Mock Dog Trial

[BLACKBOB 9]

Its been a while since ive been out with the gun and out of the blue came a phone call to see it i would be a gun on a unofficial gun dog trial on a shoot near Hereford. Six guys had organised a day in which to train their young and expirienced dogs on some partridge, pheasent and rabbit ground.

 

After some long consideration of 5 seconds i agreed to come along and shoot for these dog men. It was after i put the phone down that i started to think about what i had just agreed to do, im not partial to shooting birds up the backside, i know how upset these guys can get if you miss the birds that their dogs had just worked hard to present for you, and ive not picked the gun up for nearly a year. Now i was starting to worry.

 

Well it was all set my son and myself set off to meet at the services for breakfast and to discuss the day ahead. Comments were made about which birds to chose if more than one was presented as it was training and they didnt want difficult retrives for the young dogs, also that they wanted to make a day of it and not kill all the birds in quick time, which made me chuckle to myself as i was now starting to panic.

 

The weather was beautifull as we arrived at the shoot, late as we got a bit lost, so it was straight out with the gun and off with the game keeper. Instructions given and i was placed on the right for the first cover, three guns including myself and two dog men all in a row.

 

First drive partridge in some 18inch cover with a maize cover crop to my right, off we go, my thoughts are now please dont give me the first bird, not only because ive not shot for ages but also ive not shot partridge for even longer and they are small buggers at that. Flush up goes the first partridge to the left gun, im thinking please miss just to take some pressure off, bang and down it comes, nice shot i muttered, now the gauntlet is down. My son following behind says "come on dad your turn soon", thanks cant wait. Bird retrieved and of we go again.

 

Dogs casting beautifully, credit to their trainers, im walking in line and i notice rats the size of rabbits scurrying about the cover as the dogs thrash about, one runs out straight into my leg, squeaks and runs off to my sons enjoyment. Flush, hen pheasent right in front of me, where am i looking, at the rats. Bang, missed, didnt even have time for second shot as it curled over the maize, what a plonker. Made my excuses and off we went again. Right concentrate, a couple of yards and flush partridge, bang, got it, obviously the middle gun (game keeper) not filled with confidence of my first shot also puts one in, but duly appologuises as it was dead when i hit it. Im happy with the shot but only to be frowned apon by the dog man with a sarcastic "cheers" as the bird dropped in the depth of the maize. Dog sent to retrieve followed by owner and returned empty handed.

 

Well not the best of starts, but ive bagged one, well sort of bagged if they can find it later. We turned the corner and changed dogs. Off again and within seconds flush, partridge centre gun, i lift mine as it starts to curl my way, bang, bird folds and drops. "Nice shot dad" comes the call from my son, didnt have the heart to tell him i didnt even pull the trigger lol.

 

Well i dont know what happened after this but i became Clint Eastwood, i didnt miss a thing, even the game keeper at the end of the day congratulated me on some excellent shooting, i only missed one other all day and that bugger sneaked up from behind me. The dog men were extreamly happy with me and have invited me back for the next outing. To be honest i supprised myself and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Bag 9 partridge and 5 pheasents with 17 shots very happy with that.

 

Cheers bob

[Born Hunter 17,763]

Well done, i know exactly what you mean whean you talk about pressure to make the shot. Was with you all the way through that, few shots, nerves calmed and then you could shoot confidently.

 

Do you still run that big beddy lurcher? Remember a thread a long while back where you compared to a bull cross.

[BLACKBOB 9]

Hi BH you got a good memory to remember that long ago lol, still runinng him and my patiance has paid off. He was a bloody slow starter, but as i knew his farther was also, i abided my time. Going to do alot more with him this season as last was a bit off a wash out for me due to personal circumstances.

 

Had an invite to the next training trial last night for the 1st of December so looking forward to that.

 

What you running now? You been out much of late?

 

Cheers bob

[Born Hunter 17,763]

Hi BH you got a good memory to remember that long ago lol, still runinng him and my patiance has paid off. He was a bloody slow starter, but as i knew his farther was also, i abided my time. Going to do alot more with him this season as last was a bit off a wash out for me due to personal circumstances.

 

Had an invite to the next training trial last night for the 1st of December so looking forward to that.

 

What you running now? You been out much of late?

 

Cheers bob

 

I remember the odd dog that catches my attention on here, and yours was one of them, big line bred beddy grey if i remember right. Im bringing on a 6 month old pup (wheatongrey x colliegrey) and shes shaping up well, very interested in beddy lurchers though hence me remembering. Keep up the trialing pal, and let us all know how you get on next time. Same goes with the lurcher work. atb BH

[butcherboy 68]

Sounds like a good day.

 

Who's running the trial days?

