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So....we set off to the marsh this morning as a family tradition ahead of the high tide and first light, only to be met with darkness and fog.

As a family tradition we always go out on the first, my dad, me and my son  this year we was also joined by my mum.. so we sat in the car for a while chatting and listening to the sounds around us..

We was at the place by 4am, high tide was at 4:50 and sun rise at 6:09.. at just after 5am it was bright enough under the moon and false dawn to make our way on to the marsh and get in position.. (my parents sat by a flight pond just inside the sea wall. in hope that when the birds move they may get a chance of a shot and a retrieve for their spaniel)

Myself and my son made a way in to a gulley and waited as it got a little brighter..

Before we knew it we had a spring of teal (4) go from left to right and we picked one each... both chuffed as punch, as was the dog to have a couple of retrieves without having to wait too long.. 

listening to the various fowl and waders and watching pigeons in land leaving their roost and making their way on to the stubbles under the orange glow of the rising sun is something that no matter how many times I see it.. I still enjoy more than most other things...

After waiting for about an hour we decided we are happy with our bag as the first is about tradition and there are a few young birds about that will make better ones in the coming months..No birds for the parents although they enjoyed the morning also very much..

I don't have any pictures of the bag ... but I do have these ..and I think they are much nicer than a pair of teal laying on the marsh.

The sun rising .. and me sitting with my dog and the bottom of the sea wall just watching (Silhouette style, taken by my son)

Now for some pigeon breast and bacon on toast and a brew.. 

I hope you all had a great 1st 

All the best 

Terry

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Edited by Terry2016
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Very nice sun rise and a pair of duck on the first morning is an added bonus , well done to you and your boy and not forgetting the rest of your family for making the effort , especially your mum .

I no longer get up early to go the first morning but I still think about the 50 odd first mornings I did get up , today I took my dog out a bit earlier than normal and I was down the marsh by 6.15 , everywhere was peaceful with just the odd shot heard now and again , no doubt at pigeons going out to the stubble's , I think the first morning is more about tradition and blowing the cobwebs off the close season rather than a bag filla , and long may it continue . 

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Well .. after joking at the local fowlers shoot that the 1st day of the season always ends in a wet leg ... I took it to new levels this morning.

Last night I picked up some light waders that I knew had a small hole in the inside knee ... no tide = no problems.

At the back of my vehicle I hastily thrust my foot into them, to find that they'd still retained water from a trip at the end of last season !! Inverting them showed that there was quite a bit in there, so there it was .. wet without even leaving the car park!!

My long walk was rewarded with a doubly fly-by from a Peregrine within 15 yards, and I ended up refraining from squeezing at a high snipe that I'd spied. Although he would have made a fine breakfast, I didn't really want to shatter the peacefulness.

Another one started .. so now the wait for weather, tide and migrants :yahoo:

 

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8 hours ago, marsh man said:

Very nice sun rise and a pair of duck on the first morning is an added bonus , well done to you and your boy and not forgetting the rest of your family for making the effort , especially your mum .

I no longer get up early to go the first morning but I still think about the 50 odd first mornings I did get up , today I took my dog out a bit earlier than normal and I was down the marsh by 6.15 , everywhere was peaceful with just the odd shot heard now and again , no doubt at pigeons going out to the stubble's , I think the first morning is more about tradition and blowing the cobwebs off the close season rather than a bag filla , and long may it continue . 

Thank you very much, its great to spend time with the family doing something you love (Dad is in his 70s and mums not far behind him so these are the moments to remember) you are 100% right about the first not being a bag filla.. although the dog does give me strange looks when any kind of bird comes in range and I do not shoot at it ... still she's young yet :-)

Its good you got out and had a look about early .. I'm sure your dog loves it as much as you.

I too could hear the odd shot over the marsh and what sounded like the odd 10bore ... just fantastic...

All the best 

Terry

5 hours ago, Smokersmith said:

Well .. after joking at the local fowlers shoot that the 1st day of the season always ends in a wet leg ... I took it to new levels this morning.

Last night I picked up some light waders that I knew had a small hole in the inside knee ... no tide = no problems.

At the back of my vehicle I hastily thrust my foot into them, to find that they'd still retained water from a trip at the end of last season !! Inverting them showed that there was quite a bit in there, so there it was .. wet without even leaving the car park!!

