Teal Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 The day started with some serious weather- buckets of rain being hurled down by the gods, it took me and my dad one and a half with the windscreen wipers on full to get to the destination for a 9.30 start. With such foul weather outside the intrepid group of shooters tucked into some fantastic tea and mini cakes, we discussed previous tales of success and failure, so much so that the gods grew bored and the rain eased up. Putting on waterproof trousers and jackets and of course hats we plodded out through the puddles to start the day. First on the menu was a corner of a field frequented by snipe. One snipe got up as we approached and I thought maybe the chance to add a snipe to the bag had been lost, as we began to squelch through one snipe lifted which I shot to the left. This lifted some more snipe of which I missed one, before I shot another as it crossed behind and then missed another! Most of the snipe went out to my side but fortunately I had got something at least! A very high pigeon soared over one of the guns before hitting a literal brick wall in terms of his shot, and it took an age to fall- a really great shot. We spent most of the rest of the morning walking up hedgerows and corners of woodland and bagged a few birds for our troubles- one of the others did very well dropping a couple of partridge from a large covey- I find I always panic in those situations and invariably miss at the very least one of the two shots. The feral pigeon was also shot at during this time. One particularily memorable bit was doing a very small bit of wood- perhaps 1 acre in size, which held 7 woodcock, one of which was shot. The other during the day were more unlucky and fell to some good shooting from the other guns with me getting one- my first of the season. The rabbit was bagged in woodland- I'm always hesitant about shooting ground game with dogs but it was very open I knew that it was a very safe shot because I could see all of the dogs. I make the day sound really rapid but we did take a break for lunch somewhere in the middle. During lunch the heavens once again opened but amazingly they lifted again for when we went out in the afternoon. At the end of the day we went out for an evening duck flight, but with heavy rain ducks have many options and so we thought it was a bit of a gamble. The rain had restarted and was really lashing it down now, with wind as well it was stinging the eyes as you scanned for any sign of incoming ducks. The batteries in my ear defenders stopped working so I had to rely on sight, and did not pick up on a couple of duck before they landed, in addition I missed a couple of Teal, distances can be deceptive at night. The host who I was with managed to shoot a brilliant left and right at Teal and drenched, we headed back to the car, talking as we went a pair of mallard came cruising over the top of us, I fumbled to put cartridges in, but was too slow, as my companion felled one of the pair and the other disappeared into the darkness. A straightforward retrieve then left us with a fantastic total of 10 species at the end of the day, there are jack and common snipe photographed, and the rest is fairly self-explanatory! I should say before the duck flight we did two more little bogs which again were stuffed full of snipe, I raised my tally by one and one or two of the other guns got a chance at some snipe and performed well!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShaggyRS6 Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Jeesus man. Keep that up and they will become extinct Nice one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciltalgarth Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 WELL DONE TEAL Another good mixed bag. It should make some great eating. B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teal Posted January 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 I should mention in case people are worried about over shooting- that this is on different land to the previous species day and that the snipe woodcock and duck maybe get shot at two or three times a season only. The birds do make fantastic eating, I have snipe and woodcock for breakfast sometimes, and the Teal are brilliant when done with bits of dried apple, cider and calvados. It makes them really sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Looks and sounds a fabulouse day out. NTTF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundowner Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Teal, this is what I think it is all about !!!! thanks for posting, made my day !!! I walked around the field with my dog for an hour and a half and apart from getting absolutely drenched and a couple of misses at pigeon I had nothing to show for !! Sorry, nearly forgot .................I did put up 150 + skyrats long before I had a chance of a shot aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrghhhh But then again, at least I have been out for a bit B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lurcherboy Posted January 15, 2008 Report Share Posted January 15, 2008 Thats a good days shooting Teal The sort of day you would find on the Emerald Isle. LB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tikkamark Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 The sort of day you would find on the Emerald Isle. Thats all 99% of hunters in Ireland do during the game season-all roughshooting there is very very few driven shoots.It can be very rewarding to follow a clever wary old cock pheasant through field after field and to try and outsmart him its great sport and good to see the dog working the scent trail the bags might not be massive but thats not what roughshooting is about Its good craic shooting the snipe in the bogs and theres plenty of woodcock about too B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wookie Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 Nice bag! Sounds like a superb day's sport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROBLATCH Posted January 16, 2008 Report Share Posted January 16, 2008 nice bag there teal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natures_son Posted January 17, 2008 Report Share Posted January 17, 2008 Dont shoot too much teal sir you might get banned Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogh shooter Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 take you some eating getting through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronan nee Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 nice bag there Teal, well done regards ronan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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