What Would YOU Like To Change In The Seasons ( IF ANY ) ?

[marsh man]

Now the season is beyond us , is there any thing you would like to change in the coming season ( or in the future ) ?

 

Two things I would like to see changed is ( 1 ) .....The season starting on September 21st and finishing the same as the coastal high water mark on February 20th , as it would give the late broods three more weeks to develop , shooting duck in full plumage and not get eaten alive by the midges , and what difference would it make shooting from both sides of the fresh and salt marshes, as at the moment you can shoot fowl going on the marshes from the saltings but you cant shoot fowl on the marsh going on to the saltings .......So what do you think ?

 

( 2) Bringing Sunday shooting to all counties and not to the selective few at present , we have got a block of marshes on the Norfolk / Suffolk border separated by a track across the marsh , so in theory you can shoot one side of the gate on the Sunday and not the other side. It would then give the chaps who are working all the week an extra day to go at the weekend if they wanted to . .............. So what do you think ?

 

So you might agree or disagree , or have some of your own suggestions like bringing waders back on the list , ( or taking ones off ) bag limits , or leaving everything as it is.......Its now over to you ,..... and keep it friendly

[fenboy]

I agree Sunday shooting should be for everyone , not so sure about finishing the inland season later , as I drive along a river on the way to work and I have seen several duck on there clearly mating between the end of inland and costal seasons.

 

Not a change as such but one thing I would like to see would be more youngsters taking up the sport , I think some of the clubs should have a get together and discuss how they best stand a chance of doing that, as without them the long term future of fowling is bleak.

Edited February 26, 2015 by fenboy

[rjimmer]

We don't start until October 1st.

[anser2]

I like the start of the season on September 1^st. The atmosphere of the early days is so different to later on in the season and I would hate to lose it. Also for many without any water on their shoot September stubbling is their only chance to shoot a duck. By the 21^st there are not many stubbles left in a normal year. True there are still a few immature duck about, but any wildfowler worth the name will leave them alone. I shot 8 duck , gadwall , mallard and teal last season on the 1st and all were good strong flyers and well developed. True there were a couple of immature gadwall about , but I just left them be. Many teal start to arrive in late August and by mid September the autumn teal migration is in full swing with many birds passing through the country into France and Spain. With a later start to the season many of these duck would have moved out before we could shoot them.

 

As for the end of the season I always have felt that the inland season finishes a little too early , the inland fowling is often at its best and would prefer January 10^th as the end date. On the coast at the moment it finishes on February 20^th and in many years I feel that is a little too late . By the 20^th spring is in the air.

 

Having said that from a biological point of view the season should end by late January at the latest. Many of the duck we shoot in the early autumn are likely to die from natural causes in a normal winter , predation and starvation. Once January ends we are shooting the survivors , our seed stock for next season.

 

Personally I prefer to shoot my duck in full winter plumage in late winter , but from a conservation of view I should have stopped shooting by then.

 

There is the political aspect to take into account as well. Once we start to fiddle with shooting seasons it gives the RSPB a golden opportunity to bring pressure to bear on the government to bring our seasons into line with most northern European countries and that would mean a shorter shooting season with both the inland and coastal seasons finishing at the end of January. Changing the season dates could open a can of worms that would be hard to get back.

 

As for Sunday shooting its something I have never done ( apart from the odd day after pigeons ) and doubt if I would go if given the chance, but I can see it would give many people who work all week a second days shooting. Though I have to say here I have the chance to shoot mid week for much of the season.

 

I have never been in favour of bag limits though I do have my personal limit. Indeed when it comes to geese while not condoning a slaughter I feel that for some clubs an increase in the limit on geese would not be a bad thing. Greylag numbers are rapidly increasing and we have only just avoided greylag being put on the pest list. The Broads Authority are pressing for a cull accross the whole of Broadland so giving a wildfowler the chance to bag one or two more above their clubs limit would help take the heat out of the situation. There is also a risk when it comes to bag limits that the conservation bodies will try and set different limits for individual species.

