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SABS's Shooting Tales 15/16


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Thanks for the kind comments gentleman :good:

It was great to just stand back and watch everyone else shoot this weekend and witnesses some fantastic shooting. The Good Lady shot well at the 3 challenging birds she accounted for, it was a shame she just missed a partridge by next to nothing, but she still did me proud, as did little Indy with her retrieves.

 

JDog. Don't worry, I enjoy writing them and as long as people are happy to read them, I shall continue to post :good:

It's Amy who usually takes the pictures, with her phone. On a typical shoot day she can take well over 150 which then helps me put the diary together. This week she was shooting and I didn't take than many :blush:

 

Again,thanks for your kind comments and glad you enjoyed reading.

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Thanks Paul :good:

Have you started yet?

Many thanks :good:

I enjoying your "first shoot of the season" video, when are you out next?

Yea, we started last Saturday, but the maize is not off yet, so couldn't do a lot of the drives. Did the boundaries and ducks. Ended with 21 pheasant, 33 duck. So not to bad. Cover really thick and my tweed suit ain't water proof! Edited by reggiegun
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Thanks Paul :good:

Have you started yet?

 

Many thanks :good:

I enjoying your "first shoot of the season" video, when are you out next?

 

Cheers, I was out as a guest on a small DIY shoot on Sat but felt it would be rude to film there. I am out this Thursday with a team I know well so am planning on filming my second one then. Have a lot on at the moment but will try and edit and get it up as soon as poss. :good:

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Thank you for your kind words. I had a great day and was so pleased to bag a few birds, but more so to see Indy retrieve a couple of them. Thanks to everyone at the shoot for making the day so enjoyable, especially Mark for his support, encouragement and guidance. Thanks also to Old Farrier, as his guidance and advice earlier in the year helped to grow my confidence. My lovely 20b is working well too. I'm really getting into this shooting lark! :yes:

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PW Charity Shoot Raffle Prize

Donated by ColinF & PhilR

31st October 2015

(In the countryside around Northamptonshire)

A brief run down of how this day came about.
I'm sure many of you know about the PW Charity Shoot and the worthwhile efforts many on this forum go to, to raise money for charity. Over the past 6 years, the event has raised more than £27,000 which is truly fantastic.
For more information about the NvS please click on the following link http://www.pwcharityshoot.co.uk/about.html

A lot of the fund raising on the day comes from the raffle, with various prizes being donated by many generous PW members. This day was one of those generous donations and as soon as I saw it put up for offer, it was top of my wish list. I bought a fair few raffle tickets on the day and was lucky enough to have my little pink one pulled out first :yahoo:

Onto the shoot itself.
The Good Lady, little Indy and I travelled down to the shoot the evening before once we had finished work. TGL finishes early on a Friday so she had the job of getting things ready for when I finished work at 19:00. We eventually set off on the two and a half hour journey to our hotel for the night at around 20:15, arriving there just before 23:00, Oh the joys of the average speed limit on the M1. Luckily the bar didn't close till very late so there was the chance of a small libation before bed :beer:

The shoot was around 25 minutes away, we arrived at the arranged meeting point at the arranged time, where introductions were made and the full English breakfast was consumed :drool: Once fed and watered we booted up and set off to the farm, where Colin gave the safety brief. We picked pegs, then boarded the shoot bus and headed off to the first drive.
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There was a little light hearted banter on the back of the bus and the hip flasks were passed around.

The First Drive.
I picked peg 4 and was placed on my peg by Phil, this saw me standing around 100 yards from the cover the beaters were going to push. When the birds flushed in there ones and twos, I was not expecting them to climb as high as they did, over 40 yards up and still climbing as they passed the line of guns.
20151031_095232_zpsiheglprw.jpg

I had a few shots on this drive (8) before I possibly accounted for 1 (the neighboring gun also shot at the same bird a split second before me) which Indy retrieved at the end of the drive.
As the drive continued and the guns to the right of me were having some fantastic shots. There was also a Hare flushed on this drive and ran in front of the line of guns,
Screenshot_2015-11-04-00-03-58_zpsy2cct6
It was a joy to see and it is only the second time I have seen one since I was a young child.

Drive 2.
This saw me as a walking gun and we joined the beaters in the beating trailer to be transported to the far side of the drive.
As we walked to the starting position, 2 roe deer (I think) were bumped, this was a first for me to see wild deer running in their natural habitat. A memory that will always stay with me.
As the beaters pushed the cover the birds flew in the desired direction and over the guns.
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Once that cover had been pushed, I was placed on on my peg (8) by a polite young lad of the beating team, "Wolfie".
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Then another cover was pushed to finish the drive.

Elevenses.
All the guns and beaters gathered together at the end of the covers of drive two. Colin was soon there with a selection of soup, pies, cheese, chocolate bars, all washed down with a glass of Port. I believe one of the lady beaters also made some "Millionaire Shortbread" and "Nipple Cake" all of which was very nice.
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It was good to see the interaction between the guns and beaters and the banter continued with lots of talk about Strictly Come Dancing. One of the guns asked if I had ever been on a "gay shoot" before and who I thought had the best top line? I answered "it has to be Tess Daly :lol:


Drive Number Three.
We climbed back into the gun bus for a short drive across the fields. This time I was on peg 5 and standing in the middle of a newly sowed field around 200 yards from the cover.
20151031_120925_zpsxbxvcpwe.jpg
This was very similar to the first drive with the birds being flushed in ones and twos, climbing to some fantastic heights, I had a nice left to right at around 40 yards in front of me plus many more attempts without success. Colin was pegged over on the far right of the line and it was a pleasure to witness his shooting.
20151031_121445_zpszlsrsipz.jpg
He didn't miss anything.

