On the Delph

[webber]

Last week McF did an excellent report on his first day as a gun in our syndicate, and put up a couple of good photos.

 

Its an accepted fact that he takes better pictures than I do, mind you, its quite easy if you have a digital camera, which I don't!, and I do better write ups than him, mainly because I sat on the front row at school, and he sat as close to the back as he could manage.

 

I thought that it would be interesting to do a weekly write up as to what we have been up to on our small shoot, which is located on a livestock farm which includes 3 areas of woodlands on a hillside.

 

The shoot has been established for around 20 years, but has split up and reformed a couple of times before my involvement. Unfortunately much of the shoot infrastructure including the woods have been neglected to a large degree for several years, around 1/3rd. of the members are 65+, so work isn't high on their agenda.

 

Earlier this year, the voting members (we don't all have a vote) appointed my mate as keeper. He is trying his best to do a professional job with limited funds and resources. I've done my best to assist Ian how ever I can, the quad bike has been an invaluable tool, Mike and McF have been half handy as well; even Lancs Lad has put in the odd appearance, and got stuck in. We've constructed and repaired numerous stiles, and have recently commenced bridge building over ditches. In my capacity as shoot consulting engineer, and construction supervisor, I have specified a single span, double log beam and double euro pallet design, topped of with a non slip chicken mesh surface. Design council award winner it aint, but it is cheap, and quick to construct. I will get our appointed photographer (McF) to take a snap, when he remembers his camera.

 

The shoot has been, and still is excellent therapy for me following my accident, the lads are great, and it doesn't really matter if I cock up! Today I did a classic, I managed to forget my ear muffs! despite all I have said about hearing protection, 2way radios, notebook and pencil, sticks for beaters, and my house key; this meant that I had to have a snooze in the car on the drive whilst I awaited the return of the soup dragon (mrs. webber)

 

So less of the preamble, and more about today's shoot.

LancsLad, his dad and robodog, couldn't make it this shoot, neither could Bigden, who started beating for us last shoot. Mike press ganged one of his dads mates who is an experienced beater to help out, two of the younger guns also went beating accompanied by one of the guns on each drive (standing down from shooting) as we no longer have either walking or back guns.

 

The first couple of drives were quite uneventful, I missed a duck which I should have pasted, but luckily, Mark on the next peg had his eye in, and soon brought the duck down to be retrieved by his trusty lab. I really can't remember what happened on the second drive, but my short term memory is far from its best at the moment.

 

I can however recall the third drive, and hope that I never forget it. We drove our bottom wood, and also got the duck up off an adjacent pit. I can't remember how many I shot, but it was a few, I could not reload fast enough. The whistle was blown as the atmosphere was electric. Lunch followed, and everyone was pleased with the way the innovative drive had performed. It was good to see Ian with a smile on his face.

The first drive after lunch produced nothing. However the next drive resulted in both McF and myself dropping a pheasant a piece together with other guns having some success.

 

The next drive resulted in some spectacular misses from McF. I have to say that in all the years that I have shot with him, I have never seen him miss so well!

 

The final drive is usually our best, and is therefore saved for last, most guns managed to connect, including myself, McF, and Mike. Unfortunately the whistle was blown about 10 seconds too soon; I removed the cartridges from my gun just as a cloud of pheasants flushed. Never mind, we can try and shoot them next time.

 

The bag for the day was 25 pheasant and 6 duck, which is good for us.

It could well of been better, had we had a few more beaters, and 6 of the guns turned up, quite why they pay to join a shoot, and then go elsewhere defeats my logic.

 

McF and myself, hit some and missed some. Fortunately his Miroku performed faultlessly this shoot, and so its future is assured.

 

webber

[McF]

Very good Webber enjoyable read, your literacy is much better than mine, but the reason for that is not because i sat at the back of the class its because for the last 2 years of my free education i very rarely attended

I put the reason for the 3rd drive being the best, was because i was beating (you nether loose it)

As for my shooting skills today i think im better off sticking to beating although i did reprieve myself on the last 2 drives.

