End of yet another era.

[Penelope]

1 hour ago, Grandalf said:

We are country men and country men never give up or stop being countymen.

Until we are laid out with the bag.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, Penelope said:

Until we are laid out with the bag.

If I had got laid out with the bag we got on our beaters day last Wednesday I would had won the sweep , I put down 137 and we got 138 , I would had been dead right  

[Penelope]

33 minutes ago, marsh man said:

If I had got laid out with the bag we got on our beaters day last Wednesday I would had won the sweep , I put down 137 and we got 138 , I would had been dead right  

🤣

[TIGHTCHOKE]

39 minutes ago, marsh man said:

If I had got laid out with the bag we got on our beaters day last Wednesday I would had won the sweep , I put down 137 and we got 138 , I would had been dead right  

Very good.......

[Lloyd90]

11 hours ago, Grandalf said:

Nobody on this topic said they were giving up Lloyd.   We all do something else.   We have all fought battles with our health as we got older.   In my case I have lost half the sight in my right (master) eye so I have resorted to shooting shotguns and rifles left handed.   Give that a try next time you go out shooting.   I have a ******** back.  You can give that a try too.   Try dragging a fallow or red out of a ditch on your own now.   Then imagine what it is like when you are eighty.   The cold strikes more, the back hurts more, the eyes see less and you have other obligations - mine was to care for my disabled wife for over ten years until she went into a care home when she got dementia.   None of us are giving up.   We are country men and country men never give up or stop being countymen.   You just have to be reallistic and adapt.   Stalking two or three days a week, aged 85, all through the year is hardly giving up! 

Good mate, I am glad to hear it, my words were in good spirit and hope you carry on in various roles for many more years to come  

[greenshank1]

Hi Grandalf 

Your wildfowling career sounds like an amazing adventure and sounds like you’ve done more than most . You should write a book ?

I am a few years off my 50th and where I once loved beating and driven shooting I can’t really get my interest back , I still love the shore and fowling but we definitely all change as we get older. 

Your inspirational still out deer stalking at 85 , 🥃 and I wish you many more successful and happy seasons deer stalking. 

 

[Gerry78]

On 31/01/2024 at 09:52, Grandalf said:

Yet another era of my life has ended.   I've decided to give up fowling.   I am going to be 85 in June and, though still being fairly fit and active, the motivation has gone.   Whilst still loving being out on the marsh, or anywhere else that's rural for that matter, I've decided that the thrill of the hunt is not what it used to be in the case of wildfowl.   Went out yesterday for what will probably be the last time - carrying a shotgun.   I had the marsh to myself, slight drizzle but nothing bad, and there were ducks and geese about.   What was missing was my urgent appeals to mother nature to send them over my way.   I saluted each flight as it passed by and did a lot of thinking.   I have been fowling since the early 60's, when I left the army, and have enjoyed every moment of it.   My original mentor was the legendary Sid Wright on the Wash marshes near Long Sutton.   My headquarters was the Bull with Mrs Mitchell.  (Another legend).  Frank Harrison, another professional guide, Wild Goose Man Kenzie Thorpe and fowler/punter James Robertson Justice (the actor) were all part of the scenery in those days.  Heady days to be fowling on the Wash as a newbie.

I got hooked very quickly and it led to many years of fowling along the East Coast and Norfolk Broads.   Later I had a small fowling boat on the Alde and have been a member of just about every local club and syndicate.   For the last 25 years I have been with a small syndicate on the Blythe estuary and that is where I was sitting and pondering yesterday afternoon.

I came to the conclusion that I had shot enough wildfowl.   Simple as that.   The 'Memsahib' is now in a care home so there is only me and Noodle, the obligitory labrador, to feed, so  I don't need much more than the venison that I still obtain from my deer control activities.

So the decision was made.   Fowling has followed the game shooting that I gave up, for much the same reasons, three years ago.

I still go beating.   I assist the young keeper that is now doing the job that I did for more than 25 years on my local shoot when ever he asks.   But mainly I go deer stalking.   The deer numbers are increasing all the time where I live in North Suffolk.   Farmers are asking me to 'thin them out a bit but don't exterminate them' which is local speak for Deer Control as practiced over the rest of the country.   They always add 'and if your see Charlie, knock him down too'.  

So I am never at a loss for something to do and Noodle and I just love venison.

To all of the many friends that I have made during my fowling life I say enjoy your sport while you still can, spend every spare minute you have planning your next trip or being on the marsh.   The antis are winning I'm afraid.   When I started you could fowl just about anywhere you wanted.   Scruffy looking men, mud splatted and wearing ex army clothing whilst carrying a gun and sporting a cartridge belt never even got a second look.   It is all just a little bit different today. 

Grandalf that was a lovely post to be fowling for that amount of years is fantastic I’m in my late 40s and to be honest due to family commitments I’ve found my mornings out on the shore to be getting less and less I think now I’m more addicted to the sunrises than actually shooting any fowl And with my old fox red lab Duke getting on a bit I’m seriously thinking of hanging up the Wildfowling coat and waders Thanks again for a lovely post Gerry Belfast