Wildfowling season 2015-2016

[Penelope]

Well done gents.

[fenboy]

We had a "young shots" evening tonight, apart from a rubbish uptake from our club members the lads that attended were treated to a fantastic flight. My lad bagged 3 mallard from 5 shots and the other lad had his 1st ever bird. Out chasing the geese tomorrow morning.

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Well done to the lads , shame you did not get many takers.

Seems to be a real struggle to get youngsters into the sport , they are missing out, I certainly wish I had started 30 years before I did !

I am trying to make up for lost time though and will be out on the marsh tonight for my third flight in as many days

Edited October 1, 2015 by fenboy

[widgeon man]

Well we helped one the other day Adrian, I'm one ; ) and I've got 3 others hooked on it, in fact you will be meeting my newest recruit on the marsh soon! It's getting them out to experience it, once they do most seem to love it.

[silver pigeon 3]

Well done to the lads , shame you did not get many takers.

Seems to be a real struggle to get youngsters into the sport , they are missing out, I certainly wish I had started 30 years before I did !

I am trying to make up for lost time though and will be out on the marsh tonight for my third flight in as many days

 

We have a few Junior members in the club, however I think it's more down to the fact that the parents can't be bothered. We have over 140 members and whenever a club event is organised it's the same 20 - 25 people that attend! However the people that put in 0% effort are the people that shout the loudest and whinge the most!

[hedge hunter]

 

We have a few Junior members in the club, however I think it's more down to the fact that the parents can't be bothered. We have over 140 members and whenever a club event is organised it's the same 20 - 25 people that attend! However the people that put in 0% effort are the people that shout the loudest and whinge the most!

 

Well once I'm a fully fledged member and have a real season under my belt. My boy will be signed up sharpish Ben.

[silver pigeon 3]

Well once I'm a fully fledged member and have a real season under my belt. My boy will be signed up sharpish Ben.

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.

[Nmb]

I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone's reports!

Never had the opportunity to try true wildfowling however really fancy going out to see how it's done.

[Reabrook]

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.

He whinges a lot though!!!

[fenboy]

I have thoroughly enjoyed everyone's reports!

Never had the opportunity to try true wildfowling however really fancy going out to see how it's done.

 

Living where you do it would be a easy sport to get into as I believe the majority of the foreshore is free shooting.

Start a thread asking for some help / experience and there may be someone nearby on here who can help you out.

[anser2]

A Bonus wigeon.

The forecast was for a wet dawn, but looking carefully at the weather maps I thought that with luck I would just have time for a morning flight before the rain came in. Over the last week all my shooting had been inland , because the tides had been very high making it impossible to sit out any tides out on the coast plus we have had very little wind , making it almost useless to attempt shooting from the sueda bushes at the back of the marsh.

 

This morning the tides would be well out at dawn so I returned to the same section of marsh where I had made such a mess up of the morning flight a few weeks ago. It was very clear and bright when I arrived at the creek , my way lit by a sharp quarter moon as I slithered along its sloping bank until I arrived at a large pool spreading out from the tiny trickle that twisted its way to the sea. The weather men had also promised a decent south wind , but it was just a very light easterly.

 

Decoys out well before dawn I settled down to await the flight. Wings , huge powerful wings came wooshing over head. The goose passed close to me , very close , but I never saw a thing. A quarter of a hour later a wigeon dived across the sky in front and before I could react had landed in with the decoys. For a moment I could not make it out , there seemed a dozen blobs out there I had not seen before and then it was up , giving a simple shot as it climbed away. In an instant the gun was at my shoulder and I was franticly pulling the trigger--- and nothing happened. This it the third time this has happened this season. As yet the gunsmith can’t find out the reason why, but occasionally the hammer is not cocking on my Browning Gold. However I have found that if you unload and rapidly reload the gun seems to work ok again.

 

A couple of duck passed a little wide , but I lured them back with a little calling. But my single shot went wide. This looked like being another Cock up in the making. A few minuets later a single mallard curved into the decoys and this time there was no mistake and she smacked into a muddy creek behind me. At the shots two nice bunches of wigeon lifted and swung up the creek. A quack made me look behind , a hen mallard was hooked on the decoys and coming around on a wide circle. It Was all happening at once. Forty wigeon came over head in a rush. A shot they would have been , but not easy as they were on the limit of range so I turned and took the mallard as she dropped into the decoys.

