Inside out

[Darno]

Anyone see it on bbc1 this evening?

Talking about the various duck species that are enjoying the Somerset levels at the minute!

My mrs doesn't understand how I enjoy watching them as much as I enjoy shooting them:-)

[anser2]

Not many non wildfowlers can understand we idolise our quarry and will do everything to help their conservation and yet get so many thrills from hunting them. Its something difficult to explane , all I can say is that I love wildfowl and yet enjoy them more when I have a gun under my arm. Its not just the birds that make the sport , its the marsh landscape , the wonder of the sunrise and being out in extreme weather and perhaps the fact that its not easy. Anyone can stand on a peg and shoot birds driven over him , but with wildfowl they are wild and will do what they want to do not what the keeper want them to do. A good wildfowler has to be a naturlist , he has to under stand the habbits of wildfowl know what they are likely to do in certain weathers or tides and hope that sometimes he will out guess them.

 

 

The size of the bag is not important though it is nice to have a bird or two at the end of flight. I get great enjoyment knowing if we get a sharp frost there are certain creeks on my marsh that the teal will flight into for the day , or if out for geese are likely to change their flightlines for a different feed if their spuds are frozed solid into the ground . The non quarry birds also add to the enjoyment , brents pouring in low off the muds, or the pink light of the sunrise reflecting off the plumage of an egret feeding close by in a creek all help to make the sport magic.

[kent]

To a Wildfowler there is no conflict, if you don't study and watch them you wont shoot a lot on the saltmarsh and when you watch and hunt something on fair terms you develop a very deep respect of that creature. The thrill of wildfowling has nothing really to do with the amount shot in a flight or a season, bringing down high birds or wiping anybody's eye those who look at things like that rarely stick it. Its the planning, the place itself, the hint of danger and most of all the anticipation

To compare a true wildfowler to a birdwatcher might be a closer association than to compare one to a traveling shot after driven pheasant, it is just that different. Some non the less shoot the pheasant but I don't know many fowlers who don't study the fowl very closely

[Penelope]

Not many non wildfowlers can understand we idolise our quarry and will do everything to help their conservation and yet get so many thrills from hunting them. Its something difficult to explane , all I can say is that I love wildfowl and yet enjoy them more when I have a gun under my arm. Its not just the birds that make the sport , its the marsh landscape , the wonder of the sunrise and being out in extreme weather and perhaps the fact that its not easy. Anyone can stand on a peg and shoot birds driven over him , but with wildfowl they are wild and will do what they want to do not what the keeper want them to do. A good wildfowler has to be a naturlist , he has to under stand the habbits of wildfowl know what they are likely to do in certain weathers or tides and hope that sometimes he will out guess them.

 

 

The size of the bag is not important though it is nice to have a bird or two at the end of flight. I get great enjoyment knowing if we get a sharp frost there are certain creeks on my marsh that the teal will flight into for the day , or if out for geese are likely to change their flightlines for a different feed if their spuds are frozed solid into the ground . The non quarry birds also add to the enjoyment , brents pouring in low off the muds, or the pink light of the sunrise reflecting off the plumage of an egret feeding close by in a creek all help to make the sport magic.

 

To a Wildfowler there is no conflict, if you don't study and watch them you wont shoot a lot on the saltmarsh and when you watch and hunt something on fair terms you develop a very deep respect of that creature. The thrill of wildfowling has nothing really to do with the amount shot in a flight or a season, bringing down high birds or wiping anybody's eye those who look at things like that rarely stick it. Its the planning, the place itself, the hint of danger and most of all the anticipation

To compare a true wildfowler to a birdwatcher might be a closer association than to compare one to a traveling shot after driven pheasant, it is just that different. Some non the less shoot the pheasant but I don't know many fowlers who don't study the fowl very closely

 

Very well said gentlemen.

[Darno]

I travel about 1 hr 40min to get to the marsh, and have a few good trips, but even if I come back with 1 widgeon I still love the trip!

Setting up before first light, sitting in the mud watching the marsh wake up, the sounds, the little birds you get flitting into the marsh. I love it! I've slept out on the marsh a couple of times.........best nights sleep ever! And to come home with some fresh duck or goose is just a bonus to me:-)

Thanks for the comments guys, nice to hear others appreciate thing as much as me!

Edited February 18, 2014 by Darno

[marsh man]

I have been reading the above posts and you guys certainly put the reason we shoot wildfowl a lot better than I can Over the years I have been a wildfowling junkie ,just couldn't get enough of it, before I went to work, when I came home and quite a few times under the moon, on the water or on the marsh it didn't matter as long as I was out ,the only company I had most of the time was my dog and that was the way I liked it. last year was the first time in over 50 years I didn't go in September ,I had gone of shooting early season duck ,I don't mind those who do as I have shot a lot of them over the years also I have never decoyed geese and dought if I ever will, if I get 2 or 3 each season that's enough now for me .Last year I treated myself to a good pair of binoculars and I can see in the near future I will get more pleasure watching them than shooting them.