silver pigeon 3 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Evening guys Went out this evening on the Severn estuary at Frampton, it was a bit of a last minute decision after my mate Mick had seen a few canadas flying about when he took his dog for a walk last night. When we arrived the flooded fields were all frozen leaving only a couple of areas free of ice. The main ice free area was already taken so we settled on a small area adjacent to a hawthorn hedge. We threw out a few wigeon & teal decoys and settled back into the hedge about 20yds apart, i was facing more towards the river and Mick was facing more inland, as the light faded a pair of Mallard flew across out of range. Not a lot was moving and the temperature was dropping quick, so much so that the decoys were freezing in the water. Then out of the blue a small group of Teal flew across from my left, they were too low for a safe shot so i let them come past and they landed amongst the decoys. At the same time Canada geese could be heard coming from inland so the teal were left be, we started calling the geese and they could be heard getting closer and closer. They appeared out of the gloom flying directly down the hedge line about 25 yards before they reached Mick they veared off to the right (which is a no shooting area) so Mick let a single shot off, the lead bird rocked in mid air and continued to fly on about 50yds further on it lost height and hit the back of the sea wall. I thought i wasn't going to get a chance when the remaining bird started to turn and headed back towards us, it went past me to my right about 80 yds away then turned again and presented a lovely crossing shot at roughly 45yds, all i could think is everybody has said give them more lead than you think and lead on the head, so i pushed through the bird and let 42g of no1 tungsten off, the shot hit its mark and the bird wobbled but looked like it was going to fly on so i gave it a second shot and the bird crumpled in full flight and somersalted towards the ground. After retrieving the birds we packed up and headed for home a little bit more laden than when we came! Sorry if i started to ramble but i am really chuffed, and i don't think i will ever forget the shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispti Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Well done mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaniel Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Well done Ben, good to see that you managed to get your first goose, its quite a buzz isnt it. Jon called tonight and said you both bagged a canada each, also said he heard the Whitefronts moving around, might get up there myself tomorrow evening for a last go at them. I was up there at 5.30 am on Saturday thinking it would be busy, guess what no one else accept me and the associate well done and good luck going for your full membership soon Cheers Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustem Dave Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 WELL done you'll remember that forever Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefy Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 nice one bud good shooting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
left & right Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Well done mate thats a beast of a honker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpatten Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Well done mate. The memory of that first goose will stay with you forever. Out of interest, what type of calls do you use on the canadas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Cheers guys, I don't think i will forget it in a hurry!! Sorry mudpattern dont't know exactly what call it was as mick was the one calling, this is my first season wildfowling so only just getting to grips with a mallard call Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpatten Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 I`ve always found the short reed canada call by Buck Gardner, the Canada Hammer 2, to be really excellent. Short reeds take a fair bit of practice to become proficient with but can be absolutely deadly in use. There is plenty of instructional stuff on You tube if you`re interested. I only say this because I wish I had mastered the short reed years ago and had not left tackling it so late in my fowling career. Good luck for the rest of the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Cheers mudpattern, i will have a look at that call. It is something i plan to do over the summer then hopefully by the start of next season will be able to make a half reasonable noise. There are a load of canadas and grey's that reside on a lake within walking distance, over the summer months i am planning on spending a bit of time studying them In your opinion would you bother with seperate calls for the grey's and canadas or use a single call for both? Good luck to you too Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudpatten Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 The Buck Gardner Canada Hammer 2 is a canada only call. However,if you look at You tube under "greylag calls" look for a clip by DKWI (or something similar). Basically, it`s Danish call maker who has launched his own short reed, greylag specific call, and very good it is too. Listen for yourself on the clip. This call is in actuality a specially tuned canada hammer 2 with a modified blowing technique. If you know what you`re doing, and I do, get yourself two can ham 2`s, send me one and I`ll retune it for greylag for no charge.It`s only the work of a few seconds. You can pick them up from evil bay for a few quid. Once mastered, these short reed calls work better than anything else on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaniel Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Ben i have the DJ calls Canada, Greys and mallard but the Grey I shot this year I used the Canada call to turn the 5 of them over me in the ditch.... Last year I even used the Canada call to call two Whitefronts over me twice, but missed both times The only thing i would say is that the wooden calls change their tone when damp, normally just when you need them, so i have brought a H&S Acrylic duck call which Henry sent me a DVD to learn how to blow them, so I might go down the acrylic route with the geese calls this year, have to see really O it was freezing up there last night but we heard the whitefronts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted February 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Cheers Ian & Mudpattern, all advice is greatly recieved. I have found out with wildfowling pulling the trigger is the easy part, its everything else you need to learn which is difficult But if it was easy it wouldn't be fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaniel Posted February 1, 2011 Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 That is so true mate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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