Evolving as a wildfowler

[anser2]

With the season well over now I have got time to start writing more of my book and looking back over the years its got me thinking how my wildfowling has developed over the years and how different it was to some of today's fowlers. Even as a kid I was always very keen on natural history and from the age of five spent as much time as possible catching butterflies , fishing for sticklebacks and hunting the local frogs and toads. I can remember telling a friend of my mothers at the age of six that I wanted to be a naturalist like Peter Scott , a dream I later realised when I became a reserve warden. Growing up the Norfolk Broads is was only natural my instincts grew into fishing and then wildfowling.

 

My fowling has progressed in three distinct phases.

1. The early years when I was full of enthusiasm, but low in the skills I needed to bring many birds to the bag. My embryonic experience in field skills such as the importance of keeping still and blending in with my background was already a great help, but in my early years a single duck was considered a great success and the thought of making a sizable bag just a pipe dream , still years away. Geese were rare untouchable beings that were well beyond my skills to get close enough to shoot. It was more likely I would return from a day on the marsh with a couple of moorhens or a rabbit and on the occasions when I did manage to shoot a duck it was a red little day.

2. Slowly my skills in field craft and marksmanship improved until in my early twenties I slipped into the second phase. I was madly keen on the sport and hardly a moment of my free time was not spent shooting and now with money in my pocket I was able to buy the trappings of a real wildfowler , a magnum shotgun, decoys , camo clothes and so on . My shooting horizons advanced as I shot new places, discovered coastal fowling and even started to travel long distances to Scotland in pursuit of the sport. My background skills now really started to pay off. I accepted the risks of coastal shooting and knew just how far to push my luck. I did have one or two close shaves, but rode my luck and got away with it. The days of triumph with a single duck in the bag were behind me and ten or even twenty ducks in a single flight were possible most seasons though a goose in the bag was still a red letter day every season produced a few . I had the weapon, aids and skill to shoot a lot of birds and I did, coming perhaps a killer, but always with some morals about restricting the size of the bag...

3. Finally I reached the stage I am at today when fifty years of experience really started to pay off, but my thirst for killing has declined. Most days I now stop at a handful of duck or geese and sometimes I find it more rewarding to work out to get at problem birds and shoot just one rather than come home with a bulging game bag. I just love those moments just before the birds start to flight at sunrise watching the dawn unfold on the marsh. When I do guess it right I feel a glow of satisfaction and am very happy to walk off the marsh with just a brace of geese and love to sit back with my dog and ponder over the events of the flight. I am lucky in that I can pick my days shooting and avoid really bad weather or days when I know the chances of a shot are nil. I may wait for weeks or even months before the wind is just right before shooting a flightline. I have all the gadgets to help me that were lacking in my early days, a selection of shells for every gun from 3.5 inch steel to Bismuth, Tungsten and hevi shot to the latest decoys, calls, hides that were lacking in my early days and indeed if I had them I would have not known how to use them to their best advantage.

I still love my wildfowling with a passion, but know it will not be long before my body will seriously object. I still want to be there at the start of next season and will be.

 

Shooting has become as an individual harder to come by unless you are prepared to join a club. Much of my duck shooting was free back in the 1970s. Along with the phases of my shooting development my quarry has also undergone great changes. Geese once a rarity are now common place There are more ducks than the old days , at least until a decade ago since when mild winters have reduced their numbers visiting us , but they have become much more educated . Fowlers too have changed. I have also kept my knowledge of the areas the birds use to myself , now that seem to be considered selfish in some quarters with at least one club I know of sending phone texts to its members when and where geese turn up in numbers on their marsh with the result it quickly becomes overshot. I see novices with all the most advanced gear, but with little idea on how to use it. When I first started my older brother was in charge of my cartridge supply. I used to get two cartridges for every duck or pigeon I produced for the table. If I could line up a couple of duck on the water that meant extra cartridges , though not so sporting at least it encouraged my field skills, but the main thing it taught me was not to waste shells at out of range birds. When I see the height some fowlers shoot at it makes me wonder how they can afford the cartridges.

 

I will gladly take out a newcomer and show them the basics of fowling and have done so many times , but then I expect them to make their own journey of discovery , not as some have stuck to the spots I have shown them or worse still finding they lacked success on their own rapidly gave up the sport. I am a self taught fowler, only on two occasions in my early years was I shown by another fowler how to get to grips with my quarry. I would watch, wait and with luck sooner or later finally outwit my quarry. Many newcomers seem to want instant shooting, being shown good places on the marsh without really learning what the sport is all about. I took a newcomer in his thirties with three years experience of fowling inland for a days fowling on the forshore last year and had to stand beside him as he had no idea what a shielduck or brent was. I could identify these birds when I was hardly out of my nappies.

 

On the bright side at least we are still able to go wildfowling. Many experienced shooters thought that shooting was on the verge of being banned 30 years ago and almost certainly would be stopped by the start of this century and yet here we are with the shooting sports as strong as ever and at least in the areas I shoot the demand for wildfowling as high as ever despite reports that nationally the number of fowlers are down.

