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Fowlin weather


islandgun
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Just a bit about todays attempt below the HW line. For a while the temperature has been freezing, leaving all the freshwater pools with a proper layer of ice, Near me is a small stream that empties into our sandy estuary, it occurred to me that if i was a duck, the moving water would be the place to go. With the apparent temperature -5c [although it seemed much colder] and the wind at 55mph the hound and sat ourselves down under the bank with the wind at our backs and waited into the dark with the tide flooding into the mouth of the stream. Three mallard battled in against the wind and allowed me to take the first bird followed with a miss as the others split and took off down wind. A while later two more came in from the estuary at head height and passed about 10ft above us, with all the time in the world i managed to miss both, Very dark now and being colder than i remember in living history, the dog and i piled into the old motor and made off across the field's to a warm fire and a dram.  edit to say theres a thaw starting tomorrow 

 

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Edited by islandgun
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58 minutes ago, blackbird said:

You are welcome to it mate, freezing my balls off to shoot a duck is not my idea of enjoyment 😀

Freezing 🥶 your balls of shooting duck is the most enjoyable shooting experience you can feel Wild weather wild estuary Wild species nothing comes close lol 😆 

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1 hour ago, blackbird said:

You are welcome to it mate, freezing my balls off to shoot a duck is not my idea of enjoyment 😀

One duck !... Ive done much worse than that..😄

 

Cheers everyone..👍 Re the cold weather I would have left it but expect it will be the last chance this season as the thaw will allow the very few ducks i see, to be spread even more thinly about the inland pools

1 hour ago, Smokersmith said:

Some folks just ain’t made of the right stuff.

Gutted I’ve not been out in this weather. 

A well earned duck .. enjoy!

 Smokersmith... Me and the wife will be eating it tomorrow along with two woodcock i shot in the last week of the season..😉

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10 hours ago, islandgun said:

One duck !... Ive done much worse than that..😄

 

Cheers everyone..👍 Re the cold weather I would have left it but expect it will be the last chance this season as the thaw will allow the very few ducks i see, to be spread even more thinly about the inland pools

 Smokersmith... Me and the wife will be eating it tomorrow along with two woodcock i shot in the last week of the season..😉

You my friend are made of harder stuff than myself 🥶🥶🥶well done 👍

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You prey for weather like the last few days,when the weather god's shine on the wildfowler. Fowl on the foreshore and perfect conditions to make a  bag .

I must admit it got to a point when the thumb was so cold I had trouble getting the safety off. The dog was a bit chilly too.

Pintail,teal,wigeon and mallard in numbers.Mild weather on the way and the end of the season in sight,had to make the most of it.

 

 

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Well done. We were forecast gales all day Yesterday but nothing. Still had three pinks out on the shore despite it being relatively calm. Was bloody cold though. Fortunately I have a good coat and gloves brought over from USA 25 years ago. Add Hot Hands heat pads inside the gloves and neoprene chest waders and it’s only the face that catches the icy blast.

I pray for weather like that but have had precious little strong wind when I could get out this season.

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3 minutes ago, Dave at kelton said:

Well done. We were forecast gales all day Yesterday but nothing. Still had three pinks out on the shore despite it being relatively calm. Was bloody cold though. Fortunately I have a good coat and gloves brought over from USA 25 years ago. Add Hot Hands heat pads inside the gloves and neoprene chest waders and it’s only the face that catches the icy blast.

I pray for weather like that but have had precious little strong wind when I could get out this season.

 

15 minutes ago, greylag said:

You prey for weather like the last few days,when the weather god's shine on the wildfowler. Fowl on the foreshore and perfect conditions to make a  bag .

I must admit it got to a point when the thumb was so cold I had trouble getting the safety off. The dog was a bit chilly too.

Pintail,teal,wigeon and mallard in numbers.Mild weather on the way and the end of the season in sight,had to make the most of it.

 

 

65 mph and rain today, strangely the ice has gone from the surface water but the ground is still hard. good luck for the rest of the season

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7 minutes ago, Dave at kelton said:

Well done. We were forecast gales all day Yesterday but nothing. Still had three pinks out on the shore despite it being relatively calm. Was bloody cold though. Fortunately I have a good coat and gloves brought over from USA 25 years ago. Add Hot Hands heat pads inside the gloves and neoprene chest waders and it’s only the face that catches the icy blast.

I pray for weather like that but have had precious little strong wind when I could get out this season.

And new decoys shortly dave.

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Well done on your Mallard Ig , I doubt you have done to much harm to Scotland's Mallard population , hard weather and wildfowling always went hand and hand with each other , coastal comes into it's own, where on the fresh marshes the strong Easterly below temp is no good for man and beast , all the splashes get frozen over and most of the dykes , I say most of the dykes as one of the dykes on the marshes I go on don't freeze over due to some underground springs and moving water , this dyke can always be relied on producing a duck or two by jumping them up in the morning and a very good evening duck flight ( mainly Teal )

Coastal used to be excellent , once the Broads freeze over the duck pile in on the estuary where the salt water stay open and rarely freeze , I say used to be as now far to many people have got the free time to walk along the wall to watch the big numbers of wildfowl and it wouldn't go down well if somebody was shooting fowl in full view of the public , where in my early days the general public were an endangered species up on the estuary and even more so in times of inclement weather , happy days indeed.

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1 hour ago, marsh man said:

Well done on your Mallard Ig , I doubt you have done to much harm to Scotland's Mallard population , hard weather and wildfowling always went hand and hand with each other , coastal comes into it's own, where on the fresh marshes the strong Easterly below temp is no good for man and beast , all the splashes get frozen over and most of the dykes , I say most of the dykes as one of the dykes on the marshes I go on don't freeze over due to some underground springs and moving water , this dyke can always be relied on producing a duck or two by jumping them up in the morning and a very good evening duck flight ( mainly Teal )

Coastal used to be excellent , once the Broads freeze over the duck pile in on the estuary where the salt water stay open and rarely freeze , I say used to be as now far to many people have got the free time to walk along the wall to watch the big numbers of wildfowl and it wouldn't go down well if somebody was shooting fowl in full view of the public , where in my early days the general public were an endangered species up on the estuary and even more so in times of inclement weather , happy days indeed.

Cheers mm.  I hope your right but tbh ducks do seem to be endangered around here, not the result of my marksmanship 😀  I feed my pond to encourage them to stay around and got a few nocturnal birds on camera, usually in the middle of the night [i dont shoot it]. Im enjoying the evening into darkness efforts and will persist with those next season. we ate last nights bird today along with a woodcock each, it was delicious [must be all the grain ive been feeding it on]

I know what you mean about numbers of people about nowadays, especially in Norfolk, think we have seen the best, happily for me I'm the only person here to venture out in the dark and cold to shoot a duck..👍 

My pond at home 2-00 am

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