My long walk was rewarded with a doubly fly-by from a Peregrine within 15 yards, and I ended up refraining from squeezing at a high snipe that I'd spied. Although he would have made a fine breakfast, I didn't really want to shatter the peacefulness.

Another one started .. so now the wait for weather, tide and migrants :yahoo:

 

Fantastic report! i bet that wet foot made you curse and then made you smile thinking about telling your local shoot..

:good:

Atb 

Terry

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Went out this morning too

woke up at 2:30, meet my friend at 30 for a couple of bacon rolls and a coffee and out by 3:27.  We reach the wildfowling car park at 4:15 to be met by 3 more cars already parked.

another car arrived just when we were unpacking and decide to make a quick U turn and go somewhere else.

We took position on the small island (when there is a high tide) that devides the see from the marsh and waited for the sun to appear.  Not too faraway the geese were starting to feel the pressure of the raising tide and moaned loudly at it pushing them  off the flats. The air was full of noises from waders and trying to relocate and the whistling of the ducks wings kept us on our toes as shadows kept appearing briefly against the moon.

A beautiful sunshine appeared on the east (followed by a black cloud spitting some rain) when all of a sudden some of the geese started to navigate the  creeks in our direction till they were just about a couple of shots away.  With the tide being so small the water stopped pushing them and they set to roost. 

And so it started: the skein headed sea bound for the island but, rather than crossing, they decided to circumnavigate it  and got met by the first 3 shots; all of a sudden  the whole estuary was in motion. Graylags took off in small skeins heading upriver where they were met by a battery of what seemed 10 (at least 3-4) bores and few 12s

Big groups of mallard were accompanied by massive group of teal and some snipe and  the usually loud curlews.  There was chaos all over with birds coming from everywhere although a little high. Amongst these 2 teals decided to take a low route sea bound and tried to take my head off; in revenge i blasted them with 1oz of steel 2's.  They rocketed high and away to the sea for what seemed an easy miss; however, after few wing bits one of them took a turn to the right trying to return to the marsh while losing height.  Unfortunately. I lost sight of it behind the tree line and when i went to look for it, there was a chap that was hidden in the direction of the impact whom incidentally, had not seen or heard anything, ?

after a little search with the pup i returned to the hide very frustrated.? 

he canadas were strangely still roosting in the marsh totally unfazed by what was happening all around.  My mate took a shot at a bunch of mallards and that disturbed some off the canadas who went away showing all their disappointment.  Again they headed off away from us and round the island to be met again by another 3 shots).  The remaining canadas eventually all lifted off taking the same direction as the others (and  again the same 3 shots fired) and disappeared. 

Thinking that was us finished i kind of let my guard drop a bit: missed a mallard while I was playing with the pup and a few snipes when i went chatting with my pal (gun empty).... never mind, the day was lovely and enjoyable none the less.  When i made my way back to the hide I heard some honk-honk coming from the sea side of the island and crouched. While looking at the high birds coming straight at me trying to pick the lower one 2 very low ones made their way past me.  As it usual happens; I got distracted...never picked the high bird and change my swing for the lower ones; however, being completely off shape, balance and sight i missed the only chance I had all day??

whilst I was still thinking about the missed opportunity I see a familiar shape  coming from the sea; I crouch and wait until it shows up sideways, at no more than 30 yds, offering an easy shot.  This time the 1oz of steel 2's is well addressed and the bird fell with a very choreographic somersault and lands on the beach.  When picking it up it was a lovely wigeon hen; very rare in this estuary in September, and I noticed the bird had still some life left in it even though it was clear that it had been hit right in the chest. 

:Soon after that my mate had a fabulous 3 for 3 on snipes using steel #4s and we decided to call it a day; it was 7:30 when we reached the car park to be met by teh ranger; she checked the permit, had a wee chat and we were on our way as happy as kids at a fair.

I had planned to go out for the afternoon but a change in circumstances meant i had to take the wee man to a birthday party so never made it for the evening flight but never mind ?

?

