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Grandson takes the field


Centrepin
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It being school holidays and all.

My youngest grandson age 8 has been asking me to take him out again. 

Unfortunately there's few Pigeons about at the moment. Having explained this in advance he was still willing to try.

I gave him some equipment to carry along with a drink and a cheese roll.

We walked round the field margins to a suitable place right at the edge of last week's ploughing.

He managed one shot at a low going away pigeon and I heard him say, "bum belly beak bang" so I know he's been listening well. Unfortunately it was a miss. 

He worked hard helping set up a hide and insisted he wanted to try putting out a pattern. Pattern out, not all faced into the wind but hey ho, gotta let him try.

Again, unfortunately no pigeons, but we did have a few nosey crow, some that'll not bother any more young lambs. His 9gram of 6s, followed by a healthy dose of 32gram x 5s saw to that. He even shot at a pair of magpies I failed to see and pointed out a large soaring buzzard.

Moving towards lunch time and me needing my afternoon nap we called it a day and finished on 4 crows.

He's over the moon and wants another day soon.

My daughter asked no picture of his face because of the antis, plus his school appears to have a problem with him shooting.

 

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Great post @Centrepin, as previously stated by others, absolutely nothing wrong with him shooting I regularly take my kids out with me. boy nearly nine and girl 7, my daughter took her first shot at 4 years old and she loves coming out with me. the boys not fussed either way but when he comes he enjoys it. If I got any feed back from either of my children that the schools had expressed any form of disapproval I’d be straight up there setting them straight. (I appreciate it’s a bit different for you being a grandparent) but fair play to the lads mum also for having his best interest at heart re the “no faces”. I hope he continues to enjoy being out with you and that it’s something you can enjoy together for years to come. 

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Great post - well done grandad.

I pick my sons up from school everyday, as said above, if there was just the slightest ‘anti’ comment from school I would be in there having a meeting. Having said that, it’s not likely as they attend a market town school with a lot of farming and country people around. 

Your grandson won’t forget those crows, very special. 

 

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Lovely post and no doubt one very happy young man , oh and not forgetting the proud grand dad .

Last year I took the keepers son who is ten with me Pigeon shooting , for a ten year old he was years ahead of his age , safety was first class and for his age he shot well , trouble was there was so many bits of Red tape regarding firearms  involved with taking youngsters out I had to call it day .

I remember one of them was , he was only allowed to use my gun under my supervision and not his mums 20 bore , not sure if we done right with his mum lending me her gun and then I let her boy use it ? , at the end of the day I am to old to have all that worry so sadly I had to stop taking him .:no:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Brilliant post, what every young man wants to do until they are indoctrinated by the system we have allowed, minority rules.

At his age every lad  in our road had an air gun, this may have reduced the amount of sparrows and starlings but also reduced greatly the rats around the chicken pens. The design of the houses provided plenty of nest sites to redress the balance.

I can remember reading once that the British troops in the First WW were at an advantage as the majority had come from small villages in the country and use to using guns, I’m aware that warfare has moved on but it seems the criminal fraternity have taken over the headlines with guns etc.

Encourage him to follow your examples and he will have a good life.

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41 minutes ago, pigeon controller said:

Brilliant post, what every young man wants to do until they are indoctrinated by the system we have allowed, minority rules.

At his age every lad  in our road had an air gun, this may have reduced the amount of sparrows and starlings but also reduced greatly the rats around the chicken pens. The design of the houses provided plenty of nest sites to redress the balance.

I can remember reading once that the British troops in the First WW were at an advantage as the majority had come from small villages in the country and use to using guns, I’m aware that warfare has moved on but it seems the criminal fraternity have taken over the headlines with guns etc.

Encourage him to follow your examples and he will have a good life.

Very nicely put P C , .... I am pretty sure that if I had my life over again I cannot see me having the same life span connected with shooting , we went down exactly the same road when we were youngsters , started off with a ( cattie ) and then moved on to air rifles with the B S A Airsporter being one of the best ones we had , we took the freedom for granted and seeing the ole boys walking down the road with with there un sleeved guns under one arm while carrying a couple of duck in the other was a common site , we all had little places where we could go and shoot the odd pigeon and on a rare occasion a English Partridge , our estuary at the time was all free shooting and at 15 I had bought my first gun punt by saving a few quid while working down the sea front in my school holidays , then when I started work I saved my spare money up and bought my second gun punt time I was 18 , these were the care free days in the mid 60s  , and then things slightly changed with the estuary becoming a nature reserve in 1968 , even though you could still have restricted shooting things were never the same as far as wild fowling went .

Then when one door shut another one open and we got into Pigeon shooting , like a lot of things the more we done the better we become and doors were opening quicker than we could shut them with new perms around just about every corner , it was easier to say what odd farm we didn't have rather than all the ones we did have .

So as expected things have moved on from 1962 to 2022 , but if I was about to start down that road today I don't think I would still be holding onto the little bit the freedom like I am today , in fact I know I wont .

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Hi All 

very interesting post thanks, always a discussion to be had, I have been lucky to have the chance of coaching a lot of youngest over the past few years. Most have Parents or Grandparents starting them off, as a result of the etiquette on shoot days where they have beaten from an early age, they come to me as very well mannered, respectful and often smartly dressed youngsters.  

They are so keen and learn very quickly, a lot turning into good shots on their own merit, with a little guidance from me. I will bump into them at game fairs and they will come up to me and say hello, telling me how well they have been doing or that they have shot their first goose! At last years Game Fair a 18yr old came upto me, i hadnt seen for a few years to tell me he had been to game keepers Collège and now had a job and digs on a big shoot, thanking me for all the help I had given him. good job i had shooting glasses on so he couldn't see the tears in my eyes!!

The shooting fraternity is a good start for youngsters, giving them a good grasp of safety, respect for the countryside and to respect other people. How many other pastimes would do that.? 

With your guidance as grandparents or parents they will hopefully be the ones to keep our beloved shooting going, i have a couple of grandchildren now too young to start yet but looking forward to taking them out if they want to go.

Keep taking them out and keep safe 

 

 

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