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Roost shooting 2020 part II


adzyvilla
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I thought I would make life difficult for myself this time round and go and buy a new gun this morning and immediately try it out on the pigeons this afternoon. 

With my new browning 725 Black gold loaded up, a pocket full of cartridges and dog in tow, father and I headed to our usual wood at just after 3 in bright sunshine and 15mph westerly winds. Earlier reconnaissance from my dear papa had assured me that the pigeons were numerous, making the most of a couple of nearby flailed maize strips and the field next door, a recently harvested beet field being grazed by sheep. 

I won't lie, it took me over 10 shots to register a hit with this new and unknown gun, but connect it eventually did, and what a shot, very high above the tree canopy and really moving in the wind, crossing from my right to left, and a pure snap shot.

Action was pretty much constant, and I kept up a steady stream of single shots, but the birds were high and flighty, probably something to do with my ever increasing bald spot alerting them to my presence well before I even knew they were there (must remember my hat next time). I took another 8 pigeons and one jackdaw before packing in whilst the light was still there to try and pick a couple of pricked birds. 

The dog gets better every time I take her out, she's even started rolling her eyes when the gun goes bang but there's nothing for her to collect . But she made 3 excellent retrieves and there was little sign of the gun shyness that I feared had ended her career before it had begun. 

Father fired 7 shots, frugally returning 4 birds, with one runner tracked down, the total bag was 14 pigeons and one jackdaw. Meeting up at the gamekeepers House in the gathering dusk, it was a similar story from my fellow shooters, difficult conditions on the flightlines, but one brave should had managed a respectable 40, decoying a maize strip, so at least the game dealer had a worthwhile visit. 

Love the new gun, she handles well and returned a not too shabby 4 to 1 ratio. I will be going back to the trusty semi next week though. 

Edited by adzyvilla
Annoying spelling error
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Excellent report and today was a good test for your new gun , if anything today the wind died down after starting off with a brisk wind , as I said in a another thread , this wont be one of those vintage years as far as the roost shooting goes but we have got a nice lot of pigeons  , we all had some shooting but as the sun was going down and the moon was coming up the shooting more or less stopped , one young man who sometimes comes with me in the Summer went on the edge of his allocated wood that had a rape field running up to it , he rung me up to say he had picked up 33, I gave him some shells and they are now cooling off in my garage , he would had been the exception as the majority of us who were in the woods would had hovered around the double figure mark .

 

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12 hours ago, marsh man said:

Excellent report and today was a good test for your new gun , if anything today the wind died down after starting off with a brisk wind , as I said in a another thread , this wont be one of those vintage years as far as the roost shooting goes but we have got a nice lot of pigeons  , we all had some shooting but as the sun was going down and the moon was coming up the shooting more or less stopped , one young man who sometimes comes with me in the Summer went on the edge of his allocated wood that had a rape field running up to it , he rung me up to say he had picked up 33, I gave him some shells and they are now cooling off in my garage , he would had been the exception as the majority of us who were in the woods would had hovered around the double figure mark .

 

That young lad getting 33 certainly had a good day MM.

I bet he had a big smile on his face when you all finished. 

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31 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

That young lad getting 33 certainly had a good day MM.

I bet he had a big smile on his face when you all finished. 

Morning Chris ....... When I say young he is young compared to us vintage pigeon shooters , he is well in his 40s and as keen as mustard , the permits allow you to go for the four Saturdays with no restrictions on what time to go or finish , if you are lucky enough to have a crop near your wood or during the four weeks they do some drilling there is nothing to stop you from going all day , if you are just going in the woods then the first week you would normally start around 2pm and the keeper like you to get out of the woods before it get to dark .

Yesterday the high light for me was watching a small herd of 16 / 17 Red deer , they kept around a field away throughout the afternoon mainly feeding on some fodder Radish that had been eaten off by the sheep , not once did they run off when they heard gun fire and never looked that concerned .

At one time when I was super keen on the roost shooting I liked to be towards the top of the leader board , now I am more than happy just to be taking part and leave the hard work to those who are still young enough to handle it .

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15 hours ago, adzyvilla said:

She has a withering look. Almost like my actions have deeply offended her. 

I once shot a magpie on an organised goose shoot in Canada. The dog (Starsky) ran out, grabbed it, spat it out and a "withering look" has nothing on what I got. He would not look at me for the rest of the day...

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6 minutes ago, kitchrat said:

I once shot a magpie on an organised goose shoot in Canada. The dog (Starsky) ran out, grabbed it, spat it out and a "withering look" has nothing on what I got. He would not look at me for the rest of the day...

Brilliant aren't they. Who needs words? 

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