fenboy Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Sounds a very nice flight marsh man , I have a long way to go and much to learn before I can be called a decent wildfowler . Funnily I was talking to another fowler on the way out about the lack of teal this season , he also said he had only shot the one so far , so given the amount I saw today (100s) I think they must be fresh arrivals . Unfortunately the other chap did not manage to put anything in his bag despite him heading to where I thought would be the better place , just shows sometimes you need a little luck . He had a fair drive down so rather than him go home empty handed I gifted him a wigeon and brace of teal. Got a few days off now so will be heading out again in the morning . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted November 13, 2015 Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 (edited) I flighted this morning in a very different area to my fowling at the start of the week. I have a friend who kindly lets me have the odd flight on the Ouse Washes. It meant a very early start to be on the road at 4.45am, with still an hours drive down to the Fens. I made good time and the first hints of a false dawn were starting to show as I pulled onto the side of the track. The walk was easy across some dry meadows before reaching the wash and to my surprise it had a bit of water on it and better still the wash on the boundary was very well flooded. The weather men had promised a strong westerly blow , but as the light grew all I had was a faint southerly breeze and a clear sky studded with a million stars. Around me I could hear odd duck jumping off the water , but for now they were outside my world of sight. To start with I just stood in a patch of reeds , the duck would never see me in the half light. I saw my dogs head whip around and a dozen low wigeon rushed past me barely within range , then a whistle and almost overhead five more. Caught on the hop I only had time for a single shot , but with no result. Another pair came almost as soon as I had reloaded. I saw them early enough coming straight for me climbing like mad and travelling like a bat out of hell. Again I missed. To the south of me a couple of guns were having quite a bit of shooting and I hoped they might push some duck my way , and they did , but all too high for a shot and then a pair of mallard lifted from the floodwater 200 yards off. They made a bee line for me, high , but just within range. But god they were really motoring. Swinging hard I gave the drake a good lead and hit him hard. He came down a hundred and fifty yards behind me , wings flailing like mad in an effort to stay air born. My lab Meg hesitated as we could not see exactly where it hit the flood water as it was behind a thick belt of reeds. I urged her to “get on “ and she plunged through the reeds , crossing the boundary dyke and then I lost sight of her. This was one of those retrieves when you just had to let your dog get on with and trust that she had a better idea where to search than you did. Five long minuets became ten and still no sign of the dog. Then a splash as she re-entered the dyke and a face appeared through the reeds with a stone dead mallard in her jaws. Its moments like this that you can realy appreciate an experienced dog that can be left to do her job with no guidance. As the light grew so did the wind , it was freshening nicely. A single high greylag had me in two minds if to shoot at or not . In hind sight perhaps I could have fired , but it was a bit far for the steel duck shells I was loaded with and I was happy to leave it. It was getting quite light by now so I set up my hide close to the flood water on the boundary and waited. For a long time few duck moved. Three or four good parties of whooper swans came off the reserve a mile away their goose like calls ringing across the marsh. I love to see the wild swans every winter and this area is full of them by the turn of the year. Meg was beside her self and just could not understand why I was not shooting at these loudly trumpeting birds. We rarely saw them on our coastal marshes and though she ignores mute swans she mistakes the calls of wild swans for geese or maybe she just gets as excited over them as I do. All too soon the sun cleared the skyline, bathing the washes with a warm golden light. Faint blurred bushes , now came into sharp focus and the duck started to move again. Not many , but a trickle of mallard appeared high from the north set their wings and after a circuit or two planed down onto the flood. All passed just wide of my hide as they came in , but turning at the end of the floodwater banked over my wash and came back high , fast and curling giving very tricky shots. One hen bird was all I for the seven or eight shots I had was all I could manage. They were just too good for me this morning. I should have had a teal or two out of a nice bunch that came over from behind , but I was watching a trio of mallard beating up to be in the now very fresh wind so I let the teal go and of course the mallard passed wide. With the rising sun the washes became alive with birds , more swans on the move, big flocks of lapwings along with a little trip of golden plover, fieldfares , hundreds of them moving south and quite a lot of wood pigeons. I could have shot a lot of pigeons , but I was here to shoot duck , the pigeons could wait until they started to hit my rape fields. A couple of times Meg had rased her nose catching a scent on the wind. I guessed a pheasant was searching the thistle patch behind us for breakfast. So it proved as a cock bird jumped 40 yards away and flew low across my front. A shot he might have made , but thorugh the reeds in front so I left him. Almost 10am and it was time to pack up. Rain threatened from the dark clouds pileing up to the west when as I was about to gather my gear together the cock pheasant returned. Something had flushed him from the far bank and he came soaring over 30 yards up. Just time for a single shot and he dropped 40 yards behind me. Meg was off at once , but a couple of minuets later I saw her top the bank still quartering the marsh. Five minuets later and there was no sign of her so I set off to see what was going on. I reached the bank and whistled , but to no avail , there was no sign of her. Annoyance started to become concern as I still could not see her. She is not familiar with this marsh and I was worried she might not find her way back easily. I called