Highlight of the last year

[Nmb]

Since things aren’t looking good at the moment I thought it would be nice to read about peoples highlights over the last year whether it be pheasants, pigeons, deer, salmon etc.

Mines would probably be a cracking buck I shot in June  last year which i deliberated for weeks about whether to shoot or not.

Typically when I decided I would shoot him if the opportunity arose I went weeks without seeing the big lad.

Being surrounded by areas shot by others I guessed someone had already grassed him so I moved on to other beasts that were suitable to be culled.

Very early one morning I parked in my usual spot having glassed the area on my way in. The standing barely and thick underground were starting to make things tough but just being out on a lovely clear morning surrounded by nature made it worthwhile whether a shot was fired or not.

i clattered about searching for my kit and once wellies, stick and roe sack we’re all readied I locked the car and started to walk along a path leading to a likely looking clear fell area. 
After 30 yards or so I turned to check I had definitely locked the car and as I went to walk on again i seen the big lad sticking his head over the barley!

i stood still madly trying to work out whether the wind was in my favour. At the same time I opened the sticks in front of me incase he presented a safe shot. He wasn’t sure about me but didn’t bolt immediately instead he trotted out the barley and towards the bank which leads on to the clear fell. 
I took this opportunity to ready the rifle and gave a quick whistle to stop him before he was too far up the bank.

He turned to see what had caused the noise and after a second or two the echo of a bullet destroyed the peace and quiet of the morning. 
The shot seemed good so I waited a few minutes then approached cautiously.

There he was lying still and looking just as good close up as he had through binoculars during the prior weeks. It’s at this moment the adrenaline kicks in for me and the hands start to shake slightly!

A great result and morning in the countryside and my first medal buck as an added bonus! 

Hopefully now  some of you guys can give us all something to read about other than corona virus!

 

[dodgy dave]

did you take a pic

[Scully]

Sounds grand! My highlights from last year were an astoundingly fast high pigeon I shot from a hide in which a mate and me almost drowned due to the downpour we sat through thinking ‘it’ll stop in a minute and the sun will come out’. Neither did. Instead we packed up and went home. 
Whilst beating on a new drive to the BIG shoot, I watched in envy all season, the guns at the bottom of a steep banking, shooting at the dozens and dozens of pheasant and partridge which soared over them. Some teams were better than others over the season, but more than once I said to the other beaters, how much I hoped to be able to stand down there come beaters day.

The day came and we were designated our teams, none of us knowing which drives we were doing, but when the drives were revealed, much to my delight I realised not only were we doing this drive, but I would be standing.  I was out on the flanks somewhat, but there was still more birds than I could handle, and after remembering to calm down I tracked a very high pheasant before swinging through ahead and pulling the trigger, to kill the highest driven pheasant I have ever shot, to the applause of a picker up somewhere behind me. This was soon followed by the highest partridge I have ever shot, which crumpled up dead in the air amidst a puff of feathers. HUGE HUGE grin for the rest of the day. 🙂

Edited March 28, 2020 by Scully

[strimmer_13]

I got called in to sort a magpie out. He'd cleared a woodpeckers hole out and chucked the chicks out in some posh garden i do tree work in. So I sits in my truck as its quite a active garden and the wildlife pays zero attention to you as long as you don't get that close, and i had about 20 fags and a flask of tea, ive been sat there from dawn and I'm about 3 hours in at this point and everything I'd normally dispatch had come and gone but I didn't want to spook the area. Squirrels, crows, even Jay's. Not yet. Here for one culprit only, (and it was a magpie that was the culprit even tho I have a hatred for Jay's as well but seeing as I hardly ever see them, I'd leave them for balance). I'm sat at 35 yards, checked the zero, half inch low, great all ready. 

After nearly calling it a day, and starting to get cranky, along he lands, not 12 inch from where I checked the zero. Sweet. I aim slightly above his head, squeeze and twack. Absolutely spot on. Normally wouldn't go for a head shot after 30 yards on a bird, but the backstop, range, wind, rest, everything was right and he was going to get 34grams of no4 if I missed next time, but it all came good. Well pleased. By most peoples standards, probably a dull morning, but it's a good one for me. Yes Ive shot more, yes at further ranges, yes after 100% effort in my field craft, but ive gotta say, I really enjoyed killing that magpie. 

Edited March 28, 2020 by strimmer_13

[marsh man]

All well worth reading and what could be classed as your Red letter days .

Nmb....I am not into deer stalking but really enjoyed reading about the one you wanted .

