Lloyd90 Posted January 3, 2023 Report Share Posted January 3, 2023 Due to many reasons, spending half the year on sabbatical, doing a bit of travelling, and then the bird flu, low bird numbers etc, I haven't done loads with the dogs this year. Yesterday was our first time this season visiting an old bit of ground where we normally have several days rough shooting. I normally prefer to shoot this ground later in the season anyway, always finding Dec and Jan more fun and more productive. Anyways, we arrived at the ground just before 10am and I met another bloke from the rough shooting club there. Just the two of us today, and today was Arnie's first proper day out. He has been in training for some time (he's about 2 1/2 now), he has been out several times beating, picked cold birds etc, but this was his first time out on the real deal. I got Arnie out, got my 20 bore and we headed into the field. We started off pushing out a bit of woodland, Arnie was shifting about but I could see he was still a bit naive. He needed a bit of guidance to get into some bits but was turning on every whilste and generally doing ok. We hunted for about 10 minutes, and it was very apparent that there just weren't as many pheasants about this year (as we initially expected). As we were coming to the end of this wood, Arnie flew into some bramble and out came a woodcock. I glanced out of the wood to check the position of my mate, as he was blanking the outside, and in a split second I managed to see he was in the opposite direction so I swing through on the bird and give it a shot just as it jinked behind some trees ... They really are stunning birds and they certainly can move ... I shouted out to my mate and asked if he saw it, only to hear him reply "Yes ... it's come down just by here". Unfortunately Arnie hadn't marked it so I walked him up and sent him from close by to where my mate indicated. He's never picked a woodcock before (not easy to train on unless you've got good access to them), but he managed to locate it after a quick hunt ... unfortunately it was flapping about and being unfamiliar he was a bit aloof and didn't want to pick it up at first. I gave him a lot of encouragement, and thankfully he picked it, and brought it back and stuck it in my hand still alive. I quickly dispatched it and added it to the bag . Arnie's first woodcock, flushed and retrieved... and I was 1:1 at this point! Onwards we went... After coming out of the woods we came onto a hill top that had been planted with bird cover for conservation. It can hold a few birds so off we went. We pushed the whole thing with Arnie quartering side to side, only to flush a big cock bird about 3/4 of the way down. MY mate was blanking in on my left, and the bird flushed and flew downhill on the right so a nice safe shot. I instinctively swung through on it and again dropped it with the first barrel. As I looked back Arnie was sat on the flush site, having not moved ... I told him "back" and down he went coming just short of the bird. A quick "Back" command to push him a bit further and he was on it. No such hesitation this time, he picked the bird and delivered it back into my hand! Lots of praise and we carried on. We must have only gone about another 100 yards when Arnie then flushed a big Hare ... Arnie was on my right and stopped, my mate safety on my left and the hare heading for a gap straight in front... a nice safe shot again, so up came the gun and I dropped the hare going away in front ... Arnie's excitement got the better of him and he moved to go and get the hare, however having never picked one before, I left him carry on. A bit of faffing about, but he soon picked it once he found the best way to hold around the body, and he carried it back and again brought it to me. I could see he was struggling to hold it fully as this was his first one so I just leaned it and took it quick . At this point we had been out about 30 mins and he had done well, but being inexperienced I thought that was enough for Arnie, so popped him on the lead and my mate waited for me to go back and swap him over with Ted ... the walk back up the hill with the heavy mud underfoot was the worst part of the day!! Once back at the car, dogs soon swapped, and the march down hill to carry on. Ted was let loose, and as he has hunted this ground many times before just cracked on with the job at hand. He was pushing hedges, ditches and cover with minimal handling needed, and the few really overgrown bits we just let him crack on and met him on the other side. As we went around the place he got 2 flushes on cock pheasants but sadly they did not present a shot. We then pushed down one massively overgrown hedgerow that's normally good for a flush. Ted was deep inside and stopped to something I could not see (stopped on his own merit with no whistle), and I heard 2 shots ring out on the other side of the hedge. I shouted over to my mate "what was that?" ... "Woodcock" he said ... "Did you hit it?" ... "... No!..." was his sad reply. Well, I gave him a bit of stick for that ... telling him the poor dog had been busting himself and he goes and misses the woodcock A good bit of banted as we headed back for the car pushing more cover crop going up hill. Normally we get a few flushes heading back but saw nothing else on the way home. A definite reduction in numbers this year (I think a lot of shoots in the area didn't get birds), but still a good number of wild game about, and a good days sport to be had for all. I think we were only out for about 2 hours and didn't even do half the farm as I had to shoot off to work but it's great to just be out in the field and get the dogs worked A bit of work and refresher training for Arnie, on the steadiness during action, but overall a good day and a good experience for the young dog. Ted wasn't that impressed mind, I will try to get up there again before the season is over and get him a few retrieves as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrimshanker Posted January 3, 2023 Report Share Posted January 3, 2023 Sounds like a great day out! I'm out on my first walked up/rough shoot on Friday and reading how your day went has got me even more buzzing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B725 Posted January 3, 2023 Report Share Posted January 3, 2023 Sounds like you had a good couple of hour's me and Tom are out again Saturday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ilovemyheckler Posted January 3, 2023 Report Share Posted January 3, 2023 Sounds like a great day and another great write up Lloyd. Walked up with your own dog is such a wonderful experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 3, 2023 Report Share Posted January 3, 2023 nice write up, nice looking dog and a nice end to the day, thanks for posting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7daysinaweek Posted January 3, 2023 Report Share Posted January 3, 2023 Appears that your hard work is paying off. Bloody work getting in the way hey. Enjoyed the write up. 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxwell Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 Well done and good work with your dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted January 16, 2023 Report Share Posted January 16, 2023 Thats what its about 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WalkedUp Posted January 21, 2023 Report Share Posted January 21, 2023 Excellent 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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