and whistled , but nothing. Turning back towards my hide she appeared from the hide and carrying a nice cock bird as dead as mutton. She delivered it to hand with a look as though to say where have you been dad! It must have ran on hitting the ground and she had tracked it a hundred yards around the belt of thistles and aproached the hide from the other side of the wash ,or other wise I would have met her walking to the bank. I guess some tripe hounds are just born lucky! Not a heavy bag , but it had been a brilliant morning , the shooting had been difficult with only the pheasant offering an easy shot eased my mind a little as I counted the empty shells when I got back to the car just as the first drops of rain started to fall. Edited November 13, 2015 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted November 13, 2015 Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 There have been quite a few teal on the N Norfolk coast this year , not that i have had many as they do not start to use my marsh in any numbers until late November. Sounds as though you had a great flight Marshman. I hope I might have timed it right for some fowling as I am having a few days down your way next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomaddy525 Posted November 13, 2015 Report Share Posted November 13, 2015 After the 3am start to get to the Solway earlier in the week a 6.30 start today to try and intercept one of the few parties of greylags that fly over the farm occasionally seemed like a lie in! Never shot a greylag on the farm, only canadas, but I was sure one day I would manage to get lucky and have a skein pass over me. I walked up the farm track about half a mile and found a nice place to wait and sit, facing the direction the geese always fly on a morning. After about 40 minutes of waiting and not having seen anything a group of about 8 geese appeared above my head, from behind, fighting the wind no more than 20 yards up! They had managed to creep up on me with no sound! A rushed snap shot managed to bring one down to my joy! Finally, my first greylag on the farm after years of trying! The dog rushed off to pick the bird, so you can imagine how far my jaw dropped when Moss came back proud as punch with a ******' pink foot in his mouth!! Bear in mind this is near Darlington, an hour from the nearest coast and upwards of two hours away from the nearest estuary with pinks! The other geese made no other sound so I now have no idea wether they were all pinks or just a random one! Some stories you really couldn't write.. All the trips to the Solway for pinks over the past years only to go and shoot one 10 minutes walk from home! Has anyone else encountered stray/feral pinks in an area with no pinks? Almost gutted it wasn't a grey not quite the same as a foreshore pink! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted November 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 Went out this evening in the high winds we are having here hoping that it would stir the ducks up a bit. The flight was very uneventful, apart from the wind picking one of my decoys up and flinging it a good 20 yards! I stuck it out for as long as possible in the hope that there would be a late flight, by now it was 6.15pm and all the light had gone. Just as I was going to unload the gun I heard a faint quack and 3 Mallard were over head a good 40 yards up and battling against the wind, there was just enough time for an instinctive snap shot and the birds peeled off in the wind. I watched them for as far as I could and the one bird seemed to part from the others but didn't look to come down, and the shot didn't feel like I had hit the bird. I packed up and was starting to get ready to walk off but I had a nagging feeling that I had to have a look in the direction the bird headed in. Me and the dog set off and walked a good 450 yards in the rough direction, he didn't look interested until we came to a drainage ditch and he hunted the far side, to my surprise he appeared with a dead hen mallard. Just goes to show that it's always worth a look if you have any suspicion that a bird was hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 17, 2015 Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 Well done , on both the mallard and following your hunch up . I am having a good time of it lately and am now just short of 40 foreshore duck for the season and one more pink than last , with winds due to turn northerly from friday and over the weekend things may improve further. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted November 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 That's a great season Fenboy, I am a little behind you with 4 ducks and 2 geese!! What's the house prices up by you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 17, 2015 Report Share Posted November 17, 2015 That's a great season Fenboy, I am a little behind you with 4 ducks and 2 geese!! What's the house prices up by you!! Quite reasonable actually Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fal Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Excellent conditions down here with us last night, made the effort to get out on the marsh, choppy waters, high winds, put some deeks out on a splash that we know is used and had a total number of ZERO ducks again! I think that's 9 visits for me without a shot now. I know I will forget about all the blanks when I get a duck thoughj. I was wondering on the way home what the actuall cost of a duck is to a wildfowler if you took in to account your membrship, cartridges and diesel/petrol etc. I dread to think! lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiler23 Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Aye, it would be emotional if you worked out the cost of things wouldn't it, iv been having a great season so far , getting under plenty of duck, just those pesky geese that keep avoiding me haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Excellent conditions down here with us last night, made the effort to get out on the marsh, choppy waters, high winds, put some deeks out on a splash that we know is used and had a total number of ZERO ducks again! I think that's 9 visits for me without a shot now. I know I will forget about all the blanks when I get a duck thoughj. I was wondering on the way home what the actuall cost of a duck is to a wildfowler if you took in to account your membrship, cartridges and diesel/petrol etc. I dread to think! lol Crikey I thought