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Continuing To Decoy/Shoot As You Age


sitsinhedges
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As my user name surjests at 71 I am as crazy about Pigeon shooting and shooting crows as ever. Of course it,s more of a struggle over the fields now, two the maximum but to get there ,set up and hopefully have a good shoot. But to be out anticipating is the best therapy in the world. My advice is to keep going as long as its safe and you enjoy it , of course I always go with a shooting partner ,my mobile and a two way walkie talkie.

 

Doing what we enjoy keeps us young I have always been a beleiver of carrying your kit on your back, My tackle is a lot lighter now but still managed to carry it on my back. Having worn out at least 3 army rucksacks I am on my 5th, my 4th having been stolen, which was supposied to last me [ carring kit this way leaves your hands free].

 

Good shooting to you all. and a merry Christmas .

 

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At 64 i find it hard to carry big load's any more, but still get out with my shooting buddy Tom 83 in Feb at least once a week.

We both have 4x4's and carry all our kit in them' I have to set Tom's decoy's as he is very unsteady on his leg's and his stick sinks

into the mud. We often share a hide and chew the fat and take the urine out of each other. I would'ent change anything about my life at the moment

I just wish we could stop time right now. :good:

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Well i will be 68 in January and most of the times when shooting i drive to where i want to be... If i have to walk i go light with just the bare essentials and some times when i have a good day thats when the trouble starts my ashama gives me stick when I'm bending down picking up..

Quite often i take a mate with me and he just slings it all on his back and away he goes... He goes by the name of KDUBYA if he sees me struggling he just piles in and grabs things and away across the fields to the motor..good mates like that are hard to come by..

The one mate i do miss when picking up was marco my springer that i lost last feb he used to collect all the shot birds and just pile them at the rear of the motor while i just had the decoys to collect.....

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65 next march my pension pot will help to pay for my pigeon pleasures, I hope, still run a garden maintenance business, just 3 gardens a day now, I use a foldup wheel barrow if things get a bit tough most of my perms have no headlands to ride round on,only the cabbage patch people have headlands,just keep taking the pills! .....kenbo

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This works for me. Light alloy construction, folding handle so it will go in the truck. Does fowling and pigeons. Goes across mud without much difficulty. Can tow it behind my bike. Low centre of gravity and wide wheelbarrow tyres. Goes through rape with no problem.

post-24191-0-72007000-1416161102_thumb.jpg

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Really good thread this, :) when younger I could climb straight walls and trees and thought nothing of walking 400 yards to the bests spots but although I can still carry what's needed my trouble of late has been the hunger to get out there. My best pigeon shooting days were often spent with one of two mates, both no longer here :/ and I miss their company in the hide.

 

A few months ago I hoisted the air gun over a tall wall and proceeded to yank myself over using a thick branch which formed part of a hand made chicken hut ! Crack it went and I fell on my back really winding myself :lol: for a good two minutes, as good a moment as any to come to the realisation that I am not fifteen anymore.

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Hopefully not PC. I think there are enough on here passing on their love of the countryside and country sports to their young ones to keep us in shooters for a while yet.

Good post and I hope you are right, but how many of us are mentoring other young newbies. The guys out there desperate to find somewhere to shoot. That's really where the future of our sport is. I think a few are to guarded and worried about being shafted to share their permissions.

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I know what you mean PC. I wish I had knowledge to pass on but believe me I have a lot to learn. Trouble is that I know a few shooters who feel like packing it in because they do try helping and do get as you so eloquently say get shafted but that's for another thread really.

It's great to see so many experienced shooters still out there though. My dads 64 still rides motorbikes although not racing anymore also black belt in karate trains 4 times a week, just hope my son and me stay as healthy as he is.

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I am 71 and I am out 3 or 4 times a week pigeon shooting . I have had my left knee replaced and think Ithat I need the right one done as well . There are not many spots on the farms that I cannot reach by driving my truck to within a short walk . I drive down the tram lines and around the margins . My farmer friend is more than happy to let me do this . He has also arranged with some of his neighbours to allow me access from their farms .

The replaced knee is my worst bug bear as it aches like hell if I walk to far over rough ground . I will die before I give up pigeon shooting . If pigeon shooting kills me , so be it . Being old is a state of mind . If I get to decrepard to cart my own gear then I will take on a couple of young apprentices .

Harnser

Edited by Harnser
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Guest iFerret2

I am 71 and I am out 3 or 4 times a week pigeon shooting . I have had my left knee replaced and think Ithat I need the right one done as well . There are not many spots on the farms that I cannot reach by driving my truck to within a short walk . I drive down the tram lines and around the margins . My farmer friend is more than happy to let me do this . He has also arranged with some of his neighbours to allow me access from their farms .

The replaced knee is my worst bug bear as it aches like hell if I walk to far over rough ground . I will die before I give up pigeon shooting . If pigeon shooting kills me , so be it . Being old is a state of mind .

Harnser

Well done fella, I read stuff on here and u pull enough legs don't yer........ A bunker!!!!! We need more quality laff like that

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This works for me. Light alloy construction, folding handle so it will go in the truck. Does fowling and pigeons. Goes across mud without much difficulty. Can tow it behind my bike. Low centre of gravity and wide wheelbarrow tyres. Goes through rape with no problem.

