White-fronted goose?

[wildfowler.250]

Hope everyone is keeping well during isolation! Counting down more than ever to next season,(usually not this keen until about July or August!).

 

Is there anywhere in England,(possible clubs for a few days trip/permit) that you could recommend for a slim chance of getting under a white-front?  As I understand it, they’re a bit of a Holy grail and not too many get shot each year? Do they tend to be late in the season or here for most of the winter?

 

 

Keen to try and see somewhere different and would be really interested if anyone has any info!

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

[6.5x55SE]

7 minutes ago, wildfowler.250 said:

Hope everyone is keeping well during isolation! Counting down more than ever to next season,(usually not this keen until about July or August!).

 

Is there anywhere in England,(possible clubs for a few days trip/permit) that you could recommend for a slim chance of getting under a white-front?  As I understand it, they’re a bit of a Holy grail and not too many get shot each year? Do they tend to be late in the season or here for most of the winter?

 

 

Keen to try and see somewhere different and would be really interested if anyone has any info!

 

 

Cheers!

 

 

You best chance would be Norfolk/Suffolk area ( sorry can't be more precise as some club members would not thank me ) . After Christmas onwards they start to build up every year they are around but get hard weather Germany/Holland and Belgium numbers will increase tenfold. I personally know a lot got shot this past season also 4 weeks ago i know 342 was still present ( definitely know chance of a shot where these are/was ) 

[wildfowler.250]

1 minute ago, 6.5x55SE said:

You best chance would be Norfolk/Suffolk area ( sorry can't be more precise as some club members would not thank me ) . After Christmas onwards they start to build up every year they are around but get hard weather Germany/Holland and Belgium numbers will increase tenfold. I personally know a lot got shot this past season also 4 weeks ago i know 342 was still present ( definitely know chance of a shot where these are/was ) 

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply! I did hear last season was particularly good,(hopefully not just a one off). Would be great just to see them to be honest.

 

Thanks again for the help!

[6.5x55SE]

11 minutes ago, wildfowler.250 said:

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply! I did hear last season was particularly good,(hopefully not just a one off). Would be great just to see them to be honest.

 

Thanks again for the help!

Sorry i could not have been of more help

[m greeny]

I can only dream of bagging one of these birds I've even toyed with going abroad for one but it just wouldn't feel right to me

[marsh man]

14 hours ago, m greeny said:

I can only dream of bagging one of these birds I've even toyed with going abroad for one but it just wouldn't feel right to me

We have a reasonable amount come down this way each Winter , as far as bagging one I would compare it to winning the lottery , you could get one the first time you go out , or you could go out for many years and never get one .

At one time down here believe it or not the Pinkfoot was rarer than a Whitefront , when I started fowling in the early 60s we had anything up to 5000 come down here , in my bird book it stated in 1964 there were 4000 wintering on the Halvergate marshes , numbers went up and down each year and the main flocks would get here just before Christmas so you had a fairly small window to bag one or two , not only that a lot of the marshes they went on were in private hands and they had the best of the shooting 

Some years you would drop on one and then go a year or two when you were in the wrong place at the wrong time , my mate I used to go with who sadly is now passed away got five one morning on the estuary wall when his two mates were either side of him and never got one between them .

I got my first one when I was a late teenager and throughout the following years I just couldn't get a right and left , either I missed one , gave the same one a second shot and so on , many a time I came close like the time I got a right and left when it was nearly dark and my dog brought the first one back , this goose was in perfect condition with wide Black bars across it's chest , I thought at the time I had finally got my long awaited right and left at the holy grail , when my dog came across the dyke with the second goose I could see straight away it was a Pinkfoot , either I got the only Whitefront or the only Pink that will be something I will never know .

I did put matters right about 15 years ago when a little party came past the bit of water I was flighting on one night and two members of the party were left behind , both of these were Whitefronts and I had finally got my pair after a nearly 40 year wait , since then I have had one more pair and the odd single one , but like I say , you need to be in the right place at the right time , and then hold your nerve and shoot straight  

 

[6.5x55SE]

36 minutes ago, marsh man said:

We have a reasonable amount come down this way each Winter , as far as bagging one I would compare it to winning the lottery , you could get one the first time you go out , or you could go out for many years and never get one .

At one time down here believe it or not the Pinkfoot was rarer than a Whitefront , when I started fowling in the early 60s we had anything up to 5000 come down here , in my bird book it stated in 1964 there were 4000 wintering on the Halvergate marshes , numbers went up and down each year and the main flocks would get here just before Christmas so you had a fairly small window to bag one or two , not only that a lot of the marshes they went on were in private hands and they had the best of the shooting 

Some years you would drop on one and then go a year or two when you were in the wrong place at the wrong time , my mate I used to go with who sadly is now passed away got five one morning on the estuary wall when his two mates were either side of him and never got one between them .

