Suffolk shooter Posted October 17, 2006 Report Share Posted October 17, 2006 Is it just me? I seem to be into all forms of shooting/hunting, whether it be shooting clays or wildfowling. I've recently just joined a syndicate for Pheasant/Partridge, still trying to get out to do more pigeon shooting as well as ferreting. Would love to get my FAC for rabbiting/foxing, as well as thinking about doing DSC 1 as I'd like to go Deer Stalking. I got into shooting through my wifes family and bought an air rifle (Gamo CF 30 U/L .22), since then bought Daystate prestige X2 10 shot .22 as well as Sabatti Gardone 12g o/u, Miroku Skeet 12g O/U and finally Browing Gold hunter S/A 12g 3.5" Mag. I just love shooting, but not in a Michael Ryan way I enjoy walking out in the fresh air, don't care what the weather is doing, just watching the wildlife, whether it be shootable or not. i take my daughter Bird Watching and teach her what is and isn't in season and why we shoot pigeons and rabbits. Not just for the pot. Is everyone like this or is it just me??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Nope it is just you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffolk shooter Posted October 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Nope it is just you. All I can say mate is that you must be really busy down there in gangster land this morning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Always busy down here in basildon, normally keeping an eye on my car to make sure the chavs don't nick it. Mind you a disco is hardly the thing they would steal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pin Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Definitely not just you. I love being outside, don't mind if its with or without gun. Could sit in a hide all day long and not shoot a thing and still come home happy, makes the days it does come off all the sweeter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Not just you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffolk shooter Posted October 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Best day I have ever had, was thanks to Martin in January this year. He invited me out on the marsh to do a bit of wildfowling with him and his mate down in essex. We got to where they thought it best to set up the decoys, and dropped David off on the marsh and then went about 40 yds up into a little creek. As we started to sort ourselves out somebody further up the marsh had a shot and where nothing could be seen before hand the whole marsh erupted with widgeon and mallard. they were every where you looked. Unfortunately we hadn't got the guns out and loaded. I had one shot, (cheers for the easy shot martin ), over my shoulder at incoming widgeon and promptly missed. I didn't care, to me it was great to be out there just doing it. Later as the sun started to sink a huge flock/skein of brent came in to land over on the bird reserve, and as it got really dark a curlew flew no more than 10 foot past us. It was great, my only regret is not having taken a camera to record it all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Fox Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 You are not alone ..... its a way of life . Work just gets in the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazza Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MC Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Best day I have ever had, was thanks to Martin in January this year. He invited me out on the marsh to do a bit of wildfowling with him and his mate down in essex. We got to where they thought it best to set up the decoys, and dropped David off on the marsh and then went about 40 yds up into a little creek. As we started to sort ourselves out somebody further up the marsh had a shot and where nothing could be seen before hand the whole marsh erupted with widgeon and mallard. they were every where you looked. Unfortunately we hadn't got the guns out and loaded. I had one shot, (cheers for the easy shot martin ), over my shoulder at incoming widgeon and promptly missed. I didn't care, to me it was great to be out there just doing it. Later as the sun started to sink a huge flock/skein of brent came in to land over on the bird reserve, and as it got really dark a curlew flew no more than 10 foot past us. It was great, my only regret is not having taken a camera to record it all. We had best not mention your third wildfowling trip hey. How was the goose the other night anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Master Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Its not just you. I was a bird watcher before I became a shooter and now I do a bit of both. Probably what the squirrels were doing to my hand made bird feeders presuaded me down the shooting road. FM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul in North Lincs. Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 As daft as it sounds it is my love of shooting hunting fisning and the great outdoors that inpsires me through every aspect of my life....for me it is not just a hobby......not something to do with lads every now and again...It is my passion......my lifestyle.....a natural instinct to hunt and gather.....without my shooting my life would be miserable.......I hope I will be able to carry on until for many many years...and my heart goes out to those soals who can no longer venture out through poor health or incapacitation. Live long and prosper my friends....