An afternoon with the 10.

[marsh man]

34 minutes ago, London Best said:

Yeah! Proper ‘Fowler’s. 
My first thought when I read 6 pinks with one shot was that you would need a punt gun to better that.

Here yer go L B , this ole boy got four fingers with one shot , now that will take some beating 

 

[islandgun]

5 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Here yer go L B , this ole boy got four fingers with one shot , now that will take some beating 

 

Was he muzzle loading ?

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, islandgun said:

Was he muzzle loading ?

No I don't think so , if you look at his gun you will see it haven't got any fore stock on and I believed the barrel burst while his hand was wrapped around the fore stock when taking a shot , it was also known ( Pintail Thomas ) would mix Seagull meat with a piece of belly pork and make some lovely sausages , or that is what he told the people who bought them , I just met up with some of the ole boys before it was all over , how I sometimes wish I was born a few years earlier and had a few pints of beer with them in the Bowling Green pub where the punt gunners would leave and often came back for a pint and a smoke before they took the bag home , days we will never see again .

[London Best]

9 hours ago, islandgun said:

Was he muzzle loading ?

The gun appears to be a pin fire, so a very early breech loader.

[edenman]

11 hours ago, islandgun said:

Was that with the ithaca

No it was with my first ever gun. A Lanber with 2 3/4” chambers and 36grams of lead shot 3s.

[bishop]

2 hours ago, edenman said:

No it was with my first ever gun. A Lanber with 2 3/4” chambers and 36grams of lead shot 3s.

Your uncle used a Lanber o/u at one point 

[edenman]

40 minutes ago, bishop said:

Your uncle used a Lanber o/u at one point 

I’m not so sure. I think it was an investarm? 

[bishop]

Might have been Ray then.Trying to recall images from more than 40 years ago. Old **** -itus!

[edenman]

1 hour ago, bishop said:

 

Edited January 23 by edenman
Double post

[Penelope]

18 hours ago, edenman said:

Yes it’s been through a few hands before I got it, some well know fowlers up here have had it at some point.

 

Multiple shots? I once had 5 teal to one shot, and I stalked and killed 6 pinks with one shot on a stubble.

A friend dropped 9 to a single shot, after a stalk when the pinks jumped and came low over a stone dyke

15 hours ago, London Best said:

Yeah! Proper ‘Fowler’s. 
My first thought when I read 6 pinks with one shot was that you would need a punt gun to better that.

One barrel of a 12, 2 3/4 Fiocchi 3's

[islandgun]

13 hours ago, marsh man said:

No I don't think so , if you look at his gun you will see it haven't got any fore stock on and I believed the barrel burst while his hand was wrapped around the fore stock when taking a shot , it was also known ( Pintail Thomas ) would mix Seagull meat with a piece of belly pork and make some lovely sausages , or that is what he told the people who bought them , I just met up with some of the ole boys before it was all over , how I sometimes wish I was born a few years earlier and had a few pints of beer with them in the Bowling Green pub where the punt gunners would leave and often came back for a pint and a smoke before they took the bag home , days we will never see again .

Agreed a few pints with the old fowlers would be a privilege, I would have loved to have been born earlier but in hindsight our generation enjoyed better times than my children's generation now face.....sadly

[marsh man]

47 minutes ago, islandgun said:

Agreed a few pints with the old fowlers would be a privilege, I would have loved to have been born earlier but in hindsight our generation enjoyed better times than my children's generation now face.....sadly

I fully agree i / g , When you look back you only look at the times you enjoyed and yet there would had been more hardship then ,than how things are today like the labour exchanges and these fairly modern food banks to help when you have hardship which touch wood I have never had the need to use either in my life time.

