Passionforangling

Seriously impressive that when you set up, birds were flying high over the field but you then managed to decoy 25 down in the first hour! Your magnet really is a magnet isn't it? Looking forward to a regular Sunday night read of your Friday/ Saturday exploits

Having been out a few times on the rape stubble locally things have been difficult with the birds not decoying at all well. Recent bags have been between 10 and 20 but enjoyable with some challenging (for me!) shots. Yesterday I decided to try the rape stubble on a different farm. Here, there are 3 smallish fields that lie adjacent to a dual carriageway and I'd noticed over the past few days that the birds seemed to be fighting to the field furthest from the road in good numbers so that was the plan, along with a morning start as opposed to afternoons which I'd been concentrating on recently. On arrival there were a good few birds visiting the field nearest the road and as I watched more were joining so that was the decision made. The barley field on the other side of the carriageway had been cut so I thought maybe best to keep close to this as well in the hope that the birds would flip over the road if they got shot at over there. As I set up I heard a shot coming from that direction and a few birds came over soon after so all looked good. I set up with 12 thawed birds on cradles( copying a certain well known exponent of pigeon shooting on here!) and two floaters. I was sited under the only oak on this field shooting away from the road and the houses that skirt it. The birds didn't decoy well to begin with but as the shooting intensified on the barley field they did start to come in nicely and for the first time in what seems like ages they committed to the pattern. I finished with 53, not a massive bag by PW standards I know, but special for me, my first 50+ bag. Next challenge to beat Stevey G to the 100!

Yes, I have one. Over the years I've gone through most of the Triumph range including Bonneville and Daytona. The Daytona was quick ( for me!) so I went to the Bonneville which I loved and could sit on all day long. Now I have the Sprint GT which I like but it doesn't get the use it should ( just over 1000 miles in a year from new). I bought it with the intention of me and the wife taking it abroad but that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. Really I should give it up for the amount of use it gets but it's hard to say a final goodbye to biking..... Oh, and by the way, on the few occasions Mrs PFA has been on it she has found it very comfortable.

I bought a fairly battered series a few years ago for £1000 ( it was tax exempt , 200tdi and had a Fairey Overdrive) I subsequently decided to have it professionally refurbished which cost a little over £10000. That was new chassis, all new brakes, new seats, fuel tank, 5 new tyres and basically everything including a full respray. I liked it but it still drove like a 1970's Landrover so I sold it after a couple of years for £8000 so didn't lose too much. Bought a newer defender now which I really like Good luck with your project......they are great motors but not if its your only car as mine was

Good video, thanks for taking the trouble to post. I noticed one of your rotaries appeared to be directly below some overhead wires ( or was that just camera angle?) Foregive my ignorance but can I ask why you placed it there? Oh, and good shooting by the way!

That's a terrific ratio of kills ( well, in my book it is!) . And yes, maybe you should work a little less and get more therapy like today.

Also, I noticed that Williams and Azerenka both came onto court wearing headphones. Surely they would want to hear the crowds cheering? Bit of a pose if you ask me. Hope the namby Premier League footballers didn't see them.....to be sure they will copy them if they did!

Stupid question perhaps but have you asked the person you got the pup from if he was doing this before? I don't know what the answer would tell you either way but it would be interesting to know. I'm sure you'll sort it

273 is a whole lot better than decent I'd say! There have been a few reports this week of big bags......I must get out and try and get a few myself. Well done on a great result

An amazing account of a superb 3 days. The farmer must be very pleased!

Would it help to try and raise the bowl off the floor by about 8-10 inches? Might be harder for him to get his paws in but on the other hand he might knock the whole thing over unless you make it really sturdy. I guess he thinks it's a bit of a game but I agree, in the hot weather you could do with a solution

Looking forward to hearing how it went. Good on you for asking to shoot.

Thanks for the heads up on these. I've just had a look through Google and you are right, there is a train of thought that these ( especially ones of inferior quality) can cause problems. I think to be safe I'll take it off him

The drain pipe is certainly cheaper than an antler! Probably like kids, I remember mine used to have as much fun at Christmas playing with the boxes their toys came in as they did the actual toys!

Probably as most do, we bought a variety of toys and chews for our new puppy before he arrived home. He chewed and played with most of them to a certain degree but for the past couple of weeks has discarded them all really for his favourite which is the antler. He spends ages knawing on it. At a shade over 6 months is this because it's rock hard and it's good for his teeth? He particularly likes the sound of it bouncing around on the wooden floor! I wonder if all dogs start to home in on a favourite chew/toy?

Great day by the sound of it Steve. Presumably your friend didn't just get 1 and you the other 100!

It has been a hot one today Stevey, you did well to catch anything in this heat. By the way, that photo isn't a common carp but hey ho, who cares!

A great result there. I bet the work will be difficult to concentrate on if you get similar phone calls this week!

I'm sorry to read of the loss of your dog at such a young age. I can imagine how upset you must be feeling.

That's a memorable 4 hours, well done. Yes, it would probably have been a 100 or more if you hadn't run out of cartridges.