 

Meg my black soon had her back. Several single wigeon came and before long three were added to the bag . It seemed to stay flighting light for ages as a curtain of cloud coved the sky holding the dawn back. In the half light the marsh started to come alive, wedges of gulls heading inland, odd bunches of curlews drifting past and then two big flocks came in from the sea, settling further down the creek. A trickle of redshank landed on a sand bar in ones and two until there were at least a hundred there. There were lapwings too, party after party came in for a drink after a nights foraging on the arable fields.

 

Finally a high flock of a dozen teal crossed the creek , heading for some inland roost. I thought I could just reach them and did. One bird peeled off crashing into a mud pan behind me. Meg was unsighted this time so I had to climb up onto the top of the marsh and send her on a blind retrieve. For a quarter of an hour she worked the area and though she got quite worked once we could not find the bird. A figure appeared on the sea wall beyond the mud pan with a spaniel . He sent his dog out and suddenly there was some flapping at the base of the sea wall and his dog had it. He shouted to me he would leave it on my car and walked off. After packing up I trudged back along the mud pan for a quarter of a mile before I could cross the sea wall and there on the car roof was my wigeon. So much for my duck id , I would have sworn it was a bunch of teal I had shot at.

 

Mentally I thanked the guy with the spaniel and reflected that this had been the best flight of the season so far. As for the rain it still has not arrived and its lunch time.

Edited October 5, 2015 by anser2

[marsh man]

Well deserved bag anser2 and thanks for sharing the flight with us arm chair fowlers

 

Your eyes might be getting tired like mine , most of my shooting is at night and if it wasn't for the old dog I would have to come home about 10 to 15min early as when it get just about dark I am looking at the dogs head more than I am looking across the marsh , even though hes getting on a bit his eyes are still as sharp as when he was a puppy .

 

Today I saw the first big flock of Pinks sitting and resting on some wheat stubble about 5 miles out of Yarmouth , I didn't count them but I recon around 500 or so and the Widgeon are building up nicely on the estuary .

[fenboy]

A nice read as usual answer, your not alone with getting your teal and wigeon mixed up I shot a teal the other night I would have sworn was a wigeon .

[Spaniel]

He whinges a lot though!!!

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

[Guttersnipe]

Keep the great write ups coming Anser - the wife isn't happy with you though, every time i read your reports i have to get a flight planned.

 

Poor tides and a bit still up here but they've counted 30,000 pinks on Martin Mere this week, not yet at their peak of 58k last year, and the Wigeon are steadily building, so we'll see what's about on the wonderful Lancashire riviera tonight...

[anser2]

Keep the great write ups coming Anser - the wife isn't happy with you though, every time i read your reports i have to get a flight planned.

 

 

Sorry to hear your wife is not keen on the write ups , but I am not a lot of good at romantic yarns. You will just have to make it up to here when you get back weighed down with fowl!

 

Off tonight myself , but the weather is hopeless , more like a summers evening. Still if will give the dog a walk. I have been out counting duck all day and there are plenty of teal, wigeon and pintail about

Edited October 8, 2015 by anser2

[Guttersnipe]

Good flight last night, despite the appalling traffic meaning i was on the last minute and the still "summer" weather... Notably more wigeon than last weekend and enough to see them respond to the call which they can be reticent to do early season - had five and left before it was fully dark. Plenty of Pinks about, but sky high, you boys on the East coast will be pleased to know that skein after skein were heading your way over the Pennines.

Thought the below interesting from the BBC for the forthcoming week - should get things moving and push significant numbers of fowl to our shores - fingers crossed.

 

[Penelope]

Indeed, a news clip from Moscow on the BBC news last night mentioned snow earlier than usual falling in the city.

 

Good flight last night, despite the appalling traffic meaning i was on the last minute and the still "summer" weather... Notably more wigeon than last weekend and enough to see them respond to the call which they can be reticent to do early season - had five and left before it was fully dark. Plenty of Pinks about, but sky high, you boys on the East coast will be pleased to know that skein after skein were heading your way over the Pennines.

Thought the below interesting from the BBC for the forthcoming week - should get things moving and push significant numbers of fowl to our shores - fingers crossed.

