hedge Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 (edited) Went out today with friend on a permission on a dairy farm. Got there for 7.15 to try and catch some of the feral pigeons in the cattle shed and managed to get 4 or 5 with the air rifles. My mate also bagged a rook that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once it started to get light we put up 2 crows deeks on lofting poles close to the farm to try and get some of corvids flighing from a local wood (they tend to follow some power lines just out of range). It did the trick and 3 got close enough for use to bring down (won't mention the 3 I missed). The main task was to shoot some of the 200 or so ferals that come and go from other farms during the day. Sometimes in singles or groups up to 30 strong. They decoy really well putting dead ferals in the yard near the feed bins. We can then effectively engineer the birds flighting over where we want to stand.The snow seems to have made food scarce as they would hand around longer than usual and still drop onto the deeks when we were shooting them. It was s*dding cold but didn't snow and we were in a little spinney that kept the wind off and had enough layers on. I shot like a plank with the shotgun and was given a masterclass by my colleague with his O/U 20b who then moved on to his U/O .410 just to rub salt into the wounds. There were loads of fox prints in the snow, apparently Charlie kept patrolling his boundaries. We joked that he would be long gone - the noise we were making, but if we saw him we would shoot him (game shoot shares the same land). But later in the day after a 15 min lull, my mate went off to clear the silage clamp with his air rifle and I borrowed his 20 guage as I had run out of 12 guage carts. I turned round to check for corvids coming from behind and there was this big dog fox, 25 yards away in the same spinney - hadn't seen me and just stood there side on (maybe he had scented me). I had to pause a bit - check it was safe then do the maths with an unfamiliar gun - 20 guage at 25 yards with 30gram 5's. Decided it was a good shot and fired twice at his head. He ducked down and made off - I unloaded and set off after him thinking I had cocked it up. I found him 10 yards away face down in the snow so quickly dispatched him with another shot close up just to make sure. I had in fact hit him hard initially so felt the shot was justified (I was mortified I might have just winged him). We had a steady stream of birds and managed to pick 41 pigeons with at least 8 on buildings and inaccesible places, plus 5 corvids. Plus the fox. Would have been at least 15 more if I shot a bit straighter. Sorry about the essay but like reading other write ups and think it helps set the scene. Edited January 20, 2013 by hedge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ91 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Good write up And well done for going after the fox, good to hear you wouldn't let him suffer. We all have bad days pal, I shot very poorly in the woods this afternoon..bit enjoyed it all the same Well done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andysako Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 nice shooting well done !! :good: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyrapid177mk2 Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 well done nice bag..and at least you went after charlie and sorted it out.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 That is stupendous given the conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbiep Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Nice day, good write up too ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty thud Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 great bag they mate and bonus getting charlie :good: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted January 20, 2013 Report Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well done lads, very good vermin control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant8681 Posted January 21, 2013 Report Share Posted January 21, 2013 Nice one sounds like a good day out! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tod Posted January 21, 2013 Report Share Posted January 21, 2013 Good day out you had there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1nutta Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Well done Hedge sounds like a great day, lets do hear more about this master class you got given Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart1985 Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Cracking wee read!! Good going in the rubbish weather!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon6ppc Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 good days shooting there pal,in the snow as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2020PIGEON Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Good shooting guys nice one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clappy Posted January 22, 2013 Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Only missed 3.....not bad for you I didn't know gun unfamiliarity was an excuse that you would use LOL! I've not heard that one when we're on the clays.... How was Geoff's masterclass? He certainly put up a good show with his 20 at Hoton last time out.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedge Posted January 22, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2013 Well done Hedge sounds like a great day, lets do hear more about this master class you got given Well in brief, he shot very well with his 20b (inc 3 left/rights), then shot a bit more, then shot with his .410 (also very well), then developed an element of smugness that manifested into complete hysteria. If it hadn't been for the fox making me feel slightly better about myself I probably would have shot him (I may well have missed though). In fact - I don't even like the guy. Only missed 3.....not bad for you I didn't know gun unfamiliarity was an excuse that you would use LOL! I've not heard that one when we're on the clays.... How was Geoff's masterclass? He certainly put up a good show with his 20 at Hoton last time out.... I only missed 3 crows (out of 4) - pigeons was way higher..... As for his `masterclass`, see comment above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixie Posted January 24, 2013 Report Share Posted January 24, 2013 Great time good shooting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrycowboy Posted January 25, 2013 Report Share Posted January 25, 2013 good bag m8 roll on the summer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.