getthegat

Brilliant. Thanks for a great read. Good for you.

Don't get me started; 2 screwed up marriages, 1 boy by the first 2 by the second. Been on my 3rd full time woman for the last 10 years now but depression and anxiety has messed up what seemed like being a great partnership, now not sure if it will ever be the same again. Struggled for many many years, with no idea what I was looking for in life, yet alone who. I get on ok with the first ex, even though I cheated on her, still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen, just too strong a character for me. 2nd one hates my guts after leaving her for a friend. Loved all women and couldn't keep my eyes from wondering or figure out who or what I was/am for just about all of my life. Now antidepressants have taken the healthy libido I always had and though they have done a great job of sorting my emotional state, the bedroom has become just somewhere to sleep and read. I envy successful partnerships and always thought it would happen to me as a matter of course. So wrong

Cheers guys

I'm probably being stupid, but I can't seem to get onto Gun Watch. Tried to re-register and tried to reset my password, as I've forgotten it. It says I'll recieve an email but nothing. Even tried to do it on my PC at work, still no return email. Any ideas

Partial mystery solved, came in this morning to see 2 foxes on top of the bales, though the orange eyes and position I saw them is wrong for a fox.

Eliminated a cat, as the position I saw it was not much more than a small clump of straw angled down, so not enough for a cat to sit on. I did see a barn owl on a pillion last night, about 50 yards from the straw stack, I'm thinking owls. A friend got a trail cam for Christmas and is going to set it up.

That was an interesting useful piece of research. All this hype about full body deeks, which I'm sure do work very well, but take up a lot of space and weight to carry, shows they are not absolutely necessary then. Cheers guys

Doh! Didn't think about cat, though possibly Soph would have sniffed it out. The stack is a long way from any houses and nothing there to eat, could be feral cat maybe

We have a couple of stacks of 1 ton straw bales, 5 high and 2 wide, where I walk the dog before going home. At the moment it is dark, 5.30 ish, so I use a torch. Nearly every evening we spot 1 to 4 foxes, eyes shining, usually about 100 yards away. One time though when shining the light to the top of the bales, I picked up two large eyes. There is no way it was a fox, too high up, wrong colour eyes. I was not close enough to see anything else and it suddenly disappeared. My thoughts were an owl. Then a couple of days ago I spotted another pair of eyes, half way up the stack, but smaller and orange yellow in colour this time. I would estimate the eyes to be about 2 to 3 inches apart, so not a rat and again not a fox. As I held the beam on it, the thing vanished. On closer inspection I could see a gap between the two stacks exactly at the height I'd seen the eyes, around 6 or 8 feet from the ground, presumably what ever it was had gone deeper into the bales. Surely it's too early for owl chicks, I thought maybe a hawk because of the eye colour, though in the dark and going into a bake stack, that doesn't make sense either? Any ideas?

Possibly been asked before, but can anyone offer first hand knowledge of using silosocks. Do they only work in breezy conditions? And therefore do they need to all face the same direction? What happens to them if they get wet? Are they as effective as other decoys ie shells? I'm just considering them to reduce weight.

My mum is in a home in Somerset

My mum is in a home, has been for a few years and she has dementia. She has falls and breaks bones and each time she has anaesthetic the dementia worsens and we lose more of her. I miss conversations with her, especially since dad passed, we used to have chats about our life in the tiny village in Somerset where we grew up (mum as well as me and my sister) the relatives and people we knew, the houses, fields, orchards, the little chapel and grave yard where our relatives rest....yeah I miss those chats. She has times when she sees and talks to, imaginary people; she talks about herself in the third tense, it's hard. She has moments when I think she knows me and my sister, then she's gone again. The home is lovely, it's clean and bright, she has all she needs and in her condition and at the age of 94, this is the best we can ask. We try and focus on the good times, passed and present, its a terrible state for a human being and some are no where near as well cared for as mum. Many many people are missing friends and relatives and yet they are sitting or lying right in front of them. A sad sad illness.

Hi, I'm trying to contact a gent called Chris that is the point of contact for Rochford wildfowlers, but Google has let me down. Anyone on here able to help please

Doesn't surprise me, I saw hundreds commuting from Essex, across the estuary towards Kent the other morning. Looking like a slim time ahead for my perms.

None around my area, but then it was spares all harvest. Had a dozen corvids on fresh seeded grass a couple of weeks ago, but they completely stopped coming after about an hour and 3/4s.

Never heard of that disease. Certainly very few birds about, but then apart from a few bushes with haw berries, there is nothing around for them to eat. Not found any dead birds and the last ones I shot we're in good condition.