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2 hours ago, Continental Shooter said:

Went out this morning too

woke up at 2:30, meet my friend at 30 for a couple of bacon rolls and a coffee and out by 3:27.  We reach the wildfowling car park at 4:15 to be met by 3 more cars already parked.

another car arrived just when we were unpacking and decide to make a quick U turn and go somewhere else.

We took position on the small island (when there is a high tide) that devides the see from the marsh and waited for the sun to appear.  Not too faraway the geese were starting to feel the pressure of the raising tide and moaned loudly at it pushing them  off the flats. The air was full of noises from waders and trying to relocate and the whistling of the ducks wings kept us on our toes as shadows kept appearing briefly against the moon.

A beautiful sunshine appeared on the east (followed by a black cloud spitting some rain) when all of a sudden some of the geese started to navigate the  creeks in our direction till they were just about a couple of shots away.  With the tide being so small the water stopped pushing them and they set to roost. 

And so it started: the skein headed sea bound for the island but, rather than crossing, they decided to circumnavigate it  and got met by the first 3 shots; all of a sudden  the whole estuary was in motion. Graylags took off in small skeins heading upriver where they were met by a battery of what seemed 10 (at least 3-4) bores and few 12s

Big groups of mallard were accompanied by massive group of teal and some snipe and  the usually loud curlews.  There was chaos all over with birds coming from everywhere although a little high. Amongst these 2 teals decided to take a low route sea bound and tried to take my head off; in revenge i blasted them with 1oz of steel 2's.  They rocketed high and away to the sea for what seemed an easy miss; however, after few wing bits one of them took a turn to the right trying to return to the marsh while losing height.  Unfortunately. I lost sight of it behind the tree line and when i went to look for it, there was a chap that was hidden in the direction of the impact whom incidentally, had not seen or heard anything, ?

after a little search with the pup i returned to the hide very frustrated.? 

he canadas were strangely still roosting in the marsh totally unfazed by what was happening all around.  My mate took a shot at a bunch of mallards and that disturbed some off the canadas who went away showing all their disappointment.  Again they headed off away from us and round the island to be met again by another 3 shots).  The remaining canadas eventually all lifted off taking the same direction as the others (and  again the same 3 shots fired) and disappeared. 

Thinking that was us finished i kind of let my guard drop a bit: missed a mallard while I was playing with the pup and a few snipes when i went chatting with my pal (gun empty).... never mind, the day was lovely and enjoyable none the less.  When i made my way back to the hide I heard some honk-honk coming from the sea side of the island and crouched. While looking at the high birds coming straight at me trying to pick the lower one 2 very low ones made their way past me.  As it usual happens; I got distracted...never picked the high bird and change my swing for the lower ones; however, being completely off shape, balance and sight i missed the only chance I had all day??

whilst I was still thinking about the missed opportunity I see a familiar shape  coming from the sea; I crouch and wait until it shows up sideways, at no more than 30 yds, offering an easy shot.  This time the 1oz of steel 2's is well addressed and the bird fell with a very choreographic somersault and lands on the beach.  When picking it up it was a lovely wigeon hen; very rare in this estuary in September, and I noticed the bird had still some life left in it even though it was clear that it had been hit right in the chest. 

:Soon after that my mate had a fabulous 3 for 3 on snipes using steel #4s and we decided to call it a day; it was 7:30 when we reached the car park to be met by teh ranger; she checked the permit, had a wee chat and we were on our way as happy as kids at a fair.

I had planned to go out for the afternoon but a change in circumstances meant i had to take the wee man to a birthday party so never made it for the evening flight but never mind ?

?

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Nice report, and the pictures are great.. shame about the teal.. however did you check the fella's game bag ;-)

Cheers 

Terry

 

