Nmb Posted September 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 (edited) Good morning everyone. Apologies in advance if my report isn't the best. Been lamping for foxes pretty late every night since Wednesday and am starting to feel tired! Luckilly however the fox population has taken a wee dent. In addition had a day at the crows and have finally started to see a few rabbits starting to reappear on the ground. Anyway our first shoot of the season has come and gone. Everyone had a good day in brilliant sunshine which is relatively rare up here! We decided to try a pigeon wood for a start. It's right on our boundary but always has plenty of "doos" (local word for pigeon).After all the guns had quietly surrounded the wood I started beating, I always think that dogs seem to enjoy the first day just as much as us and it was with some surprise that the first shots of the season were not at a pigeon but at a wily old partridge which according to those that missed it was a rocket! Didn't seem like that to me but I'll pretend I didn't see them miss a sitter. There was a smattering of shots at the woodies but nobody connected. Next drive was the ducks and again both teams would stand around two sides of the pond. ( guns stand along the back of woods so they can't see the pond.) I flushed the ducks along with a couple of none shooting beaters and moved back to allow the ducks to land when they desired. The shooting was again poor however unlike the first drive I had my trusty silver pigeon with me and could see how early in the season I would need to use excuses. First bird which came my way was a clipped duck that swung round towards me, I swung through and folded it. Next there was a large group of about 20 and I admit to not really picking a bird, this group left me kicking myself however I only had to wait a minute or so before a group of 7 passed by. This time i picked my bird and to my great surprise two ducks fell out of the air stone dead with one shot! Full choke and 34 gram 5's seems to be a decent load for them. After this I waited a few minutes and blew the whistle, 13 ducks and a pigeon had fallen. Next up was a partridge drive called jaffereys, this is my favourite early season partridge drive and it didn't dissapoint. It's essentially an L-shaped wood with marsh and reeds around it. The birds flush and climb over the trees back towards the big pen wood which the guns stand in front of. There must have been 50-60 partridge and 100 plus pheasants flushed so the guns had enough shooting to keep them alert whilst also seeing the potential for when the pheasant season starts. I managed to hit a couple of partridge which made my day so I decided to let one of the beaters shoot my remaining drives. Next up was two new gamecrop drives. One has a partridge pen and both crops seemed to be holding plenty birds in the weeks running up to the shoot. We beat the game crop with the pen first and took it slow. Again a steady stream of pheasants were flushed along with a good amount of partridge. The second crop was very similar and it left me wondering what the bag might have been if we had been shooting pheasants! After lunch we did the ruin wood up the hill which was a first. This is our best drive and didn't dissapoint with lots of birds being flushed and quite a few hit. Last up was the container wood which to be honest was dissapointing however it didn't detract from a good day had by all. We always debate whether to have partridge days however everyone enjoys them and its a challange trying to present the partridge to guns. The ducks add another dimension to the day and due to having plenty day light there is no tight schedule required. Total bag was 21 partridge 13 mallard 1 pigeon Total shots 148 Edited September 27, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted September 27, 2015 Report Share Posted September 27, 2015 A nice report of a good days sport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted September 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2015 A nice report of a good days sport Thanks.I have enjoyed following your shooting tales thread And wish my reports were half as good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted September 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 29, 2015 Hello everyone. Out at the shoot tomorrow to feed the birds and peg out for our 2nd shoot of the season which will be this Saturday. We have a good amount of Partridge in the drives so fingers crossed we have a good day! The initial thought is to do two boundary drives at the start of the for mature pheasants followed by the duck pond (only 25-30 remain out of the 125 released :-(!). The final drive before lunch will be jafferys which I'm hoping will be our bag filler. After lunch it will be the ruinwood then the two gamecrop drives. I'm not really sure what to expect if I'm honest. Traditionally we struggle to get the partridges in the right places on our second day so I'm hoping with some tweaks that we have performed it will all work out all right. So for a bit of fun I'll guess the bag and you can all laugh when I'm horrifically wrong! 6 ducks 11 partridge 3 pheasants 2 pigeons. Total 22 Hope none of our guns are reading this as they might not turn up haha! Thanks for reading. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted September 29, 2015 Report Share Posted September 29, 2015 Thanks. I have enjoyed following your shooting tales thread And wish my reports were half as good! Thanks for the feedback Your reports are just fine and a pleasure to read Good luck for Saturday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3vert Posted October 5, 2015 Report Share Posted October 5, 2015 Well Nick what was your total then? Looking forward to your report ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted October 5, 2015 Report Share Posted October 5, 2015 I have only just come across this thread and it is a pleasure to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted October 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2015 (edited) Sorry for the delay in getting the days report up, was out shooting clays with the girlfriend yesterday so had no time. As mentioned previously our shoot on Saturday was our second partridge and duck day and everyone seemed to be in good form. We were doing Glashmore which is a stones throw from our old bothy first and I would be beating this drive. It is a typical pine tree wood with some nice large reeds and boggy areas and despite being on the edge of our land and nowhere near our release pens its worthy of a couple of visits per season. On our way to the start of the drive I worked the dogs in a slight dip with some broom bushes around it and much to my surprise and the walking gun (my dad) a lovely pair of snipe flushed. Unfortunately dads gun was still in its case however we all enjoyed watching the birds distinctive flight. The drive itself was quiet however pigeons provided some good sport and the 3 pheasants which were flushed will survive for another day. 3 pigeons fell to the guns so a reasonable start. Next up was the L-wood, this is another boundary drive however I was hopeful that the pigeons would again provide testing targets alongside some pheasant and partridge. Unfortunately the local farmer was sowing the field behind the wood which meant the pigeons were long gone. I was number 8 so after placing the guns I hot footed it to the beaters position so I could be the walking gun. There was a half dozen partrdige and a couple of pheasants in the drive which resulted in a smattering of shots and both a partridge and pheasant in the bag. Unfortunately I was well away from the action so would have to wait for a shot. The Duck pond is always popular with the guns however after everyone had lined out there was only one duck Present which was shot well by two pie Bob! Last year of putting down ducks I think, Jaffereys wood surrounds the pond so the A team moved round to their pegs and my team (B) lined up to beat the wood and reeds towards the big pen where the guns stand. At least 40 pheasants were presnt however the guns were told to only shoot at the 25 or so partridge which were flushed. Plenty of shots were fired however only one partridge fell. After a relaxed and banter filled lunch there was a feeling that we were in for a good afternoon of sport in the traditional strong holds of the partrdige. First up was the ruinwood for my team. We again tried it up the hill however it didn't work so well today with the bulk of partridge wanting to fly back over the beaters. This was frustrating as there would have been 80-100 birds in the drive. We did manage to get 5 partridge and a mistakenly shot hen pheasant however I was left feeling that yet again the partridge were getting the better of us! I managed to get a partridge with my girlfriends 20 bore so I went home happy! Gamecrop pen was done next and again the partridge just wouldn't go the way we wanted unlike the rocket like pheasants which flushed steadily over the guns and showed the sport which will hopefully be available next week. A beater shouting partridge caused a pheasant to be shot but it was a mature hen and good target so no harm done Last drive was our othe gamecrop drive and the birds flew well, so well infact that they beat all our guns and flew back home to the ruinwood. Overall the day went much like I thought it would. Partridge are smart and several times were a step ahead of us however being out in short sleeves shooting in the company of friends made it yet another enjoyable day. I had a funny feeling it might be worth shooting the moss as we have a good amount of snipe at the moment so Ross and his along haired pointer and myself with my springer Isla and Fern my black lab went for a wee wander. It's a tough walk after a long day however it didn't take long for the first snipe to flush. It beat us both unfortunately as did a lovely pair which flushed slightly further on. The moss is huge so we had decided just to do one small portion of it which tends to hold the snipe and as we neared the end of our walk I seen a sight which will stay with me for a long time. Dee the pointer was on point and as expected a snipe was flushed followed by another 11! I have never seen so many flushed at once and was so surprised that I never even fired a shot. Total bag for the day was 6 Partridge 1 Mallard 4 Pheasants 3 pigeon Total 14 for 82 shots. I was well out with my estimate as per usual but the Ducks were absent which didn't help. On a positive that's us nearly at 10% return for partridge already so really pleased that they are hanging around again. Edited October 5, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted October 5, 2015 Report Share Posted October 5, 2015 Great report. I felt like I was there with you all Also good to hear about the