Was Today Cold Or What ?

[marsh man]

I don't know what the rest of you guys ( and gals ) were doing today , but if you had been out in the countryside you would have certainly noticed how cold it was .

We were shooting on the Norfolk / Suffolk in a strong Easterly wind and the  forecast was for the rain to hold off till late afternoon which touch wood it did , whenever they predict rain I always put an extra coat in the motor so if one got wet in the morning I can then put a dry one on after dinner , today I put my tweed jacket on which is a lot warmer than Musto jacket although the tweed is useless when it get soaked where the Musto is water prof ( up to a point ) but it don't keep the cold out like the tweed one do , 

As far as sport go , today was one of those days where even though they wern't sixty yards up they were still good enough to test the best of shots with the strong wind blowing up there tails , the bag was edging towards three figures by the end of the day but I think it would be embarrassing to say how many shots were fired.

My highlight of the day was on the first drive after dinner , I was picking up beyond two guns that were without dogs , by the end of the drive I had three to pick up , two dead and one fairly strong runner , having managed to pick them all up I was about to walk back when one of the guns who was on the next peg came over and asked if I saw a cock bird come past with a leg down , I did see one come past that had a leg down but with me being down a slight valley I couldn't see how far it went but I could tell it would have at least made the wood on the other side of the field , anyhow I told him I will go and have a look , the field I had to cross is a big field that run uphill , as I was walking across I was huffing a bit and thinking this will be like looking for a needle in a haystack , I didn't know how far it went , where it went and weather it even came down .

Time I got across I just let my dog run free hand and hope he came across it or picked up some scent , after five or six minutes he had covered a fair bit of ground with no sign of it , at the end of the wood was some old game cover left over from last year so I thought I will have a quick look in there and then make my way back , when the dog went in he more or less went in a straight line towards the end and then I saw this ole cock Pheasant jump up in the air with the dog a few feet behind in hot pursuit , a couple of minutes later Bobbie was coming back with a wagging tail a lively cock Pheasant in his mouth .

I must say my pace increased a bit when I was walking back to catch up with the guns before they drove off , this was only a small thing to some people but it certainly made my day .

Now what did you get up to today ??  

[Jaymo]

Was in Northern Norway where it was a chilly minus 15, now in Gdańsk where it’s a mere minus 1 and positively tropical in comparison 🙂

Edited December 16, 2018 by Jaymo
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[TIGHTCHOKE]

MM always a pleasure to have the dog work well.

Yesterday was indeed cold in Hertfordshire where I was loading, turned wet later on and the conclusion was we should have shot through and had the meal afterwards rather than after the first 4 drives.

But the wind did make the birds fly well!

Edited December 16, 2018 by TIGHTCHOKE
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[dead eye alan]

 Sat in a hedge bottom strong wind on my back scaring pigeons of the only rape field i have this year.   NOT PLEASANT!!!!!

[Pigeon Shredder.]

Was out in the morning and thought is was bad, then went out after lunch and it was positively xxxxxxxxx horrible in my neck of the woods.

Clear skies  and sunshine predicted for today.

[JDog]

The thought of sitting under a hedge somewhere decoying pigeons was too horrendous to contemplate so I went back to bed after walking the dogs, breakfast in bed with a hot water bottle.

At 2:30 I walked to a wood near my house and in 45 minutes shot some very good pigeons coming in to roost.

Back to the wood burner by four, football results, a shower then the final of ‘Strictly come dancing’.

Some of the above may not be true.

[ditchman]

i still cant get to grips with this "strictly come dancin'" facination of yours.......something is just sooo not right with that.....almost a dangerous peversion

very very strange.......

[JDog]

32 minutes ago, ditchman said:

i still cant get to grips with this "strictly come dancin'" facination of yours.......something is just sooo not right with that.....almost a dangerous peversion

very very strange.......

But I did say that 'some of the above may not be true'.

[Mice!]

It certainly was cold in Lancashire, we beat Friday, cold start but wrapped up, Saturday in comparison was awful, wearing shorts waiting to play rugby, two 30 min games where you can't feel your hands!! Then the rugby union boys came out to warm up as the side ways rain began, certainly a day to be wrapped up or indoors.

11 hours ago, marsh man said:

Bobbie was coming back with a wagging tail a lively cock Pheasant in his mouth .

Dog was probably thinking look at me, they are the days you remember.

[marsh man]

8 hours ago, JDog said:

The thought of sitting under a hedge somewhere decoying pigeons was too horrendous to contemplate .

At 2:30 I walked to a wood near my house and in 45 minutes shot some very good pigeons coming in to roost.

Back to the wood burner by four, football results, a shower then the final of ‘Strictly come dancing’.

Some of the above may not be true.

I have removed what I think is fiction and left what I believe is fact Mr JDog , could well be wrong , which I normally am but I recon your good lady is the strictly fan and to keep the peace you are just going with the flow of the tide , well that was my excuse for watching some of it last night and maybe Ashley Roberts might have something to do with it 

I knew some of you hardy souls wouldn't had been put off by the inclement weather, after all if you are working all week and you only have Saturdays to spend time in the great outdoors a bit of cold wind and a few drops of rain isn't going to put you off , I hope the effort was worth it  

[lakeside1000]

Strictly is one of our favourite shows and this year it was exceptional, great tv 

As for cold days , not a chance, I did venture out to check a large rape field close to the house, and as usual around 200 birds either down in the crop or sitting sunning themselves on top of the boundary thorn hedge, I am still waiting for delivery of my new Hushpower 12 gauge sound moderator, ordered two weeks ago, first delayed due to them being out of suitable chokes to mount the thing on, then when it did arrive it was on the wrong choke which was totally unsuitable for my gun, so back it went to be changed and now I am just waiting, pigeons are happy though as they are feeding undisturbed on the farmers rape, 

"Why not shoot them anyway" I hear you ask, well the field runs along the side of a large caravan park, and although this time of year there are not many occupied, the farmer has insisted on sound moderated shotgun or air gun , as the last time someone let rip on there several residents came to complain about the noise.

But its such a great spot, just a few hundred yards from my house, normally covered in pigeons and with the bonus of dozens of rabbits , so one permission worth hanging on to. Just cant wait for the moderator to arrive, total cost £210 with the choke, and just a bit more kit to carry, now where did I park the wheelbarrow 😁