 

As for waders , I used to shoot all waders on the quarry list , but today its rare I shoot what we have left except for woodcock. I do miss my curlew shooting though, good eating , difficult target and not that easy to outwit , plus a single curlew was a meal for one.

Edited February 26, 2015 by anser2

[Reabrook]

I pretty much agree with Anser 2. The current season is about right with little scope for adjustment for all the reasons stated.

As regards Sunday shooting it is already available to everyone with perhaps the exception of Northern Scotland. It may not be on your doorstep or with your current Club but it's there if your prepared to travel for it.

Bag limits are better introduced, enforced,monitored and adjusted at Club level than by any other official or governmental body.

I'd like to see a short Curlew season introduced if as numbers seem to suggest (on the Severn anyway!) it would be sustainable. Brent certainly seem to have had a population explosion and though I understand the fears of some that they are just to tame I do think that would very quickly change. Canada's OFF the GL would be my first wish.

[Penelope]

Personally, I think things are ok as they are, although I would like to see a short, say, a one month season introduced for Brent.

[scolopax]

Bring back the Godwits !!

[scolopax]

Put my tin hat on:

 

Ban artificial feeding

[FatFreddysCat]

Agree with Anser2, I'd like to see curlew back on the list. Also like to see golden plover season below MHWM extended to 20th Feb. Does anyone shoot moorhen? I'd gladly see then come off of the list in exchange for a short brent season, say Nov and Dec.

[marsh man]

With last year being one of warmest on record , migrating duck were very late in coming down our way last September , in fact it was well into October before any amount were seen and even then we didn't have what we would normally expect , so early duck were thin on the ground and with the marshes dry , cattle still on the fields and the heavy fed flight ponds drawing in the few duck that were about . I know it might not have been the same in other places but I am refereeing to the marshes local to me , and although I didn't go in September I am on the marshes every day of my life and not once did I see any duck to tempt me to change my mind.

 

Moving on to the end of January we had as many duck as we have ever had on the estuary , the marshes were flooded on most of the clubs ,and my own land I go shooting on plus the cattle have been off for three months , resulting in ideal wildfowling conditions.

 

We know we will never get any extra time on the length of the season but by starting later you would still have the same quantity and the young duck would be better quality and with shooting already going on below the high water mark we would then all finish at the same date ....Just a thought.

[Doriboy]

I would love to be able to shoot sundays

Edited February 27, 2015 by Doriboy

[RossEM]

I'd move everything forward a month, allowing discretion on partridges which seem to be pairing up early in the last few years.

 

I'd definitely allow shooting of all game & wildfowl on Sundays - some people, myself included, work some if not all Saturdays and it makes life very difficult.

[marsh man]

Personally, I think things are ok as they are, although I would like to see a short, say, a one month season introduced for Brent.

Brent we see most years in very low numbers compared with Blakeney and Wells just up the coast ,where when I have spent the odd day in the winter they seem to be pretty abundant all around that area.

 

Having never eaten a Brent Goose do any one know how edible they are ? as they seem to spend more time on the mud banks than they do on the grazing marshes .

[fenboy]

Brent we see most years in very low numbers compared with Blakeney and Wells just up the coast ,where when I have spent the odd day in the winter they seem to be pretty abundant all around that area.

 

Having never eaten a Brent Goose do any one know how edible they are ? as they seem to spend more time on the mud banks than they do on the grazing marshes .

 

From what i was told Brent were pretty awful eating , for sure if they were on the list I would have come off the marsh on several occasions this season after shooting the bag limit in a few minutes , it may change if they ever started getting shot at but as it is they would not make the most sporting quarry .

[Sundodger]

I would like the season to start on the 1st October (after watching some guy and his sons slaughter about 20 young Ducks coming to decoys time after time on the 1st day of the season) as for shooting the Brent geese I think it would be to easy, they are a bit tame down here, they never move when you walk past them. So for me it's the 1st October.