Yes the gun did perform faultlessly, the pillock pulling the trigger let it down i'll have nightmares tonight.

 

Mcf

[webber]

"i'll have nightmares tonight"

 

I should really say, and so you should, even my pupil Mike shot better than you, but we all have off days, its just that you usually don't.

 

Please don't let it worry you, I do have nightmares most nights, and they aint nice. Go to sleep thinking of the ones you did hit, or the duck Mike dropped from the stratosphere, or even your pheasant that I shot for you, but let you claim it like the gentleman and good friend that I am.

 

webber

[harv]

Well done.

I think that write up sums up what a small shoot is all about and that is the banter and and good times rather than the final count

[McF]

you only wish you had pulled the trigger a split second earlier my friend, it was dead by the time you did.

[magman]

Nice write up webber , next time your short of beaters let me no and if im not out myself i will try to get over for ya

[webber]

I've just acquired 4 nice Euro pallets, so I feel another working party is in the offing. Bridge over the river quie it aint, but doing any job on our shoot always reminds me of the navy gun exercise that is televised each year.

 

webber

[webber]

I've been on the shoot today with Ian and Mike; we finished one bridge and built another in Fir wood, but thats not quite finished, we need some 20 x 40 batten to render some of the non euro pallets of more / safer use, but the euro pallets are the dogs danglies when it comes to bridge building. We dropped a pine tree that had blown over, but was leaning on another tree, it took some doing, but we eventually got two bridging beams, some cover for pheasants from the top, made the wood safer, and let some light in.

Thats what I call a result.

 

webber

[magman]

Nice write up webber , next time your short of beaters let me no and if im not out myself i will try to get over for ya

 

 

Ps, if you cannot bother with a response to the offer then it's withdrawn ? stick that in ya pipe and smoke it

[webber]

Magman

 

Appologies for my oversigth, you have PM.

 

webber

[webber]

I hitched the quad up to the rangie at 8am and headed off for the Delph; it was quite fogy, I glanced at the outside temperature gauge, it read 0 degrees. Its a good job that I put the thermals on I thought.

 

I arrived at the Delph around 8.15, and was stopped as usual by the locked gate. Whilst I was awaiting the arrival of Ian and Mike I put on the thick welly socks and wellies that were to prove their worth as the day went on. Ian and Mike arrived, and we soon had my quad off its trailer, and the farm quad out ready to roll. Visibility in the freezing fog was no more than 150 yards, we decided that it would be OK to shoot, and that the fog would add a different dimension to the day.

 

We started to dog one field with the quads, and soon realised just how cold it was, the skrims wrapped around our necks soon became John Wayne style face masks in an effort to keep our faces warm. The consultant told me to stay out of the sun for two years; he never mentioned freezing fog. I'm writing this about 4 hours after we finished shooting, my face is still tingling, and lips very sore. I feel an E45 episode is in the offing.

 

We then made our way over to the other side of the shoot, dogging in as we went along. Unfortunately we have neighbouring shoot. One of the boundaries is a ditch which runs through a wood, into which we release pheasants, and they don't. Shall we say that their dog control leaves a little to be desired. We therefore lightly beat part of this wood prior to their shooting. We then monitor our part of the wood to ensure that their dogs do not encroach too far onto our ground. The very fact that they shoot their seriously compromises our drive from that wood. We crave for the day when we may get the chance to obtain the shooting rights to the other part of the wood, and adjacent land. We can only dream for the time being, but sometimes dreams do come true.

 

During our neighbours first 3 drives, some of our birds made it back to their home wood, but sadly a few did not. Whilst monitoring another boundary it noticeably became colder, and visibility dropped to no more than 60 yards. Lancs Lad telephoned to enquire if the shoot was still on, as he was struggling on his way through the fog. Our neighbours finished their 4th drive, a quick glance at my watch revealed that it was 11.20, and time to head back to the farm yard to unlock the gate for the guns to start arriving at 11.30. As the farm buildings became clearer in the fog I could see that McF and Phil K, and his dad had landed. We gathered our guns and cartridges together and hitched the trailer to my quad.

