Wildfowling Season 2014 - 2015

[harrycatcat1]

Kids didnt get you a new joke book for christmas then?


Onthe marsh?
I had all on getting off our street yesterday for the snow.

Edited due to being on the phone and fat fingers.

 

edited again to say fed up of sat in the hall

Edited December 28, 2014 by harrycatcat1

[Wildfowler12]

Here's a few snaps from last night... I managed to bag a gadwall and a high mallard, missed a couple more too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the retrieves...

http://vid1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/wildfowler69/Wildfowler12/D2F147B7-7A70-4B5D-AA9C-D4C19CC9AF12.mp4

Edited December 29, 2014 by Wildfowler12

[Grandalf]

Nicely done - Both of you.

[shoot and be safe]

Cracking sunset and we'll done "Rose"

Seriously, good retrieve "Rolo"

[Wildfowler12]

Cracking sunset and we'll done "Rose"

Seriously, good retrieve "Rolo"

Haha... Rolls, Rose, Rolo, dog, mut, and occasionally D-head. He seems to respond to most of them!

 

The second retrieve was a belter mate, but the video came out **** (too dark). It fell into a reed bed over the river. After some hand signals, a bit of searching and a long swim back, he brought a lively mallard to hand which was quickly dispatched.

[anser2]

Spent Christmas in the Broads with old friends and managed three flights with mixed success. We had a quick flight Christmas eve and there were plenty of mallard and teal flighting into a flooded reedbed at dusk. I should have had a few , but missed the only chances though my mate managed a teal and a wigeon which gave my lab a hell of a chase for 20 minuets before she caught it. After a quiet Christmas we had a go at some pinks that had been feeding on our ground. We had watched them flight off Christmas eve and there were 5-6 thousand indeed I missed the simplest chance of the evening while watching them 3 mallard nipped over a dyke behind me in easy range.

 

Boxing day Two friends and I got the decoys out and set them up on the southern boundary of our shoot hoping to intercept the pinks on there way to there favoured feeding marsh. But we were in for two surprises. First we had a thick fog and second most of the geese had chosen to roost on our flood water rather than flight a few miles to the estuary. We had set up on the wrong side of the geese and at first I thought we would be lucky to get a shot. It was late before any geese moved , but finally about a thousand were up and flew our way. They went over a mate and he dropped a right and left, the skein split passing both sides of me, But the left hand bunch curled back towards me, but some how I managed to miss with all 3 shots with the semi auto. Was my disaster at greylags a few weeks ago coming back to haunt me again? Our shots put a huge skein of pinks into the air from the roost 1\2 a mile off. Both my mates dropped one each and then there were on me. A clean kill with the first shot, but the second goose recovered just before hitting the ground and skimmed away low into the fog. Then there were geese every where. Three times I caught looking the wrong way as geese came from all sides and only fired a despairing shot. Though both my friends were doing well. Then the main body of pinks some 5000 strong lifted , but they turned when a mate shot one. A dozen slipped between us passing 20 yards infront. I would be a fool to mess this chance up. The first bird fell in a cloud of feathers , then the second , and finally the third. The last bird was a runner so I sent the dog at once. It amazes how quickly pinks inland can just vanish into thin air after being shot. On the coast they usually sit where they fall , inland they run at once. Two years ago I dropped a right and left with one bird falling in some rushes on a dyke edge barely 10 feet away . Despite the dog reaching the spot in seconds we never found any trace of it.

 

A single goose offered a perfect chance , but I had 4 birds retrieved and a runner to search for after flight so I left it . And despite thousands of pinks milling about above us we all seemed toknow now was the time to stop. The others had done well with one of my mates getting 3 and the other 8 pinks. After a brief search we found my missing goose bringing the total to 16 for the morning between three of us. Rather a few too many for my liking , but on the other hand when divided between the 3 of us only a little over 5 birds each and what was more pleasing was the geese returning as we packed up and 3000 pinks were back feeding around the flood as we left.

