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Last pheasant of the season.


JDog
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My wife and I headed out on our daily walk this morning. As we walked and the bottom of a hanger wood with the dogs close by a cock pheasant got up from the top of the wood and flew the length of the wood before coming out 200m from us and straight into the only power lines for miles.

 

It died instantly and when I sent Barney to look he was straight onto it but instead of picking it he just sniffed it, reasoning perhaps that no shot equals no retrieve.

We are making pheasant pate this afternoon. 

IMG-20210113-WA0001.jpg

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4 minutes ago, Morkin said:

Well done enjoy your pate loverly looking dogs ,are they bred in your local area ? I understand if you would not rather say on here but was just interested probably for future .Thanks enjoy.

They are both funny little mongrel Sprockers with no breeding but I wouldn't be without them.

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Have never seen a Pheasant come to grief by hitting telegraph wires , Partridges yes and several times at that , also Swans , I remember the times when I used to sell my Pigeons , game and wildfowl to Pettits of Reedham ,I went in there once and the chap who sorted the game out asked me if I could get him a Swan as he wanted one for a university that were going to hold a Swan supper , this wasn't a to bigger problem as I knew one or two people who would do just about anything for a pound note going in there pocket , well a few days later my master plan wasn't necessary as I saw one hit the main telegraph lines that crossed the marshes , after I saw the flash I went over to investigate and low and behind there was one very dead Swan lying on the grass that had burn marks all the way down his neck but the body wasn't touched , this was gladly accepted at the dealers and a few pound notes were put in my pocket , maybe I had broke one , two or even more laws but it wasn't wasted and I had no complaints .

PS ... Now those wires are long gone and the ones around the Rivers and Broads now have got spinning reflectors to warn the Swans before they hit the wires .

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10 hours ago, JDog said:

My wife and I headed out on our daily walk this morning. As we walked and the bottom of a hanger wood with the dogs close by a cock pheasant got up from the top of the wood and flew the length of the wood before coming out 200m from us and straight into the only power lines for miles.

 

It died instantly and when I sent Barney to look he was straight onto it but instead of picking it he just sniffed it, reasoning perhaps that no shot equals no retrieve.

We are making pheasant pate this afternoon. 

IMG-20210113-WA0001.jpg

Strange reaction from the dog!  Has he picked much game before?

I think it was Joe Irving in one of his books who theorised about a dog on a blind retrieve not hunting the smell of the bird, but rather the smell of burnt gunpowder.  But nonetheless you'd have thought a dog with its instincts "activated" by being a shooting companion would have just grabbed hold of the bird.  I suppose the plus side is the lack of handling by a dog decreases the chances of damage to the meat.  Enjoy the pate :)

P.S. Are you related to James May? 😆

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14 hours ago, London Best said:

I have seen pheasants hit wires many times, and partridge too. I would agree it is probably more common with partridge.

I was beating a couple of years ago when we saw a distant cock bird heading high over pylon wires, someone fired and it died dramatically in a puff of feathers, we all congratulated the gun for an amazing high shot, after a bit of a wind up he did admit that it flew into the top wire (he claimed a hit as well 😉)

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1 hour ago, JDog said:

Very good.

The pheasant had no obvious signs of injury and certainly no blood. I believe that Barney didn't pick it because he thought he would be pegging it, something he has been taught not to do.

I can't believe it took me almost 24 hours to come up with that joke....

If that's the case with Barney he's certainly been taught well, hats off to you, and him of course 👍  If only we had a machine that gave us a print-out of what's going on in a dog's mind!

Have you made your pate yet?  The lack of fresh game in the last couple of weeks has made me realise how much I miss cooking it as a welcome change of menu during the game season.  What will possibly remain as my culinary swan-song in the game department this season was a rather tasty dish I did last Saturday.  I'll give you the full title... take a deep breath....

"Pot roast red-legged partridges cooked in smoked paprika, garlic & white wine, served on a pearl barley, spinach & chorizo risotto"

partridge.jpg.ed8478092077d586de0cdb6adea48f9d.jpg

That's the picture in the cook book....my version was bloody tasty even if it didn't quite end up the same as the recipe! 

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