A country Sports Marathon

[mattydski 560]

The seed was planted following a rabbiting trip with a good friend and occasional shooting companion Michael. Who is a colleague from a previous role at work.

 

He had joined my self and Stewart for a long evenings rabbiting on a farm in Fife..and the subject of wildfowling cropped up. He is an avid wildfowler, a sport which although relay appeals to me, I have avoided due to the risk associated with loosing a bird over water. I don't have a retrieving animal for work, so have longed for some time to get about them.

 

So the scene was set.....Join him on his game shoot; a shoot that I have become a regular attendee off, (more to do with my cooking prowess, than my shooting ability) then rush the twenty miles to a shore location on the South Forth Shore. A couple of miles from the road bridge. It was a tight timescale..but we felt it was achievable.

 

Just to add to the variety of the day, I thought I would throw the rifle in the truck, and nail a few bunnies in Perth on the way home..

 

 

So that was the concept .....Game shoot, Wildfowling, Rabbiting......14 hours of trigger time.....what a day!!

 

As it happened, I got a phone call asking if Mr A would like to have a blast at the pheasants, as Michael was a gun short.

 

So we left the house at 7.30 for the 45 min drive to Dunfermaline. A quick cup of tea while we waited for our host to guide us to the meeting point....we pulled up and did the meet and great. Familiar faces to me, less so for Stewart. But a good bunch, very informal and hospitable.

The format of the day, a mixture of walking, beating and standing over about 7 drives. This shoot is a small shoot that only releases 150 birds a year, but relies on good husbandry and management to add to the bag with a few wildies.

 

There was a few show on the first few drives, but no big numbers... I had a shot at a cock, but as I swung through hit direct sunshine, grimaced and missed behind.

 

That was me for the next couple of drives.

 

We moved across the road, using the landy to get quickly in to position with 7-8 spaniels in the back, together with 6 guns..

 

Walking guns and beaters had set off earlier, the plan to rendezvous near the flight ponds pushing three fields down to the waiting guns.

 

As we were in position, i heard the call WOODCOCK... I saw nothing.....removed the sunglasses..and saw a lightning fast bird coming fast in front of me slightly left to right...I turned and nailed it behind. A good bird, my first for many years. It made my day.

 

No other birds on that drive. One further drive then lunch..

 

The highlight of this drive........the whistle blew..........End of Drive.............A small fox humiliated us by walking across the horizon, from where the guns had just departed......sly little f'ecker. I had a BB 3" special waiting in the belt just for him...but alas... yards was not an option.

 

One good thing about this shoot is the informality..We drove to the lunch point, reversed all the vehicles in to a wagon cirlce and opened the doors to share our wares!! What better way to enjoy a shoot lunch.. There was talk and bragging of the various brews that were to be offered on future meets....but the only liquid refreshment on offer today, was warm coffee and Bobs excellent soup.

 

Perfect lunch..!!

 

The afternoon saw the majority of folk, pile in to the landy again for a walked up shoot, to meet at a woodland strip some 1/2 mile away. The theory was to push the walking birds back to their home, then flush them back out with spaniels to the waiting guns.

 

There was on shot fired on the walk up, to a cock. My memory fails me as to whether it was a hit or miss...

 

We lined up on the noth side of the wood. Spaniels, beaters and guns on the south side...A whistle sounder the start of the first PM drive. A few birds were flushed, I shot a hen at the same time as my neighbour...bird stealing is positively encouraged here..

 

A few others hit the deck in a cascade of shots. We walked to the final drive, the shining star in shooting sky...

 

There were 40 birds flushed from the final wood. There was at least 10 that were shootable, alot were low at head height. % presented themselves to me..they were unsporting and left for future meets. A hare broke cover...........dam.........right in line with Stewart on the other side of the wood.. It was left.

 

By now, it was 4 oclock, Michael was getting nervous about the time, the sun was setting, and Landy was a 10 min walk to pick up..and we still had the formality of the end of day count and medals.

We marched back down the hill, only to be informed by radio of a lost dog. Bob's cocker had become lost in the last drive, he probably needed a sugar fix , and had become a little disorientated. The dogs work their heart out here, due to the lack of beaters.

 

He was located and we continued back to the meeting point, I was given a lift to pick up the landy, and we exchanged various guns, tackle and rabbiting equipment back to my motor for the rush to the foreshore. The tally for the day was 17 pheasants, 1 woodcock, 1 rabbit and a few pigeon collateral damages.. A good first day bag. Stewart had to leave us for a family engagement.

 

We make no apologies for the rush and speed we drove to the foreshore. As I was only really driving at the speed limit, but in the landy, it feels like Mach 2. Michael was blazing the way in his Zafira, converted, shooting bus and dog transporter.

 

We made the foreshore after dark.......bummer!!

