Back up at the shoot

[Stavross 13,711]

8 minutes ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Well I shot a personal best today , 4 out of 4 on woodcock

Cracking that and a lovely picture for the album 

[shovel leaner 7,648]

On 04/12/2020 at 14:35, BenBhoy said:

Can't fault you Ian ❄??

Sorry Ben , I couldn’t resist posting this . A Welsh friend sent this to me , well I say friend......as friendly as an Englishman and a Welshman can be . Especially where rugby is concerned.

[Stavross 13,711]

Well here we go a little summery of the day 

On arrival it was a lovely crisp morning with a light dusting of snow, drive number one was the “badger sets” with a couple getting up early in the drive it was the last section that produced a good flush of birds, onto the next drive “oak wood” and this one produced some good birds, not in big numbers but some quality high birds, I wasn’t expecting anything from here as I didn’t see a bird there yesterday when feeding. This is a drive that tends to attract a few of next doors birds and true to form we had a few blue backs ( that we don’t put down ) and a random partridge. We then did a small block next to the farm on the way to a main drive, we pushed a few out and a couple of woodcock. Now onto my favourite drive, “ Gordon’s pen” this is normally the best drive on the shoot but was a bit disappointing today, we still put some good birds up but normally we have to stop the drive to allow the birds to get up in one’s and twos but not today 

Lunch time 

drive number 5, “piggeries tree side” now I knew exactly where the birds would be on this drive, to start off the guns get a few bangs but they always set off running to the corner and peg 1 at the end of the drive, I guided Hugo’s dad to where they would come out and he wasn’t disappointed, he couldn’t get cartridges in the gun quick enough, managing 7 he was over the moon. Now we headed to the other side of the piggeries, with the birds getting up one at a time it was looking like a belter of a drive, then from the centre of the drive it was like someone set off a pheasant bomb with birds going in every direction. My radio started going mad with the shoot captain going mad “ WHOS THAT FAR AHEAD “ “no one” it turned out to be 2 fallow and a fox so I didn’t hear the end of the fox in the drive for the rest of the day. After all that excitement we headed to “ forestry pen” drive, now we made a bit of a mistake with this one and beat it the wrong way, the guns still got some good shooting but a fare few of the birds went back over the beaters, no biggie, we’ll have a go at them next time. Now the final drive of the day “roadside” again from feeding yesterday I knew where the birds would come from, the guns like this drive because it’s not stud in a field waiting for the birds to break from the wood, you are stud in a gutter between the piggeries and roadside drive, so you get a split second to take your shot.

the bag for the day was 40 pheasants picked and 1 partridge, this could of been double if any of them could actually shoot

[BenBhoy 4,706]

25 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

Sorry Ben , I couldn’t resist posting this . A Welsh friend sent this to me , well I say friend......as friendly as an Englishman and a Welshman can be . Especially where rugby is concerned.

Doing it all wrong shearing first though; what they gonna grip hold of now ??

[shovel leaner 7,648]

Just now, BenBhoy said:

Doing it all wrong shearing first though; what they gonna grip hold of now ??

Haven’t you tried jamming their legs in your wellies. What am I talking about...... of course you have .

[BenBhoy 4,706]

19 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

What am I talking about...... of course you have .

That was pure rumour!! She jumped backwards & legs  just slipped inside them...

[FOXHUNTER 5,020]

Our day never went as planned either. 1st off the ducks wouldn't fly and there wasnt the number of pheasants about that I expected coupled with we only had 7 guns and 1 beater. We ended up with 30 head so not too bad but was hoping for double that . 

[FLATTOP 3,655]

2 hours ago, Stavross said:

Well here we go a little summery of the day 

On arrival it was a lovely crisp morning with a light dusting of snow, drive number one was the “badger sets” with a couple getting up early in the drive it was the last section that produced a good flush of birds, onto the next drive “oak wood” and this one produced some good birds, not in big numbers but some quality high birds, I wasn’t expecting anything from here as I didn’t see a bird there yesterday when feeding. This is a drive that tends to attract a few of next doors birds and true to form we had a few blue backs ( that we don’t put down ) and a random partridge. We then did a small block next to the farm on the way to a main drive, we pushed a few out and a couple of woodcock. Now onto my favourite drive, “ Gordon’s pen” this is normally the best drive on the shoot but was a bit disappointing today, we still put some good birds up but normally we have to stop the drive to allow the birds to get up in one’s and twos but not today 

