washwildfowler Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) I took lister 1 from PW out Saturday for morning flight and there was a good number of pinks about , well i knew i could not get down till today Tuesday due to family commitments , i tried to call a friend twice but no answer , so it was just me and the dog in the morning .well the alarm went off at 5.10 Am and i was up and kit ready ,then kettle on quick drink and out the door ,... when i got to the car park no one was down... so i sat in the truck till 5.40 then i kitted up and off i went to my chosen spot , i got in a good pace walking across the marsh but it was hard work in the fog and it was pitch black...you could not see 2 yards in front of you ,well i must have fell over 5 times on the way out , i little ankle snappers , and cow holes ... i got to my spot in plenty of time got sat down and got the dog setteld , i was sat down for 10 minutes when i see something coming across the marsh it looked like a light house flashing .... it was getting closer and closer what the hell is it i thought , UFO perhaps lol ...anyway before long i worked it out another fowler , i had a good laugh to myself about it .. morning i said bloody hell you made me jump mate he said ,i made you jump i said , there's was me thinking ET had landed again when you was walking across the marsh with that beacon on your head towards me... after a bit of banter.. he said he would go back 2 or 3 hundred yards, so off he went with his big beacon flashing again ... as it started to break light i could here pinks calling in the distance but very muffled in the fog ,then as it was light i had a skeen to my right wide but low , then a skeen over the top to high not good.... then that was it for a while , then some ducks started moving a pair of mallard came down the creek to me which gave me a nice right and left , then a bunch of wigeon came out the fog at me with a quick snap shot i puled a single bird out.... no time for another shot and that was it .. i sat there for another half a hour and decided to call it a due ... i started packing up and was stood on top and my mobile rang.... it was a friend calling to see how i was getting on, after a very short chat i cut him off because i could here some pinks calling , i jumped in the creek and just stared in the direction the pinks calling then a single bird appeared out the fog coming down the creek i was sat on..... i the pink started to drift to the left of me.... so i gave a single call out and he was back on track heading straight towards me 30 yards up ...i pulled onto it and it fell to my first shot .... i held the dog back and got my phone out to record him picking it , then we sat there for another 20 minutes or so but that was it ... so it was off home for tea and toast and a nice warm bowl of food for the young gun ... he's now laid out in front of the coal fire after a well earned rest happy days.... a short clip of young gun retrieving my pink click on the pic to play it .... Edited October 23, 2012 by washwildfowler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) I was out this morning too , but on the N Norfolk Coast. It was a real pea souper with visibility down to 40 yards. I went wrong within the first 100 yards so returned to the back of the marsh and took a lot more care following the way between a maze of very deep creeks for 1\2 a mile across the saltings. There is no path as such just 3 stakes to mark the way. It was a relief when each one loomed out of the fog. Reaching a very wide creek I crossed it and was relived to see the far bank loom out of the poor light. Following the creek edge for another 1\4 mile I disturbed 3 massive flocks of wigeon , impossible to say how , but thousands. Finally I got to the pool I wanted to shoot and set out a handful of decoys. Before I had got back to my bag the first bunch of wigeon came over , how many ? 100s and I missed with the first 2 shots and sent a bird planning out inland with the 3rd shot. I would have to look for that after flight as more wigeon were on the way. 50 swept in on set wings and I missed them with a double shot. Then a singleton hovered over the decoys and provided a very simple shot. And so the flight started with bunch after bunch swinging to the decoys. First my dogs ears would pri*k up , I would give the duck a whistle and then already in range wigeon would loom out of the fog usually giving a shot as they came into the decoys. I missed some sitters and killed some crackers as they flared off. And for the next hour every 10 minuets or so bunch came in. I had one major problem though. I had been out yesterday and got my Browning Gold S\A very wet so striped it down and gave it a good clean. But this morning a lot of the time the safety catch would not come off. Or I would have one shot and found pulling the trigger the gun would not fire the second shot. If I unloaded the gun and then reloaded it usually worked next time , but it was very off putting to say the least. A bait digger apeared out of the fog and walked past down the creek and then 5 mallard appeared overhead, I missed with the first shot , but killed one with the second. By 9 am I decided I had just about shot enough as one final bunch of about 200 came into the decoys. Two , both winged fell to my first shot and then the safety catch problem came back. I packed up as my dog retrieved them and as we started the walk back I sent her off in the direction of the first lost wigeon. I could hear her splashing about off in the fog then some flapping and finally some snorting as feathers tickled her nose before I could make her out again and she delivered a very lively young hen wigeon to my hand. 14 wigeon and a mallard in the bag it had been