marsh man

Really glad you had an enjoyable holiday 7daysinaweek , and please don't leave it another 25 years before you come back and visit our county . we cant hang on with this nice weather for that long P S..... Nice photo of the Harnser , did you know in Norfolk, they are also called Old Frank ? .

Pity you didn't ding it in a hedge near mine , I doubt it would have been there for two months as we like to recycle peoples rubbish

Hi Boyd ...... Hope you are keeping well ........ Very good idea that is ..... Some of our rape stubble is very short as the stalks have now all been baled up , then we go to the other end of the scale where on our estate the stalks are two or three feet tall as the combine only cut the bare minimum that hold the pods , so wearing some leg protection is a must , and like we say .... prevention is better than cure

When I shoot any stubbles now I wear a pair of water boots , a bit uncomfortable in hot weather but save your shins getting scratched , I also wear them on laid crops as well , this time with my trousers on the outside of my boots , save getting the sharp bits of grain ect in your socks .

Part of the trouble is supergoose not everyone is built the same , some people feel the cold and others don't , the ones who don't would normally feel it later on life and the ones who do would pack up fowling well before old age , I was employed as a jobbing bricklayer until I retired on my 60th birthday , one day I would be plastering ceilings , the next, floor tiling , laying drains , installing park rays and so on , from my mid 50s the hard work was taking its toll on my body more than what fowling ever did , and I then made up my mind I would call it a day when I turned 60 , looking back it was the best days work I ever done and haven't regretted a single day since , I haven't got much money coming in but my health has improved and I know what I would sooner have . I would say fowling haven't left me with any medical problems and as you know I spent long periods of time in one of my gun punts going up and the estuary in all weather conditions including 1963 which was, and still is one of the coldest on record and many a time sitting out a tide for over six hours at a time and as far cold goes being out for long periods in a gun punt pushing on to fowl or laying in wait up one of the many drains ,( or creeks to some )must be one of the coldest forms of wildfowling there is . So I would say , by the sound of it supergoose you have had some bad luck over the years with stresses and strains on your body , what with your manual work, sport injuries , having a rood traffic accident and your aches and pains, I think time is passing you by quicker than you realise and your mind is still very active and want you to do the things you enjoy but the body is telling you to be carful and not to put it through more hardship than is necessary . I think you have to decide what is best for you , weather you give it a miss for a while , change jobs or carry on as you are , but I hope whatever you decide you make the right decision and can see an improvement in your health . All the best and .. GOOD LUCK.

Now look what you have started ditchmam , I bet the pigeon hide wholesalers will soon be selling hides that look like the back of a motor with a net round it , maybe with a 10% discount for o a ps.

My next motor will be a 4 x 4 of some description , maybe not a ex German 1984 VW pick up truck but I can see the advantages of you having one . As the ole body is beginning to groan carrying all the paraphernalia backwards and forwards , I would seriously think about doing it again in the right surroundings .

Up until a couple of years ago I had never missed a first day of the wildfowling season , I say first day because if it started on a Sunday then we cant go in Norfolk till the Monday , as the marshes were on my doorstep I could easily do the morning flight , get back home for a bit of breakfast and be at work for a 8 o clock start. For a number of years I would flight the river in the morning , or the barley stubbles on the marsh and it was very rare we didn't come back with something in the bag , in the early days it would be mainly waders ( Curlew , Shanks ect ) but when the club started to get some marshes we often got a few duck , as time moved on I rented a first class rough shoot and I got the duck shooting on the marshes a few minutes away from my house , in fact last year I was still shooting duck on the same marshes that I first got over 45 years ago .. Now I leave going after wildfowl till late September or early October as I like to get duck now in full plumage , quality rather than quantity . So Good luck to all the ones who are going out on the first and hope you are rewarded for the early start ,

