fenboy Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Things have started to turn around for me now , two flights this week and managed to add three pinks to my tally , I am now just one short of last seasons total and with 12 days off from next Tuesday I will hopefully top both my duck and goose totals for last season . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guttersnipe Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 After a funny week starting with fantastic clear and still sunsets through thick fog and skiens of pinks skimming our chimney pots, we're in for some decent windy autumnal weather this weekend here on the beautiful Lancashire "riviera". As usually happens, the wigeon have arrived in force on the back of the October moon and with good tides in the last few days and more to come this weekend, i've put a few in the bag. There still aren't as many wigeon as we'd usually expect by now but the Pinks have definitely hung around longer than expected. This year they've not hit a real high peak for a week or two which then has rapidly moved on, rather a steady build with good numbers spread around and more remaining around than usual. good luck and safe shooting to all out this weekend. GS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 I got out for my second trip of the season today. Kindly invited to a boat session on Rockland Broad in Norfolk. Very early reveille saw me on the move at 0240 hours. All the usual jiggering about getting nets, cam poles, guns, rucksacks, decoys, dog and two of us into a sound but not overly large dinghy and we were off down the cut by 0445 hrs. Selected our spot - we were the first ones out so had the pick - and set up our stall in a small bay to the north of the broad. Perfect conditions, perfect company - Pavman of PW - and really only one thing missing, well two if you count ducks and geese as two separate items... Four hours for one teal. But hey, I got home with everything soaked - it poured as we unloaded the boat - a happy dog and me with a big smile on my face. Now it's back to the nursing duties again. Thanks Pavman - Greatly enjoyed your company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Glad you got out again Grandalf. I know getting out is usually enough but given your dedication in looking after the wife you sorely deserve a good flight or two , hopefully you will manage some before the seasons end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted November 6, 2015 Report Share Posted November 6, 2015 Good for you! It's not all about pulling the trigger is it? That's a lovely place to be; I must get back at some point. I got out for my second trip of the season today. Kindly invited to a boat session on Rockland Broad in Norfolk. Very early reveille saw me on the move at 0240 hours. All the usual jiggering about getting nets, cam poles, guns, rucksacks, decoys, dog and two of us into a sound but not overly large dinghy and we were off down the cut by 0445 hrs. Selected our spot - we were the first ones out so had the pick - and set up our stall in a small bay to the north of the broad. Perfect conditions, perfect company - Pavman of PW - and really only one thing missing, well two if you count ducks and geese as two separate items... Four hours for one teal. But hey, I got home with everything soaked - it poured as we unloaded the boat - a happy dog and me with a big smile on my face. Now it's back to the nursing duties again. Thanks Pavman - Greatly enjoyed your company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konnie Posted November 7, 2015 Report Share Posted November 7, 2015 As above Rockland is a very nice experience, having a shot or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaniel Posted November 8, 2015 Report Share Posted November 8, 2015 Out this morning with an associate member typically got into position and heard a few ducks calling could not see them and then I have 4 mallards 20yds over my head too bloody late thought to myself that's my chance missed Was not long and I heard Canadas I gave a few honks and spotted them a couple of fields away I kept calling and turned 15 of them but they came wide of me but ross the associate member bagged his first foreshore canada. Settled back down and spotted a pair so gave them some honks and this time they came in range and I bagged my first foreshore canada well pleased Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stubear Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 I was out over the weekend down at Langstone with a friend - Managed to bag a widgeon and a woodie! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted November 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 After the excitement of the pigeon my luck returned to the usual! Until tonight!!! Had an early finish at work so hastily threw together a few decoys, gun and cartridges. Summoned the dog who looked at me as if to say are we going birdwatching again and made the short journey to my local marsh. When I arrived one other person was there so dropped onto some flood water and got a few decoys afloat. Loaded up with gamebore 36g 4's as was expecting teal and wigeon and sat and waited. Few ducks buzzing around but all a little out of range, right on dark I heard a small party of greylags coming from my left, with no time to swop cartridges 8 appeared on my left about 35 yards away and about 25 yards up, knowing the only way to down them with the cartridges I had in was a head neck shot I pulled in front the nearest bird, the shot found its mark and the grey tumbled down dead, a quick second shot seemed to have missed, but as I watched the group depart a bird was struggling to gain height and about 50 yards away the bird started to plane out and i lost sight of it. Knowing the bird made the main river channel I was unsure of whether we would be able to pick it. I worked the dog back across the channel and onto the sands where I lost sight or him in the gloom, a few seconds later I pick him up swimming back with the goose in his jaws. A great blind retrieve for him. So 2 shots for two greys after a month of blanks, perhaps things are on the up!! Roll on the weekend!