a cracking flight and the only other species of duck I saw was a single teal which I missed. I had hoped there might be a pink or two about , but they seem to have deserted this part of the coast this autumn. In retrospect I had enough to carry back to the car. Twice I slightly missed my way back in the still thick fog but quickly got back in the right direction. A compass is not a lot of use on this part of the marsh as you have to change direction many times to avoid the bigger creeks. It’s a case of remembering each flash , small creek and clump on the way back. The cuppa at the car when I got back was sheer bliss. Edited October 23, 2012 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodach Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Up here the pinks are having it very easy, watched them from my office window, about 500 sitting 3/4 mile out on a sand bar on the firth. They won't move until about 11 am and pop over to the black isle for a feed and be back just after 3pm as the feeding is so good. Just watched two wildfolwlers pack in at 9.30am and walked back along the shore looking at the geese out on the firth. Things won't change until the stubbles are all ploughed in, been a poor yield this year and the stubbles show it, plenty feed lying on the ground. Bod Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lister1 Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Well done, I wondered how long it would be before you got at them. Cheers for taking me out last weekend. I'll ne back out again this week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
figgy Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Nice retrieve and a good flight. Figgy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Nice write up anser if there was 8 of you that bag would count as one of your excessive bags that you were moaning about the other day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) Al4x four of the duck were later found after a late sweep with the dog after flight . We had very dence fog and and any bird that did not fall at once were impossible to know if they were hit or not as the fog swallowed them up. In fact i stopped shooting with eleven in the bag which considering the high number of blank flights I have had this season I consider a reasonable bag. Its almost 20 years since I have shot so many in a flight with 2-3 duck being the more normal bag. Had I been so minded I could have stayed even with a malfunctioning gun and shot a hell of a lot more. How many of your game shooters would have done the same I wonder. You clearly do not understand wildfowling if you think 8 fowlers are likely to all get such numbers each in a single flight. Wildfowling does not work that way. You still do not understand what I was getting at in the previous post , it was how others ( non shooters ) see us. 15 duck is a lot different to hundreds pheasants after a big days driven shooting in the publics eye. Years can go by without the average wildfowlers getting such a number of duck but many game shooters can expect to shoot such numbers most days. The harvest a wildfowler takes is sustainable from a wild stock that has by and large been doing very well over the past 100 years , the majority of game shooters quarry is reared and released to be shot . Again that paints a very different picture to the public. For too long shooters have stuck their head in the sand and ignored public opinion , but if all forms of shooting is going to continue into the furture the shooting community is going to carry the support of the public the pratice of shooting large bags of game birds will have to be born in mind. Edited October 23, 2012 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Top shooting guys anser2, very well put. The question of what constitutes an excessive bag i feel is also dependant on where you shoot. Here the wildfowl are not as plentiful as in other parts of the country so i feel a bag of 4/5 is enough and will normally choose to stop around this number (on the very few occasions that i get the chance). If i was in a position to take more and the numbers of wildfowl allowed then i would, but again i would have a number, like you where i felt that enough was enough. I would like to say that as wildfowlers we are also conservationists, but i have met more than a few that disprove this theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 (edited) Sp3 it wasn't related to wild fowling purely ansers view if you shot more than 10 pheasants in a day that would be the end of all shooting then proceeds to shoot a load more wildfowl Quite amusing from an on lookers point of view Edited October 23, 2012 by al4x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Think i may have missed something along the way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beretta28g Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 I went out Monday, but the fog was so thick i had to cut the flight short through safety considerations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoggy Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 A nice result D. I actually enjoy the fog!. Great clip of your dog as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornishfowler Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 you must be ill. From the sound of your breathing in the video i think you have goose fever!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
washwildfowler Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 you must be ill. From the sound of your breathing in the video i think you have goose fever!!! it's called over weight and unfit lol , Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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