Sundodger

Edited February 27, 2015 by Sundodger

[strangford wildfowler]

Apparently brent are god awful, some old school fowlers over here say there rank

[rjimmer]

Since our clubs were granted annual licenses after the 1968 Act, Brent have increased from less than a dozen seen a year to several thousand. They can reach the Zostera on the falling tide before the Wigeon can, and consequently, the wigeon numbers have dropped by at least half. Perhaps Brent could be shot on Sundays only !

So for me it's the 1st October.
Sundodger

I had Mallard broods hatching on my ponds in August last year.

[marsh man]

 

From what i was told Brent were pretty awful eating , for sure if they were on the list I would have come off the marsh on several occasions this season after shooting the bag limit in a few minutes , it may change if they ever started getting shot at but as it is they would not make the most sporting quarry .

By the sound it fenboy if they were brought back on the list it would be for keeping the numbers down to a acceptable level rather than there sporting powers or there taste.

 

 

Some said about bringing Waders back on , as for Curlew they are up there amongst one of our top sporting birds , and looking back gave us a lot of good sport but as for eating ,they were edible early on in the season but pretty poor as time wore on later in season . Would I shoot any more if they were back on the list ?......NO

 

Do our friends in Ireland still shoot them ? , or can they if they want to ?

[anser2]

Like other wildfowl the taste of brent varies according to what they are feeding on. I have eaten brent shot under licence after feeding on winter wheat and they were fine , though there was not a lot of meat on them, less than a good mallard . Brent after feeding on zos and algae are probably a different story.

 

The big problem with shooting brent is they usually only have a successful breeding season every 3-4 years. When its a good lemming year. There are years when they produce no goslings due to high predation the year after a lenning year when arctic foxes have high numbers and no lemmings. They are three years old before they breed and heavy shooting in a non breeding year could cause a huge fall in their population. This happened when brent were first put back on the shooting list in America and they had to be protected again ( I cant remember the exact numbers , but the brent population dropped by around two thirds in a single cold winter ) and it was years before they built up enough numbers to reopen the shooting season for them , but this time with very strict bag limits.

 

Once we open the door for bag limits or partial seasons then whats next ? Pochard and pintail are doing badly at the moment across Europe. Would they be next? Who is gong to police the restrictions , the RSPB ? Do we realy want a warden waiting for us when we come off the marsh to check what we have shot ?

 

As global warming starts to effect our wildfowl populations more on the future and increasing marshland dranage for the developement of farmland in Northern Europe and Siberia perhaps the pressures on our wildfowl stocks will force us to seriously think about bag limits and shorter seasons , but hopfully that is way in the future , but we have a system that by and large works and I beleve that once we start to rock the boat that day will come closer.

Edited February 27, 2015 by anser2

[Varminator]

I often thought that swapping 30 days inland in September for 20 in February was the way forward but Anser makes excellent points so I say leave well alone. It's amazing we have 5 months when you look at the States short seasons

[Penelope]

The Brent on the Essex coast frequent grass, winter wheat and rape, so I see no reason why they wouldn't taste similar to other geese, and as with other geese I'm sure that they would wise up soon enough.

 

Perhaps being more susceptible to breeding failures due to where they nest, I think a month would be long enough though.

 

Brent we see most years in very low numbers compared with Blakeney and Wells just up the coast ,where when I have spent the odd day in the winter they seem to be pretty abundant all around that area.

 

Having never eaten a Brent Goose do any one know how edible they are ? as they seem to spend more time on the mud banks than they do on the grazing marshes .

Edited March 2, 2015 by Penelope

[JDog]

Be careful asking what Brent taste like. Someone might tell you.

[fenboy]

Keep up JDog , someone already has

[JDog]

Keep up JDog , someone already has

 

Sorry old thing I missed that.

[marsh man]

Be careful asking what Brent taste like. Someone might tell you.

No problem in asking about the taste Mr JDog ,...... its the person who give you the answer who have to be careful