Coast to Coast

[coastal mud hopper]

15 hours ago, panoma1 said:

It's the parochial clubs who hold the best marshes and selfishly keep the fowling to themselves, excluding outsiders that are killing wildfowling, if a youngster shows an interest in fowling, but constantly goes home empty handed because they can't get access to a good productive marsh, they will soon give it up! 

 

even for locals to join can be very difficult it was years before i managed to get to get in to a club my father died waiting i am local born and bred most of the marshes are common rights and the common right holders formed the clubs around the coast if you are not a common right holder you stand very little chance of joining and even then it is up to the committee even though people hold the right it is only for a section of marsh and only then if it states the right to wildfowl it has cost me a lot of time and money over the years but do not give up there are ways to hear about things try to get in touch with a member of a marsh you want to try out and see if he /she is willing to get you a day ticket and inform you when the conditions are favourable as can be a be ready to go if possible that is what i done for years  

[panoma1]

1 hour ago, 6.5x55SE said:

I don't live at Heacham there is a very good valid reason as to why my home location is not public.

So to clarify i do live as I always have 1hr 10-15 minutes from the closest Foreshore.

If i can find the photos I'll put some up to also blow your last statement out the Water.

As a very very good renowned Famous Wildfowler told  me as a 11 year old  " Boy there are very few Wildfowlers but a hulva lot of wannabe's " also Edenman's is another true statement

So you are telling porkies as to where you live, How then does anyone know whether anything else you claim is true? 

As you seem to infer that most Wildfowlers are not Wildfowlers but wannabes? Perhaps you could define what a wildfowler is, for  us lesser mortals? I would be interested to know!

And as for viewing your photos I'll pass on that,  I doubt I'd be impressed, as I'm not really into willy waving! lol! 

[marsh man]

Living on or very near your fowling grounds  obviously have a big advantage over visiting fowlers , although having said it doesn't mean people who have to drive a distance is at a disadvantage .

Three people spring to mind , I don't know them by name but some of you might know who I am referring to .

One of them live in the Spalding area , and the last time I spoke to him he worked four days on and had four days off which he often used to come down to Norfolk to shoot geese and he slept and fed himself in his White transit van .

The first day I met him he was sitting down the side of a fleet dyke , while we were yarning there were some Pinks dropping in on the marsh well over the other side of the main dyke , a skein of about a dozen swung round and to me they were just over the border line of being in shot , not so for this Lincolnshire fowler who took the back one out with a single shot as clean as a whistle , his little Black Lab bitch was back within a minute with a very dead goose , ten minutes later another little lot done more or less done the same thing , go on give em one he said in his Lincs accent , to me they were about 50 yds and just on the edge of my comfort zone , anyhow I took one with my left barrel , and he quickly followed with taking another one after I had fired with another single shot so in less than half an hour of meeting for the first time we had three geese for three shots and not one much less than 50 yds.

I was then coming up for 69 and he quite impressed I had just walked around three miles and still had over two miles to get back to my motor , I have met him a couple of times since and he still recall our first meeting , a lovely bloke and a very good shot .

The next bloke also from Lincs is I believe a relation to the first chap , this one must be close on retiring age and spend a week down here two or three times during the season and is also a decent shot and mad on geese.

The third one comes from the Humber area , the first time I met him was crouched down in a reed bed with half a dozen goose calls around his neck and a dead goose laying by his side , this chap used to work till Christmas and then have the rest of the season off purely for wildfowling . 

So it is possible for people to drive a distance to there fowling ground and be successful but you need to spend time looking and learning about the habits of the local goose population when you get there and you will then be on par with the locals.

 

[panoma1]

7 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Living on or very near your fowling grounds  obviously have a big advantage over visiting fowlers , although having said it doesn't mean people who have to drive a distance is at a disadvantage .

 

 

That is the point I was making MM! there are approximately 160 days between 1st sept and 20th Feb, theoretically these days are all available to the local fowler to learn his craft and the marsh.........the long distance, visiting fowler will only be able to avail himself of a fraction of these days (myself 6 to 8 flights) on one marsh, so will not have anywhere near the opportunity to successfully get on terms with fowl that the local fowler has, add to this the local fowler will probably have forged friendships with locals fowler and exchange information amongst themselves! this information is not usually available to a travelling fowler.....success at fowling, is as with anything, relative to the opportunities that are available.