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffolk shooter Posted October 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Best day I have ever had, was thanks to Martin in January this year. He invited me out on the marsh to do a bit of wildfowling with him and his mate down in essex. We got to where they thought it best to set up the decoys, and dropped David off on the marsh and then went about 40 yds up into a little creek. As we started to sort ourselves out somebody further up the marsh had a shot and where nothing could be seen before hand the whole marsh erupted with widgeon and mallard. they were every where you looked. Unfortunately we hadn't got the guns out and loaded. I had one shot, (cheers for the easy shot martin ), over my shoulder at incoming widgeon and promptly missed. I didn't care, to me it was great to be out there just doing it. Later as the sun started to sink a huge flock/skein of brent came in to land over on the bird reserve, and as it got really dark a curlew flew no more than 10 foot past us. It was great, my only regret is not having taken a camera to record it all. We had best not mention your third wildfowling trip hey. How was the goose the other night anyway? Actually it's a good idea to mention the third trip, as let's face it it can happen to anybody and could have been bloody fatal. On opening day in september this year I went out in the morning with Martin and friends only to get nothing and having booked the day off work, was lucky that one of Martins friends was going back out in the evening and said it would be alright to go with him as he wasn't going to shoot the club marsh. (Lets not mention the incident in the morning). Anyway off we went to sit below the sea wall and wait for the geese to either flight out for a last feed before settling down or to catch those coming back in. We sat for at least 1 1/2 hrs before anything came remotely close only to see them vear off at the last minute. The tide had turned and started to drop when out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement and swung round to see a small skein of 6-8 Canadas coming in low from the fields on their way to rest up. I was at the bottom of the boat and waited until the last possible minute to pull up on them and took two out with one shot and followed up with a third on the second barrel. Whilst making the gun safe in an effort to get out of the boat, the first two were still kicking a bit and flapping their way out on to the mud. I grabbed the tiller extension and set off for ther first one while david went to get the second. As i got to it I reached out to dispatch it and pick it up, no problems humanely done. I then went to turn round to go back to the boat only to find I had sunk upto my knees and couldn't move. After struggling for a bit, David pulled the boat over and I tried levering my self out to no avail, as I had on Neoprene waders which just stretched rather then pulling out. getting rather dark, I undid them and hauled myself into the bottom of the boat and preceded to spend the next 45 minutes digging each leg out. bloddy good job the tide was going out, oh so I thought until we ( Or should that be David) then had to drag the boat 40- 50 yds through the Mud to get to the waters edge. Lesson learnt, don't go out on the marsh without someone if you don't know the conditions and if you have to walk on the mud don't stop. Worst of all I got home and the missus went beserk when she had to clean the smelly mud off of everything, gun, slip, cartridge case, waders, top, jeans, shirt. But the upside was the goose tasted superb. Cheers David. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njc110381 Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 I'm the same. It's just nice to be out sometimes. Most shooting suits me, although I can only shoot air rifles on my own at the moment. I think the best thing is falling asleep under a hedge with my rifle (not loaded!) at 4 in the morning because the rabbits are hiding for too long! May be a bad idea with a shotty for security reasons, so I'll have to get out of that habit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigdunny Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Im the same I love being out no matter what the weather is like I started off shooting when I was 14 (47 now) me mum bought me an old Damascus hammer gun for my birthday and that was the start of it I dont care what sort of shooting it is I do, wildfowling/ walked up/ or Deer stalking.... or even fishing, being out is the main thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ziplex Posted October 18, 2006 Report Share Posted October 18, 2006 Some of the most memorable moments I can remember have been whilst out fishing.....portland bill in thick fog under a full moon, looked like a lunar landscape!, durdle door and chesil beach with a bivvy up and lamp hissing away and battery point in sub zero conditions catching a near 40lb bag of cod, (made a friend with a fox that night feeding it squid) etc etc.....could go on for ages. I first went shooting with a friend last year and fell in love with it and I am eagerly awaiting my SGC as of now. If it's torrential rain and the dogs need a walk they'll go once i've got me kit on. As far as i'm concerned i'd rather be out than in, weather makes no difference to me, if anything I prefer it cold and like winter almost as much as autumn. I'd say most/all people who enjoy shooting/fishing generally enjoy being 'out there' rather than 'in'. My ambition is to go Wildfowling once my licence is through so hopefully not too long now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velveteens Posted October 19, 2006 Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 Some of the most memorable moments I can remember have been whilst