Our little shoot

[B725]

We had our first day two weeks ago but dissapointingly we struggled to get the bird's to fly even when Tom my dog was within five foot from them they ran rather than flew.

Fast forward to today a bright sunny day with some frost still down, Tom had two lovely contact flushes and sat nicely without any command happy day's. He had three nice retrieves after working really well staying close and very little intervention from me.

On the last drive I shot a pheasant that dropped about 20 yards away in the open just right to see how steady he would be, I made him sit for a couple of minutes and just as I was about to send him a cocker shot out and started ragging it pulling chuncks out of the pheasant. 

We finnished today with 14 pheasant and 1 pigeon really pleased with how the dog worked.

[old'un]

Nothing better than working a young dog and seeing the results of all that training, gives you a nice happy feeling, well done and thanks for posting.

I do sometimes smile when I see the antics of some dogs and their owners, one of my pet hates is a dog out of control.

[oldypigeonpopper]

hello, nice post and photos 👍

[B725]

It is a lovely little shoot we have done a lot of work last year and this with still more to do ,we release 200 bird's and do all the keepering and feeding ourselves,it's a basic walk and stand shoot with a friendly bunch . Doing it this way gives a lot more satisfaction for each pheasant we get ,for me I love to shoot over my own dog find it flush it hopefully shoot it and finnish with a retrieve. A bit of pork pie and stuff at lunch with someone bring homemade cake what more do you want.

[Dave at kelton]

Well done great post. It is a pain when another dog runs in like that but that’s also part of the lesson for a young dog and yours came out with flying colours! I had a young dog out on our shoot last week. A couple of retrieves on pheasant and a woodcock. That satisfaction outweighed shooting more pheasants than I have ever had there.

[marsh man]

14 hours ago, B725 said:

It is a lovely little shoot we have done a lot of work last year and this with still more to do ,we release 200 bird's and do all the keepering and feeding ourselves,it's a basic walk and stand shoot with a friendly bunch . Doing it this way gives a lot more satisfaction for each pheasant we get ,for me I love to shoot over my own dog find it flush it hopefully shoot it and finnish with a retrieve. A bit of pork pie and stuff at lunch with someone bring homemade cake what more do you want.

Brilliant , these are the type of shoots I like , you just feel more involved and you have earnt what you shoot , I was in this type of shoot for well over 20 years and we all kept in touch throughout the off season , this involved one or two Sunday's by having a work party , one day we would build a new pen then another day we would put a ligger ( bridge ) over a wide dyke , sometimes we would organize a clay shoot with a barbie afterwards .

Now the shoot is still going on but only just as several of the early members are either to old or have passed on , the last one was only a month ago when I caught up with a lot of the ole hands at the funeral , this year all the Saturdays shoot dates clash so sadly I can't go on any the ones they have got as I give priority to the one where I was employed , I always think it is the people involved that make the shoot rather than the shooting , if you have got a nice lot of members and some good shooting thrown in then you are on a winner .  MM

Nice photos by the way .

[B725]

I've been on a fair few paid days from large estates to the smaller one's and enjoyed each and every day but like you say MM because you are involved in every aspect to get to the point where you can have a shot or two it makes every bird shot that bit more special and the bonus I can shoot over my dog making all the hour's training worthwhile. 

[jall25]

20 minutes ago, B725 said:

I've been on a fair few paid days from large estates to the smaller one's and enjoyed each and every day but like you say MM because you are involved in every aspect to get to the point where you can have a shot or two it makes every bird shot that bit more special and the bonus I can shoot over my dog making all the hour's training worthwhile. 

Sounds a lovely day 

 

[Scully]

There’s nothing like your own little shoot shared with a few friends in good company, a few good dogs and a few shots each. 
As much as I enjoy all manner of shooting, there’s something special about our little rough shoot. 
I often just sling a gun over my shoulder nowadays just in case, rather than shoot, and just beat for those who don’t get the opportunity to shoot much. 
I get as much pleasure watching others shoot well as I do myself. 

[DO8]

Nice post and good job !