Scully ..... Something I would love to had done , but sadly we haven't got the terrain in our flat county , but having seen some of the Dave Carrie d v ds I would imagine it is well out of my league .

Strimmer ..... Great story , might have only been a Magpie but you will remember that one long after some of the more prized birds that fall to your gun .

[Scully]

25 minutes ago, marsh man said:

 

Scully ..... Something I would love to had done , but sadly we haven't got the terrain in our flat county , but having seen some of the Dave Carrie d v ds I would imagine it is well out of my league .

 

Thankyou. The thing about Cumbria is that you’re either going up a hill, or down one. 
I couldn’t afford a DC day either, and while most of the birds on our local BIG shoot are high, they aren’t in the main what DC would refer to as extreme. They’re  high enough for most folk though, and too high for some. I often find myself rooting for those extreme birds when I see them flying over the guns....most make it, but not all. 

[6.5x55SE]

Two stand outs for me was (1) seeing my Grandsons face as he walked by a famous lighthouse after he had been guided by Motty trying for a Pink from his new club marsh both a scored. 

(2) 5 Grey's one morning at a good hight 3 shots from Conor 2 from my old AYA result 5 dead Grey's both occasions to treasured forever

[JTaylor91]

My highlight would be bagging my first pigeon thanks to JDog. It was a great day for me and brilliant to meet somebody so interesting. That day changed a lot for me and he is probably the reason why pigeon shooting and being out in the fields has become a very big hobby for me.

Edited March 29, 2020 by JTaylor91

[ShootingEgg]

Shooting wise it would be two orbiting pigeons in the same day on my shoot, and then also the young shots day that we run. Showing the kids to respect and prepare the birds and then seeing them on peg for a day, some getting their first bird ever, and then a duck flight for them and all at the same time teaching them that the work done on conservation etc for us to be able to have the shoot. Wouldn't happen without @David BASCand Co advertising it for us.

Worried this year will be lost though, I can't go to the shoot due to restrictions 

[B725]

For me it was getting to shoot in Bolton Gyhll again, Dave Carrie has shot there its truly an amazing place to shoot, you don't have to worry about cartridge ratio because they go out the window. 

[Walker570]

At my age then the highlight of last year and of this was that I woke up on 1st January with the intention of enjoying every minute of 2020.  I had a storming 2019 and the whole year was one long highlight and I cannot honestly, apart from still being alive to type this, think of one premium incident..... maybe killing my 300th squirrel for the year..

[scutt]

I don't bother with foxes unless they are a problem .On  this driven day a fox was spotted making  its way out of a wood along a fence line.As the gun who spotted doesn't make mistakes  identifying what he sees unlike others who often mistake hares for Charlie I took note . So the following Monday afternoon I drove the 60 miles to the shoot  passed the daylight time away topping up feeders until about 4.30pm   then slipped  down the woods edge set the caller on the fence line where the fox was spotted   walked back to my  shooting position got the 223 on the sticks set the caller away flashed the torch up the fence  glanced some eyeshine switched the rifle mounted   lamp on got the boy in the sights pulled the trigger dropped him on the spot  got back to the hilux for a Bovril looked at the clock 4.55 pm .champion.

PS only ONE of the highlights of last season.

 

 

 

[marsh man]

I found last year was a run of the mill type of year as far as shooting go's with nothing out of the ordinary happening , or was it ?

Having said that I dare say rejoining my old wildfowling club after a 30 odd year break was part of the highlights , the very first flight I had as a rejoined G Y W A member was when the area got partly flooded after a months lot of rain that fell on a Sunday morning leaving fields with large amounts of splashes that would have been attractive to fowl .

On the next day ( Monday ) when I went down the marsh for the evening flight it was mainly to see what was about rather than expect to shoot a bag of duck as one day wouldn't have been enough time for the local duck population to had found the fresh water more or less overnight .

As it turned out there were a few duck about and I was more than happy to come back with one Gadwall , from then onward's it got better for a short while and then it went downhill with the constant rainfall that seemed we were getting daily , this daily rain was leaving just about every field with water on so the duck had more choice and you couldn't be everywhere at once ,moving on through the season , another little highlight was when I dropped a Wigeon onto the estuary after I had shot it from the marsh side of the wall , I haven't had a permit to shoot the estuary since I left my old club so although I didn't shoot the Wigeon on the estuary my dog retrieved it from it , if that make sense 

Now we are in the last week of the inland duck season , a season that seem to fly past each year quicker than ever , my very last flight , which was the night before the last day was another success with me getting another Wigeon and a goose which I have mentioned in a earlier thread .

