jonnybgood

What area of the country where you? mallard are no longer about in the same numbers they were on the shore, most lads with flight ponds I know start feeding in August and it pulls alot of duck.

FOR SALE a Single 8 bore .by “ lefaucheux” made around 1870 39” Damascus barrel 3 1/4” chamber hammer action with no “half cock” “lefaucheux” under lever Fore-end Nitro proofed. Includes 40 lead cases & 5 bismuth I’ve used this gun both inland and on the foreshore. It’s lovely to use and the action makes it very unique. You don’t see a lot of these. the gun is in excellent working order, the hammer is “crisp” and the barrel has plenty of “meat” the bore and chamber do need a polish if the buyer wanted to but I bought it in its current condition and I’ve had no issues. reason for sale is I don’t use it as much as I’d like too and it’s a shame to have such a gun sat in a cabinet. £1600.00

It’s been years since I shot a block of woodland , owned by a good friend , in February . Even more years since I posted on here. Saturdays in February normally see me on the foreshore most of the day making the most of what’s left of the fowling season, decoying pigeon on cover crops ( maize) or working. This year I decided I’d make a change and shoot a wood from dinner time onwards , as many pigeon shooters do locally (northwest england) and around the country. The game season over, leafs of the trees, it’s the tradition to try for a pigeon or two. Beaters who have put there time in on the shoots get there 4 weeks pigeon shooting as a “reward”, keepers have the time to pull the trigger rather than run the day and farmers have the time to take the gun out before the spring work begins. At the grand old age of 28 I’ve shot all my life from game shooting, fowling , inland duck and geese and decoying pigeon, but heading to the old wood got me more excited than I’d been for years. I’ve been lucky enough to shoot some big bags with a number of guns on February roost shoots over the years , but this Saturday saw me on my own with just the young pup at my feet . February roost shooting-no equipment needed bar the gun and the dog, grand! On getting to the wood 2-300 pigeon lifted and I smiled to myself imagining them returning in dribs and drabs. A strong west wind bent the branches of the trees and gave a constant background noise while sending the pigeon away like grey bullets across the spud field up to the wood. Getting to a spot I hadn’t stood in for years, a fallen ash tree, I quickly took the gun out of the sleeve as the initial disturbance Normally gives chance of a shot. I didn’t have to wait long. A single high pigeon loomed over the tall trees and remembering the advice of the best shot I’ve ever known, I swung the gun like I was going to hit someone with it a pulled the trigger. He had always told me “ignore the branches, dont wait for easy ones, low ones or landing ones, get stuck in , swing the gun and keep pulling that trigger!” The old miruko trap gun choked full and extra full did the trick and the pigeon spiralled to the ground with a satisfying thud. Good start. The pup had jumped at the shot but didn’t run in.With encouragement she went out to investigate and returned with her first ever pigeon.Birds came every now and then throughout the afternoon and a good flush at roost time saw me take a couple of left and rights . Two boxes of RC sipe 5’s later and I’d 22 pigeon in the bag. looking forward to the next few Saturdays. straight shooting . jonny.

That’s the one!

Some light reading from my collection of shooting books............

All my friends say this looks like something there grandad would have. I’m 28 years old! Made the bookshelf myself out of ash. Collection of shooting books mostly on fowling. My diary’s I’ve kept for over 12 years now and various magazines , articles etc on fowling in my local area.Theres still mad keen young Fowler’s out there who enjoy a read and some collectables to look at..

The north west of England for be, the ribble being jewel in the crown, countries best kept wildfowling secret.

Hello all havnt posted for years but still enjoy reading everyone’s discussions. My reason for the topic is trying to get a glimpse of wigeon numbers this year. Local Marsh’s to me, the ribble in particular ,are low on numbers that haven’t been seen in a life time. The ribble normally holds more wigeon than any other estuary in the country . What are numbers else where like? Perhaps they are short stopping? Poor breeding season? Regards jonny

single mallard, left and right at Canada's. NEVER seen so many mallard on the first, can tell its been a good year for them breeding, pack after pack after pack filled the air this morning, a pleasure to witness.

As most others have said, its not about the size of the bag, but i have no problems in a reply to the original post. One howler of a night, on an estuary filled with wigeon, i shot a little splash a long way out from the seawall, with no decoys and just my homemade wigeon wistle, i put 15 in the bag. Another flight on a different marsh, this time shooting the tide, i shot over a dozen wildfowl, including mallard,wigeon, teal, pinkfoot and golden plover, this to me is my ultimate red letter day, for the varity of the bag and the sheer number of fowl i saw, every bird on the marsh seemed to want to escape the rough sea and land within 30 yards of my hide! i could of tripled the bag, but just watched untill, like the birds, i had to escape the tide.

thanks for the reply's lads, looking like ledger rig best bet then, rather than on a bobber/pecil float rig?