If a local fowler meets success its down to opportunity, If a travelling fowler meets success  it mostly down to luck.....or the help of a local contact! I have no local marsh, living in the Midlands, but I have shot many coastal marshes over many years in England, Wales and Scotland with some success! but I'm sure my bag would pale into insignificance, numbers wise, when compared to the Local fowlers of North Norfolk and other prime wildfowling areas.....but I consider myself old school...I doubt the youngsters of today will accept this....and will just give up!

If we are to see wildfowling flourish into the future, wildfowling clubs must make access to visiting fowlers and youngsters available, some currently don't! this is why I criticise parochial, closed shop clubs that keep the best marshes to themselves....I firmly believe if this doesn't change it will hasten the death of wildfowling!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[anser2]

Much of what has been said about poor access to visiting fowlers is very true though there a number of clubs on both sides of the county that are open to all. However the situation in parts of Norfolk are tricky. The conservation bodies and landowners in some areas lay down quite strict rules on some clubs and there is a very real risk of local clubs losing their shooting  if there any problems any fowlers visiting or local . Shooting pressure is very light on the coast in most areas  and govenment conservation bodies would not like to see that increase. One club of which I am a member walks a bit of a tightrope and any increase in shooting pressure is likely to result in the loss of their consent. All ready they are pulling out all the stops to control one out of county club that has muscled in the locals shooting. When I first started to wildfowl it was normal to take a complete  weeks fowling holiday  several times a season , but that is now frowned upon by some clubs who will issue their member a warning if they do more that a couple of flights in a week. So again that makes it difficult to include visiting fowlers. This issue of visiting fowlers and local clubs with restricted membership is not black and white. Having said that I am a member of one outward looking club who welcomes its membership from anywhere in the country , but they have the advantage of owning much of their own shooting ground. But even here there are problems with a large percentage of their membership coming from other parts of the country. Club meetings are becoming less and less well attended  as few non locals want to travel 100s of miles just for a club meeting. A decade ago 50-60%  of the membership would be present at meetings. Now its closer to 10-15%. Fortunetly we have a strong and active committee , but there is a risk in the future that the fabric of the club could fall apart without more active involvement of its members.

Edited December 27, 2017 by anser2

[edenman]

In Scotland clubs would be over the moon to have 10-15% of the membership turn up to club meetings!!!

[motty]

1 hour ago, anser2 said:

Much of what has been said about poor access to visiting fowlers is very true though there a number of clubs on both sides of the county that are open to all. However the situation in parts of Norfolk are tricky. The conservation bodies and landowners in some areas lay down quite strict rules on some clubs and there is a very real risk of local clubs losing their shooting  if there any problems any fowlers visiting or local . Shooting pressure is very light on the coast in most areas  and govenment conservation bodies would not like to see that increase. One club of which I am a member walks a bit of a tightrope and any increase in shooting pressure is likely to result in the loss of their consent. All ready they are pulling out all the stops to control one out of county club that has muscled in the locals shooting. When I first started to wildfowl it was normal to take a complete  weeks fowling holiday  several times a season , but that is now frowned upon by some clubs who will issue their member a warning if they do more that a couple of flights in a week. So again that makes it difficult to include visiting fowlers. This issue of visiting fowlers and local clubs with restricted membership is not black and white. Having said that I am a member of one outward looking club who welcomes its membership from anywhere in the country , but they have the advantage of owning much of their own shooting ground. But even here there are problems with a large percentage of their membership coming from other parts of the country. Club meetings are becoming less and less well attended  as few non locals want to travel 100s of miles just for a club meeting. A decade ago 50-60% - 70% of the membership would be present at meetings. Now its closer to 10-15%. Fortunetly we have a strong and active committee , but there is a risk in the future that the fabric of the club could fall apart without more active involvement of its members.

It is a shame that some clubs have to limit visits by some if the more active members. On my local marshes, it is normal (when the geese are in) for some members to be present 4 or 5 days a week.

[6.5x55SE]

4 hours ago, panoma1 said:

So you are telling porkies as to where you live, How then does anyone know whether anything else you claim is true? 

As you seem to infer that most Wildfowlers are not Wildfowlers but wannabes? Perhaps you could define what a wildfowler is, for  us lesser mortals? I would be interested to know!

And as for viewing your photos I'll pass on that,  I doubt I'd be impressed, as I'm not really into willy waving! lol! 

Got nothing to do with Willy waving just a point I'm trying to make is get off your butt do the ground work and get the rewards . Also wether you are Married have a family a job so what if you want success then go earn it rather than Wings an whine marsh is to far etc All the things i see/hear in your posts unless things have changed Motty has family a full time job yet he is out a Helluva lot ....    Ooops he lives local and gets inside information ( sorry mate  ) anyway have a Good New Year ? 

