Pre Season Home Work , Is It Still Carried Out ?

[marsh man]

Up until about four ago I was still keen to turn out on the first morning of the new wildfowling season , then the interest was waning and I decided to give the early duck shooting a miss , this decision was made after turning out for more than 50 years without a break , when I say first morning this doesn't always mean the 1st of September for the simple fact if the big day fell on a Sunday we would have to wait till the Monday before we christened the new season due to no shooting in Norfolk on a Sunday .

Anyway getting back to the title , at one time our homework started a good three weeks before the season started , this would be find what duck are using the Wheat and Barley fields that are still standing or have been cut , the state of the dykes and how much water are in them , any geese using the marshes and so on .

With only two weeks to go we would already have a good idea of what was about and where we would be going on the first day , then when we only had a matter of days we would go after we had our tea to see what was moving when it was getting dark , I know one year when I had my own shoot we had a standing Wheat field down the marsh that was being hammered by 100s of Mallard , this was the last field to be cut and the combine was waiting at the entrance for it to dry out , with rain forecasted off and on all that week this was unlikely to happen , me and my mate went down there a couple of days before the 1st and there were already a lot of duck on the Wheat well before it got dark , as the night drawered in the duck started to come from every point in the compass which added up in the 100s , we were in the middle of a triangle with a big broad on one side , a large lake on the other side and then to top it off we had some very big gravel pits a mile or so away .

On the first day we had already made plans on some more marshes we go on so we couldn't go down on these marshes till the second day , we had already had a good day on the first so we wern't that hungry for a duck but we were still looking forward in having a go before the combine had done it's work , when we got down there on the night we went we could see several duck already on the crop so as I was still young and fairly agile I went in the middle of the field and knelt in the tramlines , I was shooting with a new gun and very soon it felt like an ole friend and my bag was getting fairly heavy , when I had picked up 10 I had got my self imposed limit and called it a day with duck still coming in .

My mate who was down the other end of the field had seven or eight and was looking for a runner , as it was now getting dark I got my bag and made my way to where he was , he had found his duck but couldn't find his bag as he was also kneeling in the Wheat and couldn't work out where he was now it was nearly dark , I sent my dog to find it and in a few minutes he was sniffing my mates bag that was still in the tramlines .

Now I doubt we have got that many Mallard in the area let alone going on one field , but to do any good you still need to do your homework , Do you do yours ?

                             GOOD LUCK for the coming season , and STAY SAFE.

 

[captainhastings]

Been monitoring geese and ducks for a while and exactly what the combine is doing. So we know what fields the geese may head too next week. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan and he doesn't plough the stubble field they are feeding on at the moment. Done me rounds of local farmers to get the perms sorted

[marsh man]

17 minutes ago, captainhastings said:

Been monitoring geese and ducks for a while and exactly what the combine is doing. So we know what fields the geese may head too next week. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan and he doesn't plough the stubble field they are feeding on at the moment. Done me rounds of local farmers to get the perms sorted

Good man . like pigeon shooting , time spent on reconnaissance is never wasted . 

[scolopax]

Not like I used to do.  Was often an anti climax, get there on the first and find the place packed and my chosen spots already taken by others.

[captainhastings]

I know one thing the inland duck shooting is in big demand. Lost a perm this week because some one has swept in and threw money at it. If I had known I would offered my self though I suspect I could never have afforded it 😞

[greenshank1]

We only get one cut of silage here and it’s just finished. So you can see what’s about, it’s funny listening to and trying to see greylag in uncut silage.
We have good Canada numbers and good resident greylag moving about so looking forward to getting out. 
Neighbouring driven pheasant shoots are heavily feeding a few flight ponds close to the shore and I suspect they will pull in alot of the mallard and wigeon like last year. 
 

Hope everyone has a fantastic season 
 

 

[marsh man]

47 minutes ago, greenshank1 said:

We only get one cut of silage here and it’s just finished. So you can see what’s about, it’s funny listening to and trying to see greylag in uncut silage.
We have good Canada numbers and good resident greylag moving about so looking forward to getting out. 
Neighbouring driven pheasant shoots are heavily feeding a few flight ponds close to the shore and I suspect they will pull in alot of the mallard and wigeon like last year. 
 

Hope everyone has a fantastic season 
 

 

Your dog look very similar to mine , All the best for the coming season

[greenshank1]

53 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Your dog look very similar to mine , All the best for the coming season

Aye they do , she’s just turned 3 so she’s ready for this season . Hopefully she will get plenty of retrieves over the next few months

 

[Smokersmith]

I'll do my homework when it's appropriate.

