Hi all,

I posted this on the Bird Shooting Forum, but thought some may be interested in this here so I've doubled up by posting here too.

At late notice on a cancellation I and a couple of freinds took an early day on the Partridges yesterday.

We often shoot at this shoot through the season but I have not taken early partridge days for the last few years because I often find (elsewhere) that the birds are just not ready to go well.

We had a bit of a bonus in that we drove the gravel pit (rather the two fleets running into it) for some wild ducks and geese. I had an early mallard come down the line and curlover to my right which folded nicely. I was quickly brought back down to earth by a pack of tufted that must have had oxygen masks on!! The guys to my right killing 3 birds cleanly out of the pack. Some really spectacular shooting indeed.

Then that noise started. the entire line crouched down hoping that as it got louder the birds responsible would make their way over them. We were 12 guns and I had two big trees directly in front of me. the Keeper shouted, "Geese Lads!!", as if we didn't all ready know!! I think half the line was holding their breath!! Pete called to me and as he spoke a Skein of 10-15 Canada's came over the wall of green in front of me. I tried to pick a bird from the back and as it's head arched back, I spun round to take a second. Another bird planed down onto the lake. As I marked it, Peter dived out of the way as a full grown goose nearly fell on his head. It must have missed me by 18" at the most!! Anothert skein came over shortly after and I knocked out a couple more, the second bird again planing down to the far side. I packed up and wandered over with fern to pick up. She found me two mallard that were pricked on the far bank, and flushed one of the geese out onto the lake where another barrel put an end to it's problems. However she refused to pick a bird that weighed more than she did. Prefering to swim out to it and growl from a safe distance!! They got picked in fairly short order.



When we got back the first goose I had shot had two rings on it's legs. One orange one marked FUD, and a second metal one with a number and a request to notify the BTO at the Natural History Museum London.





After we picked up we went out and shot a few Partridges. I was pleased with the new gun that I had just had fitted. My shooting last year was in the region of 6 shots per bird, about 3 times the rate I usually shoot on the type of birds we usually shoot. After fitting I shot 8 nice driven partridges for a dozen shots so I was thrilled.



All in all a nice start to the season, Fern worked well and picked me a couple of very nice birds, including a long runner on a blind retrieve. It always surprises me at the start of the season how less fit the dogs are than they were in February.



Rgds,
FB

Nice haul!

worryingly their is a company that purports to make ultra-realistic goose decoys called FUD

http://www.duckdecoys.com/fud/index.html

What do you think? you may have bumped off a prototype

I was one of the couple of friends.

That was a fun day!

He's the one in brown, (with the hat). The better looking one is the dog.

You guys are really something else
( by the way...is it a cork screw for magnum bottles Uk hunter are carrying? )

quote:

Originally posted by Arild Iversen:
You guys are really something else
( by the way...is it a cork screw for magnum bottles Uk hunter are carrying? )

Arild,

UK Hunter uses the contraption to wind up the hound before he sets it losse at the start of the day. It then takes off not unlike one of those childrens toys that bounce off the walls and climb up and down the stairs. One wind is suffficient for a days shooting.

It's known as a spanieliser.

Rgds,
FB

I never realised what a handsome fellow I am!

Unuasual shot of FB with the wire for his remote control head showing so clearly. We find it useful..... we can use the controller to turn him into the right direction when the birds are flying.

FB...So that´s what the screw is for

UKhunter...I saw that wire as well, but didn´t have the guts to ask what it was.
After all he will be the Chef at the AR Stalking Weekend, and the last thing I want is to offend him in any way.

One learn something new on AR every day

It is used to screw the dog ERR, I mean you screw it into the ground and tie your dog to it.