Game book extract.

[JDog]

A friend, about whom I have written in the past, sent me an extract from his game book today. It was about an afternoon we had on drilled barley when I still lived in the Cotswolds. I reproduce it here in an attempt to cheer up those pigeon shooters who are frustrated at not being able to get out.

 

18th March.

What a truly magnificent spot this was on a lovely spring afternoon - simply my best ever day. John, despite his thousands, probably felt the same. Within minutes of putting up the hides backing onto a dry stone wall and arranging a pattern of dead birds around the magnet the pigeons started to come from every conceivable direction. They were high and fast in numbers ranging from singles to twenty at a time. We both shot some of our highest and fastest birds ever with a constant stream to chose from.

Sharing the last of my cartridges we eventually ran out. Despite a brief bad patch on my part we just could not go wrong. So fantastic to be in such a purple patch of form just when the pigeons were so exceptional.

A couple of pints in Stow on the Wold rounded off a great day.

[Walker570]

Nice.  Old game reports are interesting. I once had the loan of a Game Book from the late 1800s early 1900s which related to the area around Elmdon, now Birmingham Airport and the NEC.  Over 300 rabbits shot walked up in a day !    over 500 partridges (greys) over the same area in a day to 6 guns and now it is just a block of concrete.

Edited March 26, 2020 by Walker570

[ditchman]

4 minutes ago, JDog said:

A friend, about whom I have written in the past, sent me an extract from his game book today. It was about an afternoon we had on drilled barley when I still lived in the Cotswolds. I reproduce it here in an attempt to cheer up those pigeon shooters who are frustrated at not being able to get out.

 

18th March.

What a truly magnificent spot this was on a lovely spring afternoon - simply my best ever day. John, despite his thousands, probably felt the same. Within minutes of putting up the hides backing onto a dry stone wall and arranging a pattern of dead birds around the magnet the pigeons started to come from every conceivable direction. They were high and fast in numbers ranging from singles to twenty at a time. We both shot some of our highest and fastest birds ever with a constant stream to chose from.

Sharing the last of my cartridges we eventually ran out. Despite a brief bad patch on my part we just could not go wrong. So fantastic to be in such a purple patch of form just when the pigeons were so exceptional.

A couple of pints in Stow on the Wold rounded off a great day.

now why am i not surprised...............................it appears he has been doing this for years........

[Old Boggy]

Truly a memorable day out with good company.

That's why I think that it's important to keep a game diary so that we may go back and remember such days, or any day really.

Something to read in our dotage (or even now when on lockdown) where no doubt every day will be brought back to mind with fond memories.

Thanks for sharing JDog.

OB

[Clodhopper]

1 hour ago, ditchman said:

now why am i not surprised...............................it appears he has been doing this for years........

😂😂😂

[aga man]

Nice memories

[7daysinaweek]

I could see it in my minds eye and what an experience it must have been.  

Thank you for sharing JD.

[Dave at kelton]

I have kept a diary since 1982 and recorded every fishing and shooting trip since. Now just starting my fourth volume and had a hell of a job finding a proper heavily bound Minute Book. With the lockdown it has only a couple of entries but I hope to have enough time left in my sporting life to fill this as well. It is not just memories but has been a good reference when fishing as to which flies where at any particular time of the year and of course what the geese are doing and when.

if anyone is just starting their sporting life I highly recommend this but it is a labour of love to keep at it.

[Old Boggy]

It is with regret that I did not not start mine until 2001 which I did with John Humphrey's 'The Country Sportsman's Record Book & Journal' , signed with a personal message from John. I can recommend this as a game book as it has some lovely illustrations along with various anecdotes heading each page. It has recently been re-issued by John's widow Angela.

Having seen Marshman's diaries he also uses these and is on his second I think, but has far more entries than mine with far greater headcount of game etc shot, particularly duck, but I cannot remember when he said he started his. Perhaps he will let us know.

It would also have been good to have recorded some of my sea fishing adventures from the 60s, when there were plenty of fish to be caught. My best memories were drifting through school bass having spotted gulls feeding on the white bait being driven to the surface by the bass, and using a light spinning rod and Toby lure. Wonderful sport and happy days indeed.

I'm sure that Dave at Kelton has some very good memories to look back on, nearly forty years worth.

OB

 

[JDog]

This is my Game book. It was created in 1978 out of an accounts ledger. I wanted to be able to create my own columns and to add as many pages as necessary for a life of shooting and fishing. I regret two things. Firstly not starting one years earlier and secondly not filling it in after each outing though the game books of some of my friends do contain details of the missing days.

There is some immodesty contained in one of the pictures. My excuse for this is that I never expected anyone else to read the entry and I did have one of those very rare days when I appear to have shot well.

