Introduction to The Falkland Syndicate

[Maddaftspaniel]

Rearing Field

White pheasants

Out on the grass at 3 weeks

White Day Olds

One week old

[Maddaftspaniel]

4 weeks after release in the cover crop

Stretching their legs

A marauder!

[Maddaftspaniel]

Two Young Beaters

[Maddaftspaniel]

A fine waiting for someone!

[Maddaftspaniel]

Barry Atkinson for Spiders appeal at our shoot

[shoot and be safe]

Great pics. Good to see the young ones aren't bothered by the dead fox.

 

What fine is it for the white pheasants?

[Maddaftspaniel]

In years past it was £20 if you shot one, £20 if you missed and £20 if one flew over your peg and you didn't shoot at it but this year they are all tagged and the fine depends on who shoots it!

The guns don't know it but the fine will depend on how much work they have done on the shoot during the year. All fines go to shoot funds

[fortune]

Good write up and the best of shooting luck to you and the syndicate. I can never understand this fine for shooting a white bird. Why bother to rear white birds and then not want them to be shot under penalty of a fine? Either they should be shot as any other bird or dont rear them instead of normal feathered birds and thus more shootable birds. I know its a bit of a tradition but it is a barmy one.

[Maddaftspaniel]

Its keeps the shoot day banter up though!

[shoot and be safe]

I'm all for the fines to help boost funds. I like the idea of a sliding scale fine for the work put put (cheep) in or not (oh dear).

Good luck with the rest of the season

[reggiegun]

Good write up and the best of shooting luck to you and the syndicate. I can never understand this fine for shooting a white bird. Why bother to rear white birds and then not want them to be shot under penalty of a fine? Either they should be shot as any other bird or dont rear them instead of normal feathered birds and thus more shootable birds. I know its a bit of a tradition but it is a barmy one.

Having a couple of white birds, helps me see how the birds are moving around the shoot, as they are easy recognisable

[Maddaftspaniel]

Our third day was last Saturday. It was at Woodmill our flat land shoot which is about 350 acres of arable land between Falkland and Dunshalt. Although it is flat it was laid out for shooting as part of the Falkland Estate in the 19th century. There are 5 woods of varying size and make up. The woods have been neglected for years and as a result they have gone wild with lots of fallen trees and light getting under the canopy giving great ground cover.

The day dawned wet and very windy but by the time of the meet the rain had gone off and if anything the wind had picked up to very strong.

 

The first drive is the Cash Loch which is a pond in a big mature deciduous wood of about 20 acres. The pond is about an acre in the centre and is fed by a burn which had blocked up with debris during the night and flooded most of the eastern part of the wood which is boggy at the best of times. The farmer was busy clearing the blockage when we arrived but the going was difficult for the beaters nonetheless.

This pond is where we release our mallard and normally at the beginning of the season it is difficult to get them off but I had taken a different approach to feeding them this year. I had been feeding them twice a day by whistling them out into the fields around the wood using a football whistle. They learned to come waddling out to the middle of the field at the sound of the whistle and I would fly them back so they got some practice. So with it being very windy I was quite hopefull that they would fly better than usual (normally they would get up do a circuit of the pond and drop in again and sit and quack refusing to get up again)

As we lined out I could hear a great deal of quacking coming from the wood (I had not fed the ducks since Wednesday as I think they fly better when hungry) and as the beaters started from the far end of the wood a few pheasants got up and two were shot. This wood does not hold many pheasants because early in the season I keep the feeders empty to stop the ducks finding them and gorging themselves.

All 16 guns were lined out around the wood so that everyone would get a shot at the ducks but each gun was limited to a maximum of 3 ducks to make sure that no-one got greedy.

As the beaters reached the pond the ducks took to the air in great numbers flying strongly around the wood and circling at ever increasing heights. They were really well up and provided you picked your birds you could have extremely challenging shooting. There was a continued period of about 20 minutes shooting and I blew the horn to end the drive before the shooting had ended because I was concerned that the ducks would not drop back in to the pond if we continued shooting. I had shot my three (for 8 shots) including an absolute screamer and assumed that everyone else would have too.

We gathered by the game cart and everyone agreed that that was the best we had seen early season ducks fly. Only 34 had been shot the shooting having been too difficult for some of the less experienced guns. I was feeling pleased with my self but watched with concern as a huge pack of high ducks disappeared over the horizon as a few others began dropping back in to the pond.

