lakeside1000

I fully recommend the Bergara seats, they fold away, have fully adjustable legs, come in a heavy duty canvass carry bag, I bought two 2 years ago, one for my son and mine, I use it every time out and its very well built , strong and easy to set up, full 360 degree swivel, good back rest, my only criticism would be the seat is a little firm , so a small cushion is advisable. price is around £80 but in my opinion very well worth it .

I am one of the 'vulnerable' group of over 70's and have been locked down since well before Christmas, the only exception was Christmas dinner with my youngest son and his family, My shooting has been on hold and very frustrating for me but yesterday I was asked to go out to a large area of rape ( no human contact likely ) and the sun was shining so I loaded the car and went full of expectation and enthusiasm. The green lane to the fields was flooded and my little Suzuki Vitara struggled to get through, but managed it eventually, the rape looks like it has been mown to soil level, the last time I saw this area it was getting up to 4 to 6 inches high. You would have expected to see hundreds of birds on it but no, just a few small groups moving around or sitting up in the few trees that fringe the land. I set up under some fir trees to take advantage of the wind break, although it was only a light breeze but very cold, 10 dead birds and a dozen half shells, I put the magnet out to start but the first few birds veered away, so took the magnet in for the rest of the session. Starting around 12.30 in bright sunshine with a few fairly high birds coming over but by 2.30 it had clouded over, the birds didn't come as I would have expected especially with all the crop damage evident, but there was a slow trickle and I managed to take a couple of high birds and at least two very fast down wind crossers, along with the usual much easier birds that decoyed well to the centre of the pattern. At 3.0 the sea mist rolled in , visibility went from infinity and beyond down to 50 yards in a few minutes, all the birds disappeared back into the trees, so I cleared away and picked up, just 8 woodies and one very large feral pigeon with no rings ( probably from the town centre, very well fed fat bird ) I believe I had a couple more that dropped some way out but as the wellies were now twice the size with mud and I could barely see in front of me I had to give up on trying to find them. So home by 3.30 with a few in the bag, and looking forward to some better days on this area once it dries out a bit, I have only ever been stuck once on muddy tracks like this when I went front end down into a grass covered run off dyke , the farmer was very understanding and pulled me out with his tractor, but I am always aware of the risks when I am out on my own in some quite remote areas.

I remember when a few years ago I had an old underlever Webley air rifle with the top loading through a 90degree valve style loader, you dropped the pellet in vertically then turned the mechanism 90 degrees to align it with the barrel, it miss fired and jammed the pellet just a short way into the barrel, being a bit of a bodger (at the time ) I though I could blow it out with another pellet, all I did was rivet the first one tighter into the barrel, It took a major strip down and a lot of hammering with a long steel rod to remove them, it was a very good accurate rifle but it had to go after that, far too unreliable , after that I bought a Crossman pump .22, now that was a lethal gun, these days it would have to be on a FAC, but in those days it was 10 bob from the post office for the licence. those were the days.😄

Beretta every time, I had the 686E which was a very nice gun, only problem I had was the breach lock had to be replaced after about 6.000 rounds as it started jamming, I sold it to buy the Beretta 391 Urika 2, 3 shot semi, as I shoot mainly pigeons, I have tried a lot of different guns over the years but would highly recommend the Berretta.

I have the S400 AA , was a single shot but too fiddley getting the pellet into the breach, so invested in the magnetic mounted magazine, 8 shots, sadly manually operated but it knocks down anything I shoot at, I think the Air Arms are very well engineered and stand up to plenty of field work, mine is the .177, long flat trajectory, sub 12 but plenty of punch, great for rats, rabbits, pigeons and crows, but especially good for ferals around the farm buildings as its very quiet in use,