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For once my mate and I arrived on the marsh with plenty of time in hand and we had long wait before it was light enough to shoot. Rumor of a few greylags had brought us to a little fresh marsh a hundred yards behind the seawall of Marshmans East Coast estuary. The light as it came was constantly changing as banks of fog rolled out of the west only for the air to become crystal clear a few minutes later and then more fog. A late fowler arrived on club land next door in a clear spell and settled 400 yards off. 40 horses galloped up on the next door marsh and unsettled my new lab on her first morning's flight. They decided we were next to their best grazing and settled down to breakfast oblivious to two dark forms crouching across the dyke in the darkness. As soon at it was light enough to shoot birds were on the move. A single wigeon passed thirty yards away, offering an easy shot, but it would have fallen by the horses so passed unscathed, but all the remaining duck and a few geese passed a long way out cross the marsh heading for the estuary. The geese were all heading the wrong way for the morning flight and had obviously been out feeding under the moon and were now making for their roost, but there was plenty of interest to watch as the orange sun rose over the sea. A scattering of mallard and teal, over, but all too high, curlew and other smaller waders heading up the estuary, several flights of little egrets and a lone marsh harrier hunting the reeds. Oh I love early season dawns like this. There were quite a few distant shots ringing out a long way to the east, but locally all was silent. Then a panicked quack and a bunch of mallard burst out of the reeds a few yards away. I should have had an easy right and left as the bulk of the flock made off down the dyke climbing fast into a new bank of rolling fog but I knew the horses were that way and held my fire. A single drake had lifted off the other direction crossing the sunrise,  swiftly rising. Somehow I missed with the first shot , but the second was true and he fell with a splash into the reedy dyke. After making the dog wait a few seconds I sent her, but she made a bit of a hash of the retrieve. Plunging into the dyke she trod on the duck pushing it under water and when it resurfaced she ignored it. I called her out, made her sit and then sent her again. This time she did grab the wing tip and pulled the bird back to shore, but dropped it as soon as she was on land. This was the first duck she had handled. All summer we had been watching tame mallard on my local river, but she is a very steady dog and never once attempted to grab one even when one bold hen bird tried to drive her out of the river in defense of her brood. I am not sure if she does not like the smell of duck ( she has retrieved dead partridge and pigeon ) or she has formed the idea that she should not touch ducks. At least the first duck of the season was in the bag. I waited until after 8 o, clock, but no more duck came near o walked over to join my mate. Needless to say within minutes a single wigeon, a bunch and a lone mallard passed right over where I had been hiding. A couple of more bunches of greys came from the stubbles, but they all passed wide of us. I think the club fowler had fallen asleep as several bunches of mallard went over him without him firing, 

 

Evening flight was spent 10 miles away further up the Yare valley. There was lots of mallard about, but no two bunches seemed to be heading in the same direction and neither of us had a shot. My one chance came as a low bird came over me that I left for my mate who did not see in time. So ended my 55th opening day. Just one duck in the bag , but with a day full of memories to remember in the not so distant days when I will have to hang up the gun.

 

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Some excellent write ups and stunning photos to go with them , I am glad there are still some enthusiastic fowlers who still like to christen the first morning , but, and its a big but , are they a dying breed , like anser2 I also done well over 50 first morning flights and so did several of my mates until old age and aliments caught them up.

Now I ask some of the members if they are going the first day and a lot say no they are leaving it till a bit later , when I was with my first club they used to mark there rented marshes each year just before the new season started , each block of marshes would have the allocated amount of people to mark the gate posts and these were the only members to shoot the first day , needless to say they were very well attended.

Moving on a number of years to my next club , they done the same sort of thing , through lack of support instead of having the first day they had the first week , if you didn't mark or help out on a Sunday morning at a flight pond or a rearing marsh then you couldn't go the first week , even losing the first week didn't increase the numbers on the working parties that much , so somebody had the bright idea that if you wanted to shoot the last week of the season you had to turn up at one of the times they arranged to do the work , this had the required effect with most members turning up .

So with the above posts there are still some who do still go the first morning , but i fear there are a lot who don't .

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8 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Some excellent write ups and stunning photos to go with them , I am glad there are still some enthusiastic fowlers who still like to christen the first morning , but, and its a big but , are they a dying breed , like anser2 I also done well over 50 first morning flights and so did several of my mates until old age and aliments caught them up.

Now I ask some of the members if they are going the first day and a lot say no they are leaving it till a bit later , when I was with my first club they used to mark there rented marshes each year just before the new season started , each block of marshes would have the allocated amount of people to mark the gate posts and these were the only members to shoot the first day , needless to say they were very well attended.