[Mightymariner]

Writing is very neat. As to be expected.

I have a shooting book, started when I was about 15, it is nearly full. Looking at it now, my writing has declined massively over the years and I struggle to remember all the detail when I fill it in, but it is a nice thing to do.

[JTaylor91]

I think I shall start a book after reading this.

[JDog]

33 minutes ago, JTaylor91 said:

I think I shall start a book after reading this.

You should. You are right at the start of your shooting life. I can give you a blow by blow account of your first outing.

[JTaylor91]

4 minutes ago, JDog said:

You should. You are right at the start of your shooting life. I can give you a blow by blow account of your first outing.

I have just ordered one, should be here Thursday.

[enfieldspares]

I use those dark olive colour Sport Rifle Register books printed by Butler & Tanner of Frome and London books and just ignore what the columns say regarding the species and sex of deer. Unfortunately as an internet search shows they closed their doors in 2014.

Edited April 11, 2020 by enfieldspares

[mel b3]

That was lovely John,  Thankyou. 

I kept a game register for many years , it was just a tally of what I'd killed through the year on each farm , and I'd pass the information to each farmer with a bottle of scotch at christmas.  Having just read jdogs post , I really regret not keeping a journal with the highs and lows of my time in the field. 

[FOXHUNTER1]

I also realised the importance of diaries and photos and mine stretch back to 1987.

[motty]

On 12/04/2020 at 09:50, mel b3 said:

That was lovely John,  Thankyou. 

I kept a game register for many years , it was just a tally of what I'd killed through the year on each farm , and I'd pass the information to each farmer with a bottle of scotch at christmas.  Having just read jdogs post , I really regret not keeping a journal with the highs and lows of my time in the field. 

I am now on diary no.15. I am so glad I started writing in them, but also sad that I didn't start a few years sooner. There will be many outings that I have simply forgotten about.

Those diaries are among my most treasured possessions.

[mel b3]

15 hours ago, motty said:

I am now on diary no.15. I am so glad I started writing in them, but also sad that I didn't start a few years sooner. There will be many outings that I have simply forgotten about.

Those diaries are among my most treasured possessions.

my shooting diary would say 

 

went pigeon shooting on saturday , saw no pigeons , and got rained on.

went pigeon shooting on sunday , saw no pigeons and got rained on.

[JDog]

On 14/04/2020 at 01:02, motty said:

I am now on diary no.15. I am so glad I started writing in them, but also sad that I didn't start a few years sooner. There will be many outings that I have simply forgotten about.

Those diaries are among my most treasured possessions.

Motty, can you post up extracts from your diaries for 16th July 2016 and 22nd July 2017?

[purist]

On 14/04/2020 at 16:39, mel b3 said:

my shooting diary would say 

 

went pigeon shooting on saturday , saw no pigeons , and got rained on.

went pigeon shooting on sunday , saw no pigeons and got rained on.

Hello Mel b3, at least you tried and are honest enough to say you didn't succeed !! , it sounds like me writing 😁 as I'm always on the look out,  often see no pigeons and often rained on !! and while we are on I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers the other day I was just trying to put a point across about going out at the moment, I know it's difficult 👍

[mel b3]

6 minutes ago, purist said:

Hello Mel b3, at least you tried and are honest enough to say you didn't succeed !! , it sounds like me writing 😁 as I'm always on the look out,  often see no pigeons and often rained on !! and while we are on I didn't mean to ruffle your feathers the other day I was just trying to put a point across about going out at the moment, I know it's difficult 👍

No feathers ruffled here buddy 👍. 

We're just all itching to get out and do a bit , we all know that pest control is badly needed , especially at this time of year , but the current situation has left us all in a bit of a mess in one way or another 👍.

My main complaint is those bone idle layabouts,  that are sitting in their back gardens drinking beer in the sunshine , and still getting paid 80% wages😆.

Pass the tin hat 😅.

[purist]

Thanks, yes we are all are itching to get out and do a bit !! at least when this is all over we will all agree on a bit o crop protection , and yes you may need that tin hat 😉😁👍

[motty]

On 16/04/2020 at 10:40, JDog said:

Motty, can you post up extracts from your diaries for 16th July 2016 and 22nd July 2017?

I shall. I had no idea what these dates meant until the diaries were consulted. I thought it was a test, somehow!

Anyway, I shall type them up, as my writing is not as neat as yours!

[Scully]

Good to read JDog. I kept diaries for years and have a pile of ‘Black ‘n’ Red ledgers. I stopped writing in them when my Dad died; just seemed to lose interest for quite a while. 
I still have however, many entries of shoot days, when I noted who attended, ( guns and beaters) which dogs were there, who brought what gun, the weather, who shot what....everything I could recall really.
Like you I really enjoy looking back through them.