 

The next morning saw me flighting one of the larger Broadland rivers. The weather was awful heavy rain , a north gale and freezing cold. Early on a few bunches of wigeon came down river and I got a hen bird. Ten greylags came over from behind with the gale in their tails and were gone before I could even get the gun up, Two drake pintail sneeked past low and fast and again I never got a shot at them, but there was a big drake pochard that I somehow managed to miss . But finally a small bunch of pinks came over just in range and a single shot killed the last bird in the skein. There were quite a few duck moving even though it was well after 9,0’clock , but I was soaked through and getting really cold , it was time to go home and get a dry change of clothes.

A couple of great days wildfowling but the down side I caught a bad chill from my soaking and have been confined to bed until this afternoon.

Edited December 30, 2014 by anser2

[marsh man]

Another good write up and a couple of good days shooting " anser2 "......Certainly no shortage of Pinks about .

 

I was out as well on Boxing day , morning and the afternoon , I didn't stay till it got dark as I gave my dog a rest. In the morning I got 4 Teal and a cock Pheasant and I went in the wood after dinner and got 11 Pigeons.

 

Saturday I got a invite off my old boss to walk the Herringfleet marshes from one end to the other and the water lay everywhere as we got nearly a inch of rain overnight but we saw a nice lot of duck and we ended on 15 head

 

At night I went down my marshes and it was blowing hard from the north and very cold , I didn't see a duck till it was nearly dark and then a few came in and in a matter of 10mins I somehow dropped 4 and my dog earned his keep that night as 3 of them were runners which would have been a job to get as they were over the other side of the dyke I was on , all of them were Widgeon.

 

Hope your cold is on the mend Robert and good shooting and good health in the new year . .

[anser2]

I heard some shooting on Herringfleet marshes on saterday morning so that was probably you Marsh man. I had gone down to the marshes across the river to see if there were still geese about . There were , but most had moved back onto some other shooting ground I have a mile or two away . We will let them have some peace for a few weeks before having another go at them.

 

As you say water everywhere and until we get some dry weather its going to be hard to get to terms with the duck. Our flood water the geese roosted on has got a bit out of hand and Saterday lunch time we opened the pipe up to let a lot of water off closing it again the next day and there is still 3 acres of water there. Might have to drain some more off. We do not want the geese to make a habbit of roosting there as we cant duck flight without disturbing them. Better if they come in at dawn from Breydon.

Edited December 30, 2014 by anser2

[Tony G]

Some nice flights there Anser2

Edited December 30, 2014 by Tony G

[Grandalf]

Well done anser2. A good tale well told. Sorry about the chill. Happy New Year to you.

Went out Monday and took a guest who only gets out once a year with me. Screwed up and took him to exactly the wrong spot and we never fired a shot!

Listened to lots of shooting from way down where we should have gone...

Yesterday I was invited to a private broad - boat job - and we did well. Greylags and duck.

Beautiful end to the year's fowling.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE PW REGULARS ON THE FOWLING PAGES.

[hifly]

and there's you telling me you don't do rain anser

[anser2]

Graham , And know you know why its rare I do rain. It will be another week before I get down on a marsh again. This chill has developed into something a bit worse more like flue ( despite having a flue jab a couple of weeks ago ).

I would have missed the flight , but acording to the weather men the rain should have passed by dawn. Also the rain would not have been such a problem , but I had left my jacket in my mates car and had to use my spare , expensive , but usless Redhead jacket that leaks badly despite its "duck dry tag".

[Grandalf]

Well we all know that real birds are the best decoys - fowling or pigeon shooting. Today it got ridiculous!

Out in the Halvergate area of Norfolk this morning. Promised a murky and overcast sky. Got a clear sky with a full moon and unlimited visibility.

Nobody else out due the big return to work after the holidays.

One hours walk down a long track through land that we can't shoot saw me putting up widgeon and pinks all the way. When I got to where we can shoot it was the same. Splashes in every field and birds everywhere. As soon as I got on our patch up went great bunches of geese back to the reserve area.