In reply, I did think carefully about my initial post and was going to pose the question hyperthetically but decided to relay my experience as it happened, maybe a mistake! Thank you for those who offered constructive comments like Andy135 but I have to say that comment like "are you for real", "try using it on your own neck" and " consider whether fit to own a dog" upset me because the insinuation is that I don't care for my dog which could be not further from the truth. I'm sure all of us on here only want the best for our dogs. Before buying the dog I did as much research as I could on line and on this site. I purchased all the materials by Pippa Mattinson and have found what she writes to be very informative and agreed totally with her views on reward based training which I am following. My reason for posing the question was to get some helpful comments and after buying the collar the first thing I did when I got home from Anglesey was to add a couple of links and put it round my neck to see what it felt like. I also had previously read about the dangers to a dog of pulling on a slip lead so I had already tried that round my neck as well to give me some idea of the force needed to correct a dog without damaging its neck. No, I'm not into bondage or anything but that's what I did as part of my education into gun dog training. I was surprised how dramatic even a smallish pull on a slip lead can feel but I'm not sure how different a dogs neck is to ours but it certainly gave me a feel for the discomfort a tug on a 12mm lead can feel like. If you haven't tried it yourself I would suggest you do; it surprised me. Like I say, I'm trying to train him using a reward based approach but thought that this collar might just be needed a couple of times to educate him not to pull. Don't get me wrong, he isn't pulling my arms out of their sockets! I was just struggling a bit to maintain a slack lead so having seen this collar being used and fitted by a trainer/ gamekeeper with 30 years experience I thought I would try it. I won't be going to this trainer again because I live in Warwickshire and he's in Anglesey but I do plan to take Bailey to gun dog training closer to home, starting in the next month or so. I appreciate the emotive nature of the post and the Google images do look unpleasant ( incidentally none of the images on Google look like the collar I bought) and as I said in my original post I was hoping that just a couple of trips with the collar might prevent a problem later on. I am happy to enter into constructive discussion on this topic and ways to improve his early lead training but would hope that comments like those above insinuating I don't care for my dog are kept to yourself

I have searched the dog forums on here and not found any discussion on these so would appreciate any thoughts/ advice on the use of these collars ( sometimes called pinch collars I believe) To set the scene..... My daughter lives on Anglesey and has an 18 month old fox red who she has had some difficulties with regarding him pulling on a conventional slip lead to the extent that she was finding it difficult to control him consistently. She takes her dog to a trainer on Anglesey who is very experienced in gun dog training and has also worked with the police, training their dogs so has pretty good credentials for training I think. Anyway, this collar has certainly had the desired effect and her dog doesn't pull at all when he is on this collar. On a recent visit I went to see the trainer take his class with my daughters dog and was impressed with what I saw and mentioned that my 6 month old pulls a bit on a slip lead and I'm not sure how to combat it. He offered to have a look at him and so the next day I took Bailey along for him to see. As we walked through the field to the training ground, good as gold Bailey was pulling a bit on the lead, not excessive, but certainly not slack, and his head was down sniffing in the grass which is to be expected in a new environment I suppose. The trainer said he would show me the prong collar on Bailey so showed me the correct way to use it and fit it and the results were, to be honest, amazing. Within seconds he was walking on a loose lead, head up and tail wagging. Because of the instant success I bought one off him and have used it at home with the same results but in an ideal world I'd like him to do the same on a slip lead, especially when he is old enough to go shooting. So my questions are.... 1) should I abandon the prong collar and persevere with a slip lead ? 2) will the prong collar, if used over the next few weeks educate Bailey enough not to require it permanently? Although these collars look pretty frightening I do think that if the dog is not pulling then it's doing no harm long term to him, probably better than pulling on a slip lead. Be good to hear the views of those more experienced in dog trying than me

I have realised I'm never going to use these again so here we go..... 2 x Nash Pursuit X 12' 3lb test 1 x Nash Pursuit Marker Rod, 12' 1 x Nash Pursuit Spod 12' 1 X Nash Pursuit Jungle Stick All are in really good condition with no bent or broken rings. The marker rod has a Avocet Big Surf reel loaded with braid and the Spod has a Daiwa Jupiter 4500 loaded wth leader and braid. I think the bail arm on the reel on the spod was playing up a bit when I last used it but I've just clicked it over and it seems fine now. I can't find the bags they came in at the moment but I'll have another look Can be viewed near to in 9 of the M42 in North Warwickshire I'm rubbish with uploading photos on here but have took one on my phone that I can email if interested £200 for all of them collected. If you want them delivered can you arrange for courier collection please?

Blimey, no wonder all the street lights are dim around here with your electricity consumption:)

I recently had a tow bar fitted at a reasonable price. One of the reasons I paid was to get a receipt for the work and electrics because I was told that diy fitting of tow bar electrics would probably invalidate my car warranty issued by the dealer if anything subsequently went wrong such as fire. I don't know if this is actually true but I didn't want to risk it on a fairly expensive vehicle