 

[marsh man]

4 hours ago, panoma1 said:

That is the point I was making MM! there are approximately 160 days between 1st sept and 20th Feb, theoretically these days are all available to the local fowler to learn his craft and the marsh.........the long distance, visiting fowler will only be able to avail himself of a fraction of these days (myself 6 to 8 flights) on one marsh, so will not have anywhere near the opportunity to successfully get on terms with fowl that the local fowler has, add to this the local fowler will probably have forged friendships with locals fowler and exchange information amongst themselves! this information is not usually available to a travelling fowler.....success at fowling, is as with anything, relative to the opportunities that are available.

If a local fowler meets success its down to opportunity, If a travelling fowler meets success  it mostly down to luck.....or the help of a local contact! I have no local marsh, living in the Midlands, but I have shot many coastal marshes over many years in England, Wales and Scotland with some success! but I'm sure my bag would pale into insignificance, numbers wise, when compared to the Local fowlers of North Norfolk and other prime wildfowling areas.....but I consider myself old school...I doubt the youngsters of today will accept this....and will just give up!

If we are to see wildfowling flourish into the future, wildfowling clubs must make access to visiting fowlers and youngsters available, some currently don't! this is why I criticise parochial, closed shop clubs that keep the best marshes to themselves....I firmly believe if this doesn't change it will hasten the death of wildfowling!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I admire your commitment to travel long distances in pursuit of wildfowl , another problem that you have no control over is the weather , you can plan your to trip at the same time of a full moon and for the one or two days you are on the saltings or the marsh you are unlucky to get heavy rain with no sign of the moon for the duration you are fowling , where living on the doorstep I can go two days before when there is nice soft cloud with a good background or two days later on the waning moon if the lighting conditions are favourable ..

As for wildfowling clubs restricting membership , without naming our  local clubs , I believe two clubs have vacancies for both adult and junior members , and the club I am in have increased the amount of members from outside the area from what for years was I believe 25 to unrestricted numbers .

Regarding youngsters , I dare say 9 out 10 youngsters who join the club last for more than three years and a lot not renewing there membership after one year , once they find wildfowl are not lining themselves up to be shot ,and on average they are lucky to get a duck for the first couple of seasons through lack of experience the novelty of being out in the weather like today soon wear off and if they want to fire a shotgun  they then stick to the clay grounds .

If you need any information about our clubs , by all means get in touch .

[panoma1]

58 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I admire your commitment to travel long distances in pursuit of wildfowl , another problem that you have no control over is the weather , you can plan your to trip at the same time of a full moon and for the one or two days you are on the saltings or the marsh you are unlucky to get heavy rain with no sign of the moon for the duration you are fowling , where living on the doorstep I can go two days before when there is nice soft cloud with a good background or two days later on the waning moon if the lighting conditions are favourable ..

As for wildfowling clubs restricting membership , without naming our  local clubs , I believe two clubs have vacancies for both adult and junior members , and the club I am in have increased the amount of members from outside the area from what for years was I believe 25 to unrestricted numbers .

Regarding youngsters , I dare say 9 out 10 youngsters who join the club last for more than three years and a lot not renewing there membership after one year , once they find wildfowl are not lining themselves up to be shot ,and on average they are lucky to get a duck for the first couple of seasons through lack of experience the novelty of being out in the weather like today soon wear off and if they want to fire a shotgun  they then stick to the clay grounds .

If you need any information about our clubs , by all means get in touch .

Thank you for your kind and generous offer MM, however I was not angling for access to any shooting for myself or whinging and whining as 6.5x55SE chose to conclude! He may also wish to note I have been getting off my butt for more years than I care to remember driving sometimes over six hours totalling several hundred miles overnight or on an afternoon on round trips to distant fowling grounds for a morning flight or a moon flight! .......I only wish I still could!............But again, I do appreciate your kind offer!

No! I was commenting on behalf of future Wildfowlers and the future of Wildfowling, I suspect I may have had my day, but if Wildfowling doesn't act to protect the sport by encouraging youngsters and new blood into the sport, I genuinely fear for its future!

 

Oh! and to get back on topic....I was given Chris Greens 'coast to coast'  as a surprise Christmas present........as someone else posted I found it poor, and not as good as his previous offerings....I switched it off halfway through!