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 After the excitement of the pigeon my luck returned to the usual! Until tonight!!! Had an early finish at work so hastily threw together a few decoys, gun and cartridges. Summoned the dog who looked at me as if to say are we going birdwatching again and made the short journey to my local marsh. When I arrived one other person was there so dropped onto some flood water and got a few decoys afloat. Loaded up with gamebore 36g 4's as was expecting teal and wigeon and sat and waited. Few ducks buzzing around but all a little out of range, right on dark I heard a small party of greylags coming from my left, with no time to swop cartridges 8 appeared on my left about 35 yards away and about 25 yards up, knowing the only way to down them with the cartridges I had in was a head neck shot I pulled in front the nearest bird, the shot found its mark and the grey tumbled down dead, a quick second shot seemed to have missed, but as I watched the group depart a bird was struggling to gain height and about 50 yards away the bird started to plane out and i lost sight of it. Knowing the bird made the main river channel I was unsure of whether we would be able to pick it. I worked the dog back across the channel and onto the sands where I lost sight or him in the gloom, a few seconds later I pick him up swimming back with the goose in his jaws. A great blind retrieve for him. So 2 shots for two greys after a month of blanks, perhaps things are on the up!! Roll on the weekend!!! Nice. Its always a good feeling when the dog appears out of the darkness with a bird you thought would be lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 I was pleased tonight as well, It was just dark when three mallard briefly appeared in the cloudy gloom I just had time to pull on the last but it glided down over the splashes, out with the torch to find a feeble light ( it had been strapped to my sons bike the evening before and I hadnt checked) luckily my dog was on the ball and I could hear him searching the pools although I couldnt see him, after about ten minutes I could hear louder splasing as he found the duck, after a climb over a fence and a wade I picked up the bird, the thing that made it for me was the fact that my gundog is a Paterdale terrier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted November 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Nice. Its always a good feeling when the dog appears out of the darkness with a bird you thought would be lost. It's a great feeling, I get as much from working the dog as from shooting. But when the 2 come together it doesn't get any better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 10, 2015 Report Share Posted November 10, 2015 Well done to you and your dog , things were quiet for me tonight but I managed to shoot a wigeon which was the sole duck I saw ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aled Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 Visited the Marsh with Fal and Tony last night (thanks lads). Saw ducks, and geese but sadly not in range. Did however thoroughly enjoy myself, and learnt a bit more, which is always a good thing. Cheers Aled Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spaniel Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 Nice one Ben I guess that was north on the Marsh Did you see my post front Sunday Ben you need to join the club FB page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted November 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 I am a member of the FB page, Saw your post mate. Well done on the Geese as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IEH Posted November 11, 2015 Report Share Posted November 11, 2015 Well done Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Cracking flight this morning I had 6 teal and a wigeon the teal were like little rockets and were often coming out of the rising sun , they made my shooting look very ordinary at times ! The dog did some great work today picking 3 or 4 birds that were dropped over a wide water filled creek . With the duck I had this morning I have now topped last seasons total so I am a happy bunny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 (edited) Well I took my time doing it this year , but at last my first pink of the season is in the bag. It took four flights to do it though. I had a gift of a chance on the Broads several weeks ago , but for some reason never touched a feather, Then three blank flights on the coast with low pinks passing one side or the other just out of range while all the overhead birds were too high. Then came Saturday evening. The wind was all wrong being behind the geese who were feeding 1\4 inland , but what I did not expect was little skeins flighting along the marsh rather than