I set up my hide just in front of a gateway that joins two fields - looking down the length of the fields towards the roost area. Put twenty decoys, silosocks, in the left hand field. Had a coffee and waited for something to happen.

Nothing did until 07.40. Then three pinks came from dead ahead and veered to my right. I called and they turned, saw my 'coys and set their wings for approach and landing. Then they changed their minds and turned back to the end of the field on my right and landed. A little later they were joined by another six or seven. Then ten, then twenty, then a hundred.

And so it went on and on and on. For the next hour and a half geese just poured into that field. Hundreds and hundreds. In little bunches and in great armies.

Gradually they worked across the field towards me. Each set of new arrivals wanted to be in front of the ones already there. The ones at the rear would take off and land at the front. On and on and on it went. No circling before landing - with this lot of geese on the field none of them were showing any caution at all. Just straight in and land. From the far end...

Many times I thought a skein were going to come in to my pathetic twenty 'coys but the pull of hundreds or thousands of the real thing meant they always veered to my right and landed with the others.

I reckoned that as the grazers were always coming closer then I must get a shot at some of the incomers as long as they didn't twig that I was there.

One hundred yards, eighty yards, seventy, sixty - come on, come on. Some must come in range.

Eventually one did. Bang. Bird down.

By this time my poor old dog, Merlyn, was close to having a nervous breakdown. She had been watching all these geese as long as I had. At the bang, maybe it was at the click of the safety catch, she was gone.

So were all the pinks. Mass take-off back to the reserve area. I only got the one shot and the one goose. Well I did get one more shot a lot later but missed.

I did a rough RSPB type of count while the birds were grazing and there must have been over five thousand on that one grass field. What a spectacle and what a sound show.

Absolutely fabulous - but still rather frustrating. Thousands of birds just over there and I come away with one.

Ah well, there is always tomorrow...

Edited January 5, 2015 by Grandalf

[motty]

Can't beat it, Grandalf. The geese put on a show and you bagged one, too.

[fenboy]

Must have been a fantastic if not frustrating sight Grandalf , I shot my very first pinks inland years ago under similar circumstances , they all landed down the bottom end of the field I was on , I was hid up in a dyke and was there hours while they grazed their way toward me ,it was a really cold day and I was freezing , at last they got in range and I jumped up and shot a left and right as they lifted

[marsh man]

Another good write up " Grandalf "....your getting good at this posting lark , with you being a hardened fowler you had the entertainment just being in there company and to get one was the icing on the cake ,........ maybe one day you can put some of your days out similar to the above one in a book and I am sure you have got plenty of tales to tell us.

 

Did you do any good Boxing day and how was your goose supper ?........lovely I recon

[Grandalf]

Had a day out with new friends (guests) yesterday. Met some guys from PW that were only 'electrons and digitals' up 'till then.

On the Norfolk clubs area.

Merlyn, Poacher, Bruce and - Oh god I have forgotten her name already- Two hours later I remembered, Rhia - had a superb day - all day.

Spaniel, lurcher and two labs - one red and one yellow - thoroughly enjoying the entertainment. They had never met before - they became firm friends with just the minimum of bum sniffing. No growling.

Just away into the darkness of the early morning marsh - very early - to enjoy whatever the day had in store.

As it happened it was five pinks and a widgeon. All were retrieved with great aplomb. (The geese by every dog in turn - even when laid out as decoys in four cases).

Whoever says dogs don't enjoy the day as much as we do should watch these four action.

Two enjoyed a swim that was not required but "Hey it's wildfowling so just gotta swim" - one, unfortunately mine, found something magnificent to roll in and had to be bathed in a large puddle on the way to lunch.

The spaniel decided the drivers seat was much more comfortable than in that nasty smelly place at the rear of the car - "Mud, what mud"?

At the end of a very long day the four hounds were still raring to go which was somewhat different to Graham, Jim, Charlie and yours truly.

