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Jim Neal

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Everything posted by Jim Neal

  1. @wabbitbosher is who you're in search of, I believe. Very local to me in fact, never met him but has an exemplary reputation!
  2. Where do you live? Sounds like my sort of night out! šŸ˜… My village had a hotel, 3 pubs, a working mens' club and a cricket club. The hotel made way for old folks' accomodation at least 30 years ago, probably a lot longer. The working mens' club went many years ago and is now a spacious house. One pub finally went about 6 years ago, after a period of quite a few years when it would open briefly then close for weeks/months. The cricket club will hang on just fine I think, it's got its niche. One of the two remaining pubs is an Everards' house so you're OK if you like Eagle or Bombadier, or some sort of reindeer **** that they have on around Christmas time. The village lager drinkers frequent this place I think! It's a bit "local", doesn't help that the landlord is a bit of a marmite character so I've heard, which keeps a lot of villagers out of there. The other pub is quite ancient and is intertwined with local history going back for centuries. But, the same as the one which closed down, it is owned by an investment company who get managers in on a long term contract paying a peppercorn rent for 12 months, then whack the rent up after the first year to something that means they just don't make a living out of it. The current people have actually made a decent go of it to be fair, they're surviving if not thriving (I don't know how lucrative it is for them). Some friends of mine took on the lease in that pub about 10 years ago and then realised what they had let themselves in for. It was a 25 year contract with no early release clause! They baled out in the end, losing everything they had put in to it. This, I believe, is why so many of our village pubs are dying off. This business model where they're owned by investment companies who cream off a big chunk of the profit is rotten to the core in my opinion. It is an absolute affront on one of the foundation stones of British society. In times gone by a "proper" landlord and landlady would have a pub, and it was "theirs" even if it was a tied house. The breweries still took some money but it was a much fairer arrangement than a lot of these investment companies give to their "managers" nowadays. It's extremely fanciful to think of this I know, but I do wonder if the government might recognise the historical and heritage value of our ancient inns and devise some sort of way to protect them from the mercenary financiers who only see them in the form of profit & loss accounts and balance sheets. Our traditional pubs are worth much more than the treatment they've been getting.
  3. Pedant alert.........All steel contains carbon, otherwise it would be called iron. The term "carbon steel" is a bit like saying "gravel concrete" I bought a couple of Victorinox butcher's knives recently, they're damn good. You don't need anything fancy for bread, but definitely serrated. A chantry knife sharpener does the trick to get the best out of them, although I wouldn't use it on my best straight edged knives. Whetstone and time......
  4. Gary might have retired now, he posted this 10 years ago
  5. If Wild Justice do get their way, I don't think it will make the blindest bit of difference to how many woodcock are shot in the UK. I don't know anyone who doesn't advocate restraint on woodcock until at least well in to December. As said above, if you understand the bird you'll know that the arriving migrants will find their habitat late November and then need a good couple of weeks to recover from their travels. I think our syndicate mirrors many shoots who say that you only shoot it if you're going to eat it. Some seasons we ban shooting them altogether if the numbers don't look prolific. We've seen plenty this last season so have allowed shooting them, but even so probably only 20 have been shot over a pretty decent size chunk of land that we cover. What does bother me if Wild Justice manage to push this through, is it will put them in a stronger position to carry on chipping away at shooting.
  6. Sometimes (a lot of the time) you just have to shrug your shoulders and put it down to experience! Onwards and upwards, hope you find a few on the rape šŸ‘
  7. I must have scared the last ones from here eastwards then, hardly any about in my stomping ground now! 9's enough for it not to have been a waste of time, I seldom leave without having shot anything but have had a couple of blanks! I'm going to call time after this coming Saturday. A little glimmer of hope is that the gas guns sound like they've been switched off in the fields adjacent to one wood which can shoot well. I'll pop in for a recce in the next couple of days, hopefully that wood might be the last hurrah before I clean the gun and give it a rest for a while.