What I found then was the hardy folk who were involved in fishing and shooting were dedicated full time , you could always find them in the shrimp boats , gun punts or the boat sheds , I would had only been about eight years old when I first went to the village junior school , like I said in the past that our school was only a couple of 100 yards from where the punt gunners kept the punts and at the time there were at least a dozen sheds , when the ole boys came past with a load of Wigeon or whatever they had shot hanging down from the handle bars I had to go up and have look at how they went about things , even at that age I started to have a yarn and after a while I was allowed in the sheds to have a look at the punts and the odd gun that was hanging up on the sheds wall , as time wore on me and my brother bought our first double punt off one of the last professional punts men as he took paid people to push onto the fowl , his name was Diamond Allen as everyone was called by there nick name , we kept ours on the mud bank to begin with then one of the best double boat sheds came up for rent and we took it on and in time we had bought another single punt which was 18 ft long , in the early days when I got pally with the ole boy in the next door shed I very often gave him a hand to lift his punt gun into the shed and you imagine what joy that alone would give , he also let me take his punt out for a row across the river , it was made from marine ply and was as light as a feather that could easily be turned around on a sixpence where our one's were solid wood and a lot heavier , what a start for someone who was also going to be dedicated to wildfowling over the next six decades and can now look back at some of the best times in my life .     MM 

[old'un]

21 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I fully agree i / g , When you look back you only look at the times you enjoyed and yet there would had been more hardship then ,than how things are today like the labour exchanges and these fairly modern food banks to help when you have hardship which touch wood I have never had the need to use either in my life time.

What I found then was the hardy folk who were involved in fishing and shooting were dedicated full time , you could always find them in the shrimp boats , gun punts or the boat sheds , I would had only been about eight years old when I first went to the village junior school , like I said in the past that our school was only a couple of 100 yards from where the punt gunners kept the punts and at the time there were at least a dozen sheds , when the ole boys came past with a load of Wigeon or whatever they had shot hanging down from the handle bars I had to go up and have look at how they went about things , even at that age I started to have a yarn and after a while I was allowed in the sheds to have a look at the punts and the odd gun that was hanging up on the sheds wall , as time wore on me and my brother bought our first double punt off one of the last professional punts men as he took paid people to push onto the fowl , his name was Diamond Allen as everyone was called by there nick name , we kept ours on the mud bank to begin with then one of the best double boat sheds came up for rent and we took it on and in time we had bought another single punt which was 18 ft long , in the early days when I got pally with the ole boy in the next door shed I very often gave him a hand to lift his punt gun into the shed and you imagine what joy that alone would give , he also let me take his punt out for a row across the river , it was made from marine ply and was as light as a feather that could easily be turned around on a sixpence where our one's were solid wood and a lot heavier , what a start for someone who was also going to be dedicated to wildfowling over the next six decades and can now look back at some of the best times in my life .     MM 

 

Nice story MM, are the sheds still there? And does anyone still use punt guns, I would imagine it would be expensive using none toxic shot if they do.

[islandgun]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

I fully agree i / g , When you look back you only look at the times you enjoyed and yet there would had been more hardship then ,than how things are today like the labour exchanges and these fairly modern food banks to help when you have hardship which touch wood I have never had the need to use either in my life time.

What I found then was the hardy folk who were involved in fishing and shooting were dedicated full time , you could always find them in the shrimp boats , gun punts or the boat sheds , I would had only been about eight years old when I first went to the village junior school , like I said in the past that our school was only a couple of 100 yards from where the punt gunners kept the punts and at the time there were at least a dozen sheds , when the ole boys came past with a load of Wigeon or whatever they had shot hanging down from the handle bars I had to go up and have look at how they went about things , even at that age I started to have a yarn and after a while I was allowed in the sheds to have a look at the punts and the odd gun that was hanging up on the sheds wall , as time wore on me and my brother bought our first double punt off one of the last professional punts men as he took paid people to push onto the fowl , his name was Diamond Allen as everyone was called by there nick name , we kept ours on the mud bank to begin with then one of the best double boat sheds came up for rent and we took it on and in time we had bought another single punt which was 18 ft long , in the early days when I got pally with the ole boy in the next door shed I very often gave him a hand to lift his punt gun into the shed and you imagine what joy that alone would give , he also let me take his punt out for a row across the river , it was made from marine ply and was as light as a feather that could easily be turned around on a sixpence where our one's were solid wood and a lot heavier , what a start for someone who was also going to be dedicated to wildfowling over the next six decades and can now look back at some of the best times in my life .     MM 