With the kit I Think I need, I'd tow another barrow behind that one!! :lol: :lol:

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they get bored of it eventually trust me I should know was a former addicted :no: now I have now been clean for 8 months :yahoo:

 

Well done keep at it

I am 71 and I am out 3 or 4 times a week pigeon shooting . I have had my left knee replaced and think Ithat I need the right one done as well . There are not many spots on the farms that I cannot reach by driving my truck to within a short walk . I drive down the tram lines and around the margins . My farmer friend is more than happy to let me do this . He has also arranged with some of his neighbours to allow me access from their farms .

The replaced knee is my worst bug bear as it aches like hell if I walk to far over rough ground . I will die before I give up pigeon shooting . If pigeon shooting kills me , so be it . Being old is a state of mind . If I get to decrepard to cart my own gear then I will take on a couple of young apprentices .

Harnser

Total admiration , go for it, well done.

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This works for me. Light alloy construction, folding handle so it will go in the truck. Does fowling and pigeons. Goes across mud without much difficulty. Can tow it behind my bike. Low centre of gravity and wide wheelbarrow tyres. Goes through rape with no problem.

Hi Grandalf

Do you know the make and model of that barrow. .?

Price and where to get one.

 

ATB DP

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Hi Grandalf

Do you know the make and model of that barrow. .?

Price and where to get one.

 

ATB DP

 

Make is a Charlie modified by Grandalf. Model number would be about a 1C or D.

I will explain. My mate Charlie was an engineer for a specialised motor company. He now has his own workshop doing light engineering to order. He made the trolley originally to get his sea fishing tackle along the beach. It had a flat platform. He used it a couple of times then hung it in his shed.

Whilst walking across a field between drives on Pavman's shoot I said to Charlie that I was investigating the use of some sort of trolley/barrow for fowling. Result was that he gave me his 'beach buggey' to have a go with.

Pavman delivered it to me and I experimented with it. Constructed of aluminium it was very light and the welding and other workmanship was superb. The folding handle worked superbly.

Major problem was the centre of gravity was all wrong with all the weight on the handle. I experimented and in the end fitted the wheelbarrow body further to the rear to correct the balance and tried it out on a gentle fowling trip on grazing meadows. A long way from my car the handle broke off! A passing fowler who I had never met before had a bike hidden near by. He went for his truck and came back and rescued me and all my gear. Such is the friendship of fowlers.

So back to the workshop. I rebuilt the handle attachment with 1/8" steel plate and made one or two minor alterations to the body. I also painted it and fitted wider tyres.

I have now used it for three, maybe four, seasons without problem.

The wheelbarrow body could be much larger. I have cut a slot in it so the handle folds up inside it. With a slight modification you could do away with the slots then the whole thing would float if not overloaded. You could add flotation around the outer edges.

Total weight is not very much - very easy to load/unload in my landy.

Light alloy welding is a very difficult art. Charlie is a master craftsman and I'm lucky to call him a friend.

post-24191-0-91771400-1416213904_thumb.jpg

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Passed my sell by date in March on 11 tablets a day including rat poison. No problem climbing fences and walking round shoots. Help my younger mates get about fences pulling footwear on ect . Go to the gym 3 times a week . Hope I take after my Dad who was super fit till he was 86 ended up being run over. Dipper.

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Now well into 74th year and still able to do the shoot one beat one programme on the two shoots I am involved with. Decoying, I never take much gear, that is perhaps the reason I dont shoot many pigeons but thats my choice. My best recent bag was 50 over spring sowings and found that a game bag with 25 dead pigeon was enough to carry the 400 yards to the car, so in fact had to make it two trips. I still put in an occasional day at work, have an allotment with ghastly heavy clay soil but yields marvelous crops none the less. Put in lots of days fly fishing for salmon and do regular walks, mainly coastal, where there are not to many hills. Most of my shooting friends are 10 -20 years my junior and they show me little mercy in the field. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to continue to do the things I like, past the three score and ten mark. My most serious health issue in the past eight years has been the sciatica which plagued me for much of the summer. This was finally cured by cycling the mile from home to the allotment a couple of times and it set the old bones on the road to recovery.

 

Blackpowder

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Well what a thread, here I am in my 66th year and throughout my life I have trudged bogs / hedgerows / any kind of cover and I would be there with my spaniels, main quarry was the Woodcock and all else and sundry that appeared also. There was never any decoying until lately. Now having suffered a heart attack back in 1994.... twenty years since I am now slowing up, but to be honest the shortness of breath could be associated with the excess 5 stone that I now carry, gave up the fags and something happened to my feet, yes serious,.... could not keep them out of the pantry... Had some nice days out over the stubbles this year not great bags but enough to make the pate and a few pies for the winter months. My main objective was to involve my grandson, last year he carried a gun, swung it at game etc / etc with no cartridges in and this year treated him to a shooting lesson. The shooting instructor soon moulded and smoothed the rough edges that I had implanted. He had 25 shots the other day at driven clays and dusted 22 of them, impressive at 12 years old. The future lies with decoying for both of us and I intend to sample some paid days if I can find any in the Midlands with him soon, I am about 2 hours from Birmingham, so if I can be pointed in the right direction I would be obliged.

Thank you in advance.

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