out fishing.....portland bill in thick fog under a full moon, looked like a lunar landscape!, durdle door and chesil beach with a bivvy up and lamp hissing away and battery point in sub zero conditions catching a near 40lb bag of cod, (made a friend with a fox that night feeding it squid) etc etc.....could go on for ages. I first went shooting with a friend last year and fell in love with it and I am eagerly awaiting my SGC as of now. If it's torrential rain and the dogs need a walk they'll go once i've got me kit on. As far as i'm concerned i'd rather be out than in, weather makes no difference to me, if anything I prefer it cold and like winter almost as much as autumn. I'd say most/all people who enjoy shooting/fishing generally enjoy being 'out there' rather than 'in'. My ambition is to go Wildfowling once my licence is through so hopefully not too long now. I guess I was one of the "Lucky" ones. Being a gamekeeper most of my life and doing what you lads can only do when you are not at work or on holiday. A great life but it does have a downside you can take a holiday in February as that is really the only time you are not in a routine of feeding or shooting ect. The money is not great and I,ve heard all the "a land rover, a dog allowance, a free cottage, a free suit. and a set of barbours every 4 years." The downside is the rearing season where you are tied to the rearing field from April to June then when you put the birds to the wood out most of the night on poacher patrol. Then you only need a couple of mediocre shooters to make the "Bag" look as if you haven,t put enough birds down. I think nowadays most shoots buy their birds in from Gamefarms so the keeper should be on a breeze. Dave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandersj89 Posted October 19, 2006 Report Share Posted October 19, 2006 I started of shooting/hunting/fishing as I grew up on the family farm in Devon. First real activity was fishing in the streams for sticklebacks and then ferreting. When I was 9 I was given my first gun a springer air rifle and I started to terrorise the rabbit, pigeon, magpie, crow, rook, rat populations on the farm. About this time I started to follow the local Beagle pack, Stokehill. They met on the farm twice a season at the time, sadly no ,more. I used to walk a pair of puppies every summer for them as well which could be entertaining! I then moved onto my first shot gun when I was 13 or so, a AYA 16 bore, in fact I still have it as it is a great pigeon gun. I then started to decoy all the time and relied on the books by John Seymour and Archie Coats to lead me in the right way. When I was 15 I managed to persuade my parents that I would like to run a small pheasant shoot on the farm for friends and family so the next spring I set about catching up wild birds to breed. I made a couple of over sized “lobster†pots and managed to catch about 40 birds which went into a breeding pen and the first year I released just over 300 poults onto the farm and we have 5 small driven days in the season with the help of friends and family. Over the next few years before I went away to uni the shoot grew to cover the next door farm and we were putting down over 1,000 birds a year and feeding along the western boundary like mad to draw birds in from Lord Devon’s estate next door. (I never saw eye to eye with the keeper since he accused me of poaching when I was 12, something I never did by the way, so I had no qualms in trying to draw in a few of his birds as they put down 1,000’s each season). I then also got my first gundog, a mad springer, but then they are all mad! I also used to arrange charity clay shoots on the farm during the spring and we would get about 40 guns turn up on a good day, normally in aid of the Game Conservancy or my school at the time. We also dug out a couple of ponds on the farm for irrigation and stocked these with rainbow trout and I used to spend ages fly fishing, the largest we produced was just under 8lbs. We are thinking about restocking a pond at the moment infact…. The shoot fell away a bit when I was at uni as no one wanted to do the work, bit of a shame really. I then moved away from home and worked in the states and Africa for a few years where shooting was also interesting. Doves in the states are very challenging and I had a crack at wild turkey and bagged my first large animal in the form of an Elk. In Africa it was Guinea Fowl and partridge with the shot gun and impala and gazelle with the rifle. Back to the UK and living in London so no easy shooting to be had but I did get the odd day at pheasant during the season and every trip home to the farm saw me out with the gun for some form of sport. Then married and moved to Sussex so managed a bit more informal shooting and still trips home to the farm. Young kids curtailed the shooting a little but the last 3 seasons has seen me doing more driven pheasant and duck and I have joined a syndicate in Sussex for this season so 10 driven days for me and as much rough shooting as I care for 12 months a year. I have slowly been introducing my eldest to the sports as well and to this end have just bought an air rifle for him to enjoy as well. He is also joining the beating line on the shoot. We also go down to the farm as often as we can, often taking 2 weeks breaks there in the summer to give my parents a break. My guns invariably travel with us. So very much died in the wool country person who loves all aspects of country sports. How the hell I ended up working in an office I will never know!!!!! Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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