 

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[Grandalf]

I did it!!! I got there!!!

First go on the marsh this season. Just a short afternoon trip to the Blyth Estuary on a fresh water marsh behind the sea wall but absolutely magic.

The Memsahib is not well at the moment and I can't leave her on her own. However, thanks to the generous nature of my sister in law I was relieved of duties for the afternoon.

Sat out in the sunshine and watched everything that was going on like I had never been there before.

Harrier, barn owl, heron, egret, etc. All the usual stuff but it was pure magic with a capital M.

Had five shots - One at a crow and four at ducks. All missed by a country mile but it didn't matter one iota (Merlyn my yellow lab wasn't so pleased though). But she got a swim and a charge around the marsh and came home covered in black mud so she is now happy as well.

Had to pack up long before dark to get back to the nursing duties but it was a super afternoon.

Fowling - The elixir of life.

[fenboy]

I did it!!! I got there!!!

First go on the marsh this season. Just a short afternoon trip to the Blyth Estuary on a fresh water marsh behind the sea wall but absolutely magic.

The Memsahib is not well at the moment and I can't leave her on her own. However, thanks to the generous nature of my sister in law I was relieved of duties for the afternoon.

Sat out in the sunshine and watched everything that was going on like I had never been there before.

Harrier, barn owl, heron, egret, etc. All the usual stuff but it was pure magic with a capital M.

Had five shots - One at a crow and four at ducks. All missed by a country mile but it didn't matter one iota (Merlyn my yellow lab wasn't so pleased though). But she got a swim and a charge around the marsh and came home covered in black mud so she is now happy as well.

Had to pack up long before dark to get back to the nursing duties but it was a super afternoon.

Fowling - The elixir of life.

A well earned trip no doubt .

I hope your good lady is soon well enough that you can get out some more and start bagging a few

[Bell]

Great reading. I was up on the west coast of Scotland couple of weeks ago. Still short sleeved weather, we hit it just right. Caught some sea trout and potted some crab and lobster. Two nights we flighted some gravel working ponds just off the high tide mark. The farmer had had some beasts in the field next door and they had clarted up a splash that you could smell 50 yards away. There was an old trailer up to it's wheels in mud which gave good cover.

My mate shot there the first night and dropped a snipe into the ooze, the second night we sneaked up on it and I dropped a teal while the remaining six birds headed out over the rocky groins where my two mates were waiting. They had 3 birds between them, one a long swim for my springer. Two of the birds were cocks just beginning to show signs of that lovely green eye stripe.

[anser2]

Great news Grandalf , good to hear you managed to make a flight .

Edited October 11, 2015 by anser2

[silver pigeon 3]

6 blanks on the bounce for me, always close but not close enough!!

[fenboy]

6 blanks on the bounce for me, always close but not close enough!!

Similar for me 4 blank on the bounce for me , including both morning and evening tonight.

[Wildfowler12]

I've not posted many photos for a while, so here are a few snaps from recent outings. Whilst we've not had any 'fowling' weather yet, we've been treated to some astonishing sunrises/sets.

 

The pink was my first off the Solway

 

 

 

 

 

I've just bought an action cam too. Here's a few clips from a recent tide flight...

 

http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/322466-first-vid-wildfowling/?do=findComment&comment=2920194

Edited October 12, 2015 by Wildfowler12

[Fal]

I managed to get out on Sat morning. I had heard a lot of greys going to roost in an area close to one of our marshes on the Thursday night so thought I would see if they would come out over the marsh, a few did, and I managed to bag on, it glided for so long I didn't realise just how far. It had glided at least 200 yards. The dog didn't get a mark on it as we were sitting in a ditch, luckily my friend that was sitting close by managed to handle me on to it lol

 

The dogs picked up the scent and then got hold of it. That was the only shot of the morning though, five of us out, one shot between us all, saw a few teal, but way too low to have a shot at, one nearly flew into me before sunrise!!!

 

As we were looking for the goose, the dogs managed to find a random Widgeon that had been shot and obviously lost, it had been down a while so I used it to train the new pup, he seemed to be fine with it, it was the fist time he had touched anything other that a tennis ball or dummy!

 

 

 

 

 

Pic of Winston with the Widgeon or Wigeon, or however you spell it lol