Fourth Drive.
Following a short stroll, I was placed on my peg (2) by AlistairB, this saw me standing on the far left corner of a large wood.
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I had a few shots at some pigeons but was not as lucky as PhilR who had a truly fantastic shot at a pigeon and brought it spinning out of the sky.
I had a couple of chances at pheasants, but I can only blame the lack of alcohol the previous evening for missing :blush:
One of the guns on the opposite end of the line had the shot of the day, the bird broke from the wood and survived the guns below it, it then curled back some 50+ yards behind the line and when it reached his peg, one shot brought it down to earth with a few feathers gently following.

The Fifth.
Following a quick glance of the "peg card" to remind me of my peg on this drive, saw me in the hot seat on peg seven.
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The sun was not in my favour on this drive and only just above the tree line, but as the drive continued, one or two clouds were kind to me. When the birds started to break from the wood, I had a reasonable hen bird that was coming my way, my first one for one of the day. The birds flushed in steady numbers and I dropped another with the first barrel. I made the mistake of not reloading when I had the chance as the next flush was a large one. I had a chance to shoot off the remaining cartridge and reload for the end of the flush.
Screenshot_2015-11-04-00-37-18_zps78p6xs
A couple more flushes appeared and I accounted for four birds off this drive.

The sixth and last drive.
Little Indy had been well behaved all day, sitting along side me, with only a slight whimper of excitement on the first drive, she had a retrieve and was keeping a eye out for the birds being flushed.
20151031_140120_zpsb7vnan3h.jpg
On this drive, I had the wind on my back and the majority of the birds broke over the guns on the opposite side of the embankment. One or two did break over myself and I gave them the obligatory 2 barrel salute and watched them fly on.
My neighbouring gun to my right had a sparrow hawk fly over him just in front of two pheasants that had been flushed. Don't worry, he identified it and addressed the cock pheasant behind, which he duly connected with, excellent sportsmanship :good:
The gun to my left caught the back end of a cock, which I finished off as it glided past me. It would have probably been shot hard enough to not go much further but it presented a safe shot as it glided down, finishing a little shorter than it would have some 100 yards behind, where one of the young lady beaters was on hand with her dog, Spud, who had a great retrieve down the embankment, across a small brook, over a fence and out into the field for the bird, then back again to his handler. A fantastic retrieve and a great finish for the day.
We all gathered back at the gun bus, complimented each other on the day's shooting, discussed Jeremy Vines "top line" (a Strictly Come Dancing reference) and finished off the hip flacks.

A grand day's sport was had by all with good company and some fond memories made.
The bag for the day was:
53 pheasants
2 pigeons
for 258 shots
12106854_10153587485790923_1577956777136
Picture courtesy of the young lady, Kate and owner of Spud

Amy and I were made to feel very welcome, with great hospitality and the banter was great. We were looked after very much, both on the shoot and the evening after, when Colin and Phil, along with their wives took us to a local restaurant for our evening meal.
We both thoroughly enjoyed the day very much :good:

I would like to thank everyone involved in the day, especially Colin and Phil for donating the prize, for their hospitality and for the fantastic experience both Amy and I had :good:


Thanks for reading.
All the best,
Sabs.


A little foot note.
As mentioned at the start of this post, this day was only possible thanks to the generosity of ColinF and PhilR and their support to the annual Pigeon Watch Charity Shoot. I would like to ask you all to look out for the next one and try and support it, if possible, in any way you can. If you can make the shoot that will be fantastic, it doesn't matter if you can't hit a barn door at 20 paces as it is the taking part that counts. You may also get the chance to win a day like this, as well as many other fantastic prizes in the raffle. Over the years I have taken part, I have made many good friends and shared some great times with them.
If you can't make the clay shoot, don't worry, you can still offer support in various alternative ways. Whether you can offer a prize for the raffle, or just make a donation on the Pigeon Watch Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/Pigeon-Watch2015/ any help would be much appreciated.

All the best,
Sabs.




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Brilliant, again :good:

Thanks Todd. :good:

 

 

Great day out

I think you bought all the pink tickets to win this day

And if I may say what a wonderful prize to win

Big thanks for the tale of the day

 

And bigger thanks to the hosts for donating the prize

 

All the best

Of

I also bought some of the blue/green and white ones :whistling:

It was the top of my wish list and was a fantastic prize. As you know there were many great prizes on offer on the day and the one you offered was also at the top of my wish list, but I knew Gingar wanted it more :yes:

 

 

nice to see you both had a good day mate :yes: your shot ratio was poor though :whistling:

I trust PhilR was on form :| as hes a fair shot and a good guy .

 

Well done to all involved for taking part at the charity shoot and offering prizes :good:

It was a long day, the day before, and alcohol was not involved. That's my excuse for the poor ratio of 5:1

 

I can only echo yours and OF comments about the generosity offered from those that donated prizes. :good:

 

PS you have a PM on FB magman.

 

Fantastic read SABS ...........

 

ATB

 

Yungyho

Thanks youngie :good:

Edited by shoot and be safe
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