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A Memorable Day


Danger-Mouse
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Received a text this morning inviting me out onto my mate Nige`s permission. We`ve been out quite a few times over the last few weeks with varying results. Biggest bag has been 64 and the lowest just 4 but it`s always a laugh with lots of banter and plenty of mick taking when either of us misses a sitter.

 

Initially we were meeting at 1pm but a couple of things cropped up and we rescheduled for 1:30pm. What I didn`t realise was that the route I generally go by had roadworks on it so I ended up going off in search of an alternate route I vaguely knew of. That didn`t work out too well and I ended up having to call Nige to direct me. I then missed the turn off and spent ages trying to find somewhere to turn around. Eventually though I met up with Nige and we headed off to a field he`d been watching and that had plenty of pigeons sitting in it. A flock of 50+ took off when we walked down the field and we were hoping it was a sign of a good day to come.

 

We selected a site for the hide and whilst I busied myself with that Nige set to work putting out the decoys. Once everything was set up we settled in to wait for the pigeon`s return. After about half an hour the first fell to my gun, then Nige evened the score a short time later. Then a crow decided to fly towards the hide, it headed straight towards me and received a warm welcome in the guise of 29gms of number 6 shot that saw it drop like a stone less than 5 yards from the hide. The pigeon activity was pretty slow but steady and I took an early lead in the numbers shot, an unusual circumstance as Nige usually bags more than me.

 

After a couple of hours Nige decided to go walkabout and headed over towards a copse of trees a couple of fields away that we always see pigeons landing in. We hoped that if either of us shot and missed we might drive the pigeons back towards the other gun. It worked fairly well too and we both bagged a couple of the other`s misses. Even seperated we were able to keep up a bit of banter on the radios, along with the occasional cry of "nice shot!"

 

Nige eventually returned and hadn`t been back long when he nailed a high flying crow to even up the corvid scores. Generally though things had quietened down and shots were few and far between. Eventually Nige decided to have another stroll but just to an elderberry tree at the other side of the field. He left his .22rf in the hide and it was lucky he did. I saw a pigeon drop onto the edge of the pattern and as it was going to be a tricky shot with the shotgun I picked up the rifle and put the scope on it only to notice that it was in fact a stock dove, a lucky escape for both me and the dove. Nige bagged a couple more pigeons and then returned to the hide.

 

Around 6pm I decided to take a stroll with ideas of going over to the copse and trying to repeat our earlier tactics. Strolling down the field I had one pigeon barrel towards me only to veer off just as I shot. In the end I opted to stay on the other side of the field to the copse and I redeemed myself a short while later taking a crossing bird at a goodly distance, probably my best shot of the day. Nothing much was flighting though.

 

I then noticed a van pulling up in one of the fields outside our permission. At first I thought it was another shooter but soon realised it must be a farmer. I strolled over to the far end of the field and then spent the next 15 mins watching with great pleasure as the farmer and his dog rounded up a flock of sheep. Something I`ve only ever seen before on tv, I must say though that there was a great deal more swearing than I used to hear on One Man And His Dog. :D

 

Leaving my gun leant against the wall I hopped over and strolled down to see if I could have a chat with the farmer. I patiently waited until he noticed me and then asked if I could have a quick word. It turned out to be a farmer I`d given a business card to a couple of weeks earlier. After a few minutes chatting I managed to gain permission to shoot some fields beyond the copse, a real result as we`ve been fancying trying the other side for a while now. With that done I headed back to the hide.

 

We had a couple more shots but by now it was obvious there wouldn`t be much more action on the pigeon front. The day wasn`t over just yet though, there were a couple of firsts waiting for me. When we were out on Friday we`d seen flights of both ducks and geese and Nige had brought along a few suitable cartridges just in case we saw them again. With dusk falling we had a few shots at some ducks and I brought down my first ever and saw it fall into the next field.

 

Once it became clear no more birds would be passing by Nige volunteered to go and try and find the duck and thus came about another first for me. He had left his gun behind and suddenly I heard him saying "shoot it!" Standing up from behind the hide I was expecting Nige to be pointing out a hare. We`d seen a couple during the day and Nige had narrowly missed one with the rifle whilst I`d been on my stroll. However the sight that greeted me was not a hare but a fox. Nige was only 3 or 4 yards from the hide and the fox was about the same distance away from him. It showed absolutely no panic and was just staring at him. I mounted the shotgun but hesitated until Nige shouted "shoot the ****!". At the noise the fox bunched it`s legs and I let fly dropping it in it`s tracks. I quickly followed up with a second shot just to make sure and that was it, my first fox, a young vixen, in the bag.

 

By now it was pretty dark and unfortunately we couldn`t find the duck. We packed up using the torches on our bao fengs and made our way back to our cars.

 

We ended the day with approximately 25 pigeons (although only 9 picked), 2 crows, 1 duck and 1 fox and of course a new permission.

 

A memorable day indeed.

 

 

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Edited by Danger-Mouse
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  On 08/09/2015 at 06:45, Underdog said:

A fox had your duck.

Good story.

What is that slide action, looks a nice one.

 

 

  On 08/09/2015 at 07:52, Scully said:

A Grand day out! I'd also like to know what the gun is. Benelli?

 

Thanks all. :good:

 

It`s a Hatsan Escort pump action. IIRC it`s the Hunter model.

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  On 08/09/2015 at 09:07, Underdog said:

I believe they are good.

 

It does the job. It`s just not as fast as a semi auto for those follow up shots. Still considerably quicker than your usual choice of gun though underdog :lol:

 

  On 08/09/2015 at 12:34, WelshMike said:

Nice one mate, a nice mixed bag, well done.

 

Cheers Mike. :good:

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