I got my first one when I was a late teenager and throughout the following years I just couldn't get a right and left , either I missed one , gave the same one a second shot and so on , many a time I came close like the time I got a right and left when it was nearly dark and my dog brought the first one back , this goose was in perfect condition with wide Black bars across it's chest , I thought at the time I had finally got my long awaited right and left at the holy grail , when my dog came across the dyke with the second goose I could see straight away it was a Pinkfoot , either I got the only Whitefront or the only Pink that will be something I will never know .

I did put matters right about 15 years ago when a little party came past the bit of water I was flighting on one night and two members of the party were left behind , both of these were Whitefronts and I had finally got my pair after a nearly 40 year wait , since then I have had one more pair and the odd single one , but like I say , you need to be in the right place at the right time , and then hold your nerve and shoot straight  

 

Morning John. Can't remember exact year probably late 70's Whitefronts made East Anglia News on several occasions described as Russian Geese descend on the Wash along with the Norfolk coast in the thousands due to harsh weather. The area i shot at the time had over 7 thousand for a short while. One of my brother's shot his first second and third Goose one morning yep 3 Whitefronts from a Skien with a Mossberg pump. I personally shot 37 in the short while they was around most spectacular site sounds for that short while. Even none Goose chasers who soley went after Duck shot several Whitefronts that year

[Norfolk wildfowler]

Took me years to get my first whitefront. My first attempt. Watching a skein full of barred  adults  take off , pass at extream range. My single pulled out the only pink foot that was flying with them. second with 6.5x55se on the sea wall. We both droped a whitefront under the moon , but mine was winged and it was high tide. Went back without a gun ( no Sunday shooting in Norfolk ) the next morning only to see it run for a flooded creek and swim away. The next flew away when I went to pick it up. The next fell in an ice filled creek on the Wash where it was impossible to send a dog and then finally got one while in the middle of a major pink foot flight. Once one was in the bag got 5 more before the end of the season. 4 shot on my syndicate marsh last season , but  not by me.

 

[6.5x55SE]

1 hour ago, Norfolk wildfowler said:

Took me years to get my first whitefront. My first attempt. Watching a skein full of barred  adults  take off , pass at extream range. My single pulled out the only pink foot that was flying with them. second with 6.5x55se on the sea wall. We both droped a whitefront under the moon , but mine was winged and it was high tide. Went back without a gun ( no Sunday shooting in Norfolk ) the next morning only to see it run for a flooded creek and swim away. The next flew away when I went to pick it up. The next fell in an ice filled creek on the Wash where it was impossible to send a dog and then finally got one while in the middle of a major pink foot flight. Once one was in the bag got 5 more before the end of the season. 4 shot on my syndicate marsh last season , but  not by me.

 

The Penny has finally dropped. Welcome back my Friend hope all is well with you. Treasured memories never too be forgotten. As you know my Grandson Conor is desperate to have a chance at a Whitefront keen as mustard and has heard several times of flights in Sandy Land with your good self myself very privileged to have shared those flights along with the knowledge you also gave me of Wildfowl and the time around them at B.M where you worked at the time. Stay Safe

[Norfolk wildfowler]

I will contact you if we have any again this year . They do not come every year and are usually late, well into January before they arrive. They like it if its wet and we have a few splashes. I have moved back to my old Broadland haunts and love it down here. Coastal fowling is getting a bit to much for me these days. Look after yourself too. I take it you are still in the Fens. I have been doing quite a bit of game shooting and wildfowling down there in the last 20 years on the washes and at Soham. Even managed a few geese too.

[6.5x55SE]

30 minutes ago, Norfolk wildfowler said:

I will contact you if we have any again this year . They do not come every year and are usually late, well into January before they arrive. They like it if its wet and we have a few splashes. I have moved back to my old Broadland haunts and love it down here. Coastal fowling is getting a bit to much for me these days. Look after yourself too. I take it you are still in the Fens. I have been doing quite a bit of game shooting and wildfowling down there in the last 20 years on the washes and at Soham. Even managed a few geese too.

That's very kind of you. Yes only 15 minutes drive from Soham so must meet up ( fingers crossed we will be allowed shooting this season ). Conor has joined 2 Wash clubs for this season so he is looking forward hopefully some first's from the new club. Age certainly taking its toll on myself 😂 but Young and keen Conor keeps me going oh and them ole " Wink Winks "