When ever you manage to get out, I hope you have luck, whether it's blacks or woodies

Opened an interesting can of worms here me thinks. My late great uncle had an old single barrel 12 bore that we referred to as "a duck gun" and something had to be done to the breach area to tighten it up to fire modern cartridges ( modern in the early 70s) as I seem to remember something being said about it being a black powder gun. It had a 34" barrel. Don't know if any of the above info was true, but it had quite a range, though I personally struggled to hit much with it. I once saw my uncle drop a crow that paced out to over 100 paces, probably a realistic 70 or 80 yards. It was light and felt odd with that length barrel, but mainly because it was a single barrel I think. An over under would feel very different I'm sure, and with that said, "feel" and "fit" ( not necessarily professionally fitted) are probably what counts and what leads to confidence. My Franchi Affinity (27" barrel) is not an expensive gun, nor has it been fitted to me, but I have confidence with it and I guess it must fit me fairly well. I'd just like a second gun of a different bore, to do the same. My Franchi Raptor 20 is lovely, it's light and easy to handle, but I have varying degrees of success with it. I've had SxS's but generally I prefer looking down one barrel, rather than up between two, which is why I'm considering an over under 20. Perhaps I need to speak with my local-ish gun shop, and see if they may let me try before I buy. I'm hearing good things about the Turkish Kofs, especially for the price, so may wander over and put one to my shoulder 😁

Thanks guys. Really nice replies. Means a lot.

Thanks everyone, very useful knowledge/info. Sort of what I thought, but one can never have too much intel. My Franchi semi auto has 27" barrel and I definitely shoot best with it. Perhaps with that and all your responses, my query has been answered.

Due to work and home commitments, I rarely get out to shoot other than on a Saturday morning; not ideal, but retirement is not that far away and I'm told one has LOTS of free time then 🤗 I've been watching one of the last stubble fields all this week and at times, pigeons have been flocking to it, though as usual, they seem to come in large numbers, rather than a stream of traffic. So the morning arrived and after helping move girlfriends son, into a new flat, a nightmare journey through central London on a Friday night and a rubbish nights sleep, I'm trashed and chosen field is deserted. With no other choice, I set up in the middle of the field under a telephone pole, with a camo tarp behind me and remnants of barley and weeds, plus net, in front. In a vane attempt to drag in anything that passes within a hundred yards, I put 10 shell and 3 full bodied crow deeks to my right on a patch of cultivated ground, then 12 shell pigeons out front. Behind the hide, about 40 yards away, is one floater and to my left out front are 6 Fuds and 1 forty plus year old full bodied. The magnet with silosocs is a bit further away and to the left, is one more floater about 40 yards on from there. Unfortunately one of my batteries has died, so no flapper today. Customers are slow to appear and I'm glad I brought the corvid deeks, as crows and jackdaws ( normally my nemesis) are the only passing trade. Surprisingly, just about every black is dropped, even with the cheap 7.5 twenty eight gram cartridges. Just when I'm thinking I may as well take a nap, a trickle of woodies starts and chancing my arm, I take a few longish shots, giving Soph something to do, at last. A lot go over well out of reach, but some venture close enough and are dropped, usually with the first shot and the odd couple with the second. By 12.00 they are coming well and both man and dog are happy 😁, a mix of old and juvenile birds. I had to pack up just after 1.15 ( best time still to come, I hear many of you shout) but remember the "C" word at the beginning; commitments😞. Anyway, we picked up and packed up, bagging one more as we did so, and had a final total of 21 woodies and 8 corvids from 38 shots. The sun was just coming over my tarp and the wind was blowing my weak hide material every now and then, so perhaps the time was right to call it a day. But a good and surprising few hours.

So I've always been one for chopping and changing my guns (gives me more excuses for missed shots😁) and I'm thinking about getting a 20 bore over under instead of the semi automatic 20. I still have my semi automatic 12, my confidence gun and favourite; that one will stay. I'm wondering what sort of difference longer barrels makes, 30 or even 32 inch. I only ever shoot pigeons or corvids. Would said sizes be cumbersome in a hide, though I've heard it said it can improve swing and follow through? Any thoughts, experiences etc greatly appreciated.

Nice day had by both man and dog. Nice report. Cheers

Feel for you man, but similar for me. I reckon it's been the leanest harvest I can remember. Not had more than one reasonable outing. Frustrating.

Makes sense👍 Ever hopeful and positive. The farm next door is cereal and was last year as well, plus a blinding field of beans which for a short time was teaming.