Last day & last bird of the season!

[Agriv8]

After the last day of the season which is a tidy up on the moors. I always get a bit of a low feeling about packing up for a long 10 months before we start again.

As my age has hit the half century I know realise that the numbers I have hit or missed is less important but the enjoyment of the views and scenery and working with the dog and spending time with the shooting family and the crack in the pub or over 11s.

my season has mainly being about they to persuade an spanner spaniel that she need to do the same with game as in the park with a tennis ball or dummy.my shooting has improved as the pressure to hit everything has reduced ( the I was concentrating on the dog has been added to the excuses list )

But In all honesty I think it always harder to see our own dogs positives and get too hung up on the negatives two retrieves Today were not quite to hand but there was a release after a sort stand off so I must take that as a positive step for us. 

So The last bird - the dog had worked a stream and reed bed between two large clumps  of heather the head was down and the movements and odd look for dad told me close gun and safety off. shed been round a particular area twice but they had been sitting tight all day and third time a large cock broke cover about 15 yards the pause to wait for it to break into the sky ( To ensure safety) and I downed it. 
 
the dog bounded off and struggled to lift the cock after working and still being a little tired ! Again almost a look of dad a little  Help please.so broke the gun and asked her to stay. It was a heavy Healthy pheasant 

the sun was perfect the weather dry and that was it done for another season. Being a working sprocker  owner has taught me a lesson that there in never a dull moment trying to keep up. But the joy of today being in tune and working together was  priceless  
 

Agriv8 and Pip

 

 

[Walker570]

Brilliant and that is what it is all about not just treating 60-70yrd birds as targets. 

[marsh man]

A great report on your last day , I find the last day we have is a day to look forward , it is also tinged with a touch of sadness as we know this day is it for another season and as the years roll on we can only hope we will all be meeting up again in a few months time .

You are dead right in saying what you hit and miss become a lot less important with age and with a number of seasons below the belt , yesterday was our last day and with the strong wind and knowing what drives we were doing I was in fact in two minds in even taking my gun as I was picking up and didn't have to worry about standing on a peg and then beating for for the other team .

As it turned out I took my gun and missed some and shot a few , my last bird shot was also a heavy old cock that will be remembered as I shot it in a graveyard which was a fitting place for the Pheasant to end his days . 

[Lloyd90]

People think shooting close up birds over the dog is easy… until they try it 🤣 

 

At those ranges you get very little spread of the pattern so very easy to rifle straight past, and the fact your inside the cover, scrambling through ditches, through branches and bramble mean you might get a split second to shoot. 
 

Nothing like standing on peg watching the bird come from a mile off, planting your feet and planning your swing. 
 

Instinctual snap shooting and it is some of the best you’ll ever do  

 

 

Sounds like Pip is coming along , slowly slowly it goes. We’ve had many many a bad day but you soon forget them and the good memories definitely our shadow the bad  

[B725]

For me shooting over my own dog that is under control whilst watching the unruly dog's is the perfect day, I'm not interested in big number's of game I do have the odd driven day but it comes second to a good walked up or rough shoot.

Some thing's the dog does will stick with you for ever, a couple of spaniel's ago my dog at the time Alfie had his first day beating at 18 months of age. It was a day in Derby for a Lord and his son and I was under the watchful eye of not only the keeper but he is also a international trialing judge , anyhow my dog entered the root ball of a huge tree that had fallen over when 5 pheasant's came out in a stat burst and Alfie just sat and watched never moving an inch. The keeper said what more do you want than that from the dog later I sent him back for a retrieve in full front of the gun's and it was a text book retrieve including sat untill told to release, those two things made my day but I can still replay them in my mind as if they had just happened, just got to love a Spanner ☺️

[scutt]

My last pheasant of the season was just after the first storm when we lost a lot of control over the flushing points of the drives due to upturned trees and roots making it imposable to get thru the woods . So the dogs had to do the work mainly out of site and control .I was flanking and beating sending the dog into the windfall and he flushed a cock bird right at the end of the wood it came out of the corner and curled back to me down it went to my first barrel  landing just into the edge of the wood .Now Smudge is 8 and is an experienced dog but he could not collect this bird So after a while I climbed into the wood as best I could  and found him  standing on his back legs stretching into the branches of a fallen tree trying to reach the cock bird that was hanging up in the branches .With the aid of a stick I dislodged the bird and it fell to Smudge for him to retrieve .

For the rest of the season I did not carry the gun because it allowed me to work the dog and get some birds over my pals .   I mostly used Smudge to beat as he is a big strong lad the hard going in the woods just didn't  bother him .

Gave Smudge a day out on a roost shoot to see if I could stop him from running into shot as he has picked up the habit this season . We walked thru a small wood and I let him have a rake about flushing half a dozen hen birds before we got into position, to have a go at the roosting pigeons. He was a perfect companion sat  next to me not making any attempted to move as I shot at the birds he never made any comment when I missed  and was happy to collect the few I hit .A real friend only wanting to be in my company that's Smudge my English springer.

[B725]

Well done Smudge, that memory and snapshot in time will stay with you forever and the indiscretions will be just put to the back of your mind 👍 

[Agriv8]

Just caught back up with this thread.

well Pip (Sunday name Pippa )  has gone back to being Full time pet and I can say that training and working her has rubbed off on me and my mental well being i

you’ll get there with the young one b725 ! If you’d had asked me 18 months ago would I have a

Pet Sproker

Working Sprocker 

Running buddy for Mrs Agriv8 

Reasonable  level of recall and obedience 

and most importantly:-

sneaking to the pub on our evening walk and curling up under the table Sprocker 

by the time she was 2 years old I would not have believed you.

yes she still goes absolutely bonkers when she smells a squirrel but maybe she will grow out of it. 
 

Yes there is a long list of training that is like to get through this summer. but at the end of the day she’s my basket case nut job ratbag but I wouldn’t swap her for all the tea in china. The last few working days of the season mostly walked up shooting was more enjoyable than being sat on a peg as we really gelled  as a team I feel

though I am sure Pip has developed a new sarcastic look this season “ The how the flip did you miss that DAD  -I don’t know why I bother !?!”

Agriv8 and Pippa 

Edited February 16, 2022 by Agriv8
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