snipe aswell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted October 6, 2015 Report Share Posted October 6, 2015 Good to have your reports again. Keep them coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted October 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2015 (edited) Thanks for the replies :-). Preparation is well underway for our first pheasant shoot on Saturday and despite having already had two partridge days Im really looking forward to getting a shot at some pheasants! I'm confident of a good day as there are good numbers in all the drives and with this in mind we are planning on leaving out our best three drives in the hope that there is enough elsewhere to fill the bag. I guess I should probably say my prediction. Traditionally our second day is always better than the first, mainly due to the birds being stronger on the wing however this year they are flying well so I'm tempted to guess for a higher bag than normal. So bag for the 10/10/15 will be ..... 46 pheasants 5 partridge 1 mallard 1 woodcock (early season special from me ..... Fingers crossed!) 3 woodpigeon Total 56 for 262 shots I will ask my girlfriend to take some photos of the drives to help my ramblings make more sense! Nick Edited October 7, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted October 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 (edited) Hello everyone. Our first pheasant shoot has come and gone and I am glad to report it was a cracking day! The drives planned for the day were Jaffreys, Matt steeles, Kilduthie, Gamecrop Pen, Farmyard Gamecrop and Tall Trees. My team (B team) would be shooting first and as we made our way to our pegs we managed to push a large number of partridge into the drive. I was number 9 (walking gun) which meant a long walk after placing the guns. The drive began with 25 of our reared duck being flushed towards the middle of the line along with perhaps 15 Teal. They looked to be swinging well out to my right however one defied the rest and came straight towards me, I wasn't going to miss out on bagging one of my favourite birds and one shot with my 32 gram number 5 black golds sent it tumbling to the ground. The early flush of ducks was only the start of what turned out to be our most successful drives ever! Being a walking gun I wasn't getting much shooting however watching partridge and pheasants flushing almost continually for 15-20 minutes was a joy. A partridge very nearly caught me napping however I managed to down it with my second barrel after it rocketed over a line of silver birches in front of me. After blowing the horn to end the drive I was informed by my girlfriend (Stacey) that there had been 85 shots which for us was great. 16 partridge, 11 pheasants and 1 teal had been shot and all the guns were happy to tell me about the birds they had shot. Next up was Matt Steeles for the A team. After having had such a successful first drive we were determined to return the favour however the birds had other ideas and most seemed to be out in the stubble parks around the wood enjoying the sun. Despite this another 4 pheasants were added to the bag for 13 shots. My next drive was Kilduthie which always seems to hold birds, we just cant get them over the guns! There was a reasonable amount of birds and considering they had never been flushed before we had some reasonable sport. This drive always grows on me as the season goes on as it produces great flying birds. 7 pheasants were added to the cart for 27 shots including a nice hen which I managed to fold with my second barrel. Lunch at the bothy was next and because of the nice weather our woodburners were not needed! After hanging up the birds and grabbing a pot noodle it was back ut for the 4th drive of the day. the Gamecrop pen drive has been a great success and I was looking forward to seeing how the pheasants would fly here. Unfortunately one of the guns fell over a barbed wire fence and ripped his plus fours right up the leg! not only this but his dog ran into the cover and flushed a few birds, no harm done but a costly drive for the gun in question! Quite a few birds were flushed and they all went like rockets over the guns, most of them beating the line and returning to the Big Pen. 2 Pheasants for 27 shots shows the quality of the birds produced however none of the beaters were going to wind up the guns as they knew they would be facing a similar type of bird on the next drive. The farm yard gamecrop again provided cracking birds which had again made a fool of us! I missed a lovely high cock pheasant which I was well behind on! My dad had an excellent shot wich was good to see. Another couple of birds were added here for 13 shots, which meant team B had the bragging rights! We had planned to do Tall Trees last however my dad and I felt team A had not had much shooting so we thought we would do the Containerwood and let them get some shooting! It didn't disappoint and there were a lot of birds flushed, many went round the side of the drive which restricted the amount of shooting however 14 pheasants for 45 shots was a a great way to end the day. Also a mention to Craig who has just started shooting this season and managed to bag a cock pheasant! In conclusion I was very happy with how the day went and especially with how well the partridges are doing this year! they have been excellent and returns on them are well over 20% already. The pheasants are plentiful