wag 13 Posted October 6, 2008 Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 well lads, i thought i would ask about to see what ducks and geese are being shot around the country , i have had a few ducks mainly mallard a few geese mainly greys . i have seen a few pinks arriving on the wash in the last few days, i know there are around 30,000 pinks around the norfolk coast at the moment , so come on let us all know whats going on around the country . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wildfowler-2007 0 Posted October 6, 2008 Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 Hi plenty geese around montrose and loch leven we are getting a few good amount of duck around as well Photo's took last week Regards Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wag 13 Posted October 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 cracking photos wildfowler 2007 pleased to see you got plenty up there mate . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wildfowler-2007 0 Posted October 6, 2008 Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 Wag i would say there are around 40.000 geese on the basin in montrose and around 20.000 geese on loch leven now after arriving late I see there are also plenty duck around in both my shooting area's All the best Regards Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tom1cameron 1 Posted October 6, 2008 Report Share Posted October 6, 2008 Have not been out yet but a guide near the ythan has said that there are lots of duck this year, despite the breedin season not seeming to have been ideal! Bring on the short conotinental cold snaps! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wag 13 Posted October 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 Wag i would say there are around 40.000 geese on the basin in montrose and around 20.000 geese on loch leven now after arriving late I see there are also plenty duck around in both my shooting area's All the best Regards very nice wildfowler ,i hope there is still plenty there when i come up in november . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DEL 5 Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Theres a few round my way.Me and my brother Lindsay off this site were out last sat,this was only my 3rd time out and i bagged 2 pinks my brother got 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wag 13 Posted October 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 cacking stuff lads well done . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lindsay 1 Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 Theres a few round my way.Me and my brother Lindsay off this site were out last sat,this was only my 3rd time out and i bagged 2 pinks my brother got 1 Yip you beat me this time but next time i wull be sober Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Des Cochrane 0 Posted October 10, 2008 Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 (edited) Theres a few round my way.Me and my brother Lindsay off this site were out last sat,this was only my 3rd time out and i bagged 2 pinks my brother got 1 Yip you beat me this time but next time i wull be sober Loch Leven geese late this year. I was up Montrose basin last week with a regular group of clients, off the field 0715 hrs before the flight even started. Des Cochrane www.ukshootingbreaks.org Edited October 10, 2008 by Des Cochrane Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dooly 0 Posted October 13, 2008 Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 Good numbers of wigeon up at Lindersfarne at the moment A few geese as well Quote Link to post Share on other sites
claybusers al 9 Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 my boundary is tyneingham bay not a lot of geese yet still sitting on the stubbles around haddington nice amount of duck at the moment Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wag 13 Posted October 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 well done lads,its nice to see a few people getting stuck in to them. we have a about 5000 pinks coming off our side so im out under the moon later to see if i can bag a couple for the tabble . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tom1cameron 1 Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 (edited) Edited version just published in SG (Jan 2008 Ed) Ladies & Gentlemen I dont get much fowling so when I do I make a day of it. Hence, on saturday past I got the chance, finally to go for my first fowling foray to my "home" marsh, the Ythan estuary north of Aberdeen. It is a small estuary but the area holds a great deal of waterfowl, there is a volunatry refuge downstream of the main road bridge but above that there are loads of places to go. I'm not really a goose fan, I target the duck and if I get a goose it is a bonus, but when I arrived on Saturday morning about 6.15am, the sun just lighting the sky, the sky was alive with geese. They were all too high for shooting throughout the day, but on one field a click behind where I parked , the stubble changed from a colour of gold to grey/black throughout the day. From where I could see the field there was about 15000 on this field alone, it really was unreal. Anyway......back to ducks. I started out on the marsh. It