remembering your first goose ect

[marsh man]

hi guys last week I shot a pink yes I was excited but not on the same scale as my first one many years ago, I go up the a47 between Yarmouth and acle most days of the week and its not unuseual to see 100s and at times 1000s feeding fairly close to the road sometimes you stand more chance getting a goose than a duck now back in the sixties you only got a few skeins of whitefronts that came down here around December and the chances of getting one was very slim year arfter year went by with the useual excuse to far to high just moved and they came over at 20 yards up you know the sort of thing well this night I came back on top of the wall like most nights bag was empty but we were used to that then I heard the gesse a long way off when the noise got louder I changed cartridges over, I put in a alfamax 3 in the right and a alfamax 1 in the left looking towards the sound I could see a dark line comeing over me about 40 yards up I gave them two shots when they were above me when they flew on I could see one comeing down towards the mud flats when I picked it up my whole body was shaken with excitement I had finely got one arfter years of trying I cleaned the mud of it in the dyke to expose his thick black bars on his chest I was holding the holy grail of wildfowling I didn't have a lot of money then still haven't so that bit is the same but if any body had offered me a 100 pound they wont have had it so come on you fowlers with a few seasons under your belt tell us your ones duck or gesse it don't matter as long as you tell us about then all the best guys

[Penelope]

I would love the chance at a Whitefront. Seen them three time and came close once, but they turned just out of range. Of all they grey geese, they appear to be the ones that can pop up anywhere.

 

hi guys last week I shot a pink yes I was excited but not on the same scale as my first one many years ago, I go up the a47 between Yarmouth and acle most days of the week and its not unuseual to see 100s and at times 1000s feeding fairly close to the road sometimes you stand more chance getting a goose than a duck now back in the sixties you only got a few skeins of whitefronts that came down here around December and the chances of getting one was very slim year arfter year went by with the useual excuse to far to high just moved and they came over at 20 yards up you know the sort of thing well this night I came back on top of the wall like most nights bag was empty but we were used to that then I heard the gesse a long way off when the noise got louder I changed cartridges over, I put in a alfamax 3 in the right and a alfamax 1 in the left looking towards the sound I could see a dark line comeing over me about 40 yards up I gave them two shots when they were above me when they flew on I could see one comeing down towards the mud flats when I picked it up my whole body was shaken with excitement I had finely got one arfter years of trying I cleaned the mud of it in the dyke to expose his thick black bars on his chest I was holding the holy grail of wildfowling I didn't have a lot of money then still haven't so that bit is the same but if any body had offered me a 100 pound they wont have had it so come on you fowlers with a few seasons under your belt tell us your ones duck or gesse it don't matter as long as you tell us about then all the best guys

[Norfolk Rogue1]

hello everybody i cant remember my first goose but i can remember the last time i saw them it was Saturday, there was 5 wildfowlers on one marsh all waiting for that chance ,as we were all looking towards braydon water but no sign of them, it was getting late by now so time to put the decoys away so i look towards mautby before i would stand up, there they were coming in from behind, so i crouched and watched them come over just too high, then they just dropped over the acle straight near Britannia farm

 

[marsh man]

hi Penelope yes I think you are right they can turn up where you least expect them and I am sure if you keep trying the good lord will reward you, when I first started I had little ambitions like a right and left at all the ducks and geese double figures at flight and that sort of thing ,as the years went by I started to tick one off now and then until I had them all bar one which was a right and left at whitefronts time went on and I forgot all about it, then one night about 10 years ago a small skein came over one night and came strait to the bit of water I was flighting on I got a right and left and they were whitefronts that was about 40 years since I shot my first one and that made my wish list complete so you n ever know what your next flight will bring good luck

[fenboy]

Having only started foreshore shooting this year I am still waiting for my first goose from the marsh .

 

I have however shot lots of pinks inland over more years than I care to remember , but I can clearly remember the first one I shot , well actually it was two with one shot !

 

The geese had been feeding on some beet tops for a number of days before I could make it , I got down in the dark and set all four of my home made plywood decoys !

Quite a few turned up but were all dropping on the other end of the field from where I was hidden in a ditch , I sat there for a few hrs hoping for a chance but nothing was happening and I was sure that my chance had gone with perhaps 1000+ pinks now on the other end of the field .

 

I unloaded the gun and was just starting to climb out of the ditch when I heard that familiar "wink wink" from behind , I turned round and saw about 20 pinks heading straight my way , these were coming from a entirely different direction than the others had .

 

I quickly slid back down into the dyke and managed to scramble a couple of cartridges into the old bailkal O/U I had at the time just in time no sooner had I closed the gun they were over me about 40 yards up , I swung through the tail ender and pulled the trigger , to my amazement it folded along with the one in front of it , I was so surprised that I did not even fire the other barrel .

