First Duck In The Year 2025 .

[marsh man]

I haven't posted my exploits for a while for the simple fact I have been easing up after reaching 75 which was now two years ago , this is not to say I have stopped going because I still go when I want to and to get the odd duck which are now mostly Mallard , nowadays I eat most of what I get and most if not all my friends who liked a duck or two in the past have now sadly moved on to the salt marshes on another planet .

Well getting back to the present day and certainly on planet earth it was time to get another duck now we are in the year 2025 , the recent past days have been far to cold for me and not only that the splashes on my marshes have been frozen over with the ice thick enough for my Lab to walk over without breaking it , today started off plus 4 and late this afternoon it had gone up to plus 7 which seemed fairly mild after the recent cold days , now the nights have started to pull out there is no need for me to go down the marsh before 4.20 , time I got down it was slowly beginning to get dark and the towns lights were getting brighter by the minute , the splash of water I was going on is only two marshes away from where I leave my motor and very soon I was sitting on my little fold up stool looking towards the town with a light wind behind me , no sign of ice as two Mute Swans came gliding in and landed in the middle of the water with no signs of sliding on any ice , by now I had seen next to nothing apart from the odd Teal that my dog can see long before I can and even if I could see them they are now safe as I no longer need any Teal , my dog was on Red alert and I was half looking at his reactions rather than looking in the darkness , at long last he went rigid and his head was moving in line at whatever he was looking at ,  I then caught sight of two dark shapes crossing the water which I was pretty sure were Mallard , after firing my choked barrel in there direction I could only see one heading in what little light was left towards the town , My dog was soon running across the water like a five year old instead of a worn out 10 year ole dog that would be getting his pension if he was human , he was very soon retracing his steps with a very plump drake Mallard so I only just achieved my goal , but achieved it I did , first duck shot in 2025 and if I last till November it will be my 78 th year , even though I have my fair share of fowl I still get that little buzz even though it was just one duck and I sincerely hope it wont be my last . All the best    MM

 

[ditchman]

well done john

[holloway]

34 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I haven't posted my exploits for a while for the simple fact I have been easing up after reaching 75 which was now two years ago , this is not to say I have stopped going because I still go when I want to and to get the odd duck which are now mostly Mallard , nowadays I eat most of what I get and most if not all my friends who liked a duck or two in the past have now sadly moved on to the salt marshes on another planet .

Well getting back to the present day and certainly on planet earth it was time to get another duck now we are in the year 2025 , the recent past days have been far to cold for me and not only that the splashes on my marshes have been frozen over with the ice thick enough for my Lab to walk over without breaking it , today started off plus 4 and late this afternoon it had gone up to plus 7 which seemed fairly mild after the recent cold days , now the nights have started to pull out there is no need for me to go down the marsh before 4.20 , time I got down it was slowly beginning to get dark and the towns lights were getting brighter by the minute , the splash of water I was going on is only two marshes away from where I leave my motor and very soon I was sitting on my little fold up stool looking towards the town with a light wind behind me , no sign of ice as two Mute Swans came gliding in and landed in the middle of the water with no signs of sliding on any ice , by now I had seen next to nothing apart from the odd Teal that my dog can see long before I can and even if I could see them they are now safe as I no longer need any Teal , my dog was on Red alert and I was half looking at his reactions rather than looking in the darkness , at long last he went rigid and his head was moving in line at whatever he was looking at ,  I then caught sight of two dark shapes crossing the water which I was pretty sure were Mallard , after firing my choked barrel in there direction I could only see one heading in what little light was left towards the town , My dog was soon running across the water like a five year old instead of a worn out 10 year ole dog that would be getting his pension if he was human , he was very soon retracing his steps with a very plump drake Mallard so I only just achieved my goal , but achieved it I did , first duck shot in 2025 and if I last till November it will be my 78 th year , even though I have my fair share of fowl I still get that little buzz even though it was just one duck and I sincerely hope it wont be my last . All the best    MM

 

Enjoyable read thanks for posting ,what gun do you use ?

[marsh man]

43 minutes ago, ditchman said:

well done john

Cheers Simon , That duck will end up in a different melting pot  than the last gun I took up to the police station , now got two ready and this new one will be plucked by the weekend as we are now shooting on Thursday instead of Saturday then only one more planed day before the beaters day , soon be another one put to bed .   MM

32 minutes ago, holloway said:

Enjoyable read thanks for posting ,what gun do you use ?

THANKS ... I have always used s x s and the one I use now is a very nice T Wild of Birmingham 2 3/4 n/ej with unknown choked 30 in barrels

Edited January 14 by marsh man

[holloway]

1 minute ago, marsh man said:

Cheers Simon , That duck will end up in a different melting pot  than the last gun I took up to the police station , now got two ready and this new one will plucked by the weekend as we are now shooting on Thursday instead of Saturday then only one more planed day before the beaters day , soon be another one put to bed .   MM

THANKS ... I have always used s x s and the one I use now is a very nice T Wild of Birmingham 2 3/4 n/ej with unknown choked 30 in barrels

A proper gun 👍

[Old Boggy]

Good morning John,

That was a lovely report of your first 2025 duck. Perhaps another one or two mallard before the season’s end. I’m sure that Bobbie will want and enjoy a couple more retrieves.

Many thanks for posting and take care my friend.

ATB

Chris

[JKD]

Nice descriptive report there MM, most enjoyable 😃

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done MM, keep up the good work. Will make a nice change from chicken.  

[Aled]

Nice write up MM. 

[old'un]

Nice one John, hope you have many years yet doing what you love, as you say the weather as turned around virtually over night, its almost spring like this morning, 9c 48f.

thanks for posting.

[7daysinaweek]

Thoroughly enjoyed that account of your exploit MM.

I would assume the other readers can also see your account in the minds eye. Wonderful!

[marsh man]

THANKS for all the kind words above , unlike Pigeon shooting where people often report there bags in the 100s wildfowling is not a sport for everyone and numbers don't mean a thing , you read in the books and magazines about glorious sun risers and sunsets and out in these wild places amongst nature at it's best and I agree there are times when you could easily paint that same picture , but then there are a lot more times that are not mentioned when you crawl out of bed in the early hours on a dark and very often wet morning with very little prospect of it drying out and the chances of shooting anything is often slim , but if you are addicted to wildfowling like I was then that word slim was all you needed , a slim chance was better than no chance at all , like constant days at Pigeon shooting you can have both good and bad days and with wildfowling the good days certainly make up for the bad days which are normally forgot about before you even get home .

I have honestly loved it and it was always been a big part of my life , I still wander around the estuary and the marshes most days and to me it is better than the medicine the kind doctors have recently prescribed me and when I go on my walks I feel at ease from all the problems the outside world can bring .

I now have to face facts that I won't be shooting wildfowl for much longer , even if I had seen more duck last night I wouldn't had shot any more as one Mallard was all I wanted , I will have another one or two more flights before the season finish in a couple or so weeks time for ole times sake as a lot of water will be running under the bridge before the next one start and you cannot defeat ole age for ever , but even so it will never stop me trying .

Have a good day everyone .    MM