Jump to content

It Ends On a High


6.5x55SE
 Share

Recommended Posts

Conor was given a day off being a tree surgeon/climber. So a very early rise plan being wind nice height tide half-light Pintail on the menu.

Hardly a breeze at silly o'clock as we parked the vehicle. Oh well tides spot on and the wind is predicted. The uneventful walk out across the green was all about near misses and if only of the fast ending season. Sitting about 20 yards apart where i estimated the tide to make i warned Conor if or when we shoot be very alert as any Duck will jump and possibly offer more chances. At 6am Teal could be heard all around along with many other foreshore birds apart from Pintail. 6.15 am with the wind increasing Brent was moving with both of us saying if only they was Pink's. Checking my watch again for predicted high tide it was now 6.30 am with us both kneeling in 2-3" of flood water  and about to move back Conor said Pinks definitely Pinks looking to his right sure enough five Pinks about 15 yards high  was coming straight at us . Let them get close and shoot to right i asked Conor watching praying they keep coming at about 20 yards Conor made his move two quick shots resulted in two falling into the flooded marsh the three remaining Pinks turned with the wind climbing picking the front bird i was elated to see it fold stone dead and fall with a almighty smack into the flooded marsh sending water up into the air The oldest of my two dogs made short work of the retrieve whilst Conor's young pup retrieved one of his from across a flooding creek with these in hand Conor said let Widgeon ( my younger dog ) get my second which he did . With all dogs given a goose each to carry we both waded back to dry marsh and the seawall. Fussing our dogs we stood with our Geese looking across the Marsh on the seawall big smiles grin's on our face and remarked what a season and what a last flight. After a blustery drive home when we entered the house my wife said i take it you both shot Geese. Really how can you tell !!!!!! 

Edited by 6.5x55SE
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lovely way to draw the curtains on another season Boyd , having your grandson close at hand , shooting three geese and all the dogs getting a retrieve including the youngsters , as they say around here , Bootiful.

With the advancing years you tend to look back rather than to look to far ahead as you know that one of these days your last flight and if anything went in the bag will be your last one , sad I know but you have to be realistic and as another season is all but over my last day of the inland season is still very much afresh in the memory bank .

We were due to have our beaters day the last Saturday in January but at the last minute our boss wanted his last day the day before on the Friday so our day was then put back till the Monday , this suited me fine as it gave me the unexpected last Saturday all to myself , I am no longer a very early riser to chase fowl about in the mornings but on this day I did tend to get up a bit earlier than normal to have a good walk around the marshes , this normally take a good two hours or so and I was rewarded with jumping up two single Teal which I managed to get both of them , that was more or less it for the morning and the rest of the day was spent pottering about at home and plucking a couple of Mallard , one is in fact for tonight's tea.

As the afternoon wore and the sun started to go down it was time to go out once again to what was going to be my last inland flight for this season , I had a marsh that had a fair bit of water on that I very rarely shoot as it is a good walk from where I park my motor and this was where I was heading for , time I got there it wasn't far short of flight time and I was glad I brought my stool to sit on and have a breather , it soon got dark and one or two duck were on the move , the first one that gave me a shot was a single Wigeon that I got with the second shot , my dog was back in a flash with a fine drake , now it was well and truly dark but I could still see well from the reflection of the towns lights , Teal were dropping in around me but I had two from the morning and didn't want any more , a small party of Mallard swung in and when they crossed two were left behind after two quick shots which again were soon safely gathered , two more singles were missed and when packing up one came from behind , turned halfway down the marsh and met his end when he decided to come back , this was it for another season , two Teal in the morning , one Wigeon and three Mallard at night , if the good lord decided my time is coming to a close then I couldn't had finished in a better way .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, 6.5x55SE said:

Conor was given a day off being a tree surgeon/climber. So a very early rise plan being wind nice height tide half-light Pintail on the menu.