You ARE an ole boi MM.  I well remember punts pulled up the hard of Maldon prom as a lad, floating penners of live flounder for sale on a Sunday, later in life drifting for Herring in and around the Blackwater, or taking a pop at the Duck along the shore, pushing a net for the plentiful shrimp on the offshore sand banks, winkling on the flats and setting longlines for Cod, even digging lug in N Norfolk. what museums have all that gear now I dont know. Since then Ive drifted far a wide and now very happily ensconced in the Western Ilses for the last 25yrs Im still fortunate enough to pursue all of the above and more...... apologise to all those wading through these thoughts and for derailing  

[London Best]

3 hours ago, Penelope said:

A friend dropped 9 to a single shot, after a stalk when the pinks jumped and came low over a stone dyke

One barrel of a 12, 2 3/4 Fiocchi 3's

Amazing! 
Can’t compete with either of those happenings, I’m afraid. 
My only fluke at geese was a right, left and centre, 2 with the right barrel and one with the left.

[edenman]

5 hours ago, Penelope said:

A friend dropped 9 to a single shot, after a stalk when the pinks jumped and came low over a stone dyke

Now that is impressive!

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, old'un said:

 

Nice story MM, are the sheds still there? And does anyone still use punt guns, I would imagine it would be expensive using none toxic shot if they do.

Hi old 'un .. No sadly they are all gone , the only thing left is the concrete base where they once stood , when I say sheds they were at least 35 ft long , a good 25ft was at the back where my punts were kept , we had two winches , one each side where we could winch up either punt from the bottom of the tide if we had to , our double one , the last one we ended up with was nearly 22ft long . The front cabin was nearly as big as my spare bedroom , round about 12' x 10' and was kept spotless , several bits of building materials were begged , steal or borrowed , ( not exactly in that order ) to make it homely , a small pot belly stove was in the corner and a shutter on the glazed window , we had a few Peter Scott prints on the wall and a stuffed drake Pintail on a stand that we later used for a decoy we also had a long wooden bench that we sat on while playing cards and it was normally filled up with coal that we got when the odd steamer moored up after delivering coal to Cantley beet factory , the crew would wash the decks down and we could have all the bits of coal that were washed from the deck , we also had a tilley lamp which was used on the dark nights , the stove was well lite with coal and looking back these were nights to remember with 5 / 6 boys all laughing and joking with the cabin thick with cigarette and pipe smoke while a couple of tins of soup were warming up on the top of the stove or a can or two of beer from one of the cupboards . .happy days

No, punt gunning ceased to exist in 1968 when it was made into a nature reserve , part of the agreement was the punt gunning was banned and the biggest gun to be used was an 8 bore plus no Monday shooting this was the beginning of the end , now it is not unusual to see over 20,000 various species of wildfowl while the amount of shooting done is now all but finished ,     MM    

 

[Penelope]

16 hours ago, edenman said:

Now that is impressive!

A bloody fluke is what is was 🤣.

[Penelope]

18 hours ago, London Best said:

Amazing! 
Can’t compete with either of those happenings, I’m afraid. 
My only fluke at geese was a right, left and centre, 2 with the right barrel and one with the left.

Two Greys for one shot, 1 1/4oz steel 1's is my only fluke at geese. The really flukey bit was that the geese were 20 odd yards apart, and both dead in the air.

[edenman]

2 hours ago, Penelope said:

Two Greys for one shot, 1 1/4oz steel 1's is my only fluke at geese. The really flukey bit was that the geese were 20 odd yards apart, and both dead in the air.

Your showing off now!

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, edenman said:

Your showing off now!

Pauls second one might have been hit with the wad  , fair ole pattern with a 20yds spread , I would hate to think what damage I could had done by taking a few family shots over the years with a spread like that 

[Penelope]

20 hours ago, marsh man said:

Pauls second one might have been hit with the wad  , fair ole pattern with a 20yds spread , I would hate to think what damage I could had done by taking a few family shots over the years with a spread like that 

Single pellet to the head, so an absolute 'flyer' of a pellet. No one was more surprised than me when one more fell out of the sky, than the one I shot at.