 

Edited December 27, 2017 by panoma1

[motty]

2 hours ago, 6.5x55SE said:

Got nothing to do with Willy waving just a point I'm trying to make is get off your butt do the ground work and get the rewards . Also wether you are Married have a family a job so what if you want success then go earn it rather than Wings an whine marsh is to far etc All the things i see/hear in your posts unless things have changed Motty has family a full time job yet he is out a Helluva lot ....    Ooops he lives local and gets inside information ( sorry mate  ) anyway have a Good New Year ? 

 

Yes Boyd, I do live close to the marshes I shoot. Most of my inside info comes from me!

[motty]

22 minutes ago, panoma1 said:

Thank you for your kind and generous offer MM, however I was not angling for access to any shooting for myself or whinging and whining as 6.5x55SE chose to conclude! He may also wish to note I have been getting off my butt for more years than I care to remember driving sometimes over six hours totalling several hundred miles overnight or on an afternoon on round trips to distant fowling grounds for a morning flight or a moon flight! .......I only wish I still could!............But again, I do appreciate your kind offer!

No! I was commenting on behalf of future Wildfowlers and the future of Wildfowling, I suspect I may have had my day, but if Wildfowling doesn't act to protect the sport by encouraging youngsters and new blood into the sport, I genuinely fear for its future!

 

Oh! and to get back on topic....I was given Chris Greens 'coast to coast'  as a surprise Christmas present........as someone else posted I found it poor, and not as good as his previous offerings....I switched it off halfway through!

 

Switched off half way through?

You missed the best bit!

[panoma1]

Just now, motty said:

Switched off half way through?

You missed the best bit!

Cheers I'll maybe watch it again at some stage, just to check if my first assessment was right!.........Or maybe not! Lol!

[marsh man]

21 minutes ago, panoma1 said:

Thank you for your kind and generous offer MM, however I was not angling for access to any shooting for myself or whinging and whining as 6.5x55SE chose to conclude! He may also wish to note I have been getting off my butt for more years than I care to remember driving sometimes over six hours totalling several hundred miles overnight or on an afternoon on round trips to distant fowling grounds for a morning flight or a moon flight! .......I only wish I still could!............But again, I do appreciate your kind offer!

No! I was commenting on behalf of future Wildfowlers and the future of Wildfowling, I suspect I may have had my day, but if Wildfowling doesn't act to protect the sport by encouraging youngsters and new blood into the sport, I genuinely fear for its future!

 

Oh! and to get back on topic....I was given Chris Greens 'coast to coast'  as a surprise Christmas present........as someone else posted I found it poor, and not as good as his previous offerings....I switched it off halfway through!

 

By all accounts B A S C membership increase each , or most years and according to there reports the membership is at an all time high .

My findings at club level leave me in doubt , the main attraction in our area for fowling is the amount of Pinks that come down to our local marshes most years , numbers can be as high as 15,000 and without then we would be back to bread and butter fowling , meaning duck and a occasional goose , now there are people who have shot plenty of geese but haven't shot a duck and some of them don't want to shoot duck .

I dare say membership numbers are roughly the same at club level , with say ten dropping out through age , cost and lack of interest and roughly the same number joining , some are like yourself , living away and like to come down here when time allows and local people who like the thought of bagging a goose now and again.

If the geese ever deserted us , I can guarantee numbers at local club levels would go down drastically overnight .

P S ...... I have got the new Chris Green d v d still in the wrapper and today would have been a perfect day to watch it , I was beating in terrible weather this morning until it was called off , time I got home and dried out it started to ease up a bit and then by four o clock it had stopped and the lure of the marsh got the better of me and apart from the cold wind it wasn't to bad and for my troubles I was awarded with a hen Widgeon . a lot wouldn't had bothered but to me it was well worth it .

[6.5x55SE]

45 minutes ago, motty said:

Yes Boyd, I do live close to the marshes I shoot. Most of my inside info comes from me!

Top Man keep at em do as i did when i was younger Wayne get at em every day if you can as we only live once and nothing stays the same for ever.

You know where i haunted the Geese when i was younger look at it now bag limit's can only shoot 1/4 of the Marsh basically a Bird watching place compared to my day. Roll on my grandson passing his driving test as I've got some making up to do 

I'll do me best to get you out before the season ends all the best for the New Year 

[panoma1]

4 minutes ago, marsh man said:

By all accounts B A S C membership increase each , or most years and according to there reports the membership is at an all time high .

