anser2 Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 (edited) Its been a bit of an on off season for me this year. Few duck about in September , plenty of mallard in October , a lean November , but December has started well. The wildfowling in Norfolk has been pretty good over the past week as duck fled the freezing conditions on the other side of the North Sea. Plenty of mallard , teal wigeon and shoveller started to use the inland marshes that had been well flooded after the rain of recent weeks. Over the weekend I had some great flights with over 300 shoveller coming into a waterlogged sedge marsh on Saturday night , Monday saw me flighting a flooded grass marsh on a friends farm. The teal and wigeon poured in as it became dark and a lot of pink feet came over with 500 roosting only a few hundreds away. The next morning I had intended to shoot a marsh near the river , but the sight of the geese changed my mind so I did the morning flight on another part of the farm and shot 3 pinks before sunrise and hurried off the marsh before the main skeins arrived. 5,000 were happily feeding on the grass shortly after I got back to the car. It was great watching skein after skein wiffling out of the sky while sipping piping hot coffee and eating sausage rolls. The night had brought a strong frost and with all the inland splashes frozen over it was time to head for the coast. A flight behind the sand dunes on Wednesday night was a little disappointing with only 5 mallard seen , but two were in the game bag. The frost was still strong with most inland water frozen and in these conditions the salt marsh can hold a lot of duck and so it proved. With big dawn tides I gave the morning flight a miss and walked out over the saltings mid afternoon to a massive creek that wound its way to the distant sea. Though the frost was strong inland this mornings big tide had covered the marsh and it was completely unfrozen.When I arrived the main creek was full of teal and a few wigeon so I flushed the duck and quickly set up a small stand of 8 decoys. Hardly had I got into a creek for cover than 5 teal whizzed into the decoys. One hen fell to my first shot onto the creek a second fell onto the marsh behind me , but I could not swing onto the departing birds with my feet well stuck in the creek bottom. Before I could send the dog 3 wigeon arrowed into the decoys and again I dropped one with my first shot , but missed with my second shot. More duck milled around unsure where the shots were coming from , but the last duck was only winged and the tide was due any moment. My lab quickly caught the wingen wigeon and went back for the first teal that was drifting away quite fast. With that bird in the bag I set about finding the second teal , but there was no sign of it. Being in the bottom of a deep creek I was unsure of its exact position so I went to help the dog search for it , but to no avail. Several more packs of teal came up the creek so after 10 mins I decided as I was sure the teal was dead to leave the search for later. No sooner back in my creek than a dozen wigeon flew past at a pretty long range. While debating if to shoot or not a single teal flared up over the decoys and was quickly in the bag , as were a couple of wigeon shortly after. My dog had hardly retrieved them when the tide came roaring up the creek like an express train. Hurriedly I moved out of my creek and hid on the marsh top 10 feet above. As so often happens on still days all was quiet after sunset , it often seems the duck will not move on still evenings until it becomes quite dark. So I used the time to have another search for the lost teal and the dog found it within seconds. By now the sun was well down and the frost was once more setting in hard. The geese started to flight out to their roost. Brents first 5 or 6 hundred on them and then the pinks. First a trickle of skeins that became a flood as skeins that seemed to cover the sky from horizon to horizon came overhead . Of course in the still air they were much too high , but it was a sight to stir any wildfowlers heart. 6 teal caught me by surprise , I hit one bird with the first shot , missed with the second , but killed it with a third. Hardly had my lab retrieved it than 2 wigeon flashed over again I rather muffed the chance with 3 shots , and one bird planed out way over the big creek. I had a few worrying moments as I heard my dog splashing about on the far side , but after a long swim she brought it to hand. It was getting fairly dark by now and after a few abortive shots at teal I decided it was about time to pick up the decoys when a pair of mallard swung around and a single shot brought the drake down again giving my dog a long swim in the icy water. The tide was rising fast so stowing the decoys in my game bag , I hurried back to the sea wall with the water just up to my knees. Edited December 14, 2012 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piebob Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Sounds absolutely fantastic anser2 - great read. You;ve captured so many things here - the importance of having a good dog, quarry identification, as well as being aware of the tides and how quickly they can come in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samyw Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Excellent mate did u get a pic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Excellent read and good shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaniel Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 anser2 that sounds like one of those flights you are never going to forget...got me on the edge of my seat just reading it. im a little goosed out after my orkney trip but planning to get back out on the duck shortly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39TDS Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Nice write up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted December 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Sorry no pics , i never take a camera out with me, I would ruin it very quickly with the mud and sea water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bala Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 great write up mate, enjoyed being there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony51 Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Fantastic write up mate,flight to remember.Was hoping that the freeze in North Wales would last until I get out on Monday,but more heavy rain flooding everywhere again!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soap Posted December 14, 2012 Report Share Posted December 14, 2012 Great write up- and well shot by the sounds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildfowler12 Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Good write up, I do enjoy reading your posts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Cracking stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumpy22 Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 top write up mate.thanks for sharing it with us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cumbrian top shot Posted December 15, 2012 Report Share Posted December 15, 2012 Top class read as usual anser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted December 16, 2012 Report Share Posted December 16, 2012 Sounds like a cracking flight, Anser. Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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