straight out onto the muds. I was caught facing the wrong way crouching on the stepped bank of a small creek when a skein crept up behind me. At 50 yards they spotted me or the dog and soared up hanging in the wind. I just had time to roll over and take a shot from a lying position. Once bird staggered slipped out of the skein and crashed a 100 yards off. I was out again a couple of days later , but again I had low skeins both side of me , but none within range. I noticed maybe a thousand passing a mile down the marsh following a huge creek , so the next morning I flighted the creek. The wind was little more than a stiff breeze , but this early in the season it would with luck be enough. The good thing was I knew I would have that section of the marsh to myself as the route out to the creek edge was difficult unless you know the winding smaller marsh creeks very well at high tide . There was no need to hurry ether as for the past few weeks the pinks had been late in moving. The main problem when I reached the big creek was finding somewhere to hide with the water only just below the bank and no sueda bushes to tuck myself behind. For a while it would not matter in the dim light of dawn and I banked on the tide dropping enough to get in one of the smaller creeks as the tide started to drop. Dawn came up slowly, the eastern sky was clear at first , full of stars and a faint hint of the last moon just above the horizon. Just enough light to shoot by , but as the apple green sky started to turn pink cloud rapidly spilled over from the west and for a long time the dawn had a struggle to show through them. The first birds to move were the gulls and a group of big herring gulls caught me by surprise , making me grab the gun , but it was instantly clear that no goose ever had wing beats like them ,even in this light. Someone had a double shot close to where I flighted yesterday and a cloud of pinks jumped off the marsh edge and moved out onto the open sea. As the light grew hundreds of gulls started to follow the creek up and almost unnoticed a little party of geese came in with them with a second larger bunch well wide , off to my right . They crossed my bank 50 yards off and swinging like mad to get in front I missed with my first shot , but the second shot fairly rattled it. It planed out 200 yards off behind me, but the dog was watching the other skein and did not see it come down. It was down wind and she would have to be handled across 4 sizable creeks so I left it until after the flight. The tide had dropped just enough to use the cover of the creeks by the time flight was well under way. Pinks were flooding all across the marsh, most were highish , a few well out of range , but here and there were low parties well within shot if you were under them. One strange habits the pinks have on this marsh is with a stiff head wind they are constantly changing height. I have shot pinks on many coastal marshes and usually once the geese have reached a safe high they stay there while over the marsh. But with the stiff head wind some skeins well up while coming in over the sea only to drop 40 0r 50 yards with a gust of wind and then quickly regain height. Every skein reacted to the wind differently , with some low birds in front climbing too high by the time they reached you while other high geese dropping down well within range as they came over . And thats what happened on my next chance. Four pinks came beating up the creek quite high out in front. 100 yards to their left a hundred followed the creek edge heading straight for me at a reasonable range. As they came closer I took my eye off the small skein and got ready for the bigger bunch. But they were steadily rising and 70 yards up by the time they reached me. Following the dogs gaze I looked at the little skein and they had dropped a lot of height and though a little wide were only30 yards up as they crossed the bank of the creek. The lead gander fell to one of my last precious Tungsten Magnum 50 gr shells , but I missed cleanly with second shot. Meg was off like a shot and there were no problems retrieving this goose. All along the coast pinks continued to pour in , not big numbers , but perhaps 6-7 000 geese , but there was no clear flight line and it was pot luck if you were under them or not. I had no more chances and as the flight petered out I set off to try and find the lost bird which Meg did easily. It had been a great flight , not the number of geese I would expected a decade ago , but plenty to make it interesting. And for once the geese were flighting through our marsh instead of returning to flighting of recent years patterns of following the coast line east for several miles before turning inland. Edited November 12, 2015 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Well done on your first pinks of the season and a great read as usual from you , kind of makes my write up feel inadequate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 (edited) Nothing wrong with your write ups fenboy, we all have are own style. Plus you often have a few photos . I almost never take a camera out with me. Edited November 12, 2015 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted November 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Great write up Anser and well done on the pinks. Great duck flight there Fenboy, well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smiler23 Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Excellent flights there fellas, great results Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Cracking flight this morning I had 6 teal and a wigeon the teal were like little rockets and were often coming out of the rising sun , they made my shooting look very ordinary at times ! The dog did some great work today picking 3 or 4 birds that were dropped over a wide water filled creek . With the duck I had this morning I have now topped last seasons total so I am a happy bunny <script pagespeed_no_defer="">//=d.offsetWidth&&0>=d.offsetHeight)a=!1;else{c=d.getBoundingClientRect();var f=document.body;a=c.top+("pageYOffset"in window?window.pageYOffset:(document.documentElement||f.parentNode||f).scrollTop);c=c.left+("pageXOffset"in window?window.pageXOffset:(document.documentElement||f.parentNode||f).scrollLeft);f=a.toString()+","+c;b.b.hasOwnProperty(f)?a=!1:(b.b[f]=!0,a=a<=b.e.height&&c<=b.e.width)}a&&(b.a.push(e),b.d[e]=!0)};p.prototype.checkImageForCriticality=function(b){b.getBoundingClientRect&&q(this,b)};h("pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkImageForCriticality",function(b){n.checkImageForCriticality(b)});h("pagespeed.CriticalImages.checkCriticalImages",function(){r(n)});var r=function(b){b.b={};for(var d=["IMG","INPUT"],a=[],c=0;c=a.length+e.length&&(a+=e)}b.g&&(e="&rd="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(s())),131072>=a.length+e.length&&(a+=e),d=!0);t=a;if(d){c=b.f;b=b.h;var f;if(window.XMLHttpRequest)f=new XMLHttpRequest;else if(window.ActiveXObject)try{f=new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP")}catch(k){try{f=new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP")}catch(u){}}f&&(f.open("POST",c+(-1==c.indexOf("?")?"?":"&")+"url="+encodeURIComponent(b)),f.setRequestHeader("Content-Type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded"),f.send(a))}}},s=function(){var b={},d=document.getElementsByTagName("IMG");if(0==d.length)return{};var a=d[0];if(!("naturalWidth"in a&&"naturalHeight"in a))return{};for(var c=0;a=d[c];++c){var e=a.getAttribute("pagespeed_url_hash");e&&(!(e in b)&&0=b[e].k&&a.height>=b[e].j)&&(b[e]={rw:a.width,rh:a.height,ow:a.naturalWidth,oh:a.naturalHeight})}return b},t="";h("pagespeed.CriticalImages.getBeaconData",function(){return t});h("pagespeed.CriticalImages.Run",function(b,d,a,c,e,f){var k=new p(b,d,a,e,f);n=k;c&&m(function(){window.setTimeout(function(){r(k)},0)})});})();pagespeed.CriticalImages.Run('/mod_pagespeed_beacon','http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?s=edefebd98b7af5de0f14b0b1d8e34444&app=forums&module=ajax§ion=topics&do=quote&t=319833&p=2938799&md5check=c18dffd3721436ceee47a4f3d5852ccf&isRte=1,B6nXayd9mu,true,false,zfQQdlnHO20');//]]></script> &&0 Excellent morning flight fenboy , must be something in the air at Sutton Bridge as they keep churning out first class wildfowlers and you are quickly becoming one of them . I haven't shot a teal this year but I did manage to equal your bag the other night which was the first time this season I went on my marshes as they only took the cattle off last Sunday. Compared with last year the marshes are a lot dryer up to now with only one decent splash on one of the fields , but if I had to pick one particular field to flood this one would be it . My ole dog is now getting a bit slow now ( a bit like its owner ) so I had to leave mine a bit early to give me enough time to cross half a dozen marshes to get to my intended place , even though the light was beginning to fade I knew it had to be a bit darker before you can expect the first duck to arrive . and as it turned out I didn't have long to wait. The first duck I saw was a Widgeon, nigh on hovering over the water just in front of me giving me , if there is such a thing ,an easy shot , on the sound of the shot a dozen Teal and another Widgeon got up off the marsh that I didn't see drop in , a clear sign that my eyes are nowhere near as good as they once were I then had a bunch come in which I pulled out a nice r + l which I was pleased with as the second one was a fair way out , what I was more pleased with was how my dog was running through the water as if he was still a youngster instead of a geriatric , the next pair of duck came in wide giving me a long shot on my right hand side , I managed to get one with the first shot but missed with the second , this one turned out a lively Mallard and watching the ole dog running backwards and forwards until he got it really made my night . I did have one bit of luck when a bunch came past and with just my hurried single shot knocking two down ( both dead as dodos ) , by now it was nearly to dark to see so I thought I will give another five minutes and call it a day but just then George was starring in front at what turned out another Widgeon which somehow I dropped it with the second shot , With them all safely gathered ( 6 Widgeon 1 Mallard ) it was time to make my way back home , weather this flight will end up the best one of the season , I don't know yet , but it will need a good one to beat it , although I was pleased with the duck and how I shot I was even more pleased with how the dog done in what will be his last season retrieving wildfowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted November 12, 2015 Report Share Posted November 12, 2015 Well done anser2 on another excellent post and your long awaited first Pinkfoot of the season. A bit like waiting for a bus in our village , you can wait for days without seeing one then two come down the road together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.