 

When I eventually traded the baikal in the gunsmith measured the chokes and found it had been bored out to skeet and skeet ! , I had brought it thinking it was half and full.

Edited January 27, 2014 by fenboy

[Xplor]

My first pink was taken on the Solway in 1978, I was 12 and was up there for a week with my elder brother and his mates,

We stayed in a guest house in cummertrees and shot the morning and evening flights.

 

First morning out with my new gun, early christmas present,an Elderkin and son 32inch hammer sxs 3 inch a right beast.

I was in my hole on the marsh before first light with my bro and mates spread about 20yrds apart.

Just as it breaking light I looked up and there's 4 heading straight for me, I pulled the hammers back and got myself ready.

Before I knew it they were over my head and bang, all I remember was sitting with my back to the mud thinking what happened.

 

Both barrels went together I hit the front goose the butt hit me in the nose so claret everywhere and I chipped a tooth.

I had 2 more that week, but the first was the best.

.

[grahamch]

Rember it well, a greylagshot at the Elwick end at Lindisfarne with an Alphamax no3 and my fathers Aya No4 game gun through an improved cylinder choke!

 

I was 19 or maybe 20.

 

Also shot my first pink with it at Loch Leven a long time ago.

 

Still shoot at Lindisfarne and have the number 4 but keep it for game now and use a no3 magnum on the shore.

[ratty1]

I remember my first canada goose as if it was yesterday, it wasn't a spectacular shot infact it was a flock shot at 15yards as 2O or so geese cane down along a small tributary river, I was only 8 and the gun was as big as me.

My first pinkfoot was by far the most memorable, it was my 13th birthday and I was up on the solway in a gulley with my uncle, I had already fired 10 shots that morning with my uncles mossberg pump (which I couldn't pump as my arms were to short) without success, a skein of geese lifted and came over, my uncle fired and dropped 1 pink so I swung through and fired and missed clean the bird I fired at but the bird behind folded up beautifully, obviously I told every one it was the bird I aimed at,

[dawntredder]

My first goose was inland just south of lindisfarne on a farm we used to shoot at adderstone..i was using a sxs ugartechea 1/2 n full w alphamax 4's,its xtra special 4 me as my dad was the caller back in the day..the geese would be seen coming 2 to 3 miles away in long strings of beads they nearly always passed very high up to the left n right and we never used deeks back then well not at 1st,it was 1981 n i was 14 this morn a loner about 500yds away was spotted and me dad called it perfect it never strayed from its course which was straight to me in my drainage ditch..i took it with one shot 25yds above me and it was stone dead..we went on to shoot there on n off till 1990 with good memories,.as for forshore geese i have shot maybe 30 but my 1st was 2008 on the chair out on the flats of lindisfarne i had got caught in a white out heading for harveys island and i missed 1st lot at 25yds they went straight over harveys 60yds up when i heard a big 8 go off and 2 pinks dropped to earth i actually seen birds drop then i heard the shots,the lucky man was either steve woodall (basc) or his buddy gordon anyway my pink came ten mins later and was my 1st pink from the island..phew! ;-)

[Fal]

Morning guys!

 

Here's an account of my first goose ever, just reading it back gets me excited!!

 

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/231206-goose-shooting-montrose-basin/

 

Love reading all the different accounts, you can sense the excitement in the posts!

[Chad63]

I remember my first canada goose as if it was yesterday, it wasn't a spectacular shot infact it was a flock shot at 15yards as 2O or so geese cane down along a small tributary river, I was only 8 and the gun was as big as me.

My first pinkfoot was by far the most memorable, it was my 13th birthday and I was up on the solway in a gulley with my uncle, I had already fired 10 shots that morning with my uncles mossberg pump (which I couldn't pump as my arms were to short) without success, a skein of geese lifted and came over, my uncle fired and dropped 1 pink so I swung through and fired and missed clean the bird I fired at but the bird behind folded up beautifully, obviously I told every one it was the bird I aimed at,

 

What about your first duck ratty1? Something like "Uncle Paul Uncle Paul I shot a f-----g duck" How old was you?

[marsh man]

well done lads your doing really well, rummon how I can remember my first goose but cant remember the first time I had sex just goes to show how exciteing that, was keep them comeing in guys

[Big Mat]

I remember the first goose i shot. It was the washes at Earith earlier in the season.