Have done alot of course fishing, netted eels but never caught one on rod and line, jus wondered about the best way to go about it really?

set up on a field? inland shooting season finished the day before! they were well in the wrong!

A few years ago, on a large local salt marsh, i was waiting for teal to flight up a well used gutter, with a chap who showed me the ropes when it came to fowling. A spring of teal, 9 birds in all came whizzing round the corner of the gutter, i saw my mentor lift his gun, so waited for the shot to have a do at what birds lifted. No word of a lie, he dropped all 9 with one shot! 3 needed necking. he couldnt help but laugh as i set there, gun mounted, unable to believe what i had just seen!

just got a double nasty, after loosing my last call (big river-banded lady) and really like it. very easy to use, and very mallard like!

well, Bare with me,though i might aswell tell you lads about my very own "macnab" i had. Early hours well before sun up, too a quite stretch of canal not far from home, after the pike. Not been after these crocs for 4-5 years but after seeing some pretty lures at the CLA game fair (probably catch more fishermen than fish) i got the urge to get out again. After half an hour of spinning, and catching more weed/leaves/reeds than owt else, i was reminded why it had been a few years since i had been out with the rod.BUT, next cast, BANG, line pulled, rod bent, heart racing! Fish was on the run, surely a double by the way the rod bent, but my boyish giddyness had got the better of me, and i pulled a nice jack into the landing net! Now for the fowling, big midday tide, but weather too still to really stir the duck up, after a short walk from the seawall to my chosen spot, i bailed out the hide, set up the deeks and scanned the far tideline with my binocs. Always so much to see on the tide, waders-knot,plover, dunlin, bar tailed godwits and curlew whizz up and down. The duck, from the buzzing teal, whistling wigeon and gracefull pintail (which always seem to stay just out of range) moved every now and then, but the water was too still to really stir them up. Once tide made, my decoys looked well, if i say so my self, and two teal must have though so as they made a bee line for them. Gun up,two shots,both down! always good to score on the first shot! with the report of the gun, the tide "lifted" with all manner of wildfowl, and the dog was soon back with both duck (huge dog, easily retrieves two teal at once). Next in was two wigeon, and i brought down a hen with my second barrel. tide soon ebbed with the still weather, and i headed home a happy fowler, looking foward to a quick shine with the lamp and .22, putting a dozen bunnys in the bag. So i know its no salmon, grouse and red stag, but a pike ,wigeon, teal and a rabbit, all in the same day, was probably just as enjoyable!

like dekers has said, up to now. NO ONE, in all 65 posts can confirm that this is even true!! If it is, then yes, i agree, completely unexceptable. But if goose shooting round there, is anything like round here, rumours soon spread. jelousy is rife. some years ago i shot 6 pinks on my farm, borderin a nature reserve. within a week the story around the village was i had shot 18, on the reserve, using lead. I had also told a reserve warden to "xxxx off". all complete rubbish. i wouldnt be surprised if this "700" turned out to be half as much. Still 350 geese is still far to many.

early arrivals round here aswell, alot knocking about, put five in the bag on monday evening!

As a farmer myself i would not like it in any of my grass pastures, especially near silage time, a neighbour of mine had some lads shoot alot and claim to have picked up, turns out they had shot over 80, and left them, only to be picked up by the chopper 10 days later, led to botulism in his silage feed, loosing 15 head of cattle, roughly £30,000 to his farm. And this fella is talking about shooting 30+ in a night, dont think they would all be gone the next day. As a farmer and shooting man i know the importance of pest control, and that pickin will make a smaller bag, but there is nothing stopping you, having finished shooting an area for the night, having another ride around and trying to pick up as many as possible.

surely the farmer doesnt want his fields littered with dead rabbits? are they shot on grass pastures or cereal fields?

i was taken on the ribble estuary, evening flight, when i was around 13 years old, hell it was cold!! and we seemed to walk for ages.i killed two wigeon, but witnessed a flight of many thousands. And have been a keen fowler ever since.

Thanks, though it might have been from the old sand road. I know the land at hesketh bank, reclaimed only 30 odd years ago to farm, now gone full circle and put back to marsh land! crazy! there loosing land to the sea on the east! With out the rspb knockin holes in sea walls on the west!

i have always wondered, what part was the "ticket" marsh at southport. i know the area quite well, is it the marshland to your right as you come onto the coast road, or to the inland side of the road?

I think after this winter, the population will go up. They have wintered very well this time, due to our terribly wet summer, leaving many thousands of acres of cereals left unharvested, provideing food though out the winter,they have fed well this year and the geese i have shot have been the fittest ever. There wasnt really a big freeze, and they never went hungry, i think this will have helped them for the up-comin breeding season.

thanks for the replys lads, i have nothing agaist shooting untill the 20th, iv had some of my best flights in febuary!