mikey 2 Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 myself and 6 family and friends bought a 100 bird day at the weekend (partridge and pheasant )the weather conditions were pretty poor and the birds werent flying well at all lots of them though,after three drives the bag didnt look good ,but none of the guns were moaning !just about to move of to the next drive and the keeper starts ranting why arent you shooting the birds its not wales you no with hight flying birds to which i replyed im not shooting low birds and they were low ,all the other guns agreed,basically he wanted to pack the day in because we wernt shooting but i told him im not shooting unsporting birds ! just wandered what youre thoughts were on this i suppose he didnt want us to go away moaning about his shoot ,i was happy with what i shot though! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonetoearth 5,144 Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 Hope you never tipped the chicken farmer !!!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gkeeper111 22 Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 No pleasure in shooting low birds- ! Im a keeper and i dont mind if people only shoot sporting birds aslong as they know that the bag at the end of the day is going to be less than it could have been. As long as all the guns are happy there shouldnt have been any problems. Cheers GK Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonetoearth 5,144 Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 The art of presenting birds and making the most of drives is as important as The bag more important to a real keeper. To many self proclamed keepers theses days 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ftm 3,357 Posted October 29, 2012 Report Share Posted October 29, 2012 iwas beating on saturday and guns left all low birds[rightly so in my opinion] but the birds they did shoot at were tremendous and the bag of 70 birds was achieved both keeper and guns happy at one point it didnt look like the 70 bird day would be achieved but fair play to the keeper he had a plan B and final 2 drives proved him right =billy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonetoearth 5,144 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 iwas beating on saturday and guns left all low birds[rightly so in my opinion] but the birds they did shoot at were tremendous and the bag of 70 birds was achieved both keeper and guns happy at one point it didnt look like the 70 bird day would be achieved but fair play to the keeper he had a plan B and final 2 drives proved him right =billy . A man worthy of the job title Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lab 10,979 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 myself and 6 family and friends bought a 100 bird day at the weekend (partridge and pheasant )the weather conditions were pretty poor and the birds werent flying well at all lots of them though,after three drives the bag didnt look good ,but none of the guns were moaning !just about to move of to the next drive and the keeper starts ranting why arent you shooting the birds its not wales you no with hight flying birds to which i replyed im not shooting low birds and they were low ,all the other guns agreed,basically he wanted to pack the day in because we wernt shooting but i told him im not shooting unsporting birds ! just wandered what youre thoughts were on this i suppose he didnt want us to go away moaning about his shoot ,i was happy with what i shot though! Hard to comment on this not being there but the birds that were high, were you hitting them? Ive seen it plenty times where the guns wont take average birds but cant hit the high ones and then moan at the end off the day cause the bag wasn't made. Its a pressure job and you have to take that into account. If he ranted and raved at you he probably over stepped the mark....dont go back!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Tis1979 2 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 What height are you talking about on average? If you guys were happy I'm not sure why the keeper and the hump and if he has he shouldn't loose his rag with the guns. Imho Quote Link to post Share on other sites
j316 119 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 well done for not shooting low birds respect to you they will be much better later in the season again respect atb j316 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gonetoearth 5,144 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 (edited) myself and 6 family and friends bought a 100 bird day at the weekend (partridge and pheasant )the weather conditions were pretty poor and the birds werent flying well at all lots of them though,after three drives the bag didnt look good ,but none of the guns were moaning !just about to move of to the next drive and the keeper starts ranting why arent you shooting the birds its not wales you no with hight flying birds to which i replyed im not shooting low birds and they were low ,all the other guns agreed,basically he wanted to pack the day in because we wernt shooting but i told him im not shooting unsporting birds ! just wandered what youre thoughts were on this i suppose he didnt want us to go away moaning about his shoot ,i was happy with what i shot though! Hard to comment on this not being there but the birds that were high, were you hitting them? Ive seen it plenty times where the guns wont take average birds but cant hit the high ones and then moan at the end off the day cause the bag wasn't made. Its a pressure job and you have to take that into account. If he ranted and raved at you he probably over stepped the mark....dont go back!!! lab the job has changed in many ways from rearing to feeding practises but one thing you never change the presentation of birds knowing your beat knowing the weather implications on certain days planing alternitive drives etc that is the proffesion to rant at guns am sorry bud but thats a no no in my book a word in the captains ears or a huddle at the end of a drive thanking them for their sportsmanship but please take a few more birds please , respect goes a long way and its a two way thing , Edited October 30, 2012 by gonetoearth Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Lab 10,979 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 myself and 6 family and friends bought a 100 bird day at the weekend (partridge and pheasant )the weather conditions were pretty poor and the birds werent flying well at all lots of them though,after three drives the bag didnt look good ,but none of the guns were moaning !just about to move of to the next drive and the keeper starts ranting why arent you shooting the birds its not wales you no with hight flying birds to which i replyed im not shooting low birds and they were low ,all the other guns agreed,basically he wanted to pack the day in because we wernt shooting but i told him im not shooting unsporting birds ! just wandered what youre thoughts were on this i suppose he didnt want us to go away moaning about his shoot ,i was happy with what i shot though! Hard to comment on this not being there but the birds that were high, were you hitting them? Ive seen it plenty times