I am sure that many of you who have handled pigeons after the days shoot have had one of these land on your arm or worse still on your head from time to time . When one land on my arm , my first reaction is to give it a smack , this normally don't have any affect on the fly whatsoever , it then land again and you hit it even harder , resulting in a painful arm and a fly showing no signs of giving up. To me they look like a flat lice that no doubt stay on the pigeon like fleas do on a Rabbit , or do they just land on a pigeon then jump on me when I disturb it? Some of you will know the proper name ,how to tell the difference from male and female and everything else worth knowing , all very interesting but how do you flatten it on your arm without doing yourself an injury

It might well part of the problem , but I think it down to supply and demand , as more birds are put down , more end up at the game dealers and each year they have still got stock from last year or even longer , resulting in cold stores already overflowing before the coming season starts .

To tell yer the truth , if there was any fear of endangering the public , horses or by being to near houses or roads I would then leave well alone , weather legally you are right or wrong , the last thing I want when I am shooting is people moaning about shot falling , noise and at worse the old bill turning up , all hassle I can do without . If you are in any doubt , don't bother .

If there is a idea pattern then I don't think I have ever found it , for a number of pre magnet years I would take 12 out of the freezer the night before I went , on the day it would be a matter of tipping them out about 25yds from the hide and chuck them in different directions then either put the dead un on a cradle or a kebab stick under the chin and way you go , as you shot a few you added to the set up and stopped adding pigeons when you thought the pattern was big enough . Now , virtually all the fields I shoot I have shot the same fields many times before over the years and you get to know what part of the field will shoot the best , alright , I still get it wrong now and again but nowhere near as many times as hen I first started . Nowadays with 99.9 pigeon shooters using magnet(s), I think the days pigeons coming into the decoys in textbook fashion are in the past ( well for me they are ) , I use one and if a pigeon is drawn into range by the magnet then it has done its job and the rest is up to me , I am there for the sport and I am not at all bothered about the right pattern as long as they come into range then I have done something right .

Many THANKS to all above for your helpful advice , very much appreciated .

Thanks ditchman , I must admit , I had a job of making your land rover out as it was so well concealed , whereas with mine only the back half was covered , although I am not sure if pigeons are bothered with cars and tractors as I have often driven across stubble fields and they didn't lift till the last minute . . One thing I had to watch out for , I was virtually under a large tree and I do like taking head on shots , and a couple of times I nearly forgot the tailgate was just above me and it would have been easy to left it to late and blew a neat hole near the number plate as I always shoot sitting down

Advice needed please , last week after a heavy storm our land line phone stopped working but the broadband that was connected to the phone as well kept working alright . we renewed the twin connector and bought a new phone but still not working . Is there anything else I can do , or do I call out B T ? THANKS

Having enjoyed reading about ditchmans day out on the rape stubble on Saturday , little did I know then I would be using similar tactics associated with his hide . I was up and about early today and with my wife having some of friends coming round mine at 1pm I had made sure most of my d I y bit and pieces were done well before then . I was done at 12 and after a quick cup of tea and loaded my motor up I was on my way , first stop was the pub to make sure they wanted 40 pigeons this week and then called at the farm to see what else had been cut , to cut a long story short , not much more than what was done last week as it seemed as if it had been raining every other day, all the barley is done and the combine driver was then going to check the moisture reading on the rape , yippeeeeeee. So some of the old barley stubble it had to be , as there was nothing else to go on , pulling up at one of the fields the first thing I noticed was all the bales were gone but the stubble was still intact , there were only a few pigeons down on the stubble but several going backwards and forwards on other stubbles in the area. With it being a lovely afternoon and nothing to do I thought I would give two or three hours and try and bring a few in to the decoys , after driving to the other side of the field to have the wind on my back I quickly unloaded my car , having put all the decoys out , which with the shells added up to over 20 and the magnet well to one side with a couple of fresh pigeons I was now ready to put the hide up , the first thing I do is put the chair on some firm ground and the hide go around that . All good up to now , except I didn't have a chair , in my hurry I had forgot it , there is no way now I could knell or stand for three hours , I could go back to the farm for a 5 gallon can , or whip back home to get my seat , then I thought of ditchmans post where he put a net over the land rover , would this work ? we will soon find out . I drove my car facing the hedge , lifted my tailgate and used two nets to make a hide and the third one to drape over the back , mainly to keep the sun off rather than to hide the motor . I wasn't sure if this would work at first as half of my car was still exposed , I needn't had worried as the first pigeon came in without hesitating and was soon put on cradle to join the decoys , if there had been a lot of pigeons about I am sure the improvised hide would have worked a treat as it was , I was getting one now again together with a very good r and l , by around four the sky started to darken up and by 4.45 the first spots of light rain started to fall ,game over , gun in the case and with being in the car the clearing up was a doddle , the nets were back in the motor without moving and then I reversed to the decoys , magnet ,battery and 19 dead pigeons , all stowed away and on my way home in less than 15 minutes . So could this putting a hide around your motor becomes Normal for Norfolk , no I doubt it