Lunch time 

drive number 5, “piggeries tree side” now I knew exactly where the birds would be on this drive, to start off the guns get a few bangs but they always set off running to the corner and peg 1 at the end of the drive, I guided Hugo’s dad to where they would come out and he wasn’t disappointed, he couldn’t get cartridges in the gun quick enough, managing 7 he was over the moon. Now we headed to the other side of the piggeries, with the birds getting up one at a time it was looking like a belter of a drive, then from the centre of the drive it was like someone set off a pheasant bomb with birds going in every direction. My radio started going mad with the shoot captain going mad “ WHOS THAT FAR AHEAD “ “no one” it turned out to be 2 fallow and a fox so I didn’t hear the end of the fox in the drive for the rest of the day. After all that excitement we headed to “ forestry pen” drive, now we made a bit of a mistake with this one and beat it the wrong way, the guns still got some good shooting but a fare few of the birds went back over the beaters, no biggie, we’ll have a go at them next time. Now the final drive of the day “roadside” again from feeding yesterday I knew where the birds would come from, the guns like this drive because it’s not stud in a field waiting for the birds to break from the wood, you are stud in a gutter between the piggeries and roadside drive, so you get a split second to take your shot.

the bag for the day was 40 pheasants picked and 1 partridge, this could of been double if any of them could actually shoot

That first picture is amazing would make a great print, great write up and good to see all the works paying off. 

[shovel leaner 7,648]

12 hours ago, FOXHUNTER said:

Our day never went as planned either. 1st off the ducks wouldn't fly and there wasnt the number of pheasants about that I expected coupled with we only had 7 guns and 1 beater. We ended up with 30 head so not too bad but was hoping for double that . 

I don’t know what the ground is like near your pond , but the best way to get your duck flying in future is to feed them away from the pond , a strip of Maize 100 meters or so away and position the guns between the pond and Maize. Also gets the duck really fit walking to and from the feed . Just feeding the pond is ok but I’ve found feeding them away is better . Don’t want to teach you how to suck eggs FH , just a bit of food for thought. Sounds like you had a good day anyway.

[Sausagedog 7,381]

12 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

I don’t know what the ground is like near your pond , but the best way to get your duck flying in future is to feed them away from the pond , a strip of Maize 100 meters or so away and position the guns between the pond and Maize. Also gets the duck really fit walking to and from the feed . Just feeding the pond is ok but I’ve found feeding them away is better . Don’t want to teach you how to suck eggs FH , just a bit of food for thought. Sounds like you had a good day anyway.

That's what we did for day shooting. We use to feed wild duck to ponds for evening flighting them. Clapping them off when they landed in to hidden guns.

[FOXHUNTER 5,020]

23 minutes ago, shovel leaner said:

I don’t know what the ground is like near your pond , but the best way to get your duck flying in future is to feed them away from the pond , a strip of Maize 100 meters or so away and position the guns between the pond and Maize. Also gets the duck really fit walking to and from the feed . Just feeding the pond is ok but I’ve found feeding them away is better . Don’t want to teach you how to suck eggs FH , just a bit of food for thought. Sounds like you had a good day anyway.

Thanks SL for your advice. I have tried telling them to feed the ducks off the water but the others insist on feeding the water. I feed the water too but I also feed some splashes 100- 150 yds away. Our 1st shoot they did actually fly but yesterday thought better of it , never mind we will see what they do next time

[foxdropper 17,092]

Reared duck are either poor or embarrassing I’ve found .Most people put too many down .Best crack is use a couple dozen as decoys for wild birds .The fiasco over the lakes at Somerford Keynes near me is embarrassing to the extreme .They use air bombs to get them off the water .Put down 4000 plus ffs .

[FOXHUNTER 5,020]

I seen both extremes with reared duck , from wont fly at all to where the sky is full of extremely high birds that noone can shoot. I suppose you get the same with pheasants,  either hedge hoppers or screamers.

[foxdropper 17,092]

Depends on whether keeper is a lazy fecker or not

[sparky the hunter 69]

Well guys out feeding today, so muddy i had to leave the trailer at the farm.  This is where we usually have our elevenses,  on the flipside a good shoot yesterday 103 in the bag.