where the guns wont take average birds but cant hit the high ones and then moan at the end off the day cause the bag wasn't made. Its a pressure job and you have to take that into account. If he ranted and raved at you he probably over stepped the mark....dont go back!!! lab the job has changed in many ways from rearing to feeding practises but one thing you never change the presentation of birds knowing your beat knowing the weather implications on certain days planing alternitive drives etc that is the proffesion to rant at guns am sorry bud but thats a no no in my book a word in the captains ears or a huddle at the end of a drive thanking them for their sportsmanship but please take a few more birds please , respect goes a long way and its a two way thing , as I've said mate its a no no for me what he has done but its only one side of the story here. It's been a long hard season for keepers weather wise and alot of birds are 2/3 weeks behind in shooting terms because if it. The pressure on the day can amount and it doesn't matter I'd your the worlds best keeper if the birds don't want to fly cause there wet then there's nothing you can do about it. Again I think he probably spoke out of turn but I'd bet my bottom dollar there were some guns having a moan about the birds on the day. Now I'm not saying that about the op but different people have different views on how a driven day should go. Sounds like one if they days the keeper would like to forget!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dogs-n-natives 1,181 Posted October 30, 2012 Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 Like this one....We had a team up from London, who wanted a small driven day on partridge and wild pheasant, the team was made up of youngish businessmen etc. They were steaming pissed by 10 o clock, and were shooting at everything within 100 yards, even blackbirds etc! Then to top it off one of my reliable flankers was furious as the end gun swung through the flank twice! I did have talk with them.... told em to get to f**k of our land, there will be no more drives! What a waste of time! Glad Im not keepering on such a big commercial shoot anymore, you do get the odd day that beggers belief, thankfully 99% of the time is good. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mikey 2 Posted October 30, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2012 myself and 6 family and friends bought a 100 bird day at the weekend (partridge and pheasant )the weather conditions were pretty poor and the birds werent flying well at all lots of them though,after three drives the bag didnt look good ,but none of the guns were moaning !just about to move of to the next drive and the keeper starts ranting why arent you shooting the birds its not wales you no with hight flying birds to which i replyed im not shooting low birds and they were low ,all the other guns agreed,basically he wanted to pack the day in because we wernt shooting but i told him im not shooting unsporting birds ! just wandered what youre thoughts were on this i suppose he didnt want us to go away moaning about his shoot ,i was happy with what i shot though! Hard to comment on this not being there but the birds that were high, were you hitting them? Ive seen it plenty times where the guns wont take average birds but cant hit the high ones and then moan at the end off the day cause the bag wasn't made. Its a pressure job and you have to take that into account. If he ranted and raved at you he probably over stepped the mark....dont go back!!! lab the job has changed in many ways from rearing to feeding practises but one thing you never change the presentation of birds knowing your beat knowing the weather implications on certain days planing alternitive drives etc that is the proffesion to rant at guns am sorry bud but thats a no no in my book a word in the captains ears or a huddle at the end of a drive thanking them for their sportsmanship but please take a few more birds please , respect goes a long way and its a two way thing , as I've said mate its a no no for me what he has done but its only one side of the story here. It's been a long hard season for keepers weather wise and alot of birds are 2/3 weeks behind in shooting terms because if it. The pressure on the day can amount and it doesn't matter I'd your the worlds best keeper if the birds don't want to fly cause there wet then there's nothing you can do about it. Again I think he probably spoke out of turn but I'd bet my bottom dollar there were some guns having a moan about the birds on the day. Now I'm not saying that about the op but different people have different views on how a driven day should go. Sounds like one if they days the keeper would like to forget!!! all the guns on the day are in our d.i.y syndicate or have their own shoot,my father and his friend have both been shooting for over forty years, so they know the score! we all know the score and how hard it is for keepers etc to get a good bag, now i wouldnt shoot birds like this on our own shoot or anyone elses for that matter and no ne made any comments , because we have all been shooting long enough for that ! the keeper and his son did comment on the quality of the guns shooting on the first couple of drives, and like i say i was happy with what i shot and ive had phonecalls from a couple of guns to say how they enjoyed what they shot also, i believe its not all about numbers, it just seemed this guy wanted to get a full bag so we would go away telling everyone how many birds were shot it was a 100 bird day and we shot 81 and those birds were good birds ,whats he got to worry about? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dogs-n-natives 1,181 Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 You behaved as any sporting shots would, and if the keeper was upset with that then he was out of line, in my opinion.... Its down to the keeper to produce enough sporting birds... for teams with varying abilities too, as any commercial shoot keeper will know. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
alimac 882 Posted October 31, 2012 Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 (edited) No matter how mad you get, a keeper should only ever show that to the guns over bad safety issues,, everything other than that "keep your mouth shut" springs to mind.. On a day I had we really struggled in the morning & that was with a really decent team of guns, first drive after lunch we took a huge face of larch out over the river, it was full & went steady away, saving my bacon sprung to mind, half way through I saw One gun stop shooting, asked what the picker ups thought had been shot, 35 or so they said, by this time another couple had stopped, I was fizzing mad & if I wasn't still 300yds across the river I'd have spat the dummy at them good & proper, as it turns out they had triple what I was told. But that's just what the pressures of proving your full years work over shoot days does to most keepers, you've just got to smile & get on with it. 81 on 100 bird day in October, ain't bad in my eyes, a lot still with short tails, gliding & not climbing when flushed etc. Edited October 31, 2012 by alimac 5 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.