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Getting into wildfowling


Wb123
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For the last few years I have been interested in getting into wildfowling but due to constantly moving around for work, and thus needing to stay dogless for renting I had ruled it out.

It looks like I may however be doing 12 months in Wiltshire from early August, with access to a dog (a well behaved lab who does the basics but is not yet trained to the gun, four years old). Is the start of August too late to start trying to train a dog and find a club? From the end of the contract I will almost certainly be somewhere else without a dog so I am keen to try and make the most of the time available. 

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I’d look at the BASC scheme, I joined a wildfowling club, couldn’t have been more cliquey and unwelcoming and was set up purely to extract cash from people so as the in crowd could shoot for free..

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I have been a member of Scottish Solway Wildfowlers for forty years and been welcomed to the point that I have moved up there. You need to get someone to take you under theirwing as it is too easy to screw up a flight by not knowing what you are up to. As to training a dog any that are well trained as retrievers will take to it if they will just lie down quietly in a hide or muddy hole,  usually the latter.

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Wildfowling very addictive if you find a club then the best advice i could give you over the dog is to make sure its not gun shy the retrieving will  come natural if you get joining a club then get as much advice as you can from members ie tides SAFETY ETC Goodluck

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Firstly where are you from ? Then we could maybe help a bit if your from say central Scotland I could help with quarry id , decoying calling etc 

Sorry just read your post again .......  Wiltshire a wee bit fat lol

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  • On ‎04‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 14:58, PPP said:

    I’d look at the BASC scheme, I joined a wildfowling club, couldn’t have been more cliquey and unwelcoming and was set up purely to extract cash from people so as the in crowd could shoot for free..

    The cost of wildfowling is pretty low, so not sure which club you joined. You need to put in some effort and get involved with the club to get the best out of it.

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On 04/05/2018 at 14:31, Wb123 said:

For the last few years I have been interested in getting into wildfowling but due to constantly moving around for work, and thus needing to stay dogless for renting I had ruled it out.

It looks like I may however be doing 12 months in Wiltshire from early August, with access to a dog (a well behaved lab who does the basics but is not yet trained to the gun, four years old). Is the start of August too late to start trying to train a dog and find a club? From the end of the contract I will almost certainly be somewhere else without a dog so I am keen to try and make the most of the time available. 

I would try to get into a club as soon as possible as many will have selected their new members by August. As for the dog, you say its 4 years old so it should show fairly quickly if its got a retrieving instinct. If It's had no shooting experience do not expact a perfectly behaved dog at that age , but as long as it retrieves birds , is happy to swim, and walks to heel on a lead it will be useful. As for the finer touches of a wildfowling it will soon pick them up once its in use , but be prepared to teather the dog between retrieves while you are shooting as its likely to run in , but then few wildfowling dogs don't. Do not hang about , get your application form in as soon as possible, and try to get to know a few members  via meetings.

Edited by anser2
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1 minute ago, anser2 said:

I would try to get into a club as soon as possible as many will have selected their new members by August. As for the dog, you say its 4 years old so it should show fairly quickly if its got a retrieving instinct. If It's had no shooting experience do not expact a perfectly behaved dog at that age , but as long as it retrieves birds , is happy to swim, and walks to heel on a lead it will be useful. As for the finer touches of a wildfowling it will soon pick them up once its in use , but be prepared to teather the dog between retrieves while you are shooting as its likely to run in , but then few wildfowling dogs don't. Do not hang about , get your application form in as soon as possible, and try to get to know a few members  via meetings.

Are clubs likely to be remotely approachable if I won't be in the country till August?

 

A major spanner has been thrown in the works as making this job work financially is based on living with local family during the week who have said no firearms in the house. There are alternatives available but the cost difference over a twelve month contract before very likely moving again are too large to be worthwhile. 

On 04/05/2018 at 22:02, Salmo said:

Firstly where are you from ? Then we could maybe help a bit if your from say central Scotland I could help with quarry id , decoying calling etc 

Sorry just read your post again .......  Wiltshire a wee bit fat lol

At the moment I am based in Northern Ireland, from August I will probably be based in Wiltshire, twelve months later I could be going anywhere. Many thanks for the offer though, it is greatly appreciated. 

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Still ask and fill in the application form and send it in by post with a covering letter if needed about you not being in the country until August. I presume you have a shotgun cert. If not then there will be problems. 

 

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3 hours ago, anser2 said:

Still ask and fill in the application form and send it in by post with a covering letter if needed about you not being in the country until August. I presume you have a shotgun cert. If not then there will be problems. 

 

A firearms certificate with my shotguns on it (as per local rules). It looks like my main address will be in Northern Ireland and I will be going back and forth a lot so I suspect I will be advised to keep my FAC there and essentially be visiting the mainland. We shall see what the feo local to this job says if I can sort the new storage problem out. 

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11 hours ago, Richie10 said:
  • The cost of wildfowling is pretty low, so not sure which club you joined. You need to put in some effort and get involved with the club to get the best out of it.

A number of us have, if you aren’t in the longstanding groovy gang then you are ignored, it’s purely a mechanism to fund their club land etc, waste of time and it’s an Essex club...

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12 hours ago, PPP said:

A number of us have, if you aren’t in the longstanding groovy gang then you are ignored, it’s purely a mechanism to fund their club land etc, waste of time and it’s an Essex club...

Change clubs, you have plenty of choice in Essex, plenty of helpful friendly clubs out there.

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