I use exactly the same large screwdriver tool, it works OK except in the rock hard ground in summer when you need to carry a hammer to knock it through the soil crust My poles are from wilkos, washing line extenders with the plastic clip at the top, they were very week at the bottom, so I sleeved them about 12" up with some steel pipe inside, added a point , then drilled through the side around 6 " up and fitted a 3/8"bolt which acts as a tread plate to push them into the ground, you cannot hammer them in but with either soft ground or a pre drilled hole they go in quite well. They are light, cheap and easy to replace. If you like a roof over the hide ( good for the Corvids ) I bought an old tent, one of the larger type, which had 3/8" thick fibre glass folding poles, I saved 2 of them which are around 12 feet long, I simply thread them through some camo net and bend them in a hoop style top over the hide, the ends just push into the ground to hold in place, they came good last summer on a field of stubble with the round bales on, I set up with some desert camo net over the top and the hide looked just like another round bale, birds didn't know what hit them,

Last February I decided to try some local woods on the invitation of the gamekeeper, I got in place around 2.00 and found a good spot, Took a couple of early birds but by 3.00 there were around a dozen guns within 500 yards of my position, it seemed like every time I had a bird in my sights someone else would take a shot and scare off mine, it sounded like world war 3 had broken out, by 4.00 I was so angry I just packed up and went home. I wont be wasting my time there again , no attempt to control the numbers or placement of guns, I have a few options this year but may just stick to my hide and decoys instead.

Well done and good photo, I had a couple of seasons on pinks along the Norfolk coast on the marshes, I spent good money on an Escort magnum 3.5" and cried when I had to pay for the cartridges, cant remember the shot weight but they were 3.5" steel 3's, took a few high birds and one afternoon managed my 6 bag limit, but I lost interest in sitting out in the cold and sometimes very dark , wet and muddy marshes. I am a pigeon man at heart and prefer a well sheltered hide, preferably with the sun on my back and a much easier target. but I still get a thrill when the pinks fly over , I even have my caller in the bag and give them a call just for a reaction, wish I could do the same with the pigeons.😄

Wow, thanks everyone for your very wide range of advice and opinions, I guess it will be worth printing off the BASC views and carrying as much proof as I can to show just cause, Difficult times but if I dont get out of the house soon I will go stark staring mad, just been cleaning and sorting out my gear, so first decent day I will be off , lets hope its worth it and I can find a few birds

It looks like you are in the USA, have you checked with local laws to make sure you can actually shoot a high powered air rifle in a public area, I have the Air arms pre charged .177 with a decent telescopic on it, very accurate and ample power for targets or small vermin. easy to recharge with a pump and will fire all standard .177 pellets, here in the UK we need permission to shoot on any land, no shooting on public land but at least we dont yet need a licence for sub 12 ft/lbs air rifles. do some research on line for guns and advice on where you can shoot,

Hi all, I have consulted BASC for guidance on this , they say carry written authority to shoot (pigeons etc ) but after watching the draconian abuse of innocent people just out walking or sitting on a bench with a coffee I am concerned that even written authority will not satisfy these over zealous law enforcement officers. I do not want to risk getting heavy fines for going out but the farm owners are getting concerned at my lack of enthusiasm , I am normally out 2 to 3 times a week but lately have been almost house bound due to the lock down rules. I look forward to a time we can get back to normal, but feel obliged to show willing even in these difficult times.❓

Yes, go to the pound shop or similar, ask for a soldering iron and a small roll of pre fluxed solder, try to get a fine tip iron as a standard tip may be too large for such fine work, clean the area well, get the iron up to temperature, apply a very small amount of solder to the iron and press down on the wire and terminal, it will melt very quickly so dont overdo it, once the wire end and terminal are bonded into the blob of solder, withdraw the iron trying to hold the wire in place until the solder sets, very easy once you have done a few joints, if you are unsure ,try practicing on some bits of wire before you attack the item repair,

You are very welcome,

Its a bit late to add them on, but in September with the keeper and a few friends we took 7 in two days from the rape harvest, all with shotguns , my share was a single vixen taken using a no3 steel cartridge, instant end, just getting the numbers down in readiness for the first pheasant release. so 257 total

