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Windy conditions


adzyvilla
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Evening all. I don't normally post much but I think I'd like to share my outing with you

Had an interesting afternoon in my favourite wood in 30+ mph winds. Last weekend was a bust after gun trouble, so first proper go this year.

Strong flight lines with big numbers of birds moving through well into dusk. A good turn out from the other lads meant most of the surrounding woods were occupied to keep the bulk of the local population on the move. Father up the other end of the wood in the conifers, me in the poplars in the teeth of the gale, the scene was set for a busy afternoon.

Took the semi auto for a change with my browning in the smiths for repairs. Couple of boxes of cartridges in my pockets, settled in about 2:45 and within minutes my first shot high and wide resulted in a downed woodie. Pure luck, as my subsequent half dozen failed to connect. Lots of traffic in the first half hour and another 3 in the bag for 5 shots and I'm getting into a good rhythm. A pause to collect the dead and pick up the empties (most of which have gone in the ditch).

Change of tack and I moved to a different position after noting a lot of activity about 30 yards further up the wood. Nothing for a while, but then a pair for 2 shots in quick succession. Very exposed here and I feel like I'm being seen,  with a few misses and lots of startled birds so edging back to my usual place I bag a another as I arrive which I moved from a sitty tree. A bit of a lull as the distant shots from other woods dry up, but sounds of a pair of approaching jays keep my attention, so I concentrate on them as they make their way up the wood towards me, only to break out across to the next belt about 50 yards away.

As the light starts to fail, I can hear dad having a good go as the birds come in to the firs to roost, but I'm not finished yet, and get another singleton, a shot I was really pleased with being a good 40 yards and with the wind. A movement to my right catches my eye... Squirrel! 3 shots brings him down, but not out and he makes a break for it while I reload. Not quick enough though as my first hastily stuffed cartridge bowls him over on the ground and he's finally still. Getting dark now so I decide to call it a day and head back to the car, not before dropping a box of carts out of my pocket which go everywhere.

Dad managed 6 for 12 shots including the now obligatory carrion crow (every time, I'm sure he just brings the same one with him every Saturday). Looking forward to next weekend when hopefully I'll have the browning back although I did well enough with the auto.

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3 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Nice story ....didn't think Brownings broke down ??

It's been well used, and it shows. It started not firing the second barrel occasionally which didn't bother me enough to get it sorted, but it got to the point where it never fired the second so now it's getting sorted. No idea what's wrong though. Hope it's not too bad, I love that gun, it's like a part of me.

21 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Well worth the time it took to read it , I was also out today and if there is a such a thing with having to much wind then today was one of those days . Well done on a respectable bag .

I enjoy the challenge of really windy days. Cheers marsh man

Well If I don't have a total mare I'll do another one next week...

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Not so windy conditions this time out, but a group of 30-40 pigeons moved off as we arrived gave us hope that the afternoon might be a busy one.

Weather forecast promised 10-15mph southerly winds and partial cloud, so conditions were set to be good. Lots of banging around and about as the more enthusiastic lads were already out, and it sounded like a good turn out with several woods not covered last week now occupied.

Dad took the opportunity to do a bit of training with his spaniel so didn't have his gun this time, relying on me to provide retrievals (possibly a mistake...). I had the semi out again today after a decent showing last week.

It started slowly with ones and twos coming over but out of range for me, but a couple came in to a sitty poplar at the edge and I managed to hit one but missed the other with my last two shots and it flew away unharmed. The downed bird fell into thick ivy below it and hung up, so I left it for the moment hoping it would fall in time.

The promised breeze never materialised, save for the odd gust and the birds just weren't there in the numbers we saw last week. I shot another two for several shots but only fired a total of 12 cartridges at pigeons in a disappointing afternoon. Young Teal the spaniel got to make a couple of retrieves and did well, but needs a lot of obedience work before she can be relied upon. Whether or not dad has the patience for this remains to be seen.

Decided to pack it in early and had to shoot the hung up pigeon down. Hopefully next week will be better. Not sure what the other lads were shooting at all afternoon, as a call to the keeper later that evening had him scratching his head too. 

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6 hours ago, adzyvilla said:

Not so windy conditions this time out, but a group of 30-40 pigeons moved off as we arrived gave us hope that the afternoon might be a busy one.

