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A Report On Our Beaters Day .


marsh man
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After all the doom and gloom on the thread ( Panorama - Driven Game Shooting ) I thought I would report on the other end of the scale of excessive bags and wasted game .

Yesterday was our beaters day when the guns do the beating and the beaters do the shooting and what an enjoyable day everyone had . we met up at 8.45 so everyone have tea and coffee before the numbers are drawn out , the day started with a clear , calm frosty day which was ideal for the guns and beaters alike .

This was the first time I took my young dog , I say young but he is now getting on towards three and to begin with I was a bit dubious how he would be with other dogs and the excitement of game dropping around him but as it turned out I needn't had worried , on the first drive I was number nine , which was a back gun , I slipped a long lead on him and put the loop over the peg number , told him to sit and that's where he stayed , I had three shots and killed two pheasants , both of them were dead and when the drive was over he made short work of bringing them to hand , so far so good.

On the next drive I was number three and we could shoot both hens , cocks and partridges , after done a fair bit of shooting this season I had my eye in and at the moment I am shooting well , so it turned out when the first cock pheasant left the game cover and headed for me as if I was on his radar , one shot well in front and his season had come to an end , after my dog sat like a peg dog on the last drive I am sorry to say it wasn't the same on this drive , when he saw the cock bird jumping about on the deck it was to much of a temptation and he was back in a flash with a cock pheasant in his mouth , two leads around his neck and a peg with a number three trailing a few feet behind him , after a few words which cant be repeated and smiling at the same time I am glad to say this was the only time it happened.

As the morning wore on it started to cloud over and the wind got up to make the shooting a bit more interesting , we stopped after three drives for refreshments which was tea , coffee or port with hot sausage rolls for the eats , we then done two more drives before dinner before we came back to the farm for more refreshments and good ole chin wag .

After we were all fed and watered it was time to head off out again and do three more drives before the light rain and failing light signalled the end of the day . I must say the guns done a sterling job throughout the day trying to put out every last game bird left in the direction of the beaters who instead of carrying a stick was today carrying a gun .

All in all it was a brilliant day with plenty of laughter and leg pulling , the final bag was 74 head , not huge but every bird was remembered by the person who shot it and every bird was taken home at the end of the day.

Tomorrow I will send the shoot captain a thank you card and god willing we will all meet up again in October. 

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8 minutes ago, aga man said:

A lovely report and a great end to your season. Lets hope your good form shooting remains for those testing blue grouse coming to roost next weekend. Roll on the roost shooting.

THANKS aga man , the wood where I am going to next Saturday is surrounded by a rape field , the wood itself is not a brilliant roosting wood but there is a lot of pigeons coming to it throughout the day , so I will be decoying from mid morning from the outside of the wood until after dinner , then either call it a day or move into another wood , weather permitting .

The shoot I was on yesterday is made up of a group of like minded people who don't worry about getting there hands dirty , there are two part time keepers and two or three times a year we have a working party on a Sunday morning to put up any new pens or improve the shoot in any way .

One Sunday last summer we had a clay shoot and a b b q to keep the shoot members and helpers in touch with each other before the new season start .

I have been on this shoot for well over 20yrs now and know everyone by there first names , on a shoot day we are all the same , beaters , picker ups and guns , we have eight days where the bag can be between 80 and 120 which is a nice day , anybody can help them selves to game and any game left over I take to the pub on the estate where I worked so nothing is ever wasted.

31 minutes ago, matone said:

A great day and a good write up !

 THANKS matone.  

23 minutes ago, stu_young said:

Sounds like a great day out marsh man good luck for the rest of the year

THANKS stu and good luck with your dog training .

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11 hours ago, Mice! said:

sounds like a great day out to me, especially with the dog getting all excited, very enjoyable write up.

 

10 hours ago, 7daysinaweek said:

That sounded like fabulous day to end your season, a day like that never forgotten. 

atb

7diaw

THANKS Mice and 7daysinaweek , ...... There are loads of shoots like this up and down the country but this day and age it seems as if its now a numbers game and rarely these small shoots don't often get a mention  , on our last full day ( Saturday 20th Jan ) I took two P W members for a days beating on the above shoot , they were made welcome and had coffee when they arrived and entered the sweep , offered a drop out of the bottle and snacks at 11s , got paid and both of them were offered a brace to take home , the bag was 106 and everyone had a good day . in the ideal world all shoots would be similar to this one but sadly we are not in the ideal world when it comes down to driven game shooting as we will find out sooner than later when these t v programs expose what some of the big commercial shoots are like .

 

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That what you've described is my idea of a good shoot, marsh man, friendly, banter probably a bit of competition between guns.

I realise the big shoots have overheads to meet but in this day and age its the smaller shoots which show shooting in the best light I feel.

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