My findings at club level leave me in doubt , the main attraction in our area for fowling is the amount of Pinks that come down to our local marshes most years , numbers can be as high as 15,000 and without then we would be back to bread and butter fowling , meaning duck and a occasional goose , now there are people who have shot plenty of geese but haven't shot a duck and some of them don't want to shoot duck .

I dare say membership numbers are roughly the same at club level , with say ten dropping out through age , cost and lack of interest and roughly the same number joining , some are like yourself , living away and like to come down here when time allows and local people who like the thought of bagging a goose now and again.

If the geese ever deserted us , I can guarantee numbers at local club levels would go down drastically overnight .

P S ...... I have got the new Chris Green d v d still in the wrapper and today would have been a perfect day to watch it , I was beating in terrible weather this morning until it was called off , time I got home and dried out it started to ease up a bit and then by four o clock it had stopped and the lure of the marsh got the better of me and apart from the cold wind it wasn't to bad and for my troubles I was awarded with a hen Widgeon . a lot wouldn't had bothered but to me it was well worth it .

I too would wager the new BASC intake are not overly represented by Wildfowlers! I fear, to them wildfowling members and wildfowling is in decline and is getting financially, ever less relevant...their interest (and the money) is now in attracting new members who participate in other forms of shooting!

I loved chasing the geese and will hopefully be able to get out after them again next season?......But a tide flight on a decent wigeon marsh takes some whacking in my opinion!

Anyway an early happy new year to you! 

[anser2]

I agree a good tide flight takes some beating and while i love to flight geese too it always takes second place  to duck shooting for me. I would guess I was spoiled by having some of the best foreshore pink foot flighting in the country back in the 80s and 90s . There were so many geese it all became too easy and I expected to get a goose almost every flight and a number if the weather was good. But once goose shooting becomes easy it loses its attraction for me. I am more than happy with a hand full in  a season these days. Much as I love to see the geese on my inland marshes in some ways I would not be too sorry to see a lot fewer as long as the duck shooting was still good. Two friends and I shared a marsh for over 40 years. The rent was reasonable at £400 a season only for us to receve a shock last year when the farmer said he had an offer of several thousand pounds from a club for our ground. He would rather have us shooting there but we would have to match their offer which we did. But it left a big hole in our pockets and hurt more because the pinks were only there because we has worked hard to make the marsh attractive for them and we shot them only 2-3  times a season and stopped shooting once we had a couple of brace each. Before we made a number of pools and flashes across the marsh we rarely ever saw any geese on our marsh, but after our management work up to 10,000 pinks at times would roost on the flashes.

[Penelope]

12 hours ago, motty said:

Switched off half way through?

You missed the best bit!

You did indeed miss the best bit panoma.

[Smiler23]

yep second half is defiantly best bit, you actually get to see a bit of action .. Not some guy floating about supping gin like first half haha

[greenshank1]

I just watched Coast to Coast 

I thought it was excellent . I thought The Fenland section was really interesting with great footage , great shooting , a great variety of wildfowl and great dog work.

The slow motion shot of the greylag turning on the young dog and the dogs having to work through the ice was stunning. 

Well done all involved ?

[motty]

1 hour ago, greenshank1 said:

I just watched Coast to Coast 

I thought it was excellent . I thought The Fenland section was really interesting with great footage , great shooting , a great variety of wildfowl and great dog work.

The slow motion shot of the greylag turning on the young dog and the dogs having to work through the ice was stunning. 

Well done all involved ?

Praise indeed!

[Gerry78]

Just watched first hour of coast to coast well what can i say found it very boring hoping 2nd part a lot better i like chris green and hes son but i think he needs to switch gun using that pump seems like using 1 shot by the time he racks it the wildfowl away what ive seen so far plus sloe gin and kayacks not a good mixture The only thing i liked so far was motty talking to him

[Gerry78]

Well finished watching chris greens coast to coast i think mottys shooting 2nd half of the dvd saved chris green lol some brilliant duck and geese hit especially with 10 bore and mottys beretta good job

[motty]

2 hours ago, Gerry78 said:

Well finished watching chris greens coast to coast i think mottys shooting 2nd half of the dvd saved chris green lol some brilliant duck and geese hit especially with 10 bore and mottys beretta good job

Cheers. I shot a few good birds, and the bearded Muncher had a good day with the 10.

I wouldn't mind a day half as good as that at the moment!

[Gerry78]

Yes motty some great shooting buddy bearded reloader using that 10 bore no waterfowl safe that ground yous were hunting looks like duck nirvana lol some good dog work especially the goose nipping the yellow lab really enjoyed it having a brandy