and you can see that the extra 400 birds which were released have made a huge difference to the amount in the drives. This is especially apparent in the outer drives which struggled to hold more than a handful of birds. Total bag 40 Pheasants 16 Partridge 1 Teal Total 57 shots 210 Not to far away with the total bag, the partridge were a welcome surprise! Ps on other shoot news a vixen was shot by one of members whilst out lamping on Friday night, one more down! Also planning on going crow shooting tomorrow so will report back on how I get on. Nick Edited October 12, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted October 12, 2015 Report Share Posted October 12, 2015 Another good report for the day Well done on the teal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted October 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2015 (edited) Hello everyone. Went out crow shooting on Tuesday however my forgetfulness resulted in me forgetting my crow call so I wasn't confident of getting a good bag. I set up in a newly sown field of barley that runs alongside the Lwood. I put out 15 A1 flocked decoys and would normally add a flapper however batteries had run flat (poor planning!). During the first half hour it looked like it could be a good morning, I folded a nice jackdaw and then a single crow however after missing the 3rd bird it went dead with birds not happy to commit to the the pattern. Ended up packing up after 90 minutes with a bag of only 2 crows and 1 jackdaw. My dad gave me a shout on Thursday to see if I fancied going lamping on Friday night with him and (two pie) Bob. Managed to shoot a nice big dog for with the 243. We had went up a rough track alongside a field full of sheep. As we lamped past them we noticed a fox, he wasn't happy and bolted out of the field and into a wood. There is another track at the other side of the wood so we drove round and I jumped out to try and squeak him out. A few blasts on the call and there he was looking out at us from a patch of reeds. Again he didn't hang about and started moving up the field, Bob gave a quick squeak which stopped him long enough to get the shot away. A good result and our 2nd fox in a week. Next up is our shoot next Saturday. I will be out on Thursday to see how everything's looking so will update then along with my prediction. Nick Edited October 18, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted October 18, 2015 Report Share Posted October 18, 2015 2 crows and a jackdaw less Nice work with the fox and good to see a pic in your reports Looking forward to reading about your next day on the shoot. ATB Sabs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3vert Posted October 22, 2015 Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 Nice reports again thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted October 22, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2015 2 crows and a jackdaw less Nice work with the fox and good to see a pic in your reports Looking forward to reading about your next day on the shoot. ATB Sabs Nice reports again thanksThanks for the replies :-).Went out today to see how things are looking for the shoot on Saturday. When driving up the side of the Containerwood to get to the bothy I managed to dog in some birds using my mondeo ! View from the car It was blowing a gale all day so didn't hang around for long however plenty of birds around the drives so confident for a good day. As for predictions I'm going for a higher bag than the previous shoot. This is because our 2nd pheasant shoot always seems to go better than the 1st. So my prediction is... 49 pheasants 7 partridge 6 duck 2 pigeon 1 woodcock Shots - 264 Will type up my report of the day on Saturday evening. Thanks for looking Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted November 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) Wow, long overdue an update! We have had two shoots since my last post. The first took place on the 24th of October and the day started with torrential rain which would affect the shooting which followed. We were short on guns/beaters which made some of the larger drives difficult to do. First drive of the day was Jaffreys which had been excellent on the previous days however it is mainly reeds and open woodland so unsurprisingly only a handful of birds flushed. Afterwards we did the opposite pen which is a nice thick warm wood. A good amount of birds were flushed and despite many struggling to fly the gamecart had its first occupants of the day. Next up was Matts Broom which again was wet and far too open for pheasants to be in, only one was flushed and shot. Finally the weather started to improve and I was confident that I might get some shooting at the final drive before lunch, The Containerwood. I was lucky enough to be in the hotspot and managed to shoot 5 of the 13 pheasants shot on the drive. After lunch we went to Kilduthie and then the Ruinwood, both were poor which was disappointing , only 4 pheasants being shot in our historically best drive was a blow. We tried the gamecrops however we didn't manage to add to the bag here. total bag was 27 Pheasants 1 Pigeon Despite the weather and poor bag everyone had a good day and 4 of us were mad enough to try a duck flight! I managed a long range Teal however we shot poorly and only ended up with 1 duck for 36 shots! I will write up about our shoot which took place last Saturday in my