aister

Can anyone recommend a mincer. Any suggestions greatfully received.

Excellent, well done

Yesterday I was pattern testing some shell/choke combinations when I came upon a plan. I took a greylag that was hanging up in the shed and pinned its wings open and neck out and hung it on a wall so I was looking at the under side of it. I have a friend who reckons he can shoot geese regularly at 70 yards, and after looking at that goose yesterday 70 yards is carp IMO. At 50 yards measured with the rangefinder that goose ain't that big. What I noticed was the bead on my SX3 was the same width as the body of the goose at 50 yards, which is a good indicator before pulling the trigger. I don't doubt that with after market chokes and super duper heavy shot that ranges can be extended but only if the nut behind the butt can put the shot in the right place. Just my thoughts on the subject.

I shared a lovely morning flight with my eldest son who is 8, he has been for a couple of night flights but this was his first morning under some geese. He enjoyed hearing the lapwing, snipe and plover coming to life all around us at first light but I think his highlight was having 7 whooper swans flight directly over us about 8 feet off the ground. The geese started coming of the big loch heading for some grub and we managed to place ourselves under a good flight line and we soon had 6 geese in the bag, I then unloaded the gun and we watched the rest of the morning unfold. We had a lot more geese come over us then a handful of pinks landed right along side us 25-30 yards out, quite a few ducks were flying around too. Sorry the picture quality is poor, I really want a decent camera, hmmm, xmas aint too far away ha ha. Greylags 40-45 yards up. Pinks landed next to Jacob while he was having a cup of tea.

Twice I have had the chance at a right and a left of woodcock and missed the easy first shot and got the harder second shot.

Fantastic, well done. Great write up and a great bag.

There is no market for rabbits here in Shetland at all and the place is over run with them. The last time I was in the butcher shop I noticed they had a vacuum packed rabbit for sale, I asked where they got their rabbit from, expecting them to tell me it was sent up from the mainland, I was shocked to be told it was from China.

Good shooting . Best thing I have found for midges is avon skin so soft, works a treat.

I have always hung fowl by the legs. Its just how my uncle did it when I was first shooting with him and I never saw any reason to change.

Teal for me then mallard. I have never had a bad teal. Any of you struggling with goose being tough and dry, try my polish goose recipe. INGREDIENTS: 4 goose breasts, 2 large red onions, 1lb of mushrooms, 300ml of single cream (or small tub) 2 cubes of beef bovril, butter as needed, flour. DIRECTIONS: 1. Cut goose breast in to 3 chunks, coat in flour and sear on both sides in very hot butter. adding butter as required. remove meat to large casserole dish. 2. Dice onion and fry in butter till starting to brown and add to goose. 3. Half mushrooms and fry in butter and add to goose and onions. 4. Pour the cream in among the goose, onions and mushrooms, add water till it is all just covered then add the bovrill. 5. Cover and bake in the oven at 165 deg C for three hours Sometimes, depending on the age of the birds, it can take a bit longer to cook but if you get it right, the meat can be cut with the side of a fork it is that tender. Give it a go and let us all know.

I will second that, I think its a fantastic moderator.

I have a lot of friends and family that take goose from me so when I shoot big bags of home bred geese before the migrants come in I have no trouble getting goose meat used up. Plus, my wife and three boys love goose, 4 breasts are cleaned up with no trouble and we could easily eat goose once a fortnight without getting fed up with it. I hope that the sale of goose meat never becomes legal because there are plenty of people who would abuse it. However, I am delighted that in Orkney they are able to sell the goose meat that comes from the cull, better that than it being dumped. Thankfully the number of geese up here in shetland is nowhere near as high as in orkney and IMO we are long way off needing a out of season cull.

Another 2 greylags and a mallard in the bag tonight.

Excellent, well done

Total success, could of had more but 6 geese and a stock was more than enough.

There is a lot of them up here and the numbers seem to be increasing year on year. They are bad on lambs and last year a local farmer lost two new calf's due to the injuries caused by the ravens.

Up at half 4 this morning to have a look around to see where I am going in the morning and I think a plan has been made. Good luck to anyone who is heading out in the morning, hope everyone has a cracking start to the season whether powder is burnt or not.

Sold to BRNDL.

Greys GX 300 #6,7,8 reel Greys GS 9'6" #7 rod Snowbee vest Landing net Leader line 12 dry flies 142 wet flies 38 sea trout flies 90% of the flies are from flies online which I found to be really good quality. The rod, reel and line are in fantastic condition due to lack of use. SOLD

Get on evilbay for a dozen fertile eggs and let her get on with it. Keep the hens for laying and fatten the cocks for eating, jobs a good'n

We had quail for a while but I cant remember what breed they were. We had 6 in a run that was W1200 x D1200 x H400 up on legs so the kids could look at them out the window and they did fine. The only thing I struggled with was finding food for them but I am sure that wont be a problem down on the mainland.

When I had ducks and hens I mixed the layers pellets and the mixed grains half and half and chucked it out to them all and let them get on with it.

Looks like an excellent day out, we are having mackerel for tea tonight ;-)

The weather in Shetland tends to be the same through out. In the picture you can see the sea on the west side so its not that far across, I think the furthest you can get from the sea in Shetland is 3 miles.

I will just be doing the pigs at home, and yes I know how hard it is trying to get a pig to go somewhere it doesn't want to go especially if it smells a rat. Glad you are getting on good with the 270.