Sorry I didn't read the heading of your post. Totally different ball game , never seen a Grouse let alone shot one . Let us know the outcome .

If you are shooting driven game at the end of September it would be Partridge only and I would of thought French ( Red Legs ) and not English . As for a loader , We have a lot of Partridge shoots ( 150 to 200 bird days ) and very rare someone will bring a loader , so depending on what size day it is I don't think I would bother about a loader , unless your girlfriend / wife want to do the loading , having said that , if you were lucky enough to be using double guns then you would need somebody who know what to do as changing guns over can be dangerous , Use what gun you are more used to and happy with , and the choice of cartridge would be any 28 or 30 grams game cartridge in 6s or 7s. GOOD LUCK.

All very nice looking and conditioned dogs , I prefer Black , but that is only my personal choice , nothing wrong with any coloured Lad , all fantastic dogs . Do you have them all in one hide , three in each or do you leave some in the motor. ?

Nice report Mr JDog , I wouldn't be surprized if the local pigeon population in N/Norfolk are getting good at steering clear of two pigeons going round and round in circles and not really getting anywhere , pity about the rain showers , we had some dark clouds but touch wood it kept dry all afternoon .

All very nice photos ditchman , and I can just make out a few pigeons at the bottom of your hide , glad it stayed dry and I am looking forward to the wright up telling us how it all went

I have over the years shot several with White feathers in there wings and over there backs , and one I got was mainly White and Beige , I kept it in the freezer until I sold my pigeons to Frostgame , I showed this pigeon to Cisel Frost and asked him if had seen one like before , with a smile on his face he went in his cold store and came out with a pure white albino Wood Pigeon which he was going to have it set up. I had never seen one before and doubt I will never see another one. What ever happened to it I haven't got a clue, as the poor old boy have been dead for a number of years .

You done well to get enough dry weather to have a go yesterday , we had some real heavy showers with a lot of the minor roads flooded and the sun didn't really come out till tea time. Quality photo , dogs look in mint condition along with the pigeons , not one of our rape fields have been cut yet and although they had a early start with this years harvest ,but due to the heavy rain they are only a few days ahead of a normal starting date which is about now. Good report and I hope you have got many good days to come ........... if of coarse you can get the time off

We are all eagerly awaiting the outcome , let hope the weather stay dry for you tomorrow , as they forecast the risk of heavy showers in the afternoon . GOOD LUCK and I hope you both get a nice lot of shooting. I am now going today in case it do rain tomorrow , if it stay dry , then I will out again and treat it as a bonus .

A very good post and a timely reminder about the pit falls when shooting rape stubbles , I must admit I do take my dog on the different stubbles and possibly more by luck than judgement up to now my dog haven't suffered no ill effects . Well done on three very good bags for a few hours shooting each day and I am glad after your long wait that you have finally got some birds to go after , enjoy it while it lasts. P S... Hope your cuts and scrapes are healing well and thanks for the heads up.