next post. Nick Edited November 16, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted November 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2015 (edited) After the poor weather which affected our last shoot the forecast wasn't looking good for this one either! Lessons had been learned and we picked drives which would be warmer for the birds to shelter from the weather in. First drive was Tall Trees which is a hit or miss sort of drive. Luckily it would be a hit today and a steady flow of pheasants were flushed over the guns. 9 pheasants were shot, a good start to the day. Next up was Matt Steeles and it would be my turn to shoot. This drive has been pretty consistent since we moved the pen into its current position a couple of seasons ago. Again plenty of birds were flushed and all the guns contributed to the 12 pheasants bagged. As is the norm The Conainerwood would be the last drive before lunch and yet again it proved to be cracker! Strangely half way through I was worried it wasn't going to be a success however the birds flushed constantly as we came to the last 100 yards of the drive and 17 pheasants and a partridge made the larder look pleasantly full. Opposite Pen would be our next drive and a good showing of pheasants resulted in 9 being shot. I was disappointed with Kilduthie and the Ruinwood last week and it proved to be the same this week with only 7 pheasants being shot between them. We are going to try the big plantation of Willows which runs alongside Kilduthie next shoot which we are hoping is where the birds are. We flighted the ducks again and were treated to great sport with ducks landing every couple of minutes. 3 mallard, 4 Teal and 2 Widgeon were added which rounded the day off nicely. Total bag was 58 Pheasants 1 Partridge 4 Teal 3 Mallard 2 Widgeon 2 pigeon 1 Jay Total 71 Edited November 16, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoot and be safe Posted November 17, 2015 Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 I was only thinking you hadn't posted for a while this very morning. Your last shoot was a cracker with 71 in the bag. Great write ups. All the best Sabs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted November 17, 2015 Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 Thanks again for the write ups!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m3vert Posted November 17, 2015 Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 Shame the 24th was spoiled due to the weather, but the last ones sounds like a great day out!!! Nice write up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted November 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Thanks for the replies everyone Away to head out to the shoot to see how everything is looking for Saturday. There could be some snow on the way which would be awesome. My girlfriend has bought me a head camera for Christmas so I'm looking forward to posting some videos up from it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nmb Posted November 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) Went out in the pouring rain to have a look around the shoot. Seen a few pheasants in unusual places at the far end of the shoot near the big willow plantation which we plan on shooting on Saturday. Fingers crossed it goes well as it is a long tough drive to pull off! After this I parked up at our bothy and got the fire going before heading for a walk around the main body of the shoot. Went down to the duck pond to chuck in some barley and was pleasantly surprised to see 15Teal flush from the pond. (Never seen so many Teal here before.) After this I walked past the Big pen which had quite a few birds and then onto the Ruinwood. Partridges are my favourite game bird however they can be frustrating as hell! Every time I go out for a check around the drives I see at least 40-50 in the Ruinwood. Come shoot day however and they are nowhere to be seen! Going to have to get into position quietly and try and outsmart the little devils! It's a busy spell for the syndicate now as we are having shoots on consecutive weeks quite often. This weekend will be a normal driven day and the week after will be our first woodcock/Snipe day of the season. With this in mind I thought id have a quick walk on the moss to see how many there are. I raised a few snipe in the usual places and flushed a couple of woodcock so really excited for the day when it comes. Anyway back to the shoot this Saturday. With the forecast of snow on Friday/Saturday up here I'm feeling confident! Guess bag would be 41 pheasants 7 partridge 1 woodcock 1 Snipe 6 Teal 3 Mallard 2 Widgeon 4 Pigeon 2 Jay Not sure if the quantities will be correct but confident we can get all the species listed! Thanks for looking nick Edited November 18, 2015 by Nmb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ollie Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Thanks for the replies everyone Away to head out to the shoot to see how everything is looking for Saturday. There could be some snow on the way which would be awesome. My girlfriend has bought me a head camera for Christmas so I'm looking forward to posting some videos up from it. Looking forward to the videos when you get the headcam. Hopefully the forecasted snow arrives, could do with pushing the birds towards the feeders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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