ollie Posted December 28, 2011 Report Share Posted December 28, 2011 Had a good day boxing day flushing 13 and managed 8 the first pair being a L+R. Cot a couple of hours today flushing 8 and shooting 5. Lost 1 of them in a large area of whins/briars. The gale force winds made for very challenging sport. I shot one stone dead in the air at about 40yards that was really motoring down wind and paced it out to where it fell at 70 yards. You were out shooting today :o ? You could hardly stand at our place never mind shoot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodcock1 Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 You were out shooting today :o ? You could hardly stand at our place never mind shoot. Went to shoot some roosting pigeons in the wood too! Full box of shells for 7 birds. The wind really helped them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted December 29, 2011 Report Share Posted December 29, 2011 Went to shoot some roosting pigeons in the wood too! Full box of shells for 7 birds. The wind really helped them There is nothing more sporting than roost shooting pigeons in really strong wind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyboots Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 2 woodcock today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 I got 2 on Saturday and 4 today. Jesus today was fierce cold, after walking the first couple of fields I wish I hadn't went out . Flushed 9 birds altogether but only got at 4 of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby -doo Posted January 2, 2012 Report Share Posted January 2, 2012 just a wee update , christmas holidays weather was terrible have never got as many soakings in 1 week , other than that had another smashing run at the "wee brown birds" , shot another 13 birds since my last update , me and a few of my mates fell in with some new ground that is never shot and it proved to be excellent , ive a woodcock day at a local estate and after that the barrels will be hung up for another year ! seen u on sat ollie, wuz outside ur uncle dans house Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyboots Posted January 6, 2012 Report Share Posted January 6, 2012 shot 2 yesterday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyffyllog Posted January 8, 2012 Report Share Posted January 8, 2012 When I opened up the Gun Cabinet last friday morning to get the gun for a walkabout on the Woodcock front, in and among the weapons, there waiting patiently and looking at me longingly, was my father’s old shotgun. William Henry Pollard 12 Bore boxlock ejector, 30 inch barrels, which I recently had refurbished for sentimental reasons, I’m sure you will understand. Whilst the barrels are clean they are out of proof, still safe for use but not for re-sale. As a small boy I recall watching my father closely as he shot various game on outings and then clean this gun meticulously before storing away. I recall to this day his various discussions with his shooting accomplices on walkabout days, and with me personally, that he could afford to allow others to have a go, knowing full well that the Pollard would bring them down at a long distance if they were to miss. I witnessed this on many an occasion too. It may well have been my father’s skills also that contributed to this, but, I also witnessed him miss at times. I decided on an outing for the old armoury, and took the gun onto a farm in Eifionydd, North Wales, where I have shot Woodcock since about 1960, yes, about 50 years or so. I had both dogs with me ‘Buddy’ the spaniel and ‘Ross’ the labrador. I decided on a small piece of about 7 acres of rough ground with a mixture of Goarse and Willow bushes with bogs, ditches, fern and reeds, perfect resting ground, to make a start on. Not far into the piece when a Woodcock was flushed by ’Buddy’. Two shots at it, fired hastily through the willows as it made good his escape, went begging. I watched it into the distance and saw it climb onto the breeze, change course and come back at a slight angle to my right, high above the cover and possibly a good 40 yards if not more up and out from me, gaining speed on the wind. One cartridge into the choke barrel and with plenty of lead infront of it, a squeeze on the trigger with a follow through swing, saw it fold and drop into the marsh. ‘Ross’ nearby to me, spotted this, whilst Buddy was still busying himself in the cover infront. “Fetch that”, the mark was perfect and it was to hand in seconds, great, from a Labrador that is only 14 months old, and relatively inexperienced in such matters. I flushed another three in the piece but they were not shootable for one reason or another, never mind, the job was done. Back to the car and I took this photo for the record, before moving on to another small farm for some more searching. Not long before I was posed with an easy going away type shot on open ground, by a Woodcock that flushed by my feet, missed, both barrels, just could not believe it. I appeared to be right on it when I squeezed the trigger both occasions, not a feather. Did I fire too quickly maybe?, for the Pollard. Next one to flush was from about 30 yards infront of me . It left the cover of it’s own accord on my approach, with a crossing flight out to my left through some willow scrub, I let it go, and, when it came to an open area again with a deliberate lead and swing I squeezed the trigger and saw it drop unceremoniously into the marsh a good 60 if not 70 yards away. It appeared dead in the air. To get to it, I had to cross a brook and climb over a fence, after lifting the dogs over. I had the mark area but neither of the dogs would have seen that. Despite a very thorough search of the marshy bog land in the reeds and pools of water I failed to locate it and the dogs also did their very best on the mark area and all around for a good 30 or so yards, strange, but there we go, we don’t win them all, do we. The old Pollard had it’s first outing in about 5 years. My dad gave up shooting at the age of 80. I called with him for a cuppa at lunchtime, giving him a step by step account of the outing. He reminded me again that I could allow the quarry to go a fair way before firing the Pollard, and not to be overly concerned about not picking that last woodcock, that these things do happen from time to time for no apparent reason. I was still uneasy about this ,so, I returned to the very spot . I then took a direct line between two points on a two yard width out into the marsh, ‘Ross’ was with me, a visual search in the main. Whilst stood still, and looking into a clump of reeds infront of me, I could see the Woodcock there tail up, very well secured, and about 2 feet off the ground. It had fallen directly into a hole in the reeds. I urged ‘Ross’ onto it, he was inches away and showed no response at all. I picked it out and showed it to him and he turned away from it. I threw it a few feet away from him and gave him the command