A great day out guys.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Grandalf

[ayano3]

In reply to Grandalfs post above.

 

My dogs called Rhia and that bloody spaniel took a liberty !!

 

I would like to thank Ben & Charlie for arranging for myself and Jim a day out with him on his Wildfowling ground and taking the time to arrange this. It's quite often me doing this so I know what planning goes into it. We had been in contact for quite some time prior to the trip, in fact our conversations go back quite some time. I think it started a few years back when Ben was describing someone he had met and shot with as the Pied Piper and I knew instantly who he meant as the guy was my mentor in the 80's and we still shoot together to date.

 

Anyway my day started at 2 15am. The wildfowling alarm (I have 2 alarms, the work day one I turn off in my sleep, the wildfowling one is the one I don't ignore) went off so it was time to get moving. The car was already loaded apart from the Winchester and dog. Stanley the flask was filled to the brim ready to head 'south of the border' into our adjoining county of Norfolk. Jim and I set off about 3 15am. The travel bitch said 88 miles. We arrived ahead of schedule by fifteen minutes (4:45am) as I know the road well and we had no 'Sunday Farmers' on the road at this time of day.

We was met by Ben & Charlie at the agreed meeting place and set off on what was quite a walk but was pretty easy going. Ben has got this sorted, you should see his little truck that he ships his gear about in, I'm taking orders for these shortly.

 

We got our hides up and our guides for the day set up the decoys. Something we are not used to using. Now I have shot here before with The pied piper so I knew roughly what to expect although we all now how different each day can be in this sport. Jim was in the land of the unknown but I had pre-warned him what it could be like. An hour later he was wetting his undies with the sight in front of us. This was something he was witnessing for the first time, the geese here are awesome. Ben and Charlie just treat this as per the norm, but believe me its something special. I could just sit there all day every day just taking in the sights.

 

We all had a bit of shooting before it was time to head off for brunch. Merlyn found the most smelly thing on the track to roll in and Jims spaniel decided 100yds from the car it was time to swim knowing he was supposed to not get into the front seats of my less than a year old car! Brunch was at the local Little Thief (I can spell Chef by the way) not far up the road....Three Olympic breakfasts and a few cups of tea it was time to 'Bu***r off'. Before the mods attack be that is what the area of the marsh is known as where we were doing the evening flight.

 

As Ben has posted we had a great day out and see some wonderful sights. We had great conversation and shared many stories from the foreshore and marshes.

 

Just a little about Ben, I have met quite a lot of good people over the years through my chosen sports and Ben is up there with all of those at the top. Ben, you are a credit to the sport and a true gentleman. I hope I can still do what you do at your age (Did you say you was 26 as my Tinitus was playing up yesterday)

 

I hope you remember that you and Charlie must come back to The Wash with Jim and I to relive some of your early wildfowling day.

 

Enjoy that 10 year old Single Malt with Mensarb and thank you very much indeed for taking us out. It was a pleasure to be in your company.

[Tony G]

Days like that and fellow fowlers like that are what makes our sport so enjoyable See you in the morning for my day out !

[fenboy]

Sounds like you had a enjoyable trip .

[Big Mat]

Sound like an excellent morning out!

 

I was going to go out this morning but i had to pop into work for a few hours. Out tomorrow instead!

[fenboy]

You need to find another job , the one you have interferes with your shooting too much !

[harrycatcat1]

Now it all becomes clear what you were doing in Norfolk with your cryptic messages

 

Glad you and Jim had a good time

 

H

[marsh man]

Very nice report on your visit across the border ayano2 , and as you say , watching and hearing the large numbers we have at the moment is something you never get tired of . Glad you all had a good day out and you left us one or two for ourselves.

[Big Mat]

You need to find another job , the one you have interferes with your shooting too much !

 

I've managed my fair share of flights this season, just not shot so well! I was planning a week off this month for shooting but i couldnt manage it so off for the last week of the season instead!