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Woodcock shooting 30th December


ollie
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Went out for a spot of rough shooting yesterday with my mate. Was a grand day with the sun shining & no wind.

 

First spot we tried is a valley with a hazel wood running down each side. First woodcock beat me out of cover when I was day dreaming. I then came onto a spot of bracken & briars and a woodcock flushed at my feet, 1st shot clipped him & 2nd knocked him down. When I was picking the first one another 1 flushed, I missed it with the first & the 2nd round never cycled.

 

The next bit of ground is a large wood with some nice ground cover. We were barely into the wood when the dogs flushed a woodcock which I shot going round a tree. Walking through the wood I shot a high pigeon & missed another.

 

At the end of the wood they are some nice burns with whins running down them. First burn I shot 2 woodcock in the space of a minute, both very good sporting birds & my mate shot his first of the day.

 

We moved onto another spot of whins where another 2 birds were shot in the space of a minute, we bagged 1 each.

 

At this stage I had shot 5 woodcock & that was enough, so the last burn we did to see if my mate could get another bird. I let a woodcock go & we flushed another which my mate hit, so I shot it to make sure we got it.

 

Very good day, 8 woodcock & 1 pigeon. I videoed most of the action so keep your eye out for that:

 

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Great story and good shooting Ollie. What cartridges are you using on the woodcock?

I normally use trap cartridges; 7 1/2 28g through quarter choke is plenty for woodcock.

Nice one ollie. Good to see you out and about. I am gonig to have a blatter at them on saturday.

Good luck lad. You heard anything bout all these pigeons that are supposedly dropping dead around ni?

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No hadnt heard that. The hundreds I was watching yesterday all looked healthy enough! Especially since no one can touch them. I would say being on the beech nuts too long isnt good for them. I know they are fine to eat, whether you are a pigeon or human, but someone told me that if the pigeons are on them too long it doesnt agree with them. Could be rubbish though! Another thing. Sometimes people see them in roosting woods and then start saying they see birds dead all over the place. In reality a couple of birds have been pickled in the fields, made it back to roost, and fell off their perch during the night. What do you reckon. Convinced?

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And nice cocker ollie. Is that yours or the mates? I used to run a team of three when I did alot of woodcock shooting in tyrone. Only have the one now, and he is more a pet than a serious working dog. Fine picking up, next to useless in the cover, but the missus and the kids love him. You must have great ground locally for the woodcock. Do you shoot in the glens or up on the antrim hills?

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No hadnt heard that. The hundreds I was watching yesterday all looked healthy enough! Especially since no one can touch them. I would say being on the beech nuts too long isnt good for them. I know they are fine to eat, whether you are a pigeon or human, but someone told me that if the pigeons are on them too long it doesnt agree with them. Could be rubbish though! Another thing. Sometimes people see them in roosting woods and then start saying they see birds dead all over the place. In reality a couple of birds have been pickled in the fields, made it back to roost, and fell off their perch during the night. What do you reckon. Convinced?

There are loads of posts on Facebook about fellas finding pigeons dead. Then a cousin of mine was out at woodcock the other day & they found about half a dozen pigeons dead, these birds wouldn't be pricked because nobody is allowed on this ground & they plucked 1 & there was no mark on it.

 

To be honest I'm not convinced & the 7 we shot tonight at roost were in good order.

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And nice cocker ollie. Is that yours or the mates? I used to run a team of three when I did alot of woodcock shooting in tyrone. Only have the one now, and he is more a pet than a serious working dog. Fine picking up, next to useless in the cover, but the missus and the kids love him. You must have great ground locally for the woodcock. Do you shoot in the glens or up on the antrim hills?

That is me with my cocker. He is a great wee hunter, but he is very hard in the mouth. When I shoot a woodcock I put him on the lead & lift it myself otherwise he ruins the bird.

 

The ground I hunt is mostly cushendall (where I'm originally from), glenariff, cushendun & ballycastle. We had some great ground for woodcock but all the farmers are tearing all the cover out as they don't get grants for whins etc, so this has been my worst year.

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