 

I was sat in a hide with Fenlander off here, a lone greylag came flying towards us. He said i could have it. Stood up and started swinging, missed with the first shot, bolt on the auto stayed part way back so smacked it to unjam it but managed to slip over at the same time and fired off the second shot whilst falling backwards, saw the goose fold perfect just as i hit the dirt. Goose landed no more than a couple of feet from the hide. On plucking it had two pellets in the neck, a very unlucky goose!

[fenboy]

well done lads your doing really well, rummon how I can remember my first goose but cant remember the first time I had sex just goes to show how exciteing that, was keep them comeing in guys

 

Dont worry about it , my Mrs recons sex is not very memorable also

[ratty1]

 

What about your first duck ratty1? Something like "Uncle Paul Uncle Paul I shot a ****--g duck" How old was you?

I wasn't going to mention that,hahaha.

I was 11 years old

[Penelope]

It was the last day of the a weeks trip up to Loch Leven in the last week of November 89, I was 20. Four of us, including my dad and two friends had booked a weeks goose shooting with Alan Murray, but had been guided by Sandy Aitken, a local chap from Scotlandwell who knew his geese.

(we did have a visit by Murray mid way through the week just after breakfast in the Lomond Country Hotel. He didn't enamour himself to us with his brash attitude and the comment of 'You ain't been goose shooting in Scotland until you've been out with Alan Murray' at the top of his voice and chest puffed out; we soon took his thunder when we said we would rather stay with Sandy, a true gent).

 

Anyway, back to the last morning. Geese had been scarce and although I had had a few shots during the week, I hadn't connected, although the other had all had a goose or two. As usual, we were out in the dark, decoys out on a stubble field over looking the Loch and lined out along a stone wall in individual hides made by piling up goose grass around and over us (excellent stuff for hide making).

The sun rose and the geese lifted off of the loch as is their way, arrowing off to all points of the compass to their chosen feeding grounds. Very few came our way and what did were high and not lured by the decoys or Sandy's calling, that was until a pair came on, lower than the rest and showing some interest, circling like they do, dropping all the time.

They swung out wide to our left and quartered around behind us, very low, no more than 10 foot off the ground 'wink wink'in' as they did so and getting closer to me all the while. Close enough now for a shot, the goose grass thrown back and the Kestrel Magnum thrown up and swung through the nearer of the two, 'bang' and it folded, my excitement so great that I did not think to fire the second shot, off up out of the hide and I raced over to where the pinkfoot lay, dusking browns and greys against the yellow stubble, my breath rasping. I hoisted her (I believe, it was a goose and not a gander as it was dainty little goose, but not a bird of the year) up by the neck, careful not to ruffle any feathers, proudly holding her up for all to see, my smile beaming across the fields. I had read so much about these wonderful birds over the years and finally I had one of my own. The sight and sound ingrained in my mind for all time.

 

She now has pride of residence in my hall way, along with the cartridge that brought about her down fall.

 

Edited January 30, 2014 by Penelope

[misser]

under the moon sat against the river alt bank, shot with an old sarasqueta o/u and eley BB's....got 3 thatnight... something one never forgets

[marsh man]

Hi Penelope just been reading your account of your first pink in fact ive read it a couple of times you put it over that well I imagined I was there with you sharing some of your excitement I know exactly how you felt I wish I had kept mine but at that age the only birds we wanted to mount wernt geese . I kept my one in my shed till all my shooting mates came and a look at it and anybody else who came round my house had to have a look even if they didn't want to .When it was near eat by date me mum cooked it and some of me mates came round had a few beers and we ate it one go and it went down a treat

[Big Al]

My first goose was a greylag, shot on the foreshore of Strangford Lough in 1992. There was a howling Sw gale (we called it a Cork wind, as the arrows on TV weather maps seemed to come from Cork!) and we had left early in the hope of a bumper duck flight. The spot we were choosing had been the subject of many a phone call during the preceeding week, so when by the time the shotless flight ended we had gathered together for a post mortem hoping to gain some useful pearls of wisdom from an otherwise fruitless outing.

 

We were standing close together shouting at each other to be heard over the wind when Jackie shouted "Down!"

Damien and I dropped into the mud where we stood and I looked into the wind. A skein of 6 greylags was coming straight for us no more the. 50 feet up. I changed to my goose loads - Victory mini-magnum 3s- and waited as the geese struggled against the wind. When they were out in front only 30 yards off we rose and fired. The second bird in the right hand arm of the skein folded stone dead to myshot. And like Penelope, I was so over the moon I clean forgot that I had another barrel!

 

That has got to be the most photographed goose in history!

Edited February 2, 2014 by Big Al

[anser2]

My first goose.

