Carlesberg don't do days , but ....