 

The 2nd drive was the pen drive a long narrow conifer wood with a burn running through it and the release pen at the very end. I knew there were a lot of birds in and around the wood as I was feeding it heavily. It was my turn to beat and I watched from the edge of the wood as bird after bird streamed over the line including a few finable white ones. The birds were getting up through the canopy and curling away wickedly on the wind and much to my satisfaction very few appeared to be shot.

I always have mixed feelings seeing the birds I have reared being shot having taken such good care of them for months. I hate to see too many being shot early in the season but as the season progresses I am thankful for the better shots in the syndicate filling the bag because it gets my returns up.

By doing the pen wood first it ensures that the birds that escape from there are spread out around the other drives and leaves it quiet for late in the day when they return there to roost.

 

The 3rd drive was Old Davies named after a syndicate member whose house is close to the drive. This consists of an L shaped conifer wood with and area of rough grass around an iron age earthworks. Due to the wind direction we decided to do the drive in the opposite direction to normal blanking in the long leg of the L and then the earthworks before driving the main wood back towards the guns.

I had drawn peg 4 and placed the other guns in position before taking my place with my back to the earthworks. Birds began to trickle out either side of the wood and fly back into the wind but at least the guns at the edges were getting shooting. Keith at number 5 shot a good pigeon and Stuart at number 3 shot a hen pheasant quartering away on the left. A few birds broke out to my left and flew strongly with the wind but were too low to provide a sporting shot and then a continual stream of birds broke out in front of me and curled back over the wood again into the wind. They were getting up too close to me to shoot at and by the time they were up in the air over the trees they were almost out of range and sideslipping in the wind. At least that is my excuse for missing with 5 consecutive shots the sixth connecting with a moderate cock which made the mistake of presenting a crossing shot. I picked up the bird and sent Biscuit my lab into the wood to retrieve the pigeon only for him to return without it. The beaters emerging from the wood thought it had hung up in a tree.

 

We headed back to the vehicles for elevenses and feeling sorry for my ducks I headed off to the pond to feed them so that they would be encouraged as they returned to the water. I scattered a bag of barley around the margins of the pond and blew my feeding whistle to see what response I would get. I was greeted by angry quacking from the depths of the flooded wood but no ducks came out to play. As I walked back to the vehicles I was pleased to see ducks still dropping back into the wood in twos and threes

 

The 4th drive was the Glenbervie Strip a long narrow strip of conifers running north to south.

I was peg 6 on this drive on the west of the wood which is normally a good peg but with the wind westerly and strengthening I was forced to watch as bird after bird got up from the edge of the wood took off in my direction and then swung away over the wood with the wind presenting some cracking targets for the guns on the other side of the wood.

As the beaters approached the end of the strip a hen pheasant got up and headed straight over my head which was well killed as the guns on either side of me shot it too!

 

We then headed to the biggest wood known as "Lawsons Knowe" is a tangle of ferns and brambles under a mixture of conifers and deciduous trees. It is surrounded by a stone retaining wall which is banked up with soil at the back like the launching pad on the bows of an aircraft carrier. It is said this was deliberately done to give the birds a heads start. It is C shaped and we set off to the far end where there is a huge badgers set.

The beaters lined out and we started tapping carefully through the wood my spaniel bitch Tessa happy to be off the lead at last as birds crashed upwards through the trees and headed downwind and over the guns back to the pen wood. The drive lasted about 20 minutes and the whole line had its share of shooting including 2 white pheasants to one gun. As we gathered at the end of the drive one of the beaters Stuart sheepishly held up a white pheasant that his first season cocker Alfie had pegged in the brambles.................another fine in the bank. Much to my annoyance though I heard that a fox had run through the line and been missed by two guns!

 

The last drive was the Roundels two stands of mature trees over the march which we are allowed to drive back onto our land. It was my turn to shoot but because it was a long walk and I was tired I elected to leave my gun in the truck and just act as picker up for this drive. I stood at the end of the line with Kieth and we watched as about a dozen birds got up from the first roundel and flew down the slope into the second nearer one. One carried on straight over the line and Martin at peg 6 dropped it behind the line. Without needing to be told (that's a euphemism for running in) Tessa my Springer bitch went picked it up carried it dropped it and at the second attempt delivered it to hand. I was pleased because she rarely retrieves anything bigger than a pigeon.