I had a bad run , one things for certain stick at it and it always comes good in the end . I am fairly fortunate where I live so fuel costs are not too bad the nearest marsh I shoot is only 5 mins away and the furthest about 50 mins Clubs are very reasonable too with one around 125 for the season and the other 150 and I also claim one BASC fee back from that. My goose homeloads are quite pricey at around £2.65 a pop but its not like I use too many , my duck loads work out about the same as shop brought stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fal Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Crikey I thought I had a bad run , one things for certain stick at it and it always comes good in the end . I am fairly fortunate where I live so fuel costs are not too bad the nearest marsh I shoot is only 5 mins away and the furthest about 50 mins Clubs are very reasonable too with one around 125 for the season and the other 150 and I also claim one BASC fee back from that. My goose homeloads are quite pricey at around £2.65 a pop but its not like I use too many , my duck loads work out about the same as shop brought stuff. I am 50 mins drive from the closet marsh I shoot, so almost two hours driving each flight I've gone longer without a shot, I think the amount of surface water everywhere at the moment isn't helping, the birds don't need to come to the coast. We need some cold weather down here to freeze inland or to have a bit of dry weather to dry the fields up etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Excellent conditions down here with us last night, made the effort to get out on the marsh, choppy waters, high winds, put some deeks out on a splash that we know is used and had a total number of ZERO ducks again! I think that's 9 visits for me without a shot now. I know I will forget about all the blanks when I get a duck thoughj. I was wondering on the way home what the actuall cost of a duck is to a wildfowler if you took in to account your membrship, cartridges and diesel/petrol etc. I dread to think! lol I am sure it will come good in the end Fal , we all have quiet spells but I must admit 9 visits without a shot is pushing it a bit and you must now be wondering when the next fowl in the bag will be a coming , we will keep our fingers crossed for you and look forward to the report when your run of bad luck comes to an end. As for the cost of per duck or goose , in my case I wouldn't say a great deal , similar to fenboy my nearest marsh is two roads away ( 5 mins ) and I don't travel no more than 6 miles to any of the marshes I go on . and the cartridges are around £9 to £10 a box of 36grms for geese and a bit cheaper for 32grms I use for duck. Our membership is about £165 and that include pigeon shooting all the year round so it only work out about £3 a week , so with some very good wildfowling land and all round pigeon shooting the club membership is very good value . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farma Geddon Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 You did very well to follow your hunch. Good on you. It would gave been easy to go home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aled Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 , I think the amount of surface water everywhere at the moment isn't helping, the birds don't need to come to the coast. We need some cold weather down here to freeze inland or to have a bit of dry weather to dry the fields up etc Think you are right Fal, there are duck and geese on flooded fields everywhere up our way, which is not that far (as the duck flies!) from where we were Tuesday. Cheers Aled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaniel Posted November 18, 2015 Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Well done on finding the bird Ben most would of not bothered Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted November 18, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 18, 2015 Well done on finding the bird Ben most would of not bothered Cheers Ian, when they are as hard to get as they seem to be this season then anything is worth looking for. Hoping for a few over the weekend. Out local Saturday am, then off to sunny Devon for some stalking Sunday and then am flight on the Exe and tide flight on the torridge Monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedge hunter Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 He whinges a lot though!!! Hay...... no need lol. See you on the 29th to whinge a bit more haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedge hunter Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 John you were firmly in the 20 - 25 who do bother, remarkable as you probably have one of the longest journeys. Be great to see your lad as a member next year. I cannot wait Ben, as soon as I'm an established member, he will be signed straight up once of age. Really looking forward to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedge hunter Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 I think he just loves sleeping in his car Almost got under the canada geese the other day bloody ran 300 yds across the foreshore but just could not get under them What pick on the fat bald welsh bloke time is it ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reabrook Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Hay...... no need lol. See you on the 29th to whinge a bit more haha. Where've you been hiding? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedge hunter Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 No where, I'm still about & still getting out and about. The fb police kicked me off !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted November 19, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 No where, I'm still about & still getting out and about. The fb police kicked me off !!! Have you had any luck yet? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedge hunter Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 Have you had any luck yet? Just a single teal to date Ben, out for a tide flight tomorrow down my way, with the Wentloog club. So fingers crossed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reabrook Posted November 19, 2015 Report Share Posted November 19, 2015 No where, I'm still about & still getting out and about. The fb police kicked me off !!! FB or PW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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