  8. Someone in Norfolk has got enough pigeons that he is advertising them for sale!!
  9. That's what the village residents will be thinking, anyway! Not much shooting to report back on from the last couple of days, unfortunately. Yesterday I freed up the last few hours of the afternoon. I planned to drop in to a spot in the end of a wood that I know will never produce a bumper bag, but always has the odd few drifting in up the flightline. It can be quite busy some days but that's rare. Some years ago I considered it worthwhile to build a hide there to shoot from. There's a hedge connecting the corner of the wood to a long strip of black pine a couple of hundred yards away, and it's always a noticeable line in for pigeon traffic. First off though, I invested an hour's time to begin with because the hide has now just got the dry, crumbly remnants of the fir branches I dressed it with originally to conceal me....which it was failing miserably at! I hitched up the trailer and parked up by a nearby plantation which has several rows of fir trees planted along it, interspersing the rows of ash and oak. The fir trees are about 30ft tall now and their lower branches are all in a pretty ropey condition; only needles on the last third or so. I'm presuming this is just down to light levels, as the trees are so densely packed there's no light gets through to the ground. Reaching up to the best looking branches, I cut and piled up several bundles, bound with bailer twine to make them easier to drag along, and loaded up the trailer. I felt grateful for the unusually dry weather we've had recently which meant I could drive on the meadows. Just a short trundle across to the wood, I unloaded my bunches of foliage over the fence as close as possible to the hide, jumped over and went to work It's amazing how a heavy, cumbersome bunch of fir branches seems to go absolutely nowhere once you spread them out to dress a hide! I could have done with another three trips' worth, but it was time to get on. I dropped the trailer, nipped back home for gun, dogs and flask, and headed back. One of the reasons I chose this spot was the wind had turned round and was coming from the north. There's a gateway in the flightline hedge about 80 yards before it gets to the wood. Here, you can stand in the gateway with the tall, thick foliage concealing you from incoming birds and have a pop at them as they come overhead. With a north wind, it's perfectly on your back and therefore gets the birds a bit lower and slower, usually enough to make them shootable. On a south-west wind they come zipping along, usually out to your left which not only makes them longer range and faster but also leaves you exposed without any cover when you mount the gun; they mostly flare off and it is a rare thing to actually down one, even though I do still keep trying on occasion! What's also good about standing here is you can see 500yds in either direction to the side of you, so you know whether or not there's traffic coming in on alternative lines. On this occasion, traffic was almost non-existent and I kicked myself when I was caught napping, looking to my left as a bird came up the line on the right side. I saw it too late, took a poke at it over my right shoulder, and that was that. I decamped back into the wood because the wind was starting to bite. Tucked into my freshly dressed-up hide, I knew it was going to be a non-starter due to the lack of birds in the air, but as it was too late to relocate anywhere else I just stuck it out. It was just nice to be out with my gun and dogs in a wood, enjoying the fresh air. I didn't really have my shooting head on, to be honest, and missed the two or three chances I had. A lone bird arrived from an unexpected direction and staged up at what I considered the furthest reaches of my range (I'd only put 27g 7.5 shells in my pocket). I proceeded to have an argument with myself; do I go for a low-percentage shot at the sitter, or leave it in hope that it would decoy a few others in. I chose not to shoot. Then when it was still sat there several minutes later and literally not another bird showed itself, I threw caution to the wind, switched to the tighter choke barrel and gave it a crack. To my amazement, the bird helicoptered down to the ground! Knowing it wouldn't be stone dead and could escape, I sent the dogs straight on it, threw in the towel and took the pigeon home for the dogs' dinners. ------------------------------------- Today, Matt joined me again. Pretty much out of other options, we headed straight for the wood with the line of Leylandii trees. The wind was still in the north; this meant it was in your face, angling in from the right hand side if using the hide I'd built. We parked up a little short of the conifers and elected, as before, to split up and walk a pincer movement towards the prime spot. Not much was sitting and no shots fired en route to the line of Leylandii. Once we had met up again, we loitered without really putting down roots. After his last time out with me, when his dog wound him up a treat, Matt had decided to leave it at home today but I still had my two spaniels. Having had ten minutes on the way there to blow off a bit of steam, they were a little less prone to charging about hunting madly whilst we stood to survey the scene. I let them snuffle about a bit and they actually stopped and sat off-lead on their own accord. Then I noticed movement to my right - a pigeon swinging around us. I was right in the middle of the conifers at this point and the bird crossed the line of trees right above my head. A pure snap-shot, I connected with it and the bird walloped into one of the Leylandii only yards away and the sound of it clattering down was very obvious. I sent the dogs straight on - fully expecting to be cleaning up a mouthful of feathers in only a few seconds' time - but neither dog picked it. Matt was sure he'd heard the thud of it hitting the deck, so this was most bizarre. Seems as it was very quiet I set off on a little sweep of the wood, covering 100 yards or so in a fan shape going out from where I'd lost sight of the pigeon. Nothing, how strange. I'd intimated to Matt that the usual hide position wouldn't be great today, explaining that the pigeons would be higher and faster coming downwind towards you. However, there were a few that tantalised him and he was having a pop at them so he stayed put whilst I went off for a recce. I walked most of the way to the other end of the wood, back round the pen past the car where I relieved myself of my cartridge bag which I'd optimistically filled with at least as many rounds as we'd fired between us a fortnight ago when we had a very busy session here. With one box emptied into my coat pocket, I continued on the last leg of my round trip to meet up with Matt again. He'd been letting off a steady stream of single and double shots whilst I'd been gone but had nothing to show for it! I took up position behind him, facing downwind, resigned to the fact that we may as well sit it out until sunset for the few birds that would undoubtedly come in at last knockings. Traffic picked up a little, and we each had a few opportunities. Matt finally knocked one down whilst I took three. We both missed the chance to shoot at a pigeon that caught us off-guard and it slipped in to a tree about 40 yards away on Matt's side of the conifers. With nothing to lose, I snicked the barrel selector over for a tighter choke and took a pop at it. I definitely hit the bird because it initially fell from the branch. However, it regained its composure and struggled across to another tree only 20 yards or so away where it landed up again. This time, Matt put a barrel into it and again I know it was hit because a few feathers were knocked out, but the bird unbelievably flew off across the wood and out of sight! Later on I hunted the dogs out that way but with the light failing and the ground there being very difficult to effectively hunt I had to give up on it. I've definitely found the limitations of the 27g 7.5 cartridges I've been using. I'm sure with a heavier load the sitters I've shot at in the last couple of weeks would have been in dead on the floor rather than picked running or lost. That was it, we managed 5 pigeons picked between us and I was cursing the two that got away. I dropped Matt off and headed back home for some cold chicken fajitas () and a beer or two. Then I took my frustrations out on splitting a few hundredweight of wood for the fire, which the dogs are currently enjoying the benefit of whilst I'm upstairs on my computer! Last outing next Saturday then, possibly a cheeky one mid-week if I get time and can sort out permission to go on someone else's land. Roost shooting season comes and goes all too quickly.......