Moving on a number of years to my next club , they done the same sort of thing , through lack of support instead of having the first day they had the first week , if you didn't mark or help out on a Sunday morning at a flight pond or a rearing marsh then you couldn't go the first week , even losing the first week didn't increase the numbers on the working parties that much , so somebody had the bright idea that if you wanted to shoot the last week of the season you had to turn up at one of the times they arranged to do the work , this had the required effect with most members turning up .

So with the above posts there are still some who do still go the first morning , but i fear there are a lot who don't .

Marsh Man that is interesting, as per my post, my 1st is about tradition and celebrating the opening of a season .. not really about the number of duck..

Given the response in your post from not being able to shoot the last week, it seems like it is about the number of duck for most which would be a shame.. 

Edited by Terry2016
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3 minutes ago, Terry2016 said:

Marsh Man that is interesting, as per my post, my 1st is about tradition and celebrating the opening of a season .. not really about the number of duck..

Given the response in your post from not being able to shoot the last week, it seems like it is about the number of duck for most which would be a shame.. 

Most of our wild fowling now is on inland marshes , with the recent hot / dry Summer the marshes are drier than they would be normally , cattle are still on till the first week in November and the migrating geese don't arrive in any numbers till late September , so apart from walking dykes up and flighting on the river walls there isn't a great deal of fowling to be had , but like yourself and the others who posted it was being out what gave you the most pleasure rather than what went in the bag ,

Each year now we get more and more new members who are only interested in shooting geese and very few of these members will turn out till October onward's , all areas are not the same but I dont think the first day is as popular as it once was .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Its strange how traditions alter from place to place. On the North Norfolk coast very few fowlers shoot the duck before October and yet when I was young almost everyone turned out for the first and often it was the best day of the season in terms of the bag. But times change and only 20 out of a membership of 70 in my club shot yesterday despite it being a Saturday. While I like to bag a duck or two, its just being there and watch the new seasons dawn unfolding that's most important for me. Yesterdays dawn was one of the best I have witnessed on the 1st and with the rolling banks of fog made for a great wildfowling atmosphere. A nice bit of wind would be helpful in keeping the duck lower, but then bagging a bird is no longer as important as it was in my early days.

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16 minutes ago, anser2 said:

Its strange how traditions alter from place to place. On the North Norfolk coast very few fowlers shoot the duck before October and yet when I was young almost everyone turned out for the first and often it was the best day of the season in terms of the bag. But times change and only 20 out of a membership of 70 in my club shot yesterday despite it being a Saturday. While I like to bag a duck or two, its just being there and watch the new seasons dawn unfolding that's most important for me. Yesterdays dawn was one of the best I have witnessed on the 1st and with the rolling banks of fog made for a great wildfowling atmosphere. A nice bit of wind would be helpful in keeping the duck lower, but then bagging a bird is no longer as important as it was in my early days.

I know you are strongly against altering the start of the wild fowling season , but I am beginning to think , would a later start really do that much harm , I personally would be happy to see it start say on the 20th September and finish the same day as the coastal date finish on the 20th January , in those three weeks with a later start, you still have the same quantity but far better quality .

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My shooting pal, his son and I were out on Saturday Morning, met at 4:30 and a little gentle walk out across the marsh to the side of the estuary main channel. It seemed oddly mild and calm. My pal ended up with three teal and two mallard, I missed a teal but was fortunate enough enough to manage a left and right (if such a thing is possible with a semi-auto) on a pair of Canadas.

 

All told a pretty good start to the season. (Or it is all down hill from here)

 

David.

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Changing seasons are a bit of conflict in interests. For the wildfowler ( including me ) its nice to have a plump fully feathered drake in the bag at the end of the season, but you are shooting the winter survivors that are the breeding stock for the next spring. Shooting duck in September removes a large percentage of duck that are never going to survive the winter in any case  and thus do little harm to the population as a whole if lost, but killing late winter birds will have an impact on the numbers breeding. The inland season ends on January 31st and the coastal season February 20th. I always feel I would like a few more days inland while you know by February 20th you know its really spring and time to stop. In an ideal world I would like to see the season end on February 10th for both inland and the coast, but there is a great political risk when changing seasons thuing might get out of our control and we might end up with a much earlier end to the season if the anties get influence in and law changes so I guess its best to leave things alone.

