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Wildfowling Season 2014 - 2015


Wildfowler325
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You got something last nights flight fenboy. ******* soaked lol

 

Your not wrong there , and I am still picking mud out of various locations :lol:

 

Add 10 to that and you get the number i have blanked!

 

Yeah but your use to it i'm not :lol:

I am having a lean spell, too. More than five flights since my last pink.

 

I have a top guide booked for Tuesday do you want me to ask him if he can help you out !

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Strangly my shooting has picked up over the last few weeks after a quiet spell. I have shot on the Broads , N Norfolk coast and Ouse Washes in the last fortnight and though there have been very few duck about scored in 9 out of the last 11 days flighting. Nothing exceptional with the top bag 6 duck and frequently just a single duck in the flight , but after a very poor start to October its nice to put a few duck in the bag. However every one of those duck have had to be worked for , rather than just visiting the marsh and flighting a favourite spot its been more a case of taking advantage of any break the weather or tides can give me. On one marsh there is a good mallard flightline , however they are usualy much too high for a shot without a wind from the right direction, but last wenesday we had a brief period of strong north wind and though I only saw two small bunches of mallard the evening flight produced gave me two chances and resulted in a brace of mallard. Friday saw a very strong south wind with a dropping tide just after dawn. I knew that it would be uncomfortable for the duck to stay out on the sand flats and they would be looking for shelter even in broad daylight . Though again there were few duck about and I only saw 30 duck , I had picked the right spot with a lot of freshly exposed mud in a sheltered creek and managed 6 duck.

Two weeks ago we had a bit of rain , enough to produce a small flash on my Broadland shoot. A hand full of mallard came into it at dusk and despite some very poor shooting between us we managed 3 duck. The flash only lasted a couple of days before drying out , but as in all my recent successful days it was a case of keeping a close eye on the weather , judging how it would effect the birds , if on the coast checkingthe tides and planning accordingly.

I have always tried to keep very flexable when wildfowling and be prepared to change my plans at the last second sometimes even when driving down to the marsh. I may alter my plans with a any change in conditions and may change my mind from chaseing the geese to going after teal , perhaps on a different marsh 25 miles away. Yet I know some wildfowlers who flight the same spot week after week and yes they hit it off sometimes , but just as often come up with a blank.

Edited by anser2
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Very nicely put "anser 2" .....I have now got more water on the marsh than not enough of it , at least it give me more places to flight duck but with the numbers of duck only slowly increasing all it means is there are more splashes for roughly the same amount of duck making it a bit more difficult to get a duck or two . Having said that by the sound of how some of the others are doing we are not doing to bad with a nice lot of Pinks around the area giving people a chance in bagging the odd one.

 

I know what you mean with wildfowlers using the same field even the same gate when they go , maybe they were lucky the first tine they flighted there with the wind , tide , and the many different things needed to produce a successful flight , and with not having the same amount of time were got they are not prepared to try somewhere else on the odd time they go , thinking there favourite place might come good again .

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Pinkfoot no 64 fell to the 2nd shot this evening followed by a r/l at mallard then a wigeon.

The weather is finally starting to show now, a nice breeze this evening with heavy showers pushed a few geese onto the estuary, most still too high or wide. The duck were seeking shelter in a small bay edged with various grasses.

1 happy fowler and 1 very wet happy dog!

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Pinkfoot no 64 fell to the 2nd shot this evening followed by a r/l at mallard then a wigeon.

The weather is finally starting to show now, a nice breeze this evening with heavy showers pushed a few geese onto the estuary, most still too high or wide. The duck were seeking shelter in a small bay edged with various grasses.

1 happy fowler and 1 very wet happy dog!

 

Thanks for that mate I dont think I have even seen one this season yet :lol::lol:

 

Only jesting well done :good:

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First decoying session of the year tomorrow! 3am alarm, out on the marsh set up by 6am and away to go. Tides are perfect, I don't think much sleep will be happening tonight, I'm too excited!

 

And I bagged my first Woodcock of the season last night, few ducks tomorrow and I will be a very tired, but happy man!!!

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First decoying session of the year tomorrow! 3am alarm, out on the marsh set up by 6am and away to go. Tides are perfect, I don't think much sleep will be happening tonight, I'm too excited!

 

And I bagged my first Woodcock of the season last night, few ducks tomorrow and I will be a very tired, but happy man!!!

 

Good luck mate, will look forward to hearing of your success!

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Impossible teal.

 

Just had two great days in the Broads. Started with a dawn duck flight on a large tidal river with extensive reed beds along its banks.. Not a duck moved until it was full light when a good flight of teal started , but I never managed to bag one. Teal came flashing past only a yard above the water and by the time I saw them and mounted the gun they had vanished again behind the reeds. Some of the bunches spanned the river , but I only managed one shot at them. As the teal flight finished the mallard started to move , but despite the strong wind they were all at the very edge of range , but 5 shots with Gamebore mammoths in 3s resulted in 4 in the bag. Though one winged bird came down in the river a hundred yards off. By the time the dog had reached it was another hundred yards away being carried seawards by the strong tide. It dived continually and both dog and duck disappeared out of sight around a bend in the river. It was imposable to follow the dog along the river band due to the thick reeds and several side creeks , so I struggled back to the river wall and set off downstream whistling the dog as I went . Just as I was about return to my flighting spot there was a rustle behind me and there was Meg with a very lively drake mallard in her mouth.

 

The evening flight was a blank. A mate and I flighted a flash several miles upstream , but we never saw a bird. The following morning we had to get up early as we had a long drive to some marshes along the North River. I started badly with a miss at an easy mallard and then the greylag started to flight , maybe a thousand in all during the next hour came over , but most were wide or to high , but by picking my shots I soon had enough. Unbelievably a pair of mallard had sat tight in a reedy pool during all the shooting , but their nerve broke and they jumped just as I was about to pack up. 42gr of BB is not the perfect load for mallard , but I killed one , missing the other.

 

Two mates and I spent the final evening on our marshland shoot flighting over several flashes . It was great to see for the first time this autumn several pink feet had started to use the marsh , but we were after duck so we left the geese to encourage a lead in to start. We all had plenty of shooting and ended the flight with quite a few mallard and wigeon plus a single teal in the bag.

 

On little mystery though. It was quite dark when I called a bunch of four mallard into the flash. They came in perfectly and I dropped one to my first shot that looked like a dead bird and a second as they flared away. I sent Meg for the second bird fearing it might be winged and she quickly retrieved it. The first bird had fallen only 10 yards away but she could not find it even after a long search after flight. We returned this morning for another search , but drew a blank again. I hate losing a bird , but the only evidence of it we could find was a tiny clump of feathers where it hit the grass meadow.

 

It had been a couple of great Broadland days with plenty of birds and good shooting, back to the hard stuff this week on the coast.

Edited by anser2
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