Walked up hedgerows

[Lloyd90]

Out shooting todat with @oowee over his cocker  we have some land that we just walk around the hedgerows. We don't put down any feeders or covercrop, just shoot wild birds that are on the land. 

We met at the location in seperate cars and set off for the morning. I didn't work my dog as he seems to have bumped his shoulder and is lifting one of his front legs on and off. I am giving him a good rest before taking him out shooting as he stopped limping the other day then was limping the next day after I took him out.

As I left the house this morning I reached for my AYA 117 side by side. A nice traditional gun for a traditional shoot. I hoped I was making the right choice. 

 

Anyway, Oowee and I met and off we went with his cocker hunting up the hedgerows. We started off with me missing 2 birds flushed out front, which was annoying!! I was starting to wonder if I had picked the wrong gun. After a walk Oowee's cocker was on good form, flushed another 2 birds that I didn't even lift the gun on as I thought one was a bit far out, and the other went behind a tree before I could even lift the gun.

 

Just as I was starting to second guess myself, the cocker flushed a hen bird that came across me as a crosser, which I swung through on instinctively and dropped stone dead with my first shot. Now we were away. 

This connection followed by a good spell, with Oowee's cocker flushing bird after bird. I shot a cracking cock bird, followed by Oowee taking 2 more cock birds flushed out of a gulley. I must say that Oowee doesn't miss much. I think he only needed the second barrel once all day. Several birds were flushed and let go, as we were fairly selective, as well as a fair few birds running ahead before flushing out of range. We finished the first half of the farm with 2 birds for me and 3 birds for Oowee.

 

Our trip down one hedgerow was sadly spoilt by a walker who approached us. Oowee politely said good morning, only to be met by the bloke complaining about some birds which were apparently dumped nearby a week ago. Oowee said this was nothing to do with us, the bloke it turned out owned a driven shoot across the road, and was then joined by his even less pleasant friend. The man and his friend (who were out together), were very angry that Oowee and I were out together (work that one out). They said what we were doing was illegal. We said no it isn't, we are following government guidlines and BASC guideance and perfectly legal to be out rough shooting. Then after abusing us verbally saying we were acting illegally said they don't care what the laws says, and said it was immoral that we were out. He then started on demanding we produced our SGC's and our game licences, which he told him again politely that we don't have to do. The man's even more angry friend then said he was phoning the Police on us (how dramatic). We told him he was welcome to phone the Police, and I asked him to calm down and stop swearing at us (which just made him worse)... He then said he was taking photo's of us, which we said was fine, and I took out my phone and video recorded the incident so they could not make any dodgy allegations about us. He then didn't phone the Police. What it apeared to come down to, is that these two blokes are on a shoot across the way, and were not happy that they aren't allowed to shoot, and think we are shooting "their birds". We told them we have done nothing wrong and they eventually stormed off in a huff. Very silly behaviour. Oowee was very polite and kept his cool throughout the whole thing. They also didn't seem to think there was any issue with them being stood shoulder to shoulder trying to give us abuse, whilst telling us we shouldn't be out  ... 

 

I also add that we have a self-imposed limit on this ground of 2 brace per shooter, so after a short break to recover from our ordeal and a drink of water and tea back at our cars, we set off to cover the second half of the farm, away from our new friends. 

 

We walked a spot that usually always holds a bird or two but saw nothing. Just as we were waiting a load of pigeons came over and I hit one with the first shot, which veered directly up into the air and then sort of stalled in mid air. I was expecting it to come down any seconf when - "SHOOT IT AGAIN!" shouted Oowee, so I fired again and it absolutely nailed it, the bird folded hard in the air and crashed down with a real thud into the ground, and was picked and brought back by the trusty cocker. 

 

We then walked up several more hedgerows on the bottom half of the farm, finishing with me taking three more birds, one that came across me and I waited ages for it to clear some trees before shooting it way out in the field, picked by the cocker. Another I dropped out of some marsh like cover, and finally one that flushed right at the last hedgerows as we were about to finish. The final bag to make up our limit of 8 birds  ... I did try to tell Oowee to shoot one of the last ones but as he was working his dog they kept flushing on my side lol... I have promised to work my dog next time so they flush on his side. 

 

 

We finished up on this farm, and before finishing stopped by for a quick walk around another farm that Oowee has down the road. We again went in seperate cars and met on the land. We walked up the hedgerows again, with a lovely hen bird flushing out on my side... I missed it with the first shot, and somehow managed to hit it with the more open choke on my SxS way out. The bird stumbled and came down much to my shock 😮 but was a strong runner. Not to worry, the trusty cocker was hot on his heels, and after a short course around the field had picked the bird and was on his way back!! What a brilliant retrieve. We managed to finish up this bit of land with Oowee taking a partridge flushed out of the bottom of a hedge by his cocker, but sadly landed in a place that was impossible to retrieve from. 