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That might well be correct , but at the end of the day we are in it for the sport , I agree its nice to be up the first morning and see the sun rise and the sights and sounds that go on at that time of the morning , but as far as shooting goes on the first day , this years youngsters have little or no fear of man , you can dress the situation up with shooting geese on the first day as much as you like but around the Broadland area very few of the geese have got any wild instinct in them at this time of the year , 90% of the broods of geese have been fed by holiday makers and they treat humans as there friends , with that three week delay the summer season is drawing to a close and the geese have to start fending for themselves and very soon get street wise.

It might well be in the imagination but the early days of the season seem warmer than ever with yesterday being well into the twenties and as hot as most days in the Summer , and as you say shooting geese in that heat needs preparing within a few hours , if not they are wasted and I wonder how many are hung up in the shed or out house and left for a couple of days till the person who have shot them find they are covered in flies and started to go green , whereas in three weeks time it might not be cold but it should certainly  be a bit cooler .

You say roughly a third of your club members wait now till October before they shoot duck , I now hear this every year and I dare say if there was a poll to decide delaying the start and extending the closing date or leaving it as it is , I might be wrong but I think the majority would be for a later start , I know that would be where my vote went .

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7 minutes ago, Kalahari said:

The thing is, does the start of the shooting sharpen up the wildfowl's survival reactions. If this is the case they are going to be equally unconcerned at the start of the season whenever that is.

 

David.

It not all about survival reactions , take this year for instance , with the beast from the east killing off any early broods it gave the later broods less time to get to the adult stage by September the 1st thus leaving some still in the flapping stage , for years now the game season for Partridges start on the 1st of September and Pheasants on the first of October , now apart from the bigger commercial shoots very little shooting start till after the third week, and even later than that for Pheasants with a lot of shoots not starting till November , one of the main reasons is to put some meat on the birds and to let them feather up . 

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On 02/09/2018 at 12:09, Terry2016 said:

Nice report, and the pictures are great.. shame about the teal.. however did you check the fella's game bag ?

Cheers 

Terry

 

no, never did mate; i think if you need to steal a teal from a fellow wildflower... then you must really need it and i am happy to leave it ?

As for the rest of the comments, my view is expressed in this tread 

 

Edited by Continental Shooter
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9 hours ago, marsh man said:

That might well be correct , but at the end of the day we are in it for the sport , I agree its nice to be up the first morning and see the sun rise and the sights and sounds that go on at that time of the morning , but as far as shooting goes on the first day , this years youngsters have little or no fear of man , you can dress the situation up with shooting geese on the first day as much as you like but around the Broadland area very few of the geese have got any wild instinct in them at this time of the year , 90% of the broods of geese have been fed by holiday makers and they treat humans as there friends , with that three week delay the summer season is drawing to a close and the geese have to start fending for themselves and very soon get street wise.

It might well be in the imagination but the early days of the season seem warmer than ever with yesterday being well into the twenties and as hot as most days in the Summer , and as you say shooting geese in that heat needs preparing within a few hours , if not they are wasted and I wonder how many are hung up in the shed or out house and left for a couple of days till the person who have shot them find they are covered in flies and started to go green , whereas in three weeks time it might not be cold but it should certainly  be a bit cooler .

You say roughly a third of your club members wait now till October before they shoot duck , I now hear this every year and I dare say if there was a poll to decide delaying the start and extending the closing date or leaving it as it is , I might be wrong but I think the majority would be for a later start , I know that would be where my vote went .

+1

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7 hours ago, Continental Shooter said:

no, never did mate; i think if you need to steal a teal from a fellow wildflower... then you must really need it and i am happy to leave it ?

As for the rest of the comments, my view is expressed in this tread 

 

I agree 100% about the teal..

Your next season with your son sounds perfect, like you I have had the joy of 28 opening days, however the last 8 i have shared with my son... i cannot sleep the night before and i know he cannot... there is so much more to be had .. 

Hope you have a good rest of the season

atb 

Terry

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Never seen a flapper on the foreshore, most mallard are flying at a good or even excessive height and yes some are certainly still growing but I would never say they are weak fliers. On the first the bulk of the bag (if any) or my local estuary are teal, and they have been strong enough to cross the north sea so I would not call them weak fliers either.

 

Edited by scolopax
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