misser Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Further to fenboy's and motty's adventures and the 2 new species in the bag, what are the elusive species for other members and how close or not close as the case may be have you come to bagging them?......on a personal basis never had a whitefront or a goldeneye....once many moons ago two of us were out, nothing at all about at all, I walked over and sat by mate, next thing 1 duck came down dyke and he bagged it...a goldeneye...only one i've seen....would be nice to get one of each species on the list....atb...misser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordanrussell123 Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 I have had most of the ducks on the list bar 3 wideon goldeneye and pintail but wideon is the one I want just can't bag one for love or money I see loads when out flighting but just can't get one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scolopax Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Managed the full house on the foreshore. But was lucky in that the only whitefront I have seen on the foreshore I shot and likewise the only tufted I have ever seen on an estuary. I would hazard a guess that the tufted duck is the least maritime of the species on the quarry list and therefore the hardest to put into the wildfowlers bag? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIDES EDGE Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 I would not worry about the Goldeneye they are just about inedible in my opinion only ever shot one and it was so bad never bothered to shoot another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordanrussell123 Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 I would not worry about the Goldeneye they are just about inedible in my opinion only ever shot one and it was so bad never bothered to shoot another one. that's a shame I always wanted to try a goldeneye is the taste the same as a shoveler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
misser Posted September 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 shovelers definitely aint the best tasting duck..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ratty1 Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Whitefront, goldeneye and pochard, I don't think the whitefront is achieveable but the other two are a possibility at some point, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Going back to when I got into fowling in the 60s , Whitefronts were far more numerous than Pinks , Greylag and Canada and at there peak the numbers were around 5000 , before we had marshes to shoot on ( legally ) we had to rely on the estuary to get a goose and the old story was the same then as it is now , wrong place at the wrong time and they passed to the right or left just out of range , you know the sort of thing , but when you were in the right place at the right time and luck was on your side any goose you got, 99% of the time it was a Whitefront . As for the different species of duck , when we had a hard winter and the broads froze up , ( this was before we got into the cold weather bans ) we used to get every type of duck you could shoot , plus a lot you couldn't come down to the tidal water that was still left open even if the mud banks were iced up. The old boys who went then only had one duck they wouldn't shoot, and that was a Shelduck all the others as far as they were concerned were legal quarry , and no doubt what ended up in the bag or boat at times would have made the antis cringe . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lister1 Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Pintail drake would be good. I've shot 2 pintail hens. Shoveler brace would be nice too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Pintail and pinkfoot are my two most sought after. Only had 1 chance at a drake pintail and had the only misfire I have ever had on the foreshore. Just got to keep trying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 If this thread is restricted to wild fowling then I cannot contribute. However I do rue the chance that I missed at a Capercaillie in Banffshire in the 1970's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felly100 Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 If this thread is restricted to wild fowling then I cannot contribute. However I do rue the chance that I missed at a Capercaillie in Banffshire in the 1970's. With your car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 I can remember hearing my first whitefronts Marshman , over Breydon in the 1960s and I though they sounded like a bunch of kids in a playground. For years I tried to get one in the area without any luck. I even had a nice bunch over me and managed to kill one that turned into a pink foot by the time the dog retrieved it.. It must have been the only pink and the remainder were all whitefronts , I had been watching them through the bins before they jumped and there was no doubt what all the others were. The first one I dropped was on the Wash. It fell on the open mud , but I left it until after flight as there were several fowlers out and a big bunch of pinks sitting 400 yards in front. When I went to pick up what I thought was a dead bird it got up and flew off, my gun was back on my game bag by the creek. The next one I dropped was also on the Norfolk side of Wash, I was shooting with Boyed one moon lit night and we both shot birds out of a little skein as they crossed the sea wall. We found Boyds , but the tide was up to the bottom of the sea wall and my bird disappeared. I went back the next morning (a Sunday) with no gun and found the bird, but it got away across a creek. Could have shot it easily if I had my gun with me. There were a few