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Clodhopper

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About Clodhopper

  • Birthday 25/01/1983

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • From
    Lincolnshire Marsh
  • Interests
    Shooting, Fishing, Rugby.

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  1. Did you run out of cartridges? Jacko told me he was bringing an extra slab to cover you.
  2. My figure is slightly more robust.
  3. It just have taken some effort to drag those old bones out of your bed for a 07.30 start!
  4. My wife didn’t eat meat when we first got together. She wanted to know how her meat was raised/lived and the manner in which it was killed. She now eats game that I shoot and sheep that we raise and have killed at a butchers just down the road. I guess there many reasons why people choose to eat what they do.
  5. I try to get out every other weekend. More so in winter as I find it easier to get out. Managed roost shoot last night and dawn flight this morning so have used up all my brownie points! Pigeons are really hitting the Rape in my area now.
  6. I first met JDog a little over 4 years ago via this forum. Our shared love of pigeon shooting developed into a strong friendship and led us into sharing different sporting forays from game shooting to tench fishing and one very special day walking up teal on the marsh land of east Lincolnshire. As my work changed I had less and less time to chase pigeons but still managed weekly conversations with him discuss lines I had seen, where I thought the birds may be and generally get my fix of pigeon shooting. A more generous and knowledgeable person you would be hard pressed to find. I wish both him and his wife all the best with their move to pigeon Nirvana and echo the statements of others in the hope that his encounters with the greatest quarry on these isles are regaled on the forum again.
  7. It was only improved on in the morning when the glowing embers were brought back to life and bacon thrown in a skillet.
  8. Last Saturday was one of those special days where you get to go out with the gun, the dog and a group of mates to enjoy the type of sport we are privileged to have in this country. The five of us met up at 07.45 to start the day with sausage and bacon rolls. The most organised member of the group had printed out a series of google earth snap shots to formulate a plan of attack for each of the days drives (I use that term loosely). Most of the group payed little attention to this as the frying porcine snacks were far more interesting. Our party consisted of 5 guns, 1 Labrador and a cocker spaniel. The first drive was a couple of duck ponds in the paddock of the breakfast house. 3 guns stood whilst the other 2 pushed the ditch and the ponds. 4 mallard broke from the second pond but I had got in the wrong position and they escaped behind with no shots being fired. It was also raining hard enough to soaks us all, not the best start to the day. The second drive saw us at an abandoned fishing complex with some nice young woodland totalling about six acres. This was squeezed from each end with the cunning plan being to force any birds to the middle and hopefully offer a shot. And cunning it was, with a pheasant being dropped, however it fell onto an extremely overgrown island. Dogs were coaxed over but the thick brambles prevented entry to the island. A canoe is as found and attempts made to gain access but this too proved unsuccessful. The gun who shot the bird was told to strip off, swim out and fetch the bird himself but surprisingly he seemed less than keen! On the way back to the vehicle, a squirrel drey was spotted, resulting in the first quarry being added to the bag. Next up was another farm with a couple of mature woods and thick hedges. Again the group split, the dogs pushing the wood towards 2 standing guns and 1 strategic flanker ( we called him something like that) on the edge. This resulted in a hare and a pheasant. That was 3 of us off the mark. Heading off to the next wood, some partridge were spotted, que another cunning plan, 2 of us headed off to get around them and push them over the other guns. It worked a treat and we saw the birds heading straight over a distant Ash tree where a gun should have been lurking. Unfortunately no shots were fired as although he was under an Ash tree, he was in the wrong field! We pressed on and pushed the wood through adding another pheasant to the bag. 4 out of the 5 guns off the mark. Time now for a bite to eat which was a spread capable of feeding a full 9 gun party, beaters, pickers up, drivers and significant others. We ate as much as we could, the dogs helped to and washed it all down with a little drop of Port. Location 4 was a couple of fields of sugar beet which we hoped may hold a bird or two. Lined out we marched into the wind to allow the dogs to scent any game. There wasn’t anything in the first field but the second produced another hare and a rabbit. Gun 5 was now off the mark, perfect. An ex free range chicken site which was planted up with a wonderful selection of native trees provide the background for the next drive. Some birds where seen but eluded the team of armed ramblers, until a pigeon came into range of the end gun who dropped the bird with a single shot. Onto the final piece of ground, we surrounded a lake and pushed some duck off to give two of the guns a chance which they took, adding a couple of mallard to the bag. Pheasants were seen lurking the edge of the next wood. Another cunning plan was devised and we managed to squeeze some into the wood, adding another couple to the growing bag along with another pigeon. Finally we all sat around the lake as the light began to fade in the hope that a goose may make an appearance in the gathering gloom. Distant calls of geese got everyone sinking further into the cover on lakes edge but these geese wisely passed by in favour of another lake further down the valley. Now came the best part of the day as we got the camp fire lit, skinned and butchered most of the bag, added a few home grown veg, put the whole lot in a cast iron pot on the fire and sat back with a beer in hand to relive the day. The stars came out and tall stories were told, growing taller with each beer. The chat and the leg pulling went on long into the night ending a perfect( in my opinion) day in the field.
  9. Twice a year mine get a good coating of Neats Foot Oil and then once that has soaked in they get a slathered in dubbin.
  10. He is very much alive and kicking. At least he was on Saturday.
  11. Pigeon Therapy on the NHS I’m not so sure about, nice as it would be. It was just great to be out, even managed to connect with one or two.
  12. Saturday was the first time I had managed to get out in a very long time. Having kindly been invited along by the generous JDog, 3 of us met up to see what a disced Bean stubble had to offer. It soon became apparent that there were a large number of birds using the 3 stubble fields but as always seems to be the case, they favoured a field that was practically impossible to shoot due to the wind direction and the close proximity of 2 very busy public footpaths. The cunning plan was to set up a banger on the difficult field and shoot the adjacent field which had a weaker line but should offer some sport. We looked at the options of splitting up but decided to shoot over the same pattern, JDog and myself sharing a hide and Jacko 40 yards away, with the two hides either side of a favoured sitty tree. No doubt splitting up would have produced more shooting but the leg pulling and general banter was too tempting to miss. It was obvious from the start it was going to be difficult, the wind kept swirling from being on our left to nearly in our faces and the main line was heading to the other field. On the occasions when the wind was from the left the birds decoyed reasonably well but as it moved they just couldn’t get in and drifted by, just out of range. The banger did it’s job and periodically sent birds our way. As the pattern grew with more dead birds (and lots of shots to get them) we managed to draw increased interest from the passing line. Jacko in particular shot some absolute crackers which certainly provided the pick me up he needed after a difficult week. The lines fizzled out after about 3 hours shooting. A rather long pick up ensued as JDog and Barney did as full lap of the field looking for a couple of pricked birds that had dropped some way off. The final tally was 49 birds in the bag for plenty of shots! Not that it really mattered as it was just nice to be out in a hide again. I take no credit for the footage as the video is courtesy of Jackos You tube channel.
  13. Yes, I understand it has now closed which is a shame. The countryside in that area is beautiful and reading your stories I can just picture the terrain and the birds peeling out of the steep gorse banks. Please keep them coming.
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