A few years back I switched to steel 5's for all my vermin shooting but was disappointed with the results, after using up the 1000 I went back to lead 6's , but I do like to use the 30 - 32 gram load and only shoot fibre wad, I have a Hushpower sound moderator fitted to my 3 shot Beretta mounted on an extended 1/2 choke, makes the gun a pit barrel heavy but very effective, but the plastic wads get shredded through the moderator which causes small chips of plastic to fall back into the breach and jam the mechanism, this doesn't happen with fibre wads, the farm manager prefers me to use fibre anyway as he doesn't like plastic wads laying around in his crops. So unless they change to rules in the future I will be sticking to my lead 6's.

Most of my crow shooting is a side line while i'm out on pigeons, so only carrying 6's, I Use 3's and 4's for geese and ducks but the cost of these makes it a waste using them on crows, I never go smaller than 6 although I understand what you mean about shot density but wonder if the 7 would have the range and power for big carrions and rooks.

Just join the BASC , full insurance is included, fees help shooting projects, as far as the licence goes you dont need one for sub 12 air rifles, print off a copy of the regs covering licenses and show them . I used to de rabbit two large golf courses near Boston in Lincolnshire, great sport, it did help I was a member and played golf (very badly) as well.

I do try but even the best of us dont always hit the bits we would like

Hi houseplant, I emigrated to NZ , Auckland to be precise in 1969 , had 4 years of hunting around the north shore, Kumeu Riverhead etc mainly rabbit pheasant and quail with the shotgun, A friend lived near Hamilton and took me on a pig hunt , no guns , just two dogs and big knives, the dogs would track and pin the pig and we had to rush in through the undergrowth and stick it before it killed one of the dogs, it was a manic style of hunting but the pigs tasted amazing, especially cooked underground at the hungies (I think thats how you spell it, sorry to my old Maori friends if its wrong. Dig a big fire pit, stick huge rocks in the fire embers to heat up, all the meat and veg goes in wrapped in huge leaves and wet sack cloth, covered in soil and watered for around 3 hours with a hose pipe spray to stop it drying out, dig it up and start eating, the meat would fall off the bone , a-maz-ing, never had food like it. We could have done some deer hunting in the forests but it was tightly controlled and you could only shoot with a centre fire rifle, so my little rimfire .22 and the shotgun were not man enough for the job. I would go back tomorrow , best time of my life, Sailing and fishing around Auckland, Trout fishing the lakes around Taupo and Rotarua, spearing flounder on the North Shore mud flats at night with a lamp, and all the shooting , its a wonder I found time to go to work. We did see a lot of goats on a trip out to the Coramandle peninsular but were on a fishing trip with the wives and kids ,so no guns on board. Thanks for reviving the memories. 👍

Hi, great video and sport, love the dogs enthusiasm, my springer would retrieve crows no problem, she quickly learned that the beak was dangerous and would always grab them by the back of the neck, sadly she passed many years ago so I do all the retrieves myself now. Can I ask what cartridges you are using on the crows, I know your shots were well placed but I often hit crows which refuse to drop even though they are hit very hard, or will go 100 yards down wind before giving up, leaving me a lot of walking to clean up.

Good value, I have had a pair of these for over 7 years, used most of the time on my magnet or on windy days just set up on metal rods facing the wind, still going strong and in good order, paid £20 each 7 years ago !!!

I give the manager a large bottle of whiskey every year as a way of saying thankyou for the shooting, he says he enjoys a tipple and I get priority on all the farms land for the whole year, well worth it and we both get something we can enjoy, so why not.

Keepers prefer us to stay out of the woods until 1st Feb so we don't disturb the game, but any woods not kept for pheasants I tend to get there 2 ish this time of year, the birds will change from day to day , if its dark and overcast, or very cold they may come in 2 or 3 hours before the light goes but for me normally it seems they will come in around an hour before the light starts to fall, better to be early than risk disturbing them once they are roosting.😀

Seasons greetings and welcome to the forum

Welcome and seasons greetings 👍