more chances lost until one night on the N Norfolk coast a mate and I were flighting pinks in a bad storm . It was very dark and we had 8 geese between us , but it was not until my dog delivered one into my hands that I realised one was a young white front. Having got one could stop shooting them with 5 more in the next week and the next season 5 in a single morning flight. Then we had a run of brilliant years with hundreds using the sands as a roost until they flooded a near by fresh marsh and all the whitefronts switched to roosting on it. For the next decade I only shot 2 more until I started to shoot the Broads again and for the next 4-5 seasons I shot several more there though they have been scarce in the last two mild winters. They sometimes turn up on my shoot and I was amazed to see on a bird watching site last February someone had taken a photo of 183 there. Typical I had a flight there in the last few days of the season and while there were thousands of pinks I never saw any whitefronts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildfowler.250 Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 Still have shoveller, pochard, gawdwall and whitefront to go,(maybe a trip down south needed?). The only one that might crop up my way is te shoveller though but not common. Haven't shot a tuftie before but have left some. And a golden plover.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted September 11, 2015 Report Share Posted September 11, 2015 At the time anser2 the Whitefronts used to go and roost on Scroby Sands and with a strong westerly wind they would cross the sea and then the town in the morning and like you say they sounded like a load of young kids or a pack of yelping dogs . I did get a r + l out of a skein in the dark on the middle marshes a couple of seasons ago and one was a Pink and the other was a Whitefront in full plumage , weather it was a odd Pink or a Whitefront in the skein I will never know , but I ate the goose and my brother used the heads for his carvings and if your over my way let me know and I will take you over to his so you can have a look at the carvings and the paintings hes done . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 (edited) Thanks Marshman I would like that. I am not sure when I will be over your way as got a few problems ( my heart is playing up , but seeing the Drs again next week and hope to clear the problem up). I should be out in a boat at Rockland next weekend , but thats a no,no at the moment. Its only a week since I have been on the marsh and missing it badly already. O to be fit again like some of these other youngsters on here , LoL Edited September 12, 2015 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strangford wildfowler Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 Let me think... the whole list is elusive to me!! Although I was close to a teal last night which resulted in a miss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 Thanks Marshman I would like that. I am not sure when I will be over your way as got a few problems ( my heart is playing up , but seeing the Drs again next week and hope to clear the problem up). I should be out in a boat at Rockland next weekend , but thats a no,no at the moment. Its only a week since I have been on the marsh and missing it badly already. O to be fit again like some of these other youngsters on here , LoL Sorry to hear about your health problem and I hope your soon back to what you do best , fowling and then writing about it. Did your dog Meg get over her stiffness from the first of Septembers morning flight ? . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIDES EDGE Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 that's a shame I always wanted to try a goldeneye is the taste the same as a shoveler Shoveler are just about edible goldeneye are inedible even my spaniel would not eat the one i shot it was full of small fish when i gutted it and it tasted and stank of rotten fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperGoose75 Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 Never Shot a Pochard to date. I have seen them at rest on the water but never have bagged one at flight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 yes thanks Marshman, Meg is fine now. I had been giving her some retraining and swimming for a few weeks before the season started , but it seems not enough to get her fully fit. She was poorly on the afternoon of the 2nd , but picked up the next day. She is 9 now and I guess I forgot that. All my other dogs had continued working have kept working until the were 11-12 with my golden retriever even longer and it came as a bit of a shock that Meg was ageing so fast. A bit like me. I have got to decide now about another dog for next season. I will be in my mid sixtys and my next dog will be my last as within 10 years I will have to hang my guns up and living alone there is always the fear its possable my next dog might out live me. I cant get a puppy as I need a dog that I can take to work ( 2 years to go before retirement ) with me and leave in the car at times without it chewing up the seats! Idealy I will be looking for a year old lab or golden retriever, but thats not so easy without paying the earth for a trained dog which is beyond my pocket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted September 12, 2015 Report Share Posted September 12, 2015 Coastal goldeneye are pretty rank ( but there is a guy who lives close to me who loves them , so he has any I shoot ) , but from freshwater they are a bit better. Not a duck I go out of my way to shoot , but most seasons one or two finds there way into my bag. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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