do any photo's later tonight though. Gareth

Hi all, Jack is 5 1/2 months old now. He is an excellent dog and I cannot stress enough that he needs a new home because of personal reasons, it has absolutely nothing to do with him. He has lived in the house since he was ~7 weeks old, and is excellent with adults, children and other dogs. He is fully house trained, and normally lasts the night if you lift his water a couple of hours before bed. His parents (both pedigrees) were specifically mated so that the breeder could have his pick of the litter for a gun dog. It was also my intention to use him for this purpose, but as stated he was also a house dog. As he has grown older, it seems that he has a lot more Lab in him than Springer. His training has come on well, he is a fast learner and I am sure he will make a great gun dog as well as a pet. He seems very motivated and eager to please. Most of the time now he will bring the retrieving dummy and put it in my hand. He has a very soft mouth from what I have seen there. He also loves water, and will go in it to fetch the dummy, or just for fun. I have not spent too much time on retrieving with him, I have tried to keep it fun as he is still young. He sits and drops fairly reliably on command, and will stay in either position when told to. He is good with the recall as well, but distractions (other dogs, sometimes people) will stop him coming in. As expected, these commands still need a bit of reinforcing, but he is doing very well as far as I'm concerned. He will come with everything that I have bought for him. There are still 2 large, unopened bags of dog food, a mass of toys, a retrieving dummy, his lead and food/water bowls. When he was younger he chewed the bottom of his bed away from the sides, but it's still perfectly good for now. I must also stress that he seems to be passed the chewing phase, he has not caused the slightest problem in that respect for quite a while now. He has been crate trained, but that was only borrowed so unfortunately can't go with him. He is used to being at home alone for a full, normal working day. We close him in the kitchen instead of his cage so that he has a bit of room. He is fully vaccinated and is about due for his next round of de-worming. I am absolutely gutted that he has to be re-homed, but I have put it up on here because I care so much about where he goes next. I live 20 minutes South of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in a town called Sleaford. He has been a great dog, and friend to me and I will be so sad to see him go.

If you look through a few of my posts I was asking almost the exact same question. He was a nightmare to start with, but he has got so much better it's unreal (he is 4 months now). One thing I learned from here, there is pretty much no need to hit them at all, and his behaviour was to be expected. Every time he bit me, I shouted ouch and stopped playing/moved away from him instantly. Sometimes I would exclude myself from him, but never punished him by putting him in his crate as that's his space. He soon grasped that every time he hurt me his world got a whole lot more boring.

PM sent. I live in Sleaford, about 20 mins down the road too! Cheers, Gareth

Very impressed with the service, I ordered at about 10:30 yesterday and they got here about 10:30 today. They look pretty good Sounds good at times Henry but all we had was a thin hedgerow and a big tree, all without leaves pretty much. We could see them coming in and then fly off like a rocket. They were defo seeing us :( Looking forward to giving it another go with some of the right gear!

Aaah I wondered where those had gone. I spotted them ages ago and thought they would be ok. Didn't expect to see them in the wildfowling section I guess, I thought they had stopped selling them for some reason. I have just ordered one set of 10 now, wonder how long until they get here Thanks for the advice, Gareth

Hi all, Just wanted to give a quick update on Jack, my lab x springer. After a lot of questions and advice from here, there has been a massive improvement. He almost never bites us, and the humping has stopped too. He is house trained, at least during the day if that makes sense. He still goes inside during the night, but we're working on that. He also does it when over excited, but I don't think there's too much we can do about that is there? His training is also coming on well. He sits and stays on command now, and comes back as soon as he is recalled. He has taken a bit longer than expected to learn to lay down, but another week or so and I think he will be doing pretty well at that too. Still only training twice a day for no more than ~15 mins. So yeah, all in all a massive thanks to everyone here who got us back on the right track. We've got a great bond and I wouldn't swap him for the world. Here's a few pics taken by the girlfriend today and one from a couple of days before: And here's a quick vid of Jack's first retrieve for the camera. As the description says, I don't think he saw it when I threw it. Not his best but he did OK. I'm really impressed with how he's getting on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QWvwy3h9ns Do you have any tips for when I'm letting him retrieve? I've wondered about holding him, then chucking it, then releasing him to try and promote steadiness but not sure if it's too early for that kind of thing? Are there standard words that people tend to use? I just tend to say fetch and find it lol. Cheers, Gareth

Good luck, I hope he gets better quickly

I had a visit for my first ever SGC last week, and I don't have FAC. I quoted a bit of experience with a shotgun and the guy I shoot with, but my reference has not been contacted. I wonder if they do it as a personal judgement after their visit, only if they think it's necessary? Should have my cert in about 2 weeks now, can't wait!

I got my first ever kill two weeks ago, and one last weekend too Total 904

Cheers FalconFN, we have netting, but had no poles so we left it behind. We knew we were up against it, but tried to cover under a tree. Some you could see were coming in and then shot off because they saw us, others as I say actually came into range. It was a good experience all in all. We have poles now and ordered a face veil for each of us as well. Hopefully next time things will be easier, and with more decoys hopefully we can pull more in. By budget, I meant probably £30, £50 tops for now. If (when) we get more into it I'm sure we will get more gear. Thanks for helping, Gareth

Hi all, //EDIT// Title should say 'best' not 'beet' - Stupid iPhone :unsure: My friend and I have just started to take up decoying pigeons. We had a go under a flightline yesterday, but need more equipment. No camo net and only 3 decoys in a V made for hard work lol. We still caught the interest of a few though, (they came in a bit high and not that close, but in range just) so in a way it was a promising start! So yeah, on a budget, what decoys would you recommend us to get? Flocked? Shell? FUD? Spring sticks? Bouncers? There's a lot out there, and I don't really know the pros and cons of them all are so thought I'd ask here before spending too much cash. Thanks for any help, Gareth

Really nice looking puppy, good luck with her!

PM sent

Hey, what is the LOP and barrel length?