are shooters getting ready for nov 1st?

stevoman

so is everyone getting the itch yet even though its still september?

i have myself a new shotgun bought, i located a side by side yeoman after so all my searching im delighted and i will be looking forward to shooting a more traditional shotgun this year and i am flat out running the dog again and she's in top form for this season being 2 and half years old i hope this will be her crowning season.

being in the gun shops a lot i have noticed that heaps of guns are being left in and it also gets me wondering will there so many first weekend shooters this year and also being so many lads out of work will there be lads banging away at birds monday to fridays also?

me - i'l hunt a few pheasents the first week as i have the week off work and i'l donate the rest of my season to the humble snipe.

so whats everyone else doing in preperation for this year?

jwshooter

i seen some pheasant chicks out cycling sat ,they were 3 weeks old at most.

stevoman

jwshooter wrote: »

i seen some pheasant chicks out cycling sat ,they were 3 weeks old at most.

quite young for this time of year dont you think. lets just hope some gobsheen doesnt shoot them this season. they'd make great wild stock and breeders for next year.

gavinO668

we reared over a 100 chicks this season and have done every with the last 6. just released the birds on sunday as it was the perfect day for it really. our club has a restriction of pheasant shooting on weekends and holiday days only. i have pointer that i used last season, unbelievable dog to work but after about an hour he looses interest and will leave ya. just cant seem to put manners in him. pity really. so i bought a springer pup for this year. she's only 6 months now but will make a savage dog. she'll do exactly what she's told to and will always be only 20ft in front of ya.

best money i ever spent...

deeksofdoom

Well, I’ve been shooting pigeons and had a couple of nights on a pond at the ducks. I brought my springer out on Friday night to the pond she made an absolute bloody show of me. I lost her whistle so I had to use another one she ran off through the water chasing ducks and wouldn’t come back when she was called, I was like a lunatic. It was just excitement though there must have been about 60 duck on that pond and the scent of so many birds just drove her insane. That said she will be deadly out rough shooting she hunts the ditches well and am looking forward to a couple of good hard frosts for some woodcock. I hope she can keep that kind of drive up because I have some right jungle picked out for her this year.
I have a GWP also who has a deadly nose. She is my dog of choice. I’ld say I’ll be needing a dog with a good nose and wide ranging abilities for the coming season. There are very few pheasants around, That said the harvest is also late maybe they are still picking in side in the corn, but I’ve seen very few clutches of pheasants in comparison with other years.

gavinO668

Oh there's nothing worse than when they show ya up but at least you have the cop on to know that it was just the excitement that did it to her.. i know some idiots that just loose all lass in a dog after one bad day with them. no patience i suppose!

After picking up alot of land myself this year, plenty of cover for pheasants and alot of land for the deer too.. We have savage trouble with foxes though. cant keep them under control. drove up in the jeep last night to where we let off the chicks on sunday morning and shot 3 of em in the one 15acre field. saw another one in the lamp on our way back out onto the road but couldn't get him down close enough to fire.

stevoman

deeksofdoom wrote: »

Well, I’ve been shooting pigeons and had a couple of nights on a pond at the ducks. I brought my springer out on Friday night to the pond she made an absolute bloody show of me. I lost her whistle so I had to use another one she ran off through the water chasing ducks and wouldn’t come back when she was called, I was like a lunatic. It was just excitement though there must have been about 60 duck on that pond and the scent of so many birds just drove her insane. That said she will be deadly out rough shooting she hunts the ditches well and am looking forward to a couple of good hard frosts for some woodcock. I hope she can keep that kind of drive up because I have some right jungle picked out for her this year.
I have a GWP also who has a deadly nose. She is my dog of choice. I’ld say I’ll be needing a dog with a good nose and wide ranging abilities for the coming season. There are very few pheasants around, That said the harvest is also late maybe they are still picking in side in the corn, but I’ve seen very few clutches of pheasants in comparison with other years.

id balme the late harvest as id say they are all in corn. whats your pointer like on woodcock or do you hunt them with her?

gavinO668

no i dont hunt them with her at all to be honest, she just doesn't have the obedience for it, but ive the springer well trained now and the last few weeks ive been bringing the two of them out together and the pointer will stay with the springer funnily enough.. so here's hoping that they will work well together from here on and the problem of her taking off on her own will be sorted.... fingers crossed anyway

greenpeter

Lots of birds around since the corn has been cut, i went to some stubble yesterday with the dog birds every where he worked like a trooper and he's only months so i'm delighted. Our club wont allow midweek shooting unless you have permission from the chairman and thats not easy got, but its open for the weeks around Christmas and herself is going away so I'll be flat out for them few weeks. Birds & pints what more could a man want:D:D:D:D roll on the 1ST.

foxhunter

jwshooter wrote: »

i seen some pheasant chicks out cycling sat ,they were 3 weeks old at most.

Jesus where did they learn to do that JW ?
Next thing you know they will be driving cars:D:D:D:D

deeksofdoom

stevoman wrote: »

id balme the late harvest as id say they are all in corn. whats your pointer like on woodcock or do you hunt them with her?

lethal!!!!......

ronn

got a new beretta 686e had it out today banging some clays, missed all the easy ones hit the harder ones, hope to get some more practice in before the 1st,, hav 2 dogs a 2 1/2 yro springer bitch and a 2yro sprocker. i live beside a driven shoot so plenty of birds to get the dogs up the running, be working on the 1st but booked in the following thursday to monday, be shooting between waterford and cork plenty of all types of land and lakes, staying in a pub though just have to remember to get off the high stool,

stevoman

i was out myself this morning about 7.30 before work with the dog. it was good great/disaster of a morning!

decided to introduce the dog of 2 and half years to this years pheasents. she a setter. first she put up a hen and ran the whole field chasing her. the further on in another field she set for a few seconds and then walked on. i could see 3 cocks looking at me in the ditch and she sniffed the ground about 8 feets around them for a good minute. eventually she figured out where they were and went in a set them. 3 got up and again she cahsed on of them halfway across the field. she came back and went into the ditch again and set for a few seconds whilst i talked to her and told her to steady. the cock was just under her nose and she broke set and put it up.

a few minutes later and a couple of hundred yards away she rose two hens aswell.
this was her first whiff of pheasents this year, but i thought she might have been a bit more syeadier. still nothing i can do but stand by her, keep her going and wait for it all to fall into place. im going to puit all the chasing down to excitment (i hope!)