  10. Sorry can't help with the shooting but you've reminded me of my trip to SA. A mate of mine married a bok, she hailed from that region so the wedding was just outside Jo'burg. A group of us went out there (date stamps on the photos tell me it was 15 years ago šŸ˜¦) I think this picture of a white lioness was taken at Pilanesburg national park. Awesome creatures, they're huge! Either there or at Kruger national park, I can't remember, there was a part where you could drive amongst the animals. Several of us were in the back of someone's Hi-Lux with a hard top on the back (cool box full of beers in there of course ). My mate the groom was leaning out the tailgate with his camera photographing animals one side, but what he didn't see was the male lion coming round the other side of the truck in his blind spot.... let's just say the wedding was nearly cancelled for health reasons. He got dragged back inside by his shorts, missed only by millimetres by some very big claws and teeth. When we got out of the truck afterwards (and I'm annoyed with myself I didn't get a photo of it) there were the lion's teeth and claw marks left in the back bumper of the truck! After the wedding, my travelling companion and I spent a few days up in Sun City. This sign at the Crocodile "Sanctuary" (most are killed for meat and skin) really cracked me up! If it's still trading, I can thoroughly recommend the Carnivore Restaurant, just top side of Jo'burg. I ate my way through all of the game options. Ostrich was a bit dry, not my thing. Crocodile very salty and texture like raw cod. Wouldn't have it again! The rest was great, I remember I liked the Gemsbok a lot. This is the fire pit they cook on!!!! Hope you get sorted mate and have a good trip. Plenty of photos and an epic report please!
  11. Thanks all for the kind words, and don't worry @Old Boggy I don't consider that to be hijacking the thread at all, just part of a discussion @marsh man, funny you should mention the Red Kite because the location in this report is a kite roost! One time last year at that hide, just as I decided I'd had my last shot of the day, the kites started descending in to the trees all around me to roost up. There must have been 20 within a stone's throw of my position. It's reassuring to see that they are not frightened in any way by gun shots - quite the opposite, in fact! They have learned to associate gun shots with food. There's always going to be a bird here and there that gets pricked or you fail to pick up. There's been a few times when I've wondered if I should take a shot because a kite is up there, albeit out of any sensible range you'd hope to hit a target species at. In my part of the world there were extensive release programmes some years back and the birds have really thrived. It's an everyday sight having them swooping and soaring over our village. I'll see if I can try to remember to take a picture but most days when you go outside and look up there are at least 20 kites visible to the naked eye within a few hundred yards' radius. A few years ago a friend showed me some photos and described how someone in the adjoining road must have put food on a garage roof or something similar. There was literally a vortex of red kites descending and ascending in a tight circle over this one spot above someone's back yard! He couldn't count them properly but estimated 50+ birds. @ditchman some of the owners are just as special needs as the dogs! šŸ˜† I've been swapping between the above mentioned 27g 7.5 and a 29g 6 load, testing them out really. I'm actually finding I'm a bit more consistent with the 7.5s but it's early days yet, only shot 40 or so of each so that's nowhere near enough to have any sort of opinion set in concrete. I don't think the real pigeons know that the cartridge says "clay" on the box @Stoneparkhas saved me the trouble, couldn't have put it any better šŸ‘ Hopefully out again Saturday, if not before!