was very still and bright depite not yet being official sunrise, so I used the passing geese calls as cover to walk in. I spotted a mallard on a splash. She saw me so I froze and let her find cover. I moved into the wind to the right, send the lab to the left and bang! At a distance of about 25yrds I shot this mallard with a 3" hevishot 3's. A bit overkil so I aimed plenty in front to get the neck. The dog went in but came back with nothing, a few more turns round the thick sedges and she moved and got picked up. Deuch passed her over but she was not dead. I rung her neck and checked. There was 4 holes in her neck, 2 in her head, and several under her wings...on both sides!!!! It passed straight through rather than shocking the body. Interesting. This shot send a small pack of pinks off the burn, my luck as they rarely come down onto the burn itself, and a small pack of teal to flit up and then back down onto the edge of the basin. I stalked them by moving out and downwind and coming back onto them where they were feeding at the point. There were no other fowlers around, which is not always the case so this made this job possible. I could have sworn there was 50 of them, but when I send the dog in, again downwind, only 7 arose. Perfect shots to take with these 3" Express steel 3's, but I waited for the others. Nothing? So I looked behind me in a short while and I saw all those teal, all 50 of them flight down onto the same splash I shot the mallard on. So back I went. They flushed, kill, kill, miss. And the dog and I can only find one bird, The water was very high so I can only imagine that she fell into some underwater vegetation and got stuck. I spent an hour looking for that bird. It really stressed me out so I decided just to leave and catch my next venue before high tide. The forecast was for a low tide but with gusty winds so I planned to maroon myself on an island in the middle of the estuary and shoot the tide flight. I gathered all the kit, all the decoys, lunch, some water, dog food, wind-spinners and long lines, the gun the dog and my hat. The first place I set out the deeks usually works well near the river channel, needless to say that it failed this time, and about 500 wigeon dropped in behind the other side of teh island. So I packed up and moved before I could think about whether I could be bothered. The ducks were too many, I saw about 500 wigeon in groups of 50 -100 throughout the afternoon. Because they were all in big packs they would not readily respond to the charms of my calling. But eventually I managed to peel 4 off the back of a pack and they swung in over. I had, for luck, made my first shot a 3.5" large load of 2's. The young male drifting the left of the four dropped out the sky like a stone and hit the water, with a little encouragement of direction Deuch brough him back. Gorgeous. This happened again about 20 mins later, again I picked out a bird to the left and at the back and this time a she drifted toward the river. Not a kill! Deuch chased but she dived on him and I had to wade after her fast, I got the point where I was soon to be engulfed by water. I stopped and loaded a 3" steel, dead bird, found deuch, pointed him seas ward and he came back with this fridays starter for two. Then as the high tide began to lapse, everything went quiet. 3 large birds flew into the bay to my right, they headed for a wigeon pack floating out on the water, I hammered my raspy "tall timber" call with a repeat of 3 grunts and they turned straight for me. "Stay" I said to Deuch. I gripped my gun. Then thought, " they are not wigeon". 3 light bellied brents, which at 50yards still looked like large hen wigeon landed, made peace with themselves and grazed for a good 25 mins before I could no longer appease Deuch's wish to bite their arse off. They flew a few yards and rested on the water. Then another bird came into my right, this time either a godwit or a hawk. At yds a hen pergrine decided that either me, the dead wigeon or the plastic resting teal behind me were going to be her supper and she swooped to ground level beating her wings in almost slow motion. I waved her away. For the next 20 mins or so I had a sarnie and returned to the sand and gave Deuch some food. When I looked round there was a drake wigeon hovering above the deeks. Bang miss, Bang Hit, Bang miss. Bugger. It was only 25 yrds away. Deuch was off but again it dived. I loaded the only shells I had in my pocket, bugger, the expensive ones. Bang miss?*******!!!! This happened again and I noticed that the spread was very tight and high. So I reloaded and fired below the bird. Dead, Deuch retrieved. 3.5"Remi's x3@£1 = 3"express x3@£0.25 so a £3.75 duck! I was using half choke and I think it was far too tight for these steel loads at these moderate distances. I need to check this. Anyhoo.....IN SHORT .... 6 ducks, 5 retrieved, great day out in a twitchers paradise! Edited December 3, 2008 by tom1cameron Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wag 13 Posted October 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 a nice flight then tom, and a good write up too, you can't connect with them all mate but well done . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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