On the foreshore it rarely is!

If you're going to be out there in ungodly hours, you may as well have a gun with you … and of course, no 2 days are ever the same out there either.

Under the sea wall, I much prefer to use my back catalogue of tides, times, wind patterns along with time of year … this serves me pretty well in terms of hitting the right places at the right times.

[wildfowler.250]

Not the same homework as I used to do if being honest. On the shore you can be in the perfect spot and one shot can put the geese off in a completely different direction.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, wildfowler.250 said:

Not the same homework as I used to do if being honest. On the shore you can be in the perfect spot and one shot can put the geese off in a completely different direction.

Talking to several younger members of our local wildfowling club I get the impression the 1st of Sept don't hold the same clout as it did in the past , the majority say they now leave it till later on in the season , part of it might be the block of marshes where I go which are 4 miles long don't no longer grow crops and all the livestock are kept on the grazing marshes till the beginning of November .

At one time there were more marshes with crops on than marshes left for hay and grazing , by doing your pre season homework it was rarely the case weather you would get any fowl , it was more of the case in how many would we get , the dykes were then in excellent condition and the stubbles were left for a while , some years you would be lucky that after some heavy rain at the beginning of the season you would have some splashes of water on the stubble , these were always worth checking out to see if there were any duck feathers around the edges .

Now I am happy leaving the duck alone for a while and carry on shooting Pigeons till the livestock are all off , by then the duck are in Winter plumage and the sound of the geese become louder as the days get shorter , by then I go into wildfowling mode and the Pigeons are left alone till February . GOOD LUCK 

 

[islandgun]

22 hours ago, greenshank1 said:

We only get one cut of silage here and it’s just finished. So you can see what’s about, it’s funny listening to and trying to see greylag in uncut silage.
We have good Canada numbers and good resident greylag moving about so looking forward to getting out. 
Neighbouring driven pheasant shoots are heavily feeding a few flight ponds close to the shore and I suspect they will pull in alot of the mallard and wigeon like last year. 
 

Hope everyone has a fantastic season 
 

 

Nice old clinker dinghy there, a common sight in my youth usually with a 4hp seagull outboard on the back. Ive started feeding my pond and noticed a couple of mallard on it yesterday, so will keep with it to hopefully attract some birds in once it gets a bit stormy

[greenshank1]

2 hours ago, islandgun said:

Nice old clinker dinghy there, a common sight in my youth usually with a 4hp seagull outboard on the back. Ive started feeding my pond and noticed a couple of mallard on it yesterday, so will keep with it to hopefully attract some birds in once it gets a bit stormy

Cheers , 

I spend more time sanding her and oiling her than out fishing but that’s wooden boats 

[wildfowler.250]

5 hours ago, marsh man said:

Talking to several younger members of our local wildfowling club I get the impression the 1st of Sept don't hold the same clout as it did in the past , the majority say they now leave it till later on in the season , part of it might be the block of marshes where I go which are 4 miles long don't no longer grow crops and all the livestock are kept on the grazing marshes till the beginning of November .

At one time there were more marshes with crops on than marshes left for hay and grazing , by doing your pre season homework it was rarely the case weather you would get any fowl , it was more of the case in how many would we get , the dykes were then in excellent condition and the stubbles were left for a while , some years you would be lucky that after some heavy rain at the beginning of the season you would have some splashes of water on the stubble , these were always worth checking out to see if there were any duck feathers around the edges .

Now I am happy leaving the duck alone for a while and carry on shooting Pigeons till the livestock are all off , by then the duck are in Winter plumage and the sound of the geese become louder as the days get shorter , by then I go into wildfowling mode and the Pigeons are left alone till February . GOOD LUCK 

 

I’m 30 - not sure that counts as young? - and have taken the first off for the last 15 years,(even in the past made the old man take me before school in the mornings). Far prefer the colder weather when it’s quieter but it’s nice just to get back out and see the sights. Usually try and find somewhere a bit quieter. Would rather not get something and be out in peace than have a gun 30 yards either side and shoot one goose. 

[Smiler23]

This season I'm ridiculously busy with work on run up to season to go out for a look to see what's about, but I'm lucky enough to have a good friend whose kept me in the loop with what's going on

[Smokersmith]

11 hours ago, wildfowler.250 said:

Far prefer the colder weather when it’s quieter but it’s nice just to get back out and see the sights. Usually try and find somewhere a bit quieter. Would rather not get something and be out in peace than have a gun 30 yards either side and shoot one goose. 

This !!