  12. Tricky. I've found it the same when trying to replicate a good roost shooting session. I think I might have got close last weekend though! I'm a bit late getting this report up, but after my very good session a week last Saturday I was brimming with hope and anticipation because the weather forecast promised a bit of very windy weather to hit the area on Friday; I fancied going back to the wood with the tall Leylandii to have another crack at the pigeons on my own. I freed up my time for the late afternoon/early evening, but then on Thursday watched in dismay as the predicted gale seemed to fizzle off the forecast completely. Ah well, too late now to worry or change anything. It was a very busy session before with no wind to funnel the birds onto a line - I think the feature of those trees is so prominent that it's one of the rare places you don't need to rely heavily on the wind to bring the birds to you. I had a very busy day with a mixture of things to get done: some actual work in the morning (I do go out and earn a living sometimes), followed by a couple of urgent errands that I needed to run. Also, I was very kindly gifted a fallow buck last Sunday which I'd already got butchered but needed to get the noisy job of mincing it done before I went out, so I didn't keep anyone awake that night making sausages! (I do sleep sometimes) Babysitter installed (love you, mum!), I headed out a bit later and a bit more stressed than planned, at about 15:30. It's only 5 minutes to the wood, where I let myself in the gate and decided to forego the 300-odd yard walk that can sometimes yield a few snap shots as you surprise the sitting pigeons out of the trees. I drove all the way round the pen and parked only about 40yds behind the hide. It's quite handy that the wood has several lateral and longitudinal rides in a grid system, and it's so dry at the moment they're firm going in a vehicle. I chucked the special needs spaniels out of the car and let them blast off some energy. Of course, one of them almost instantly finds the only pheasant left in the wood!! Two squirrels dashing up a tree along the ride were noted, to be harassed at a later, more convenient time. I hastily scooped up gun and cartridges, plus remembered the all-important dog leads! Seems as it was only a short stagger, I took a bucket to chuck empties in, loading it up with my flask and cup, water for me, plus due to the unusually warm temperature a bottle of water and bowl for the dogs to knock all over my boots every time I put the gun up. This saves me time cleaning the boots myself, I just have to refill the bowl every 5 shots or so. What frustrates me is they sit there panting but don't drink a drop. I'd brought one more thing from the car: my bow-saw. As I had found last week on my first visit to it this year, the hide needed a bit of TLC. 5 Minutes later, after hacking a few branches off the neighbouring young Leylandii that had self-set under the huge parent trees, the hide was looking a bit more like concealing me to the front and left and I was ready for action. First customer in was a crow, tantalisingly at the upper limits of the 27g 7.5s I'd loaded into the gun. Of course, I missed it. The shot unsurprisingly stirred up the wood and a few pigeons began darting this way and that, out of range to begin with. A few opportunities presented themselves to me and I capitalised on one - a right-to-left snap shot as a bird came over my shoulder, skimming the top of the tall conifers behind me. Then another came on almost exactly the reverse line, attempting to go where its now departed friend had come from. I dropped the bird only about 5 yards behind me, testing the strength of the dog leads and, of course, giving my boots their first watering of the afternoon. Purely as an aid to training the young cocker, I left the pigeon where it was downed, in full view of the dogs. No problem for the apprentice but the old springer damn near choked herself in a bid to go and fetch it for me. She was giving me that look: "Can't you SEE IT??? It's just THERE!!!!". She calmed down eventually. I settled in to the session, but the pigeon numbers were understandably a lot less than 6 days previous, which was the first time I'd shot the wood this year. There wasn't so much of a "mad 10 minutes" as the first shots rattled up the nearby sitting pigeons, but I managed to loose off a good 8 or 10 shots before the obligatory lull set in. I got caught napping, looking to my right (the usual line in) as a pigeon swooped across me from the left side. It would have been an almost dead cert, only maybe 20-odd yards out in front, but by the time I'd called myself a rather rude name it had swung around me and disappeared through the evergreen screen provided by the backdrop of conifers. You can actually see just enough dappled sky through the top 10 feet or so of these trees to know if any birds are swinging in behind you. This was the case as I tracked a few arriving birds, circling the edge of the wood about 150yds in front before they disappeared behind the tall trees. I let my gaze linger just long enough to catch a glimpse of movement coming my way from behind the foliage. I mounted the gun a bit clumsily due to being swivelled around - I always feel that I need to pay more attention to my footwork when roost shooting, but always seem to freeze on the spot, I believe because I'm trying to minimise my movement - but I got locked on to the pigeon as it came overhead and was very pleased with a clean, first-barrel kill which landed a decent way out in front of me. I took a couple more "bread and butter" birds which came almost straight on to me passing to my right. This invariably results in them hitting one of the Leylandii, and then (hopefully) bouncing down through the branches to the ground. It's a sort of smack-smack-smack-THUD. Only, one of these birds didn't do the THUD at the end. They can get stuck if they hit the tree a fair way up because the upper branches are more dense. Sometimes they drop out unexpectedly a little while later, other times you'll find the feathers on the ground where something made a meal out of it at a later time! One more kill of note: a very fast moving bird which circled clockwise around me, turning sharply as it came past. I don't often congratulate myself out loud, but this pigeon was going some and I folded it stone dead in the air, first barrel, as it was about to pass over the top of the trees, which must be 100ft tall. There was a very loud THUD somewhere way back behind me, and at that moment I felt it wouldn't get any better than that this afternoon. One very unwise, unsuspecting pigeon dropped in to the bare branches of a beech tree about 20yds in front of me, but it didn't get comfortable there - quite the opposite. Sunset was fast approaching and the sky grew duller by the minute. The calls of crows