 

I must say, despite our little dispute we had a fantastic day traditional walked up shooting. I did enjoy shooting over a cocker spaniel and I would definately be open to having one on future. What a great little dog for shooting walked up hedgerows  

[London Best]

Nice write-up. Cockers really are fun little dogs, aren’t they?

[Lloyd90]

4 minutes ago, London Best said:

Nice write-up. Cockers really are fun little dogs, aren’t they?

Yes their small size seems to be made up for by a big heart 😁 and a big attitude 🤣

 

This one certainly had no problem picking a good size cock pheasant as he shot mostly all cock birds. 
 

I do admire them and wanted to get one in the future. After today I want one even more. 
 

 

[B725]

It just proves that you don't have to shoot big numbers to have a good day only one thing that would have made it better and thats if you had Ted with you.

[London Best]

Cockers.

We were GIVEN two! The dog was small, but could carry a greylag. The bitch was really tiny and struggled with cock pheasants, but would always manage better if they were runners. They were Sanford Black Mamba strain. Unfortunately, neither lived long.

Edited November 16, 2020 by London Best

[Zimtrout]

lovely write up. I have a cocker, he is a legend, a pet really, but every now and then astounds me and makes a retrieve my trialling pal is gobsmacked by. the latest one was a teal, shot at last light across a pond and into a thick ditch covered in blackthorn and gorse...off he shot, skirted the pond, then waded/swam across the corner, then disappeared, returned wagging his tail, with the teal in his gob......

[Lloyd90]

19 minutes ago, B725 said:

It just proves that you don't have to shoot big numbers to have a good day only one thing that would have made it better and thats if you had Ted with you.

I had Ted and the pup in the car, I gave them both a short run about when we stopped before the second half but I didn’t hunt him as his injury seems lingering. I don’t want to rush him back and he ends up out of action for twice as long. 
 

Hopefully get out again next week.

18 minutes ago, London Best said:

Cockers.

We were GIVEN two! The dog was small, but could carry a greylag. The bitch was really tiny and struggled with cock pheasants, but would always manage better if they were runners. They were Sanford Black Mamba strain. Unfortunately, neither lived long.

My springer is better on runners as well. He seems to think he has to grab hold of them properly or they will get away. 

Of stone dead he is a bit too delicate. 
 

What did they both go from mate? Sorry to hear.

[Remimax]

great write up ,always some cock womble trying to ruin yer day.

top marks for keeping yer cool  in front of the tool.

Edited November 16, 2020 by Remimax

[Lloyd90]

17 minutes ago, Zimtrout said:

lovely write up. I have a cocker, he is a legend, a pet really, but every now and then astounds me and makes a retrieve my trialling pal is gobsmacked by. the latest one was a teal, shot at last light across a pond and into a thick ditch covered in blackthorn and gorse...off he shot, skirted the pond, then waded/swam across the corner, then disappeared, returned wagging his tail, with the teal in his gob......

Brilliant  

[JDog]

Good write up.

 

[London Best]

3 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

What did they both go from mate? Sorry to hear.

We never really diagnosed the dog, something to do with his brain. The lights were on but nobody at home. Kept happening until he just lay down to die, not even eight. The bitch took cancer all over the place, week off being nine.

[Walker570]

Excellent.  I think I know where you where and there is some interesting countryside just there. Ooowee will correct me if I'm wrong.  There certainly is or was in my time down there a big driven shoot close bye.  Walking hedgerows with a dog or two and afriend takes a lot of beating ...pun not intend honest.

[Lloyd90]

9 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Excellent.  I think I know where you where and there is some interesting countryside just there. Ooowee will correct me if I'm wrong.  There certainly is or was in my time down there a big driven shoot close bye.  Walking hedgerows with a dog or two and afriend takes a lot of beating ...pun not intend honest.

I have heard stories in the past of groups of lads having full driven shoots without putting any birds down,  purely off trying to attract birds off other shoots nearby. Now that’s a mick take. 
 

We don’t put any feeders down. 
We don’t put any cover crop in. 

We have a limit of 2 braces of pheasant per gun. 
Most of our club are old men who are either too old or too fat to walk around this farm. 
We probably push more birds back onto surrounding shoots than we take. 
 

Sadly some people are happy to abuse someone for doing something, whilst they would see no problem with it if the roles were reversed. 
 