As the beaters entered the second roundel a number of birds got up and flew out the side out of shot over the march but as they progressed through the trees the rest got up and gave the line some very sporting shooting including a very nice hen for Kieth which I sent Biscuit for. He saw it fall ran out excitedly in a big circle and headed back towards me without it. I stopped him on the whistle made him sit and sent him back to it. He picked it and brought it to hand proudly.

 

When we got back to the vehicles Caroline had arrived with a big pot of soup and the sloe gin flowed. Everyone had had a great day. Martin the guest for was kind enough to say that he had never shot reared ducks before and had been apprehensive but was pleasantly surprised at how sporting they were.

 

The bag for the day was 34 ducks 36 pheasants and a pigeon for 385 shots a very satisfying day

 

Photos to follow

[Maddaftspaniel]

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The duck drive

Edited October 28, 2014 by Maddaftspaniel

[Maddaftspaniel]

 

Duck Drive

[Maddaftspaniel]

 

 

Yours truly

 

The Game Cart

 

Heading for Old Davies

[Maddaftspaniel]

 

Beating in the Cash Loch

 

Old Davie and Stuart

 

 

Hightower and Stewart

 

My view of the Glenbervie Strip

 

_{Shafter the MasterBeater}

 

 

Yours truly with the bag

 

(I had dispensed with the hat because it kept blowing away)

 

_{Alfie and the white one}

 

Happy guns at the end of the day

[shoot and be safe]

Nice photos

[Maddaftspaniel]

• 

Bill with Mitch

 

Tessa my spaniel with a cock pheasant

[Penelope]

Lawsons Knowe sounds very much like the place I shot pigeons from.

[Maddaftspaniel]

Lawsons Knowe sounds very much like the place I shot pigeons from.

 

It is a good pigeon wood. Get some good roost shooting there in Feb

[Penelope]

I was decoying over rape and sat just inside. I remember the ground being banked up and having a wall surround. The week I spent up there I spent a lot of time on the Falkland Estate helping the chap that was doing the keepering at the time. A lovely bit of ground.

 

 

It is a good pigeon wood. Get some good roost shooting there in Feb

[Maddaftspaniel]

Saturday was our fourth day of the season and the second at Ballo. The weather was mild and sunny with a strong westerly breeze.

The format was the same as the first shoot but with my team shooting first.

 

Drive

 

1. Top partridge drive

2. Middle partridge drive

3. North end of Big Wood

4. Lochside

5. Pen Wood

6. South end of Big Wood

 

I had drawn peg 1 and was stationed at the top of the bank about 100 yds from the partridge pen. From where I stood I could see the beaters carrying out the encircling movement through the rushes and white grass. We had lined the guns out further round the hill than the last time in the hope that we would prevent the birds from going sideways out of the drive without being shot at. As the beaters approached from my left Craigs two Labradors flushed a big covey of partridges out of the lee of the dyke where they had been sheltering from the wind. They lifted and flew low over the dyke and I was sure that they had landed in the rushes around the pen. As the rest of the beaters approached from the right there was a shout of warning as a pheasant flushed from well back headed in my direction. It was flying swiftly towards me and I was almost too late in mounting the gun but my shot dropped it untidily in the shelterbelt at the roadside. Once the beaters went past me my opportunity to shoot was over and I moved further up the hill so that I could get a clear view of the birds flushing from around the pen.

Much to my disappointment only 3 partridges got up and flew over the guns resulting in a flurry of shots with no birds down but one flinching in flight and dropping into the next drive. As the guns joined me at the top of the hill I asked where the covey of partridges that had flushed over the dyke had gone only to be told that they had not landed round the pen as I had thought but had flown right out of the other side of the drive without a shot being fired. This was exactly the opposite of what they had done the first time despite the wind being similar!

I sent Biscuit for the bird I had dropped but after hunting around the fall he returned emptymouthed. Two other dogs were tried but to no avail.

 

It was now our turn to beat but was lucky because I was already at the top of the hill so I set off through the rushes and out onto the heather my dogs ranging in front of me. This is where my spaniel comes into her own as is capable of clearing a moor by herself! Several snipe were put up and a couple of pheasants from well out on the moor resulting in some shooting from the guns forward.