in the background became more regular and I sensed it was time to slip the gun and give the dogs their long-awaited reward. I knew where I hadn't dropped any birds - anywhere between 12 and 3 on a clock face, if you look at it like that. Therefore I set off straight out in front from the hide, knowing I'd be wise to sweep the whole of the wood out to 150yds away from me, then arc round to the left to bring that side back to the hide. Both dogs justified their outing with me, and I actually came back from that sector with one more than I thought I'd pick. Then we went up and down the line of conifers, either side of the hide position. On either side I was one bird short of what I wanted to pick. I knew the reason on the right side, but was disappointed with only 2 out of 3 on the left. I'd maybe not connected as well as I thought with one of them and it had run off. I chose to keep the dogs tethered up and settled for the duration of my session seems as it was a bit shorter than usual, to avoid them scaring off any further incomers and to help keep my focus on the birds in the sky rather than the lunatics on the ground. That bird evidently should have been retrieved straight away so my mistake. With my left arm aching from carrying a fistful of pigeons, and my right hand using the whistle to occasionally re-direct the picking up team, I started sweeping the area behind the hide and deposited the birds picked so far on the roof of my car. Both dogs did me proud, hunting hard and finding anything that was downed. Happy I'd done all I could to pick up, I returned to the hide to retrieve my gear, now in almost complete darkness. I loaded up the car and headed off home with 9 woodpigeons, a bucket full of 29 empties and two happy spaniels. I always like to reward my dogs for their hard work out in the field with me, so they got their customary pigeon dinner and a spot on the sofa in front of the fire that evening. Happy days. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I treated myself to a lie-in on Saturday morning, which meant the other half took the dogs on their morning walk. Upon her return, I'd dragged myself as far as the kettle, where I was vigorously interrogated as to the whereabouts of the dog leads. I checked coat pockets, table outside, shed, back of the car... DOH! The leads were still tethered up to the hide in the wood! In my haste to set about picking up before the light went, I'd broken protocol; instead of making sure my kit was all ready to just pick up and go, I'd simply slipped the dogs off their leads and set off. I didn't see my mistake in the dark! This meant I'd have to go back that afternoon. Ah well, may as well take my son for a wander, and the dogs.... might as well take the gun for a walk as well, then! I've actually been struggling with a really bad cold this last week and, although I felt OK Friday, Saturday found me decidedly unmotivated to get out of bed or go outdoors. I'd already made a call to last week's companion Matt, who I'd expected would want to go for the usual Saturday outing, but as chance would have it he'd been invited elsewhere decoying so I didn't have to let him down. Later that day, I dragged myself, son, dogs and gun back to the wood only 30 minutes or so prior to sunset. As we parked up, I could hear shotguns popping about a mile away in another wood where I'd placed two of our guns who wanted to roost shoot that day. I also saw those two squirrels again but moved them down the priority list. We set off towards the hide to retrieve the leads and I chatted to my son along the way. As we got near the line of tall Leylandii, my young cocker, out in front about 20 yards, froze momentarily and set something at the base of the trees. Then, quick as a flash she was in there. Then, quick as a flash, out came a woodpigeon, flying about 3 feet off the ground and off across the wood. The pair of them disappeared out of sight. My initial reaction was to yell at her to leave it; I desperately don't want to undo the hard work I've put in to prevent her chasing flushed game, but realised it was probably futile to do so at this moment, plus possibly fruitful if that bird was indeed an injured one from yesterday. My instincts were right as it turned out. Only a minute later, one very proud-looking cocker spaniel came galloping back towards me with a pigeon in her mouth. This filled me with both pride and dread, in equal amounts. It's amazing to see a young dog beginning to act on its instincts whilst at the same time doing something you want it to do. However, retrieving has been a disaster with this dog so far. She's possessive with a retrieve - shows you what she's got in a fly-by sort of manoeuvre - and then won't deliver it or let you get close to her in an attempt to relieve her of her prize. The bird's head was still up, which is a remarkable improvement in her handling of game. With both a pigeon and a pheasant in recent times she's thrashed and shaken them. On a recent syndicate day I had to chuck the remnants of a pheasant she got hold of that was stuck in a fence. This pigeon was still alive and thus far not damaged by the dog, so hopefully the shredding isn't going to be a habit. I employed the tactic of ignoring her. I turned my back on her and walked the pack away, to get the leads from the hide. Sure enough, once crouched down untying the leads, she trotted up with her new "best thing in the world ever" and with just a little bit more coaxing (and a quick grab of the scruff, not ideal but least worst option) I got her sat and released the bird from her mouth. I de-feathered her chops and gave her a bucket load of praise, and crossed my fingers that this could hopefully be a corner turned in her retrieving! I don't know if this bird was the unaccounted one from my left side, the one that got stuck in the tree on my right side, or none of the above. Either way around I'm glad it was retrieved and dispatched, but regret it had to suffer for 24 hours first. Right, about those squirrels........ well, I found a drey in the tree just above the feeder they scarpered from, knocked on the door with barrel no.1 and...... a woodpigeon bolted out of a tree only about 30 yards away! Barrel no.2 chased down this unexpected gatecrasher, which helicoptered into the trunk of a nearby sycamore. I knew I'd not hit it well, so immediately sent the dogs on. Experience won out over youth on this occasion, with the old springer following my hand signals and her nose straight on to the bird. Two pigeon dinners on the trot for the dogs, and I'd felt happy about both of those extra pigeons, for different reasons. Just better than a 3:1 ratio on a roost shooting session. Venison sausages for Sunday dinner, washed down with a nice bottle of red. I've possibly done a Star Wars and managed to follow up quite well with an Empire Strikes Back. Not a bad weekend.