 

It was still a good walk through gamekeeper protected land to the water side, a legal, if unpopular, place to shoot.

 

The geese were already in. The decision was taking by my host to send a shot up to move them on, then call them back in...Which we did.

 

The sounds of foreshore were fantastic. The experience made better by savvy host.

Every call was interpreted and relayed to me.. Mallard..Pink...Widgeon....Grey.... I was caught in the moment!!

 

The birds left the water 'en mass', others appeared on the horizon. Selected from the mass of dangling gadgets around my host neck...a possible candidate was selected... Quack...quack....., honk.....honk...... The mysterious sounds of the experienced wildfowler, sounding more like childs animal interpretations broke the now eerie silence.

 

We heard fireworks going off in the distance, then geese sounds over the night lights of one or more of the lothian towns.. They were coming to wards the child like squeaks of Michael's gadgets.

 

My heart was pounding 10 to the dozen.. I felt like an excited child, about to shoot their first rabbit with a 20 year old BSA..

 

100 yards..........keep low.......... yards....KEEP LOW......60 yards...ready.ready.. 50...40... The cacophony of noise was unbelievable!! They were heading right towards us...Safety off.......wait...30 yards.......Give em lead.......Michael shouted.

I let lose with a 36gram 3" steel shot magnum in the top barell.. HIT!! Agoose spiralled to our left. I went for another shot with the second barrel..click...........what click.......f**k..it was empty. Either I had loaded on one cartridge, or one had fallen out whilst I was crawling about in the mud.... an amateur mistake. Michael was setting about retrieving the goose that had hit water. His dog bounded through the shallow water to were we thought it had landed..the light was difficult to see in. We couldnt find it..his dog was scunnered by the hard days work we had given him. It was our mistake to ask him to work again. It really took the shine off the moment to know that we had left our kill behind..Next time we save a dog for the evening entertainment.

 

The thrill was unbelievable....Like a special treat..I can only go on invitation as I dont have the skills shown by my host..But We have made a date for two weeks time, tide permitting for a second go........Hell would more likely freeze over than the chance of me missing that!!

 

It was now 6 o'clock. I am knackered, the after adrenaline thrill of the short, but awesome wildfowling, has taken its toll. A coffee, and sandwich should do the trick..

 

I start the trip over the Forth Road Bridge towards home....the coffee kicks in....

 

Feck it....I decided to 'phone a friend'

 

"Andy. Matt....You busy?"

 

"No, what ya needing?" came the response..

 

" Fancy a bit of lampin? I'm needing a driver?"

 

"Nay bother, I'll meet you at the farm in 45 mins, yeah?"

 

"Thanks mate...I owe you one"

 

We arrived at the farm 5 mins apart. The rifle now loaded, lamps sorted, head torch found.. A quick conversion corse from his series 3, to my defender and were off.

 

We started to drive the farm.could see much for the first few routes. Andy hadnt lamped in this manner before, so it took time for me to show him my expectation. We also had the red filter fitted, so it made identification quite difficult for him..

 

We drove a little further when the lamp skipped over a pair of red eyes missed by my companion...."back...back...left abit...up.....THERE" I jumped from the truck, pulled the bipod down and took aim..whizz............thump. Rabbit ran like f'eck to cover. i had misjudged the range and went through his ears..b*stard. I also had forgotten the red lamp makes stuff appear further away.. Lesson learned.!!

 

Andrew was now on form with the lamp, I had learnt the lesson on range finding.. It was a partnership that would not fail from hence forth. Andy was really enjoying it now, He put me in prime shooting positions for 9 more shots, all successful at up to ranges of 90 yards. A very testing shot under red light. One slight scare when I shot a youngster near a hole. The wee f'ck managed to get at least arms length back down the entrance, with a full lobotomy????? How, I don't know. I did my gun dog bit..and retrieved him.

 

We only went round the farm once. By now it was 10 o'clock. I still had the gutting to do, the truck to clean out, the ferrets to feed, and my tea to have. So we called it a night.

 

I got home about 11.00pm I think?? :wacko:

 

A very enjoyable day, made better by good company, good weather and an understanding wife.

 

Same time, same place two weeks time??? You bet!

 

Sorry, no photos, I didn't have the though capacity to remember the camera

[Malt 379]

Found it Matt!

 

I enjoyed that read mate, felt like I was there with you. Thanks for sharing.

[bell 3,606]

Excellant read Matt, real pity about the lost goose, that would have been the icing on the cake. Its at times like that i have canvassed my gun and said "thats it , it doesnt get any better" and ive stopped shooting for the day

[Dave C 63]

Enjoyed that Matt, well done, good write up.

Every shooting trip you pick up tips for the next, thats what make it so exciting and that was some trip, i love a mixed bag

 

Dave.

[Guest dances]

great read