An amazing day out!

[Nikk]

The Hat

 

Once again thanks to work I was resigned to either no shooting or getting the odd scrap here and there, the syndicate shoot I wanted to join in February looked like it was getting more and more popular and I wasn’t surprised, I’d been there 4 times last year and loved it but the tax man had other ideas. An email arrived on Monday last minute chance for a 60 bird driven day on Wednesday! To my amazement I was in luck and wouldn’t be working till Thursday so I paid up and then started to work up myself up in to a frenzy. It’s funny how the smallest things become a big deal when your heart starts racing but my beloved flat cap had shrunk to the point it fit my daughter and I had to get another one! I rushed out and bought one that would do the job.

 

With the hat sorted I started to worry about not getting out of my pit in the morning so at the last minute rang the B&B which is on the farm and they had a room spare. I chucked my 200 quid ‘farmers gun’ and some cartridges in the boot and set off. It was 8pm before I was on the motorway but this way I’d not feel like **** first thing in the morning. I bought a couple of beers on the way down so I would sleep. Quick check of the weather before bed it said 'dry and windy'….very windy!!

 

The Farmers

 

Got to the B&B, I wasn’t really sure what relationship they had with the shoot or farmers so thought it best not to say anything. In the morning I felt guilty trying to turn down a full welsh breakfast but I was starting to get butterflies in my stomach, which would be worse not eating anything or leaving half of it? I settled for toast and scrambled egg and a slice of bacon….and did my best to eat it The owners wife spotted me sneaking down stairs with my wellies and asked me “You in the field today?” I sheepishly replied I was on the shoot next door…well the one on this farm actually lol and she looked shocked asking me if I’d told her husband. They ran the farm, their three lads farmed it and they new the shoot captain well.. I felt right stupid lol

 

Met up with what were now familiar faces….and a few new ones…couldn’t stop myself fawning over the dogs sorry but I’m a sucker for it you’ve got to love those Spaniels all fired up and trembling with adrenaline….I knew how they felt

 

Headless Chicken

 

We started on the duck pond, I don’t think I’d ever had a good start on there but as we snuck up on them it was packed. The wild ducks were the first off the pond I missed a couple of shots but managed to pull myself together. I concentrated on one coming right at me, it was going so fast I didn’t have time to think my gun was up and bang it was down, can’t blank now ha ha! What followed on from this first shot is something I still haven’t been able to wrap my head around. From using a gun I couldn’t hit a barn door with I then neatly folded three more very nice ducks two quartering fast towards me and the last a really nice crosser. I couldn’t contain myself and a few ***** and s**ts slipped out! My adrenaline was literally pumping through my veins like I’d just been injected with half a tonne of amphetamines and I was on such a high I couldn’t come down off it!

 

I Picked up the last couple of ducks and then someone stumbled on a bizarre scene….A perfect formed pheasants head lying of the ground, not a scratch on it. We found the body and it was exactly the same. The best theory anyone could come out with was that maybe it had flown in to a tree or a wire and had conveniently decapitated itself.

 

Next the drive along a copse near the pond and I missed two pheasants. I then though “Oh here we go…I know what comes next! Handful of decent shots in the morning then bug*er it up the rest of the day” Got that T-shirt!

 

We walked off to a long gauze covered hill, the dogs flushed one pheasant which was shot but it was suspiciously quiet! The other end of the hill is thick with cover; gauze and brush and I have seen some insane pheasants come off there, it can also be full of woodcock. I wandered down to my little bit of field. As I walked through some long grasses I felt a thump on my foot. I looked down and a hare had run in to my boot..another sight that I never want to forget.

 

All is quiet on the Western Front

 

We are all facing the hill and gauze and as the beaters come over the brow of the hill you could see little indications of activity, like a tired woodcock would rise and settle. And then it began! Once the song birds had got the out of dodge (why are they always the first to fly off?) I watched two smallish but plump birds fly very fast and high right over my head. At the last second a flash of plumage made me realised they were partridge, (I’ve never seen them in flight before) but I watched them go right over me (shaking your head right?).

 

Then more birds came over it, becoming a steady flurry, little groups of twos and threes very very fast and we were all missing them at first…probably through shock! I started to get frustrated, I’ve never shot a partridge yet and after 7 or 8 came over I thought I’d lost my chance but they just kept coming, pheasants then got lifted as did woodcock. I’d wasted 4 cartridges for nothing and then connected to a lovely fast pheasant followed by another and then a third beautiful cock, looking down around me the ground seemed to be covered in cartridges and I could barely keep up reloading! Finally a partridge came my way super-fast with a rocket up its bum quartering left to right and without a thought I just mounted and it was down. I was already excited but now I was like a 5 year old that had been given the keys to a sweet shop…this wasn’t exited this was HIGH as a flaming kite!! I recon at least 60 Partridge were flushed off that little hill, plus 10+ pheasants and a few woodcock. I doubt I will see something quite like this again it seemed to go on for ever! Afterwards everyone was ecstatic and the beaters and gamekeeper must have been seriously chuffed with themselves. You could have paid hundreds and hundreds of pounds for that and it would have been worth every penny.