 

Ian gathered everyone together, presented his safety talk and advised as to which drives we would be doing and in which order, quite why he bothers I'm not sure. as no on ever remembers, it a good job that he has it written down on a paper in his pocket. A few of the guns climbed into the trailer and we moved off down the hill to line out for our first drive. I had to stand down for the first drive, so went to load for our chairman. This drive is rarely very productive, by the sounds of it, today was an exception, a few birds were brought to the trailer, I only saw one shot thanks to the fog.

 

I was on a peg for our second drive, but saw no action, neither did my neighbours on either side. I couldn't see much further, but did hear several shots, and a few more birds made it to the trailer.

 

On our third drive I was on what is generally considered one of the hot pegs, I connected with a drake, but missed the only pheasant that obliged by flying at a safe shot height, several others came my way, but driven pheasant at 4 feet isnt the best of shots no matter how itchy the trigger finger is. Several more birds made it to the trailer as we stopped for a short lunch break.

 

The next drive is where the guns line out adjacent to a ditch which forms the boundary with another farm, it runs down the side of a hill. Not surprisingly a few of the pensioners, our chairman, and McF piled into the trailer. Boy did that lot make the quad cough, up hill all the way, I never got out of bottom gear, the trusty Honda however performed faultlessly. On the way up the hill I could hear the joviality carrying on behind me above the noise of the engine and exhaust. It was like a pensioners coach party. Sadly this drive failed to produce any birds, I think that we can thank the neighbouring shoot for that.

 

Our 5th. drive saw me on peg 9, which is another good peg. I had to park the quad about 120 yards away from the peg to prevent spooking the birds in the wood. By the time I had limped my way to the peg the drive was underway, and birds soon started to flush. I dropped several birds, but can't remember how many, it was more than 3. Lancs Lads Robodog did a couple of good retrieves and is turning into a little cracker.

 

As the shot birds were still being collected I took the farm quad further up the hill to peg 1 ready for the next drive. This peg is one of the least productive on the shoot, and today was no exception. This peg is about 60 yards off a public footpath, which is fenced on both sides. I heard the beaters go silent, then shortly after it was passed along the line that there was two lads with a gun in the wood. I then saw two lads with a slipped gun walking along the footpath. I unloaded my gun and slipped it, leaving it on the quad, and then walked over towards the fence to intersect them. Needless to say they received a ####ing that they wont forget in a hurry. I genuinely feel that that wont return. On reflection they seemed like two decent lads whom knew no better, now they do, but I do feel that I missed an opportunity!

 

Unfortunately for me, I had to stand down for our last drive, which is usually our best drive. I therefore went to load for Ian, who had landed on one of the better pegs. A woody hit the soaked ground within seconds of the whistle being blown. A couple of pheasants soon joined it, but then he started to miss, and I found myself loading and coaching.

 

The shot birds were braced up and hung with the others on the trailer. The pensioners and their chaperon embarked upon the trailer, and we headed off up hill back to the farm yard. Everyone happy, a good shoot enjoyed, and a brace or so apiece.

 

In the time that it has taken me to type this report ,virtually every joint in my body is stiff, I'm tired and ready for bed.

 

Today's bag was, 31 Pheasants, 4 Mallard Drakes, 1 Wood Pigeon.

 

webber

[webber]

I arrived at the Delph for 8.30, and had the quad ready for when Mike and Ian arrived. They greeted me with some bad news. On Friday they had discovered that 4 of our feeders had been stolen, several feeders slashed, various locks super glued, and one of the woods dogged out. They admitted that they had deliberatley not told me on Friday as I would have been upset. They were right, I was, but we had a job to do, so we set off for our bottom wood, where we have a recurring problem with our neighbouring shoot.