  13. Eh? I think you've misunderstood me. What I meant was we are surely in for a liberal dose of this:
  14. Reading that, I can't help thinking of the old saying "be careful what you wish for" šŸ˜• With this incident happening, closely followed by the one with the teacher/husband/daughter, it's only going to mean one thing for gun owners in the UK.
  15. Kind words, thank you. Yes I hope I've solved my problem, but I still can't help wondering why two different mainstream cartridge loads would perform so poorly for me, they must sell truckloads of them to folk who get on well with them. An absolute head-scratcher. Just out of interest what would be the sort of situation where you'd go for the heavier shot? Absolutely, I think I get more adrenaline running from a couple of hours "red letter day" roosting pigeons than a whole game season. I was using my 1/2 and 3/4 chokes, so most killed with the 1/2 choke barrel and they seemed to be hitting well when I got it right. I'd guess you'd have to persevere if it didn't drop into place immediately, probably would be helped by a decoying session with some nice easy ones to get your eye in and then take it from there? Yes it seemed like the superfast pigeons were hitting well when I was aiming well, I think I just didn't settle in to the session so quickly and the box was all gone! Might be going back there with another mate tomorrow afternoon but unfortunately the strong forecast wind looks like it will now die off shortly after lunchtime šŸ˜ž
  16. I've had a real torrid time with my shooting throughout the last couple of years. Not to ramble on too much and repeat myself, I've had some nightmare days, ending up extremely frustrated with my inability to hit anything. I've developed a very strong lack of trust in the cartridges I've been using but have been a bit reticent to blame the shells, especially two brands on the trot.... maybe I've forgotten how to shoot? Something had to be done, because it's now the important part of the year when I get to go roost shooting so there was only one thing for it. On Friday, I went shopping. A short while later I staggered out of my local gun shop with a slab each of two different loads by Hull. I've noticed a lot of people advocate using smaller shot sizes for a better pattern, rather than trying the brute force approach with heavy loads of big pellets. After the frustration of the last couple of years, I was willing to try anything to get back in the swing of things. Therefore I armed myself with the 29g no.6 Superfast Pigeon as a "safe bet" and took a punt on the 27g 7.5 Superfast clay load to see what the fuss was all about. The weather on Saturday was almost the worst roost shooting weather you could imagine. The air was virtually still, but at least there was a reasonable amount of cloud; enough for it to be a little dull in the woods late in the afternoon. A chap called Matt moved in to the village about 2 years ago. He shoots elsewhere but has been coming along beating for our syndicate the last couple of seasons. He's been quite keen to come out roost shooting, so I made arrangements to pick him up around 2pm so we could have a cruise around a few likely spots to see what was about. We don't have all that many reliable places for roost shooting on our land. Inexplicably, some woods just don't attract pigeons to roost in any sort of number that would make you stand there with a gun for a couple of hours (I have learned this the hard way over the years, naturally!). The big wood where I do my keeping duties for the shoot can be good fun, albeit difficult to shoot, but some years nothing comes in. The pigeons have been teasing me the last couple of months here - they're about in the daytimes, pecking up loose wheat from under the feeders and flocking up in a group of over 100 on the adjacent meadow. However, they're obviously roosting elsewhere because I've taken the gun up a couple of times in the late afternoon and just seen the odd loner swoop over. Obviously, I drove us there again on Saturday hoping things might be different! We trundled down the track, and as the car emerged out of the side of the wood, sure enough there were dozens of pigeons, down on the meadow right next to the wood. These few acres have been put in as a bit of an experiment for the sheep; plenty of grass augmented with a mixture of things like plantain, chicory and clover. I think the latter must be starting to grow some new, fresh shoots because they have been on it quite hard the last week or so. The birds fled away from us, over the game cover up the hill and then out of sight. I was hoping they'd gather some confidence and come back in, so I tucked the car up a riding and we jumped out to set up an ambush. 20 minutes later, zero shots fired, back in the car šŸ™„ It was getting towards the time where we should be somewhere worth being, so out of the two possibilities I could think of we went to where I thought was the best chance. I drove us along to the wood which featured in a couple of my reports last year, where there's a line of huge Leylandii trees that act as a magnet, bringing the pigeons in on a reasonably consistent line. Here, the two of us can spread out a little and cover what was likely going to be more of a random arrival than a line in, considering the wind speed wouldn't outpace a three-legged tortoise. Our visit on Saturday was the first time this wood has been shot this year. Handily, Matt remembered a lesson we learned from shooting here last year: Coming into the wood along the track, you arrive at the corner of the release pen. Where you want to be is beyond the diagonally opposite corner, so one day I drove around it to save time. If we'd have walked, we could have had some tremendous sport as all the sitting pigeons in the wood started madly diving off their perches and swirling back and forth as if their SatNav was having a bad day. Duly