 

I was probably gibbering like a lunatic but we were eventually bundled in to the 4x4s and driven down the hill to the next little strip of woodland. This is where I shot my first and only woodcock last year, the memories flooded back. Three of us were lined out and as the dogs worked the cover it became apparent that I was a bird magnet that day. We only saw two birds and the first was a cock pheasant going like a freight train, twisting almost 160 degrees I fired a single shot and it folded immediately…. 4 or 5 minutes later a partridge rocketed up in the air directly above me and heading straight over my head, inexplicably I just shot it effortlessly out of the sky.

 

Farmers Gun!

 

We wandered down to the trucks and to be told by very experienced people that I was shooting well (even if they were just being polite) is a feeling that would be worth millions if you could bottle it. So the farmers gun worth 50p, that I couldn’t shoot was now worth more to me than anything, I wouldn’t sell it for two grand. I actually felt like I'd shook the queens hand and never wanted to wash it again....no fear this gun has never been cleaned or oiled anway We all piled in to the trucks and drove back but honestly I could have floated over the woods like a balloon.

 

Safety Stumble

 

The last drive, everyone is getting cold and tired especially the dogs. Concentration starting to fade I miss a sitter watching someone take a pigeon (hmm pigeons really do it for me every time) then right at the end I get another rocket like pheasant which I see at the last minute…..becoming routine now….I finally get on to it and pull the trigger and then………Nothing!! What the.....? my knees almost buckled as I stumbled slightly forward. “****! my safety was still on ha!! What a priceless way to be brought back to earth. You might have had a good day but you are always learning.

 

Am I dreaming?

 

Just as we walked back to the hut and no word of a lie I almost had the feeling that suddenly I was going to wake up in the B&B and it was all a dream and if that had happened I wouldn’t have been surprised. I could have slept outdoors on the farm that night and I would have still woken up buzzing. But work was calling (2am start) and everyone was packing up so I bade farewell and left. I get in my car and drive off, I’m still off my trolley on adrenaline, I turn the radio up and they are playing really great music on radio 2 lol??? It just added to the surreal feeling. Drove home deep in thought and when I get back my daughter is waiting for me, I show her and the dog the birds which they both love and my daughters bedtime stories will be tales of the field by dad lol She’s a real keen one so one day it will be her shooting! I counted my cartridges, I shot 26 and took ten birds which is far better than I would expect on a clay ground. As a team our average was about the same 170 odd for 60 birds...what a day!

 

Anyway I promised a couple of pics last time, they’re not great..I didn’t have time to take photos!!

 

The B&B

A Room with a View

The Bag

Drive home

The welcoming committee

The Lucky Hat

I forgot to add...the hat that started all the stress.. It's still on the dinning room table with the tag in it! i left the bloody thing at home in my panic

Edited November 18, 2013 by Nikk

[alastair0903]

What a write up , this is getting me excited for my let day on the 4th january , i hope i have as good a day as you . Well done

[JDog]

That my friend is the best write up about a shooting day I have seen for a very long time. The 'welcoming committee' rounded it off perfectly.

[la bala]

great write up and pics.

[filzee]

Well done mate and a great write up. I get all excited the night before a shoot

[Blackpowder]

Smashing honest write up from someone who has ereally enjoyed their day. Well done>

 

Blackpowder

[Churchill]

What a great read, thanks for sharing.

[moose man]

Made me smile & I was just reading it , bet you had the biggest grin on your chops..!! well done mate & thanks .

[bruno22rf]

Best write up for a very long time-your enthusiasm is contagious - I have read books written by people with far less talent-seriously well done

[fenboy]

And the winner of post of the year is------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------you

[Good shot?]

I felt all your emotions whilst reading that, well done on a great day and write up.

[misser]

top write up....brilliant

[Paul taylor]

Fantastic day and write up pal you got me so excited im gonna go sit in a field and pray some pigeons turn up.

[Maddaftspaniel]

Refreshing reminder of what our sport is about!

[Jockdude]

Great read at lunchtime, thanks.

[greylag]

Brilliant write up.Really enjoyed your day,felt all the emotion of the build up to the day and the day its self.

[everycal]

Great write up, great BnB and shoot, I shot there last year and am taking a good friend their in January. Can't wait now!

[ayano3]

Great write up, that sets me up fine for picking up near Lincoln tomorrow.

[Liamey]

I truly loved the write up, you certainly have a gift for it. I almost felt I was there with you. Sounds like an unforgettable time.

[Colc08]

Great write up, Thanks for sharing

[RichS]

Brilliant write up. Thoroughly enjoyed reading that. Buzzing for beaters day tomorrow now