 

We slowly knocked out one section of the wood to salvage as many birds as possible from the guns of our neighbours. We soon heard shots from across the brook, and we quickly took up our observation positions. After a few minutes I could hear some shouting in the distance, and could just make out what was being shouted. Yet again one of their dogs came well onto our land, but before I could shout anything the dog was away again. Not long after Ian and Mike broke out of the rhodies, and explained what the shouting was all about. It transpired that the shouting was from one of the neighbouring guns, whos dog had transgressed the boundary. He objected to being observed, and at one point levelled his gun at them. Fortunatley Mike and Ian kept their cool. On reflection it sounds like a man with aguilty consience to me. We continued with our observation for a further 4 drives, they sent us several of our birds back at the expense of a couple.

 

It was soon 11.20, and time to make our way back to the farm yard ready for the arrival of our guns. I wont bore you with a drive by drive report, as the format was as previous. Unfortunatley the ducks on our ponds have started to vacate during the day, so we were lacking any duck on our 3rd. drive. 2 of our drives had been trashed thanks to the activities of our neighbours and their dogs. McF, Mike, Ian and myself, all bagged a few. It was pleasing to seee McF finally get his eye in. At one point a spell of light drizzle turned into some decent rain, at which I produced my camo umberella which was on the quad. Some one called me the whally with the brolley. At least I was the reasonably dry whalley, and one whom soon had some very close friends, as the rain increased in intensity yet again for a few minutes.

 

Our ducks have been returning to the ponds to feed in the evening, and bringing many wild duck with them. We therefore decided to have a duck flight after the pheasants had finished and some of the guns and beaters had headed for home. We were spread out across 4 ponds, we have more in the pipeline for next season. Un fortunatley I failed to get any shots at duck, thanks to a gun on an adjacent pond banging away in true Elma Fud style.

 

The final bag for the day was 25 pheasant and 8 duck. Our next shoot is on Boxing Day.

 

webber

[McF]

Well done Webber

[jimdfish]

This may sound too simple but if the other shoot are starting earlier than you and nicking your birds, can you not just start earlier yourself?

Jim

[webber]

That's a fair point Jim. Our shoot is only really only a half day shoot. The other side start at 9am. Unfortunately, I have no say in such matters, I'm not on the committee, and thanks to the way the shoot was constituted never will be.

 

webber

[webber]

Ian, Mike McF and myself arrived at the Delph for 9am yesterday.

 

We headed down to the bottom wood, and soon discovered that our neighbouring shoot weren't out.

 

Ian soon discovered that we had been nobbled again. Some of the feeders had been contaminated with what smelt like white spirit. There must be some really sick people in our area. The deed must have been done after noon on Christmas eve. WE now have hardly any functioning feeders.

 

It was soon time to make our way up to the farm to meet the rest of the guns. Boxing Day is traditionally our best turn out and best shoot, sadly not so this year, about 3 guns missing, beeters missing and only an average bag.

 

I only had a few chances and sadly failed to connect, McF only had one chance, and failed, as did Mike. Ian dropped a stormer that I had previously missed.

 

A small group including Ian, Mike and Ian stayed behind do do some ducking at dusk. Sadly I had to leave as I was expected at a family function and needed 40 winks before going out. I really enjoy going on the shoot, but it does take it out of me.

 

The days bag, including the ducking session was 25 pheasant, 10 ducks, 1 wood pigeon.

 

Mike, Ian and myself returned again this morning at 9am. We soon found our neighbours shooting, sadly they managed a few of our birds, and yet again their dogs came well onto our land on two occasions.

 

As they moved away to the other part of their shoot, we hitched the trailer to one of the quads and went around collecting up the contaminated and damaged feeders. Not only have the damaged feeders been slashed, but the lids have either been nicked or slung. I spent hours making new plywwod replacement lids. The theives have also stolen the spring feeders from the damaged drums. This makes us think that this is the activity of another gamekeeper / shoot.