Edited March 5, 2016 by anser2

[wisdom]

What a great write up.I agree with all you have shared with us.I have only ever been fowling once despite living on the coast.The marshes round here are club run and it's very difficult to get in.On my sole fowling trip I found it exhilarating but it was a long time ago.Thanks for the write up and if you get your book published I would buy a copy.Thanks again.

[Konnie]

Good read, as you say some folk want things right away and won't put the effort in.

 

And the clothing has changed over time, still have not found my perfect foreshore jacket yet !!!

[marsh man]

Another enjoyable read answer2 , your book must be just below the horizon and I can see it being a birthday or Christmas present in the not to distant future . ..... signed by the author of course .

 

I was born within shotgun distance from the row of boatsheds that held the last of the punt gunners, and not knowing at the time that one day I would have one of the sheds with two gun punts that we would use for our recreation which included fishing , sailing and of course wildfowling .

 

Both our schools , the infants and the juniors were only one road away from each other , on our infants school we had a siren on the roof that went off every time we had a flood warning , which was 2 or 3 times each winter when we all had to go home and put what belongings we had upstairs , our junior school was only 100yds from the boatsheds and I well remember in the winter where the old boys would come past when we were in the play ground with half a dozen duck hanging from the handle bars on there bikes , I knew at that early age that a big chunk of my life was gone to be spent wild fowling .

 

I bought my first gun from Darlows in Norwich after saving up my little wage from a summer job I did on Yarmouth sea front when I was 13 , when the summer season was over and I was back at school the next problem was getting enough money for cartridges , at that time I used to have school diners , or should I say , I was given the money for school diners , but unbeknown to my mum most of it was spent on a box of Yellow Wizards or if I made a bit extra I would treat myself to a box of Hymax , which at the time were one of the best on the market .

 

My early days were nearly identical to anser2 (Robert ) , self taught and learnt the hard way with all the early wildfowling spent on the estuary , the early bags were mainly made up with waders with the odd red letter day when we would take a few duck home , as we got better at it and the winters were harder than they are now , or so it seemed , the bags got bigger and some years very big , I know one year I shot over 100 Mallard in the season and my best morning flight I had was 17 Pintail before I went to work , something I would never do again and wouldn't want to do again .

 

Moving on to now what I miss the most is the thrill and kick I got when I got something where now sadly it is no longer there , Last year I never shot a Teal or a Pintail , as for the Pintail , I never had a chance and as far as the Teal is concerned I had the chances but I didn't want to shoot any more and I can see over the next few years I will shoot less and less wildfowl until I call it a day, or my body call it a day before I do .

[Reabrook]

Why has a thread about Evolving as a Wildfowler been moved to Guns & Equipment?

[anser2]

No idea.

[greylag]

Wonderful piece of writing,and mirrored my wildfowling life.I must be of the same vintage as you and can relate to everything you have written.I still look forward to the trips to the marsh but must admit it is getting slightly more difficult in getting up after spending some time kneeling in a wet gutter.But the sights ,sounds,and smells will never get boring.

[TIDES EDGE]

Wonderful piece of writing,and mirrored my wildfowling life.I must be of the same vintage as you and can relate to everything you have written.I still look forward to the trips to the marsh but must admit it is getting slightly more difficult in getting up after spending some time kneeling in a wet gutter.But the sights ,sounds,and smells will never get boring.

I am with greylag all the way I am guessing we are all in our 60s.

[marsh man]

I am with greylag all the way I am guessing we are all in our 60s.

Bang on with your guessing TIDES EDGE , now only months off the old allocated time and looking forward to the next ten years

[Passionforangling]

If your post is anything to go by then your book will be very evocative. Good luck with it.

[silver pigeon 3]

An evocative read, and I fully agree with all you have wrote. I think you have also summed up the issue that a lot of clubs (including ours) is having with new members, it seems that Wildfowling used to be something that you ended up doing after serving your apprenticeship learning without gun in hand observing the natural world, or came to after gaining experience shooting vermin etc. Now most (not all) new members seem to just want to turn up and shoot a bag full of duck, with no regards for rules or general etiquette of the sport.

[greylag]

We are lucky in our club that new members are very enthusiastic and relish all there is to do on the marsh etc,they realise there is more to wildfowling than killing ducks and just to be out on the marsh watching and hearing day break or seeing the end of the day is an experience to be savoured and if you are fortunate to have a duck or two happy, happy, happy.

[Aled]

I enjoyed reading that anser2, and it has mirrored my sea trout fishing experience.

However my wildfowling journey has just begun (2nd season just gone), but the sea trout fishing experience has I believe helped me along the journey!

Cheers

Aled

[Grandalf]

anser2 - Right on the mark again as usual. A good read.

My progress was much the same as yours but split by twelve years in the army during which time I did a lot of shooting - but not at birds.

Picked up again where I had left off.

Still think the most magical sound in the whole world, and I've been lucky enough to have seen a hell of a lot of it, is the first arrival of the pinks.

To sit in the early dawn and listen to the first calls as the roost wakes up is absolute bliss.