 

Well there have been six first geese. My first pink foot was an unlucky bird , he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was back inn the early 70s on the Wash. The season was well on when a mate and I decided for some reason to flight the geese marsh. In those days there were not many geese about and given a glimmer of a moon they all went inland and it was unusual to see a goose coming off the mud’s at dawn. As expected the marsh was empty of pinks , they were all eating spuds a few miles inland. Just as we were about to pack up a dozen appeared off to the west flying along the marsh rather than in or off the mud’s. The passed us 40 yards away and we both dropped our first pinks . I remember I had the dog beaten flat as I ran in to the fall.

 

My first greylag was shot under the moon in the Broads when I was a kid. For some reason I can’t remember much about the shot , but to a young teenager I do remember thinking massive the goose was compared to the duck I was used to shooting.

 

My first Canada was a bit of an anti climax. I had seen a dozen land on the Broadland river I grew up shooting on. It was easy to stalk them through the thick reeds and I killed one as the birds took off.

 

My first whitefront was a different story. For 20 years I had chased whitefronts on my native Broadland marshes, on the Wash and on the North Norfolk coast without any luck. I had had a few chances it was true. There was the skein of 40 that flew over head one wild dawn , in the Broads. I had been watching them all week and through the bins could see the bold black bars of the gander I so wanted. 5 mornings I has flighted them until finally they passed just within range , and I dropped a bird, but I could just not believe it when my dog returned with a pink foot. It must have been the only one in the flock. For then on white fronts were my bogy bird. I dropped one on the Wash that lay feet up on the mud all through flight ( there werea lot of pinks sitting close in that I did not want to disturb until they flighted ) and then as I got out of my creek it got up and flew off seemingly untouched, the one I lost in a creek full of tumbling ice flows in a very cold winter and I dare not send my dog into the icy water to retrieve it. I can still see that old barred gander floating out to sea . There were two others lost for one reason or another until finally I was flighting pinks in a sandstorm on the North Norfolk coast . My friend and I had a great bag of pinks and we were thinking about packing up when out of the darkness came the unmistakable sound of whitefronts and a goodly flock on them by the sound of it. They loomed out of the dusk in a great skein that faded into the darkness on ether side. Somehow I scrambled one down, but to my disappointment it was a youngster with no bars. Not that it mattered because I had five more whitefronts before the season ended all well barred birds.

 

My final first goose is a bean or rather two on them in the days before their protection. I was doing the morning flight on the Wash expecting wigeon when a skein of 30 odd geese came low off the mud. I only had time to stuff in one goose shell before they were on me. One staggered and fell to my first shot , a second flinched to my second shot ( gran prix no 6 ). Just before hitting the ground the first goose recovered and just made the sea wall before dropping. I rushed over to find another fowler there who swore blind the geese had carried on. Glancing across the field I saw a single goose several hundred yards off across the plough. It gave me a very long chase , but I finally caught it with a rugby tackle just before it made a ditch. A later postmortum showed it had stopped a single no 6 shot . When I got back to the seawall the other fowler had gone , but right next to where he had been there were goose feathers. A week later the other fowler was boasting to a mate how he had shot a bean goose off the sea wall that morning, but mine were the only shots I heard that flight so I am sure he had taken my bird.

 

My sixth goose is not really a goose but a type of shielduck. I was on an organised goose shoot inland to thin out the Canada’s when the keeper told us to thin out the Egyptian geese as well. During the flight four came over low and I scored a right and left .

Edited February 2, 2014 by anser2

[chezza1986]

Just had my first season wildfowling and even though I didn't shoot much what a season. Shot 4 Mallards, a Wigeon, a Teal and 1 beast of a Greylag! Was standing in a ditch waiting for the moring flight to come over and they didn't come out at the same time as previous weeks, thought we were lucked out but one belt on the goose call I could hear some return calls comming from the distance. I stood fast and herd the calls get louder and louder untill the appeared in the distance. About 20 flew over head but well out of range but about 4 or 5 flew right to left about 45 yards out so raised my gun and boom, nailed one! Was so happy I ran over to pick it up after a few more flew well over head shouting I finally got one. Find it very hard to explain to friends and family who shoot the appeal of standing knee deep in cold water at stupid o'clock in the morning waiting for possibly just one shot, but once I got that goose it all made sense. Can't wait till next season now!

[Barls2-9-12]

I remember my first goose a grey lag shot down on the river wall at walberswick It was in 2001 and I was 12 years old. I was stood down there with my grandad who has now hung the gun up. It was a wet and windy November night they swung low over the sea wall about 30 yards to my right not making a sound. I only managed one shot, As I was to slow for the second. Will never forget that night I also had a teal that night I have got a picture with me holding the both of them. Great days...

 

My first duck was a drake shoveler shot down at the same place the year before. I have never shot one since.