So what I thought at first was a season without many highlights , the more I think about it and taking my age in consideration the season itself was one big highlight . STAY SAFE everybody .

 

[ChrisWill184]

My brother, father, a guest and myself had a days walked up shooting as repayment for 4 days of cutting rides for a shoot.

I was shooting well that day. Nearly everything was falling down that I shot at and managed 3 snipe, the only 3 I shot at which was even more remarkable. I even managed a mallard drake that was far enough away that others who were closer passed up on the shot. Dogs were good. Nothing could go wrong.

We finished early so decided to go in past an area with a couple of duck ponds on the way home to finish. They are day ponds more than a night flight ponds so my brother and I went round the back of each pond and positioned my father and the guest out of sight while we went in to flush. My brother managed a teal from his pond and one single mallard got up off of mine, which the guest shot. Great.

I met back up with my father and the guest and were chatting for a bit when a crow flew over at a height that I would have normally called safe. I assume the crow thought he was safe as well considering he never even flinched off his flightline with us wandering about below. One of those ones. I said to my father, who is the kind of shot that you may often say 'oh my god I cant believe you hit that' to, that he should give it a go. He just laughed at me. Sod it, up went the gun and to be fair, I only managed to kill it with the second barrel but the wings folded and what a time it took to hit the ground! 30 seconds later a pair of teal swung past over head and I took the lead bird which was about 35 yards up on a strong wind. Nearly couldn't fit back in the car my head was so big!

One of those on fire days, on fire moments and all with the family to witness it. Will remember my dads laugh for as long as I can as that's the laugh we usually give him just before he successfully 'gives it a go'.

I won't write about the other days where I was not on fire.  

[Old Boggy]

That's a good report of a lovely day out with family ChrisWill184

You should post more often of your days out in the field.

Hopefully you will when this crisis is over.

Thanks for posting.

OB

17 hours ago, marsh man said:

I found last year was a run of the mill type of year as far as shooting go's with nothing out of the ordinary happening , or was it ?

Having said that I dare say rejoining my old wildfowling club after a 30 odd year break was part of the highlights , the very first flight I had as a rejoined G Y W A member was when the area got partly flooded after a months lot of rain that fell on a Sunday morning leaving fields with large amounts of splashes that would have been attractive to fowl .

On the next day ( Monday ) when I went down the marsh for the evening flight it was mainly to see what was about rather than expect to shoot a bag of duck as one day wouldn't have been enough time for the local duck population to had found the fresh water more or less overnight .

As it turned out there were a few duck about and I was more than happy to come back with one Gadwall , from then onward's it got better for a short while and then it went downhill with the constant rainfall that seemed we were getting daily , this daily rain was leaving just about every field with water on so the duck had more choice and you couldn't be everywhere at once ,moving on through the season , another little highlight was when I dropped a Wigeon onto the estuary after I had shot it from the marsh side of the wall , I haven't had a permit to shoot the estuary since I left my old club so although I didn't shoot the Wigeon on the estuary my dog retrieved it from it , if that make sense 

Now we are in the last week of the inland duck season , a season that seem to fly past each year quicker than ever , my very last flight , which was the night before the last day was another success with me getting another Wigeon and a goose which I have mentioned in a earlier thread .

So what I thought at first was a season without many highlights , the more I think about it and taking my age in consideration the season itself was one big highlight . STAY SAFE everybody .

 

Nice report MM.

That's another season they cannot take away. All in the game book I have no doubt.

Looking forward to what next season brings I'm sure.

OB

Edited March 30, 2020 by Old Boggy

[Clodhopper]

Having changed jobs last spring I have had far less days out. I previously tried to get out twice a week looking for pigeons and now manage about once a fortnight. I treasure  the days much more now. They are all special.
 

This change also forced me to give up running a small syndicate shoot but has not stopped me trying to help where I can. All shoot days are on a Friday and early last season I could finish work at 1 pm jump in the car, change into my shooting gear and be there to watch a couple of drives in the afternoon. Having left the stress of work behind all was well with the world once I had got my tweed on!

 

On the pigeon front, one particular morning stands out where I shot 20 odd on a flight line in one of those strong gales we had in February. They were very challenging and great fun.

In the last few months I have also had a few sessions with my son(9) plinking away at a Baked Bean can in the garden. He struggles as he is left eye dominant and right handed but enjoys doing it which I think is the main thing. The rest will come later. 
 

I do not keep a game book or diary, but often sit back and think about the days I have had, I don’t always remember the numbers shot but who was with me, the craic we had, the dog work and the weather always seem to be locked away in there somewhere.