 

[marsh man]

A good report of your day out doing a bit of hedgerow walking .

Reading between the lines , your ( protesters ) were more concerned about ( there ) Pheasants being shot than you doing a bit of rough shooting ,it might pay in future for you to put a couple of hundred down and then they would have nothing to complain about you shooting some of there birds as it would work both ways .

[mossy835]

if there birds come on your land you can shoot them,they are free birds they roam.glad you had a good day, shame 2 idiots were there.

[Walker570]

52 minutes ago, Lloyd90 said:

I have heard stories in the past of groups of lads having full driven shoots without putting any birds down,  purely off trying to attract birds off other shoots nearby. Now that’s a mick take. 
 

We don’t put any feeders down. 
We don’t put any cover crop in. 

We have a limit of 2 braces of pheasant per gun. 
Most of our club are old men who are either too old or too fat to walk around this farm. 
We probably push more birds back onto surrounding shoots than we take. 
 

Sadly some people are happy to abuse someone for doing something, whilst they would see no problem with it if the roles were reversed. 
 
 

Sounds like my type of shoot.  I must admit these days I cannot walk like I did 40yrs ago but have some fantstic memories of doing just what you two where doing. Hope that litle dog is fit again soon because I bet he was swearing at you for leaving him behind.

[Lloyd90]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

A good report of your day out doing a bit of hedgerow walking .

Reading between the lines , your ( protesters ) were more concerned about ( there ) Pheasants being shot than you doing a bit of rough shooting ,it might pay in future for you to put a couple of hundred down and then they would have nothing to complain about you shooting some of there birds as it would work both ways .

We could do, but then we will be putting down cover crop, pens and feeders. 
 

Without doubt we would pull in a hell of a lot more of “their” birds if we did that. Mostly cos they are having regular driven shoots and we shoot tiny bags of 4 max per shooter. 
 

I don’t think they’d care if we put down any birds anyway. 
 

There are a few shoots around. If we were feeding etc to entice fair enough but we aren’t. Just a few blokes walking hedgerows. 

[jall25]

Sounds great fun

I would put a few feeders out - not too close to the boundaries to upset people.

Not only will you have a few more birds about but the day will be even better as you see flocks of song birds throughout the day pal

Some of our feeders are pulling droves of them in now 

 

Just managed to plant another 2000 trees/shrubs this weekend - and got 2000 more coming this week !

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done and the stupid situation was well handled too.

[Spr1985]

Really good write up, I enjoyed reading it. Such a shame about the pair from over the road though but as said above well handled and hopefully didn’t tarnish the day to much 👍🏻

[Ashimik]

Nice sum up of Beautiful day .  

[scutt]

Good day out the best with gun and dog. .As for the confrontation I must admit I would not be happy about birds going off my shoot to be shot by others who had made no effort in providing game to be hunted . Not knocking the boys But I would not have spoiled the day for them . I would be blaming myself for not keep my birds on the shoot so I would have took it as  a lesson to be learned to plug the leek of birds in that area.

 

[JMsTV]

i had similar problem pigeon shooting in September with a bloke getting aggressive about a "Bag of pigeons" that he found on some land that he walks his dog around that I don't have permission to shoot on .He wouldn't except that it wasn't me that dumped there(if there ever was any) , he then left with his final words of " if you want to shoot pigeons go out in the country side and do it  you d**khead " 😂

[Lloyd90]

2 hours ago, scutt said:

Good day out the best with gun and dog. .As for the confrontation I must admit I would not be happy about birds going off my shoot to be shot by others who had made no effort in providing game to be hunted . Not knocking the boys But I would not have spoiled the day for them . I would be blaming myself for not keep my birds on the shoot so I would have took it as  a lesson to be learned to plug the leek of birds in that area.

 

It’s one of those things. We put down several hundred birds on another syndicate I am on. There are no other shoots around. 
 

Some lads across the road put down feeders and shoot the birds that wander onto their land. 
 

It’s their right to do so. We don’t get upset about it. Once released they are wild birds. 
 

On this shoot we don’t put down feeders or cover crop with the intention of attractions “someone else’s birds”... but if they wander onto our permission then we will shoot them. It is a walked up day shootint what have become ‘wild birds’. 
 

I am still trying to get another woodcock on the land. Few pigeons, few ducks, geese come over sometimes, and pheasants now and then. 
 

[scutt]

As I say not knocking you lads for taking your chances good luck to you that's the joy of rough shooting .

just my thoughts on the way the other blokes may have seen the situation and yes they made fools of themselves .

Still plenty of time for a fall of woodcock.