Weather forecast promised 10-15mph southerly winds and partial cloud, so conditions were set to be good. Lots of banging around and about as the more enthusiastic lads were already out, and it sounded like a good turn out with several woods not covered last week now occupied.

Dad took the opportunity to do a bit of training with his spaniel so didn't have his gun this time, relying on me to provide retrievals (possibly a mistake...). I had the semi out again today after a decent showing last week.

It started slowly with ones and twos coming over but out of range for me, but a couple came in to a sitty poplar at the edge and I managed to hit one but missed the other with my last two shots and it flew away unharmed. The downed bird fell into thick ivy below it and hung up, so I left it for the moment hoping it would fall in time.

The promised breeze never materialised, save for the odd gust and the birds just weren't there in the numbers we saw last week. I shot another two for several shots but only fired a total of 12 cartridges at pigeons in a disappointing afternoon. Young Teal the spaniel got to make a couple of retrieves and did well, but needs a lot of obedience work before she can be relied upon. Whether or not dad has the patience for this remains to be seen.

Decided to pack it in early and had to shoot the hung up pigeon down. Hopefully next week will be better. Not sure what the other lads were shooting at all afternoon, as a call to the keeper later that evening had him scratching his head too. 

Another nice report , THANKS for sharing.

Yesterday was our third week roost shooting , fairly dull afternoon with very little wind , yes there was a fair bit of shooting going on but I fear they were shooting at birds going over the woods rather than going into them .

Next Saturday is our last week and not to disappoint you the last week is normally the worst week out of the four , we find by then the novelty have worn off a bit and a lot of the woods are unoccupied by guns , good luck if you are going .

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I'll be out definitely. It usually tails off here at the end of the month, but some years back we were getting decent bags into the back end of march. 

Then it's back to reality. I would like to do a bit more decoying this year but work and family are always getting in the way of my fun.....

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19 minutes ago, adzyvilla said:

 

Then it's back to reality. I would like to do a bit more decoying this year but work and family are always getting in the way of my fun.....

Where's there's a will you will find a way , I agree family and work can get in the way but if you toe the line and play your cards right your good lady will be pleased to see the back of you for at least one day a week , and I am talking from experience :lol:

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So, it looks like the end of the road for roost shooting this year. The unseasonable weather and wary pigeons made for a very frustrating afternoon.

The rugby being on and Norwich playing at home meant we had a few less shooters out this afternoon and we suspected a difficult time ahead. I made my way to the usual place and dad decided to head over the river to the big wood to help fill a gap. Sounded like we had about 3 other lads out, but the banging was very sporadic and all seemed to be centred in the village end of the estate. 

I started well taking a snap shot through the trees that sent a pigeon spiralling down into the ditch at the edge of the wood. A flock went over very high just after but well out of range for me, they didn't seem to want to stop either so I settled in. Nothing for 20 minutes or more and frustration started to creep in. Whoever was in the wood far to my right seemed to be in the birds as a steady stream of doubles sounded out. My chance came when a single pigeon made to land just ahead of me. I fired twice and hit it with my second shot, but it limped off to crash out in the rape field to the east side. That noise made a pair of pigeons who had snuck in behind me take flight and I had time to get off my third cartridge but missed.

Chances were few and far between after that and what I saw were high, wide and very wary. I decided to collect my meagre bounty and went rooting through the rape. Found it after much head scratching on the headland, a long way away from where I thought it had come down.

Dad wandered over just after 5 saying he'd had enough, hadn't fired a shot (not even the obligatory crow) so we called it a day. I cut some sticks to put away for beating next season, as I probably won't be back here now until the first shoot day in November. Roll on decoying!

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That sounded about right for the forth week , the gun in the wood near me was getting some shooting as he had a magnet out on some drilling and although he had shooting don't mean he was getting a bag of pigeons as he is known to be a bit trigger happy .

I got 11 on a side of a rape field that run down the side of a Fir wood , if I had been in the wood I don't think I would hardly had a pigeon.

Still it wasn't a bad time to be out , listening to Norwich beating Bolton 3 - 2 and shooting a few pigeons made it a pleasant Saturday afternoon  .

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