reminded, I parked up and we got ourselves sorted. We each walked around opposite sides of the pen, with a plan to end up at the hide I built a few years ago in a pretty decent spot which is usually on the downwind side of the conifers. Initial signs however weren't all that promising - we hardly put any birds out of the trees with our pincer movement, which was disappointing. Not perturbed, we carried on the final 100yds or so to the favoured spot. Aha! That's where they were hiding. There followed a mad 10 minutes, as we disturbed dozens pigeons all spread out across the top edge of the wood beyond the line of conifers, each tree-full lifting up in a cascade away from us. Some took the sensible option of flying away from us straight out of the wood, but plenty decided to swirl around in a confused muddle, darting this way and that, presenting us with a plentiful amount of opportunities. Our shots seemed to stir a few more up every time, and we both downed a couple to get ourselves off the mark. As is quite normal, once the birds we'd disturbed finally decided to head off somewhere else for a bit of peace and quiet, a lull set in. Matt's cocker is a great little hunter but is very prone to attacks of "spaniel brain" as I call it. She was playing him up something rotten this day, probably because it was her first roost shooting session of the year so she was maybe a bit overexcited - refusing to come back and preferring to hunt hard out in front of him. Not the best recipe for roost shooting. At this point I realised I was suffering the same problem with my two, as I failed to keep them sat by me. The young cocker I can forgive; not quite 2 yet, she's got bags of energy and is still learning, but the old springer was equally as resistant to coming in to heel and sitting patiently. It was at this point I reached for the leads hanging around my neck, only to realise that they weren't hanging around my neck. I'd left them in the car, several hundred yards away! With the action having died off, I emptied the gun and swiftly issued a short, sharp rebuke to the pair of them, pulling them in to my spot and telling them to stay. The pigeons started to come back in, and after several shots all three of the darned creatures got themselves into a frenzy of hunting, ignoring all commands to pack it in and come here. I'd had enough and decided it better to lose 10 minutes shooting than my own sanity trying to persevere with dogs that wouldn't sit steady. I walked back to get my leads. I don't know what Matt's excuse was, he had his lead in his pocket all along! Neither of us had actually reached the hide at this point, having stopped at a spot where the birds were darting through a little gap in the Leylandii trees. When I got back with my dog leads, Matt was apparently comfy in his spot so I jumped behind the hide. Well, what was left of it, anyway. I built this a little hastily several years ago, as a double hide (more of a blind, really, as you've got the conifers to your back for cover and backdrop). Half of it is actually a living tree, a small self-set child of the huge Leylandii, I just chopped it about a little and extended it to the left. The left has collapsed and needs rebuilding but luckily most of the birds come in from the right here so it was still useable. I had put one box of each type of cartridge in my pockets - plenty to see out an average roost shooting session. I started off with the 29g no.6 Superfast Pigeon. In the initial mad flurry of action I had taken a fair few shots but only downed a couple; I'd pulled on a few I should have just left, fluffed my mount a couple of times and shot over the top (although I've been practising and have improved my mount dramatically). Still, the ones that connected seemed to hit OK. Now, with the dogs tethered down, having mentally regrouped I was a bit more settled and started to pick my shots better. Getting used to the new cartridges, I experimented a little with less or more lead and seemed to find a rough mental image of how much to put on the bird. I still needed a second barrel on a few, but I felt like I was making progress. Then to my shock I found I'd used up my 25th of the box and so swapped to the 27g 7.5s. I'd meant to shoot them on rotation to compare, but got carried away. I'm not sure if it was just me getting in to the swing of things in the latter half of the session, or if there was a genuine difference in the cartridge performance, but I seemed to hit more and connect better with the 7.5s. I was curious as to whether they'd have enough punch, but sticking to sensible ranges no more than about 25-30yds I started to connect really well with the birds, dropping them with a satisfying thump over my shoulder. Keen to test out the hitting power of both types shells, when the opportunity came I experimented with a few longer shots, fast crossers which were quite difficult due to the trees in front, and only just wounded one pigeon that glided out to the edge of the wood (retrieved later). I had a poke at a high crow which I'd have probably missed with anything as I'm rubbish on crows! With the 7.5s I also took a pop at a sitter probably 40yds away, which left the wood apparently unscathed - not a common occurrence with 30g of no.6. So I'm beginning to get a picture of the advantages and limitations of a light load of small shot. Matt is yet to fully understand the art of concealment and stillness when shooting pigeons. I try to offer a few tips here and there but don't want to come across as a "one of them", if you know what I mean. I did have to share some advice when I noticed every pigeon coming in was flaring off at around 50yds. I looked to the left and Matt had broken cover, standing out in the open. As sure as day follows night, every time he lifted his gun up, away the birds turned! He moved to the other side of me after a while, where he found it a bit easier