[BLACKBOB 9]

Hi BH you got a good memory to remember that long ago lol, still runinng him and my patiance has paid off. He was a bloody slow starter, but as i knew his farther was also, i abided my time. Going to do alot more with him this season as last was a bit off a wash out for me due to personal circumstances.

 

Had an invite to the next training trial last night for the 1st of December so looking forward to that.

 

What you running now? You been out much of late?

 

Cheers bob

 

I remember the odd dog that catches my attention on here, and yours was one of them, big line bred beddy grey if i remember right. Im bringing on a 6 month old pup (wheatongrey x colliegrey) and shes shaping up well, very interested in beddy lurchers though hence me remembering. Keep up the trialing pal, and let us all know how you get on next time. Same goes with the lurcher work. atb BH

 

 

 

Yeah thats the one BH, will have to get up some new pictures soon, have to invest in a new camera. Will do a wright up on my next outing to let you know how it goes.

 

Cheers bob

[BLACKBOB 9]

Sounds like a good day.

 

Who's running the trial days?

 

 

Hi mate, its run by a few trialing people who do some training together, the gamekeeper didnt give them exactly what they wanted but it was their first time there, so further negotiations are required. Was an excellent day for me tho as a gun so i didnt complain.

 

Cheers bob

[BLACKBOB 9]

Well we have had our second mock trial and were joined by some outstanding old boys with their dogs, one being a trial judge so pressure was on to preform well, and living up to my usual standards it didn't start off to well

 

Got there on time and it was a lovely crisp day, straight off to the first section and with only 2 guns to start there was alot to cover. Keeper shot with us last time but not this time as his guns had been seized but he wouldn't let on why after lots of ribbing.

 

Got the drive underway and the first bird rose for me. lovely partridge, used both barrels to watch if fly off into the sun, just warming the barrels up was my excuse. At this time there were 5 dogs working and it was difficult to concentrate on shooting as it was a pleasure to see the dogs quartering so beautifully as there was some class dogs here today. Suddenly the dog to my left neigh on stopped like a pointer and his handler said get ready. the dog was only about 8 foot in front of me and flushed up a hen bird. Now this bird headed directly to the fence on my right hand side and no higher than the top of the fence, i decided it wasn't a safe shot as id be firing directly over the fence and not knowing what was on the other side as it was mixed with some bushes, i let it go.

 

Well if i did the gamekeeper shouted across " you got to shoot them mate " my reply was " to low " he then said " etiquette dosn't come into it when you are doing this " I shouted " no but safety dose " then i wondered why he had his guns taken off him idiot.

 

Well that set me in good stead for the rest of the day as i was well pee'd off with those comments. The other gun was having the upper hand today and getting more birds than me although he had some superb misses as well, which always makes you feel a bit better, the next bird to rise for me was another partridge which again was just ahead of me, but it got up and it was tiny and was like slow motion, i give it a bit as if id shot it in front of me i think it would have disintegrated. Well again two barrels and it was still going, i was looking in amazement it flew for about 80yards and dropped from the sky stone dead. Few minutes later exactly the same again partridge up behind the other gun, he misses it and it circles around the back of me, over my head, im pirouetting like a rether large ballerina and get one shot off. The bird makes the next field then again drops from the sky dead. Across comes a shout " you still using them rice cartridges " it bloody felt like it.

 

But it seemed to be the story of the day with very little clean kills and not just myself but the other gun as well, my mate was over with him and he said on the way home that nearly every retrieve was a live bird. Although shooting them from behind is the main reason for this, i will be going with a heavier load next time and using 5s instead of 6.5s as the birds get a bit tougher as the season goes on. A good example was the last bird i shot, one of the guns wanted one more flush and retrieve and the keeper asked me across to accompany him for a final flush. Although not ideal as we were by a river and nearly all the birds fly across the river so to get one down your side very rarelly happened. The keeper said if they are heading over the river then leave them so this is what i did and all birds were heading that way. Towards the end of the drive he said, just shoot one any way and see what happens. Nice cock bird was flushed and headed to the top of the trees over the river. Hit well with the first barrel and give it a second for good measure knowing what had gone on that day, big puff of feathers and a loud thud as it hit the floor. We marked the position where it was shot and walked around the other side for a retreive. Not ideal but the river was swollen and not safe to send the dog across.

Do you think we could find the bird, could we heck as like, totally unbelievable but the story of the day.

 

Best bit for me though was a comment my mate said on the way home, as he was walking along one of the drives the judge who came along said to him is that gun any good then, about me, and he did have reason to ask as i hadn't been that good till then, and as he asked a flush of birds came up and i had a left and right partridge. My mate said you couldn't have timed if better as my only reply to him was " well im not sure but he just had a left and right partridge " that put a smile on my face and ended a good day.

 

Cheers bob

[shannon1970 0]

well written good story sounds like a bit of nerves till you settled down