As we approached the partridge pen a few birds got up and flew forward over the guns but not nearly as many as I expected and there was very little shooting although a pheasant or two flushed from the stubble turnips. As I hunted my dogs through the rough grass around the partridge pen Biscuit went on point and with my encouragement stuck his head into the grass and came up with a partridge in his mouth..............the one that had been wounded on the first drive

 

These first two drives were poor as we had seen very few partridges compared to 3 weeks ago.

 

As we walked back to the farm several dogs hunted the shelter belt where I dropped the pheasant but came up with nothing only for us to find it lying dead on the road a good half mile from where it had dropped

 

We headed back to the Bothy for elevenses.

 

The next drive was the North end of the big wood. The beaters started from the far side and pushed it down the hill. The few birds that there were tended to get up into the wind and then sideslip into the pen wood giving guns at the other end of the line some testing targets. Towards the end of the drive a fox appeared and slipped into the last drive without coming in range of the guns. Only a couple of birds were dropped.

 

We then swapped over and it was our turn to drive the lochside. Tessa my spaniel flushed the first two pheasants but they headed in the opposite direction away from the guns. We waited at the edge of the loch until Derek and Caroline had made there way out to the island and flushed two good high pheasants over the guns one of which was dropped.

We made our way around the bank taking it steady. The birds were sitting very tight in the rushes and you really had to give the dogs time to work otherwise you walked past them.

A good few birds flushed and they flew well "up the hill" with the gun in front of me Peter dropping a pheasant and a partridge. At the last minute a woodcock was flushed and was sent on its way with a couple of impotent shots.

 

I was peg 5 in the penultimate drive the pound seat standing in the farm yard surrounded by expensive 4x4s. I joked as the beaters set off that I would drop a bird through the skylight of Murrays caravan which was sitting at his back door. It would not be the first time that a windscreen would be done in on this drive.

As the beaters headed up the road their chatter lifted a number of birds which flushed out the back of the drive.

When the drive started I watched a bird after bird flew out the side giving pegs 1 to 3 some good shooting. Then a hen bird got up well up the hill and headed towards me curling to my left. "There you go" said Old Wullie the stonemason who was standing beside me watching. (he has two artificial hips and doesn't beat).

I waited til the bird was almost over me and pulled in front and fired following my miss up with a second shot which also missed. The bird was a good 45-50 yds up and was soon followed by another taking the same line with the same result.

"Take them earlier to give you more time for your second shot" instructed Wullie who has never missed a shot in his life.

A similar cock got up and swung round to my right. Ignoring Wullies advice I turned to my right and took it as it crossed the line to my right. My first shot connected and as the bird stuttered in mid air I folded it with my second shot just to be sure.

Peter our photographer who was standing behind me said he had photographed it in the air.

This was followed in quick succession by a moderate hen to my left which I dropped on the byre roof and a cock which I dropped on the pile of silage bales behind me. I then fired two quick shots at two consecutive cock pheasants to my left and although both flew on I thought I saw them both flinch before they planed down into the reeds at the lochside.

 

While the others guns headed off for the last drive John (Hightower) and I took our dogs down to the lochside to look for my last two birds. Almost immediately his little cocker found a cock dead in the ditch. We hunted on as the last drive got under way and Biscuit flushed a cock pheasant and chased it into the next drive as the guns fired at it. Most of the birds from this drive sideslipped into the north end of the wood presenting very little shooting.

It had been a disappointing day and as the guns gathered back at the bothy I headed off to find my errant Labrador who after much whistling appeared out of the conifers carrying one very dead cock pheasant..............it was cold and stiff and must have been hit on one of the earlier drives.

 

Bag 19 pheasants

5 partridges

2 snipe

 

Shots 135

 

Ready for the off

 

First Drive

 

Beaters in the distance

[JDog]

A good read, worthy of an article in the 'Shooting Gazette'.

[Maddaftspaniel]

 

_{West Lomond}

The Lochside


The Farmyard


Old Wullie my "Shooting Coach"


South End of the Big Wood


Bill and Mitch


North End of the Big Wood


The Bag

[Penelope]

Agreed. It is lovely up there.

 

 

A good read, worthy of an article in the 'Shooting Gazette'.