adzyvilla

Mine was new when I bought it and has probably had 5000 carts through it and maybe acted up twice, not cycling (most likely due to me using too light a load). As already said, keep it clean and it shouldn't give any trouble. I've not noticed the lever release button being overly stiff, but then I am a ham fisted oik.

Got to disagree with you ditchy. I shoot the best roost shooting wood in East anglia. The only reason the keeper can't take it off me is the big boss gave me the permission and I'm never giving it up.

Beautiful pup. I have two labs myself and I wouldn't be without them.

My farmer mate loves his amarok (14 plate 2l tdi). Its light years ahead of his old 3l ranger. The auto is very smooth and pulls well good for towing and is the top spec so luxurious inside. Probably a nicer place to be than a hilux, but little to choose from in terms of reliability and ability. I have heard that the v6 amaroks are problematic.

I remember a registered shoot some years ago down in Hampshire on a bitterly cold blustery day just like you experienced. The conditions suited my snapshooting style and I scored unusually well, but there were some absolute nutters wandering round in shirtsleeves like it was a summers day. I was wearing a set of agricultural thermal overalls and a fleece and I still felt cold. When it comes to clays, that was the day I became a fair weather shooter.

Until I earned enough money to afford a decent car, I practiced bangernomics for years. Its amazing what you used to be able to get hold of for under 1k (with a full MOT). I had several that didn't pass a test after 12 months, but one 20 year old VW golf bought for £750 passed every year for 5 years and only cost me a few hundred in servicing costs. I will keep my now 7 year old subaru until it dies having owned it for 3 trouble free years. I'm with Walker570, I'll never buy a new car.

Great job, worthy of a professional, certainly better than some of the landscapers I've worked with.

I was talking to my old man today and asked him if he could remember anything else that happened. Not to him this time, but the neighbours farm had a pig man fall in the slurry pit and drown, must have been 40 or more years ago now but still fresh in the memory for dad. What an awful way to go.

Dads worked and lived on farms his entire life. In the 80s he was crushed by a cow once before milking, broke four ribs and his left wrist. Just tiredness resulted in a lapse of concentration and the resulting mistake which to be fair could have been a lot worse. Also way before I was born, so probably late 60s he had a narrow escape when the front wheel on his massey 135 came off when he was carting straw on the main road pulling the tractor into the ditch and turning it over. He managed to fall clear but will never understand how. He also doesn't wear a wedding ring any more after having the finger ripped off at the knuckle by a piece of machinery he was working on. So many ag accidents happen because people are tired or have lost concentration, or are just too pressed for time to be careful.

Had mine for 6 years. Not done loads out on the salt marsh, but plenty of inland wildfowling, pigeons etc. Barrel coating holding up well, receiver starting to get a bit beaten up but I can't complain as its a working tool and is probably my most used gun.

Bit of a different one here. I was beating on a large shoot about 10 years ago, acting as stop at the corner of a wood. There was another beater about 50 yards further down the way, and another at the far corner. It was blowing an absolute howler tha day, and I was glad to be partially out of the worst of it while the main bulk of the beaters were bringing the cover down either side in the full force of the gale. Idly looking about, i noticed the next stop along from me kept waving at me and pointing, so at first I just waved back, but his gesticulating got more and more exaggerated and I thought I heard him shouting something but I couldn't make it out. Next thing I know, I was knocked flat by a large branch falling and whacking me a glancing blow on my head and back. Picking myself up, I did a quick check and amazingly felt fine, if a little shaken. Matey came running up to me asking if I was OK and how he had tried to warn me and why did I ignore him. He could see this branch getting pummelled and must have had some premonition it was going to hit me. Funny thing is that it didn't make a sound as it broke off, so I had no idea what the guy was trying to tell me.

Challenge accepted

At work, wymondham

Just try and stop me! I'll make sure I write up the report.