McF keeps saying that for a small shoot, we sure do attract a lot of attention.

 

As we made our way off the shoot Ian saw a fox. We spent around half an hour trying to get it, but as we all had other commitments, we decided that the fox would have to wait for another day, or even one night.

 

The damaged feeders are now at the farm. We need to arrange to power wash some, tape up others, and install new spring feeders and make new lids.

 

Has anyone used the new type basket type feeders from Solway Feeders. I'm interested in these as there is no spring to get wrecked.

 

 

 

webber

[davecooper1]

hi webber

 

 

sorry to hear about your feeders sounds likes its somebody who shoots themselves

 

 

if theres anyway i can help beating wise just give us a shout

 

 

cheers dave

[Doc Savage]

Nice write up webber - its a good insite as to what is going on at the delph, I'm very surprised though to hear about the sabotage that is happening with your feeders etc there are some sad people in this world

 

- if you need any help over the holidays give me a shout and I'll have a walk up.

 

Doc

[webber]

Cheers Doc.

 

I'll have a word with his lordship!

 

webber

[roadkill]

webber , can you not get a trail cam to catch the scum bags who keep ruining ur shoot

[webber]

We had another shoot yesterday. I was too tired and knackered when I got home yesterday, hence the later than usual post.

 

Ian, Mikldo (Mikes now joined PW) and myself arrived at the farm at around 9.15, later than normal. The weather was cold, and overcast, but dry. It was a wise move slipping on the the thermals just before I left home. We soon had the quads readied, and made our way down to thee bottom wood.

 

There was no dogging in to do, as we only saw 3 pheasants, all of them way in the distance, and all making their way in the right direction. We lightly tapped out part of our bottom wood and saw only one pheasant. As we met up by the stile, we wondered what the day would bring; birds won't hang around where there is no food,and following our recent problems, we are now desperatley short of feeders, and short of the will and inclination to replace them.

 

It transpired that our neighbours weren't shooting, so we had a quiet chat, watched the varied small birds in the hedge, and enjoyed a sandwich and cuppa.

 

Ian received a call from the farmer asking if we could move our vehicles into an adjacent field, as there was to be some machinery movements. We made our way up to the farm past a couple of our small ponds. There was an inch or so of ice on them we broke a small strip along the edge of each to assist any duck that may call. Our own duck decamped some weeks ago. The ground was frozen solid and we made good time getting back to the farm. As we finished moving the vehicles McF arrived.

 

We readied the shoot trailer as the guns and beaters arrived, and exchanged pleasantries and hand shakes with each. We had two guests, one who went beating with two excellent dogs, one lab, and one springer. I recognised the other guest from a shoot in a previous season. He shot well throughout the day. Sadly we were short of dogs, beaters, and guns, a few pegs went un attended.

 

I wont do a drive by drive, shot by shot report, as I find them boring. I did see Mikldo drop a cracking cock pheasant and a woodie from some height. It was gratifying to see such good shooting. Not much more than 12 months ago Mikldo had hardly held a shotgun before, now he's dropping em like an old hand. I think the apprentice has won his stripes.

 

I saw McF hit a few and mis a few, Ian only had one shot, and thankfully connected. Alas, I let the side down, I had 4 or 5 chances, but failed to connect. During the last drive, a cry of FOX went through the wood and down the line. As I scanned the fence line, there was the fox staring me out. As I drew a bead, I spotted Ronnie's dog, and so did the fox. There one second, gone the next. Ian congratulated me on my thoroughly **** shooting, and I reluctantly accepted his gesture of fornication. I therefore headed for Worsley this morning with Doc Savage & Co.

 

During one of the other drives McF found a fresh fox earth so it looks like we're in for a few cold night with lamp and heavy loads. I reckon that a fox shot now is a wise investment for the future.

 

webber

 

The bag for the day was 19 Pheasant, 2 Wood Pigeon, 1 Mallard. 2 Woodcock.