Hardly a breeze at silly o'clock as we parked the vehicle. Oh well tides spot on and the wind is predicted. The uneventful walk out across the green was all about near misses and if only of the fast ending season. Sitting about 20 yards apart where i estimated the tide to make i warned Conor if or when we shoot be very alert as any Duck will jump and possibly offer more chances. At 6am Teal could be heard all around along with many other foreshore birds apart from Pintail. 6.15 am with the wind increasing Brent was moving with both of us saying if only they was Pink's. Checking my watch again for predicted high tide it was now 6.30 am with us both kneeling in 2-3" of flood water  and about to move back Conor said Pinks definitely Pinks looking to his right sure enough five Pinks about 15 yards high  was coming straight at us . Let them get close and shoot to right i asked Conor watching praying they keep coming at about 20 yards Conor made his move two quick shots resulted in two falling into the flooded marsh the three remaining Pinks turned with the wind climbing picking the front bird i was elated to see it fold stone dead and fall with a almighty smack into the flooded marsh sending water up into the air The oldest of my two dogs made short work of the retrieve whilst Conor's young pup retrieved one of his from across a flooding creek with these in hand Conor said let Widgeon ( my younger dog ) get my second which he did . With all dogs given a goose each to carry we both waded back to dry marsh and the seawall. Fussing our dogs we stood with our Geese looking across the Marsh on the seawall big smiles grin's on our face and remarked what a season and what a last flight. After a blustery drive home when we entered the house my wife said i take it you both shot Geese. Really how can you tell !!!!!! 

Basically what fowlin's  all about..👍

Some photos would be good

47 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Lovely way to draw the curtains on another season Boyd , having your grandson close at hand , shooting three geese and all the dogs getting a retrieve including the youngsters , as they say around here , Bootiful.

With the advancing years you tend to look back rather than to look to far ahead as you know that one of these days your last flight and if anything went in the bag will be your last one , sad I know but you have to be realistic and as another season is all but over my last day of the inland season is still very much afresh in the memory bank .

We were due to have our beaters day the last Saturday in January but at the last minute our boss wanted his last day the day before on the Friday so our day was then put back till the Monday , this suited me fine as it gave me the unexpected last Saturday all to myself , I am no longer a very early riser to chase fowl about in the mornings but on this day I did tend to get up a bit earlier than normal to have a good walk around the marshes , this normally take a good two hours or so and I was rewarded with jumping up two single Teal which I managed to get both of them , that was more or less it for the morning and the rest of the day was spent pottering about at home and plucking a couple of Mallard , one is in fact for tonight's tea.

As the afternoon wore and the sun started to go down it was time to go out once again to what was going to be my last inland flight for this season , I had a marsh that had a fair bit of water on that I very rarely shoot as it is a good walk from where I park my motor and this was where I was heading for , time I got there it wasn't far short of flight time and I was glad I brought my stool to sit on and have a breather , it soon got dark and one or two duck were on the move , the first one that gave me a shot was a single Wigeon that I got with the second shot , my dog was back in a flash with a fine drake , now it was well and truly dark but I could still see well from the reflection of the towns lights , Teal were dropping in around me but I had two from the morning and didn't want any more , a small party of Mallard swung in and when they crossed two were left behind after two quick shots which again were soon safely gathered , two more singles were missed and when packing up one came from behind , turned halfway down the marsh and met his end when he decided to come back , this was it for another season , two Teal in the morning , one Wigeon and three Mallard at night , if the good lord decided my time is coming to a close then I couldn't had finished in a better way .

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, Dave at kelton said:

Well done I have been far from successful this year.

Thanks Dave. Sorry to hear that your season has not been very successful . Any particular reason lack of birds or just unlucky. Must admit although we have had good success there has been plenty of if only flights where the geese really took the pee but made it even more satisfying when the dogs brought a Pink or two to hand . Has been a very special season for myself seeing Conor achieving many first's again along with him working his first Dog both of which I've been very proud to be part of and share 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, 6.5x55SE said:

With all dogs given a goose each to carry we both waded back to dry marsh and the seawall. Fussing our dogs we stood with our Geese looking across the Marsh on the seawall big smiles grin's on our face

I love that, let the dogs carry the geese 😁

16 hours ago, 6.5x55SE said:

we entered the house my wife said i take it you both shot Geese. Really how can you tell

I wonder 😆😆

Great read again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, 6.5x55SE said:

Conor was given a day off being a tree surgeon/climber. So a very early rise plan being wind nice height tide half-light Pintail on the menu.