I was sitting in the canteen at work looking out of the window today, watching a flightline of pigeons coming from the direction of the local park, crossing the main road and heading off to wherever they were going to feed for the day. I was so entranced by this that I completely forgot my coffee and it was quite cold when I got round to drinking it. In my reverie, I failed to notice one of the apprentices also watching the spectacle, but a bit later when I was back at my bench, he came over to me and asked me if I was watching the pigeons like he had been. What followed was one of the best conversations I have had for years. I explained my interest (I am known as that guy who shoots things at work), what the pigeons were doing and why, and he was so interested, really keen to learn and asked me all sorts of questions about it. I haven't had someone with no real shooting background ever talk to me about the subject before, it really warmed my heart. I've taken quite a few of my workmates clay shooting, and one even joined me brushing once too, but none have ever expressed an interest in pigeon shooting... until now. I did explain that opportunities will be few and far between for a few months, but he's welcome to join me roost shooting (provided the farmer doesn't mind) in the new year. He's not a complete shooting novice which is a plus, and I'm really looking forward to giving him his first taste of the sport. Really made a crappy day at work that much better.

I might be a bit of an oddity in so far as most of my pigeon shooting is roost/flightline so I only really get the chance in the winter months. Add into that the fact that I have so little time outside of work and family concerns, that my opportunity to go decoying are few and far between and consist mainly of my farmer mate phoning me up and saying "I had 200 on my peas etc today, can you come and have a go", and I might get a chance a few days later and all the birds have ******** off or my available day the weather is ****. I don't do as much as I did, and it does upset me because some of my best times have been in a hide on my own or with my dog or my old man just shooting pigeons and passing the time in wonderful surroundings. As others have said, there have been lots of things to put people off, be it out in the real world or simply talking about it online. I'll still post my occasional roost shooting reports and the one or two times I get out in a hide in a year I will share my experiences if they are worth talking about. I like this forum, but its for far more than pigeon shooting now.

I've a subaru xv and swapped the worn out geolanders for Michelin latitude Cross which are slightly more off road biased than the standard suv yokohamas, but give good on road performance and economy. The standard geos are a good all purpose tyre, but I have found them to be prone to punctures so the a/t ones may be a better bet in that regard. They are both supposed to be m+s tyres, but I didn't rate the geos in the snow, against the Michelin I now have which are a proper all weather tyre.

Anyone believing anti fieldsports propaganda needs their head examined. Are you sure you are on the right forum?

Good for you. I wish I had the motivation to do it. I grew up on a farm and went straight into grounds maintenance and tree work when I left college. I worked for the council and a few private companies, but after 10 years or so I got fed up with the poor money, so I took a much better paid manufacturing job. Now I've done that for 11 years I often think about going back to working outdoors. My advice would be to try and pick up some regular contracts, looking after the greenery on industrial estates and so on. Hope you make a go of it, and as you are in Norfolk too, maybe I'll try and put some business your way.

He was an absolute goal machine, scoring for fun most seasons in an era when strikers were afforded little protection from professional hackers on pitches that made the somme look like a billiard table. A phenomenal record as a pro, before the era of the megastar footballer. We won't see the likes of him again.

I ditched the smart phone for the first time in 15 years last year and just have one that just does calls and texts. I'm fed up with the constant intrusions that technology makes into our lives. I'm really enjoying it so far, and the battery lasts 7 days between charges.

They had a groundsman with a flat cap, a bucket of sand and a fork. He worked his magic.

Tearing my cruciate ligament in a county Cup semifinal at the age of 15, watched by scouts from several professional teams. My team went on to win in the final but I never played at that level again. Witnessing the immediate aftermath of my teenage sisters unsuccessful suicide attempt when I was 7 but not understanding what had happened. Seeing the damage inflicted on the ancient woodland surrounding our farm after the storm of 87.

lovely looking pups. Pete is my youngest dogs sire, they are sure to be great gundogs. Good luck.

My mate still runs his claas dominator 68, bought new for his farm by his grandfather in 1987. This was him last year, and he's just sent me a video of his father combining barley earlier. He managed to get it stuck in a ditch.