to ’Fetch’. He went to it, sniffed it and walked away. On return to the car I threw it again for ‘Ross’, and, he refused it. I threw it for ‘Buddy’ also , and he refused it. Naturally I was puzzled by this and gave it a lot of thought on the way home. When I got home I took the first woodcock that I had shot that day out of the bag and threw that for ‘Ross’ and ‘Buddy’ , both picked it without a problem. I threw that second woodcock, and, yes, yet again both refused to pick it. I wonder if anyone else has experienced such problems on the picking of some Woodcock that have been shot and also the distances at which to shoot at the quarry. The cartridges I was using were Clear Pigeon No 6, 30grammes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyffylog Posted January 10, 2012 Report Share Posted January 10, 2012 Nice report Cyffyllog, and good to give the old gun an outing for sure. I have used 32g No 6 Fiocchi's this year, and also have had a few birds at a fair distance. I know some people prefer 7's etc, but i feel that 6's is a good all rounder when other game might be found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muratcan2011 Posted January 11, 2012 Report Share Posted January 11, 2012 Got an invite to a friends today to try a bit of ground he owns for a woodcock. Dropped the wife at the foyleside shopping centre and headed to Carndonagh. Not exactly Northern Ireland but only a stones throw away. We walked up a hedge about 400 yards long across a bank of whins and back down the valley to his house again. Flushed 8 and got 4. Mate doesn't shoot. Wasnt out a hour which suited me grand. Nice to get a bit of action. Havn't had much luck yet. Looked like you're having a fun woodcock season. Congrats. Nice photo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Shot 4 woodcock today. Didn't really see too many for all the ground I covered, a pity its been such a mild winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Was out and about the day before New Years eve on a new piece of ground and raised 6 woodcock shot 2, fired at and missed 2, and the other two got away before we had a chance of firing. There were 4 of us. Havent been able to get to my usual ground and tried a piece of farmland close to home with 1 rabbit, 1 hare raised, not shot at and nothing else, disappointing. One of my shooting buddies went out with another guy and shot 12 woodcock with a further 16 being flushed and this was only about 1.5 miles from were I had been hunting. So birds are about, hope to get out for an hour or so tomorrow and maybee again on Saturday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted January 20, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2012 Got out for a walk with two others and covered a bit of ground that normally has a few pheasants and woodcock. Birds just seemed to wary, about 7 woodcock flushed well in front of us with a few others presenting typical woodcock shooting. We only managed 1 between us But was a pleasant walk, seen a few duck and a pheasant but not in range. Still hoping for a good walk on saturday withthe dogs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyffyllog Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Another great day today, they seem to be in in North Wales in style !! saw possibly 30 today, covered a large area, but quietly working area's that have produced for the past 40 years. Fired 14 shots for a 50 % return, good enough, but missed some sitters, I'll keep practicing ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimsy Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Well Done Cyffyllog, looks like you had a good day there. Nice to hear that you have decent numbers about. Da iawn! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Well done Cyffyllog. That is a very good days shooting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodcock1 Posted January 21, 2012 Report Share Posted January 21, 2012 Well done Cyffyllog. Cracking day you had. It came good in the end thank goodness. Keep up the good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted January 22, 2012 Report Share Posted January 22, 2012 were still seeing a good few about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjm Posted January 23, 2012 Report Share Posted January 23, 2012 flushed about 12 on sat but only got shots at 5 of them. 3 in the bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted January 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 23, 2012 got out on Saturday for a good hour. Things didnt go to plan and had to go out on my own.Got going about 11.20 and was on a part of the country that I hadnt shot over for a good few years. After a slow start I hit a small bit of woodcock heaven. I flushed 4 woodcock within 100 yrds in one small field. I moved to another part and raised another 7 within 15 mins. I came home with a lovely cock pheasant, all the woodcock escaped At least Sunday dinner was sorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby -doo Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 just in from an hours walk , shot 2 birds one of being my 40th of the season ! over the moon had a great season at them so now i think that will do me, pics to follow ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodcock11 Posted January 28, 2012 Report Share Posted January 28, 2012 just in from an hours walk , shot 2 birds one of being my 40th of the season ! over the moon had a great season at them so now i think that will do me, pics to follow ! At last - good numbers of woodcock around! Shot my first of the season - one more outing on 31 January Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted January 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Got out on saturday with a mate for a couple of hours shooting. We were after woodcock. After 2 mins we flushed our first bird but no shots fired, too slow. Dogs worked well and put up several more, one of which I got on second barrell, was happy with that. Next bird was flushed straight to me but let it go as it was too close. We flushed about 10 woodcock in total, not all presented shots, some flushed way ahead of dogs. After hunting a large open area free of trees but plenty of cover we raised a couple of snipe and only one woodcock was a bit disappointed. We continued into the wooded area and after a few minutes the dogs got on the scent of, and flushed a lovely pheasant. We were a bit surprised but happy to bag him. A nice end to the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 Was out today with a mate and we bagged 11 woodcock between us. There is certainly a lot of birds about now, we must have flushed about 30 birds today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted January 30, 2012 Report Share Posted January 30, 2012 we shot 5 woodcock today saw plenty of woodcock abot this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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