marsh man Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 2 hours ago, Old Boggy said: That’s very interesting Ditchy. I did read that they always used fox coloured dogs, but it makes sense that they controlled them in that way. There must also have been a decoy somewhere between Great Yarmouth and Potter Higham as I recall seeing a sign for ‘Decoy Road’ on the right somewhere near Repps with Bastwick,(that name sounds like a salesman with a serious disease 😂) or was this the Fritton decoy that you referred to? OB Morning Chris , the Decoy Road you were referring to is at Ormbsy and is on the other side of the river from Fritton which is about ten miles away , no doubt at one time there was a small(ish) duck decoy on the Ormbsy Broad , duck were in big demand just after the war years and the ones that were caught in the decoys fetched the best price as they had no shot , or damaged in any way apart from having a longer neck , numbers of duck in the area must have been staggering and would have been a very good earner , numbers wise , in a book I have got ( The King In His Country ) had a morning's duck flight near Ransworth Broad on the 4th Jan 1938 , the duck were flighting in off the sea and were all wild , the team of guns were split up and shot until breakfast time and then went out again till 11 am as they had to be back to the hall at 12 o clock . The duck were non stop and Aubrey Buxton who wrote the book was saying he had never seen as many in such a short time , the final count was 499 assorted duck , in the afternoon they went Pheasant shooting and shot 148 wild Pheasants bringing the days bag to 655 head which included 13 different species , not a bad day Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 3 hours ago, Old Boggy said: That’s very interesting Ditchy. I did read that they always used fox coloured dogs, but it makes sense that they controlled them in that way. There must also have been a decoy somewhere between Great Yarmouth and Potter Higham as I recall seeing a sign for ‘Decoy Road’ on the right somewhere near Repps with Bastwick,(that name sounds like a salesman with a serious disease 😂) or was this the Fritton decoy that you referred to? OB lot of roads in norfolk starting with decoy road.......my mate who i used to stay with on the weekend when i was at college his parents house was called decoy farm....the main farm was owned by charle wharton..(bit of a naughty boy)....he was my mates uncle....he got arrested for flying in parkistanis from Holland at night and landing them on the farms air strip....old charlie used to run roaund in a rolls royce...........there sum rum people in norfolk...........Marsh Man would have heard/known of charlie Wharton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 On 08/06/2022 at 11:16, ditchman said: back to the decoy.......i remember talking to a decoy "boi"...a few years ago...either side of the decoy was willow blinds...leading down to the capture throat...when the duck were on the water 2 dogs were used...they were always brown or red coloured dogs and they were trained to pop out from the blinds and pop back in....the ole duck thought they was a fox and bit by bit they were driv down the water to the throat....once they were in the throat the dogs used to jump in the water and the ducks were frit and went further in the throat..the whole process use to take about 3/4's an hour....the control of the dogs was the most important thing..keeping them behind the blinds... And traditionally called 'Piper', the dogs that is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 40 minutes ago, Penelope said: And traditionally called 'Piper', the dogs that is. i didnt know that ..interesting....what area of the country was that from ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 10 hours ago, ditchman said: lot of roads in norfolk starting with decoy road.......my mate who i used to stay with on the weekend when i was at college his parents house was called decoy farm....the main farm was owned by charle wharton..(bit of a naughty boy)....he was my mates uncle....he got arrested for flying in parkistanis from Holland at night and landing them on the farms air strip....old charlie used to run roaund in a rolls royce...........there sum rum people in norfolk...........Marsh Man would have heard/known of charlie Wharton You are right as per normal , I did know Charlie and for a number of years I dealt with his son Edward who now runs the very large farming complex which is now over a 1000 acres , each year he would send me the maps where he was growing Peas and the farm manager would often give me a few boxes of cartridges , I can still go on all of his land but with all the Summer traffic it take time to cover the 15 miles or so , I have had a go on his Peas this year but I have got more than enough nearer to my house , Alan ( Lakeside ) have now got the go ahead to look after most of his land along with the local wildfowling clubs . As you rightly say , there are some rumon people in our county but I dare say there are some in most counties , but we have certainly got our share , I also knew another chap who would go on the marsh checking his cattle in a Green Rolls Royce with a Alsatian sitting on the back seat , we used to have an ole boi who lived in a little ole cottage on the marshes , I well remember seeing him on the other side of the fleet , I couldn't see a ligger in sight so when I got level with him I shouted across the dyke , How do you get on the other side ole partner ? , without giving it a thought he said , you are on the other side and with that he rolled up a fag and laughed his head off . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 18 minutes ago, marsh man said: You are right as per normal , I did know Charlie and for a number of years I dealt with his son Edward who now runs the very large farming complex which is now over a 1000 acres , each year he would send me the maps where he was growing Peas and the farm manager would often give me a few boxes of cartridges , I can still go on all of his land but with all the Summer traffic it take time to cover the 15 miles or so , I have had a go on his Peas this year but I have got more than enough nearer to my house , Alan ( Lakeside ) have now got the go ahead to look after most of his land along with the local wildfowling clubs . As you rightly say , there are some rumon people in our county but I dare say there are some in most counties , but we have certainly got our share , I also knew another chap who would go on the marsh checking his cattle in a Green Rolls Royce with a Alsatian sitting on the back seat , we used to have an ole boi who lived in a little ole cottage on the marshes , I well remember seeing him on the other side of the fleet , I couldn't see a ligger in sight so when I got level with him I shouted across the dyke , How do you get on the other side ole partner ? , without giving it a thought he said , you are on the other side and with that he rolled up a fag and laughed his head off . if we met in a pub ....we would drink alot of beer and end up with sore throats...........