to tuck away behind a little cover. That way round though, most of the birds were coming past him to get to me, so there were a lot didn't make it to me as they jinked away from Matt's gun. I did manage to wipe his eye on more than one occasion though, which I let him know about! And then my pockets were empty. I'd shot my way through 50 cartridges! It was only 5 minutes until sunset though, so I think that was just about spot on. The dogs' long-awaited bonkers time had arrived so they were released from their tethers. I'd got birds down in several directions, two of them a fair way out towards the edge of the wood, so we had a real good sweep around. My old springer is a dab hand in this situation - her legs might be almost 13 years old but her nose is as sharp as ever. The young cocker is proving somewhat slow on the retrieval side of things - she'll hunt them down and find them with no bother, she'll pick them up brilliantly across the back, but then she'll take them off over there somewhere and play with them! Lots of dummy work for her this off season, I think! You know you've had a decent session when you lose count of what you've shot, so we were pleased when we counted up 20 pigeons, 15 of which fell to my gun. By his own admission, Matt hadn't had a great session. His dog really got to him, playing up, it whines and whistles when tied down as well and I think he just didn't get in the zone that day. I know he's still got some learning to do, a lot of it being shot selection - he was at around 6:1 economy whereas I was quite pleased with around 3.3:1 testing out new cartridges, especially as I'd been deliberately trigger-happy seeing what they could do. Luckily I'd put some twines from my braces of pheasant in my trouser pocket before coming out, which made carrying the bag a lot easier! We arrived back at the car with 19 pigeons which the eagle-eyed amongst you will notice from the photo - one must have slipped out of its noose on the walk back and I didn't realise! The windiest day this coming week is Friday, according to the forecast, so I might pop back there for another cheeky session if I can get my brownie points saved up!
  17. Mostly my trusty old Miroku 7000. I've tried all chokes; more open just more misses, tighter more damaged birds. I shot two slabs of the 30g 6s on game and pigeons. It was a very consistent bad experience throughout! Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look at them because my local shop stocks Hull. More on that in a moment... Thanks for taking time to write that. I totally agree, it seems like they're just trying to jazz it up to make more sales. I should do more pattern testing but there's always something further up the priority list! I did play a tune on chokes, opening up just resulted in more missing. I think I did whack a couple into a feed sack to see what was going on, the results didn't inspire me. I don't think they pattern tighter, I think they just pattern badly in my gun for some reason. I still can't get my head round that - after all all shotguns are just a steel tube, it should be the same for everyone right?!.... I've had exactly the same issues with the Eley VIP Game 30g 6s that I've been using this last game season. Honestly it's like I'm shooting blanks with them. Soooooooo anyway, I went cartridge shopping on Friday and got myself a slab each of Hull's Superfast Pigeon in 29g 6s and superfast clay load in 27g 7.5s. I took them out to the wood on Saturday for a shakedown. I've always been wary of being the bad workman who blames his tools but, let's just say, it was definitely the cartridges that were the problem.
  18. Care to elaborate as to why that is??! Thanks, I looked on JC the other day as well as a couple of other places, no luck. Believe it or not my local gun shop is actually cheaper than JC so Iā€™d rather support them if I can Iā€™m going to try out something a lot of people mention, and give some 28g 7.5s a whirl, see how that goes. Hopefully will get a session in today or tomorrow to report back!
  19. I don't recall hearing/reading of anything official or otherwise on this subject, so I'm making a conclusion based on my findings here. It seems that the Black Gold 30g no.6 game load I always used to shoot aren't made any more? Black box, red stripe. The only option that looks anything like it now is a much lighter clay load called the same. Am I right or not? They seem to have moved the game loads on to this "Dark Storm" subtitle with all its marketing testicles-talking about diamond shot and quad seals etc etc etc.... I have shot 2 slabs of that cartridge and it's an utterly horrific load in my gun. The first dark storm I ever fired I damn near plucked a bird in mid air, the next one the same, then countless unexplained easy ones missed, then I blew half the head off a bird at a range well over 25 yards. For me in my gun they're an unpredictable, poorly patterning cartridge which I lost all confidence in.
  20. Kiss your rifles goodbye everyone.................
  21. That would be ideal but alas no budget for that sort of extravagance šŸ˜• Curiosity got the better of me yesterday so I popped back to the place with the suicidal crows. Normal service has resumed. How strange. I guess that'll just be another story to tell down the pub in future times!
  22. I'm surprised nobody has taken one little detail a bit further - in the fieldsports news they show the x-ray as being labelled "parrot" in the top corner?!?!
  23. I think this is the most important part to keep in mind: What this suggests is that, whilst bird flu is still killing birds, there may be a statistically minute number of cases of mammals contracting the disease. What won't happen is that the virus will start a raging epidemic spreading amongst those mammalian species. Not much to shout about..... at the moment, anyway.
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