Hardly a breeze at silly o'clock as we parked the vehicle. Oh well tides spot on and the wind is predicted. The uneventful walk out across the green was all about near misses and if only of the fast ending season. Sitting about 20 yards apart where i estimated the tide to make i warned Conor if or when we shoot be very alert as any Duck will jump and possibly offer more chances. At 6am Teal could be heard all around along with many other foreshore birds apart from Pintail. 6.15 am with the wind increasing Brent was moving with both of us saying if only they was Pink's. Checking my watch again for predicted high tide it was now 6.30 am with us both kneeling in 2-3" of flood water  and about to move back Conor said Pinks definitely Pinks looking to his right sure enough five Pinks about 15 yards high  was coming straight at us . Let them get close and shoot to right i asked Conor watching praying they keep coming at about 20 yards Conor made his move two quick shots resulted in two falling into the flooded marsh the three remaining Pinks turned with the wind climbing picking the front bird i was elated to see it fold stone dead and fall with a almighty smack into the flooded marsh sending water up into the air The oldest of my two dogs made short work of the retrieve whilst Conor's young pup retrieved one of his from across a flooding creek with these in hand Conor said let Widgeon ( my younger dog ) get my second which he did . With all dogs given a goose each to carry we both waded back to dry marsh and the seawall. Fussing our dogs we stood with our Geese looking across the Marsh on the seawall big smiles grin's on our face and remarked what a season and what a last flight. After a blustery drive home when we entered the house my wife said i take it you both shot Geese. Really how can you tell !!!!!! 

Great finish - enjoyed the read!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, 6.5x55SE said:

Thanks Dave. Sorry to hear that your season has not been very successful . Any particular reason lack of birds or just unlucky. Must admit although we have had good success there has been plenty of if only flights where the geese really took the pee but made it even more satisfying when the dogs brought a Pink or two to hand . Has been a very special season for myself seeing Conor achieving many first's again along with him working his first Dog both of which I've been very proud to be part of and share 

Mixture of things, lack of time, lack of geese for a large part, Avian Flu so I took a break of a month. Add to that not taking chances. Our biggest problem is the barnacle geese. They come through with the pinks so if pinks don’t talk you dare not take a chance in poor light. Probably didn’t take over dozen chances for that reason.

Just look forward to next season, god willing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Fellside said:

Great finish - enjoyed the read!

Thank you 👍.

Not for many years Dave but i to had that problems when i used to shoot your roughly area. I was convinced the Pink's learnt to keep quiet when they had their Black and White mate's with them. Certainly kept you on your toes with a lot of swearing as you let gifts of chances go by/over followed by wink wink when the chance had . Good times though which i miss

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, m greeny said:

Excellent read as always. It's great that your out with your grandson enjoying a very noble old pastime.

My son isn't interested anymore he would much rather be carp fishing much to my annoyance but at least I suppose he still enjoys the outdoors. 

Thanks mate 👍 Conor lost interest in Carp fishing once he had caught a mid twenty. He is very keen on Wildfowling already buzzing about next season and prospects for a new club we are joining in pursuit of a chance at Whitefronts 🤞🙏

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 18/02/2022 at 22:26, 6.5x55SE said:

Conor was given a day off being a tree surgeon/climber. So a very early rise plan being wind nice height tide half-light Pintail on the menu.

Hardly a breeze at silly o'clock as we parked the vehicle. Oh well tides spot on and the wind is predicted. The uneventful walk out across the green was all about near misses and if only of the fast ending season. Sitting about 20 yards apart where i estimated the tide to make i warned Conor if or when we shoot be very alert as any Duck will jump and possibly offer more chances. At 6am Teal could be heard all around along with many other foreshore birds apart from Pintail. 6.15 am with the wind increasing Brent was moving with both of us saying if only they was Pink's. Checking my watch again for predicted high tide it was now 6.30 am with us both kneeling in 2-3" of flood water  and about to move back Conor said Pinks definitely Pinks looking to his right sure enough five Pinks about 15 yards high  was coming straight at us . Let them get close and shoot to right i asked Conor watching praying they keep coming at about 20 yards Conor made his move two quick shots resulted in two falling into the flooded marsh the three remaining Pinks turned with the wind climbing picking the front bird i was elated to see it fold stone dead and fall with a almighty smack into the flooded marsh sending water up into the air The oldest of my two dogs made short work of the retrieve whilst Conor's young pup retrieved one of his from across a flooding creek with these in hand Conor said let Widgeon ( my younger dog ) get my second which he did . With all dogs given a goose each to carry we both waded back to dry marsh and the seawall. Fussing our dogs we stood with our Geese looking across the Marsh on the seawall big smiles grin's on our face and remarked what a season and what a last flight. After a blustery drive home when we entered the house my wife said i take it you both shot Geese. Really how can you tell !!!!!! 

Very good write up and it must be great to share a hobby with your grandson 👍

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...