(proberly as a result of drinking watneys red barrel..🤢) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 1 minute ago, ditchman said: if we met in a pub ....we would drink alot of beer and end up with sore throats...........(proberly as a result of drinking watneys red barrel..🤢) talking about rolls royce..........i used to go to swaffham market alot in the old days...thats when it was a proper market ..you could buy anything from bantams cockrels goats sheeps rabbits ferrets etc etc....and the pubs did a cracking roast dinner..........we was down there on market day and saw a beautiful roller parked outside the pub...looked in the back and all there was ...was the spring carcase of the bench seat nothing else..........anyway we went inside and was having a chat ...we started talking about the roller with no back seat........... apparantly the previous week the old boy who owned it bought a couple of goats and put then in the roller......time the old boy had his lunch and a few beers he came out and found the bloody goats had eaten all the leather off the back seat and the webbing................ blast oi larfed boi.................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkeyes Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 facinating ....thanx for putting that up...........good example of how a decoy works.......each one is slightly different and is worked slightly different.......... enjoyed that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted June 9, 2022 Report Share Posted June 9, 2022 1 hour ago, ditchman said: talking about rolls royce..........i used to go to swaffham market alot in the old days...thats when it was a proper market ..you could buy anything from bantams cockrels goats sheeps rabbits ferrets etc etc....and the pubs did a cracking roast dinner..........we was down there on market day and saw a beautiful roller parked outside the pub...looked in the back and all there was ...was the spring carcase of the bench seat nothing else..........anyway we went inside and was having a chat ...we started talking about the roller with no back seat........... apparantly the previous week the old boy who owned it bought a couple of goats and put then in the roller......time the old boy had his lunch and a few beers he came out and found the bloody goats had eaten all the leather off the back seat and the webbing................ blast oi larfed boi.................... I would have had a new one made up , no not with leather but the highly prized Goats skin as the materials would had cost next to nothing . tell yer what , I recon he got his nanny to sort it out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Boggy Posted June 11, 2022 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2022 Bit of an update to my original post. Not quite so interesting as reading about those rum ol` boys of Norfolk and the duck decoys, but here goes. I did get out on Thursday having found out that the crop is a bit of a mixture and is subject to an environmental grant, but was assured that I could shoot over it. So I set up just about noon, having watched the field for 20 minutes with very little activity, so not expecting as many as I saw down feeding on previous days. The lower part of the potato field had been irrigated and so part of the field I intended to shoot was sodden from water run off (the field slopes downwards) which deterred any pigeons from feeding and the big roll of pipe with the water turbine driven sprayer was now on the top part of the spuds. I was therefore limited to a small part of the field on the right hand side of the spuds shown in my first photo (also showing a field of rape at the back). I therefore set up just beyond the tree on the right and was well covered as the rape continued round to the right of the tree and so with rape, some mallow and cow parsley behind me and a net in front, felt that I was inconspicuous from all angles. Not having seen any flightline into the field during my earlier 20 minute reconnaissance, I thought that I was in for a blank day, or in my case a blank few hours. Therefore Tightchoke will note that I had plenty of time to eat my lunch of pork and pickle pies and a cream bun. The first hour passed without a single chance having seen only a couple of pigeons passing by out of range. I could see that a few were going down on the opposite side of the field which was unshootable due to a nearby cottage in the line of fire, but a shot in the air put them up and one or two headed for my direction and gave me a chance, which resulted in an easy right and left as they headed, not for the decoys, but for the nearby tree. Had I been out for longer, I might have considered bagging off that part of the field, but the odd shot in the air seemed to do the job. This scenario continued for the next hour or so giving me a few single chances. I ended my short session with just 7 in the bag. Not enormous by any standards, but it got me out and was a thoroughly enjoyable few hours. Perhaps they will be back on the field next week once the main part of the field has dried out. One can only hope. OB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted June 11, 2022 Report Share Posted June 11, 2022 ive had many days like that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NatureBoy Posted June 13, 2022 Report Share Posted June 13, 2022 Used to fish Nacton Decoy in the film and Lady Wood lake on the estate. Lovely place, had few genuine old strain of wild carp in it. Ospreys used to visit and fish. Hairs on back of ya neck stuff seeing them strike up close. There's a site on FB about decoying and all the old/lost decoys in Suffolk and Norfolk. Some being restored. NB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted June 14, 2022 Report Share Posted June 14, 2022 On 09/06/2022 at 13:31, ditchman said: i didnt know that ..interesting....what area of the country was that from ? All over, I believe, named after the pipes the duck were lured and then driven down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hushpower Posted June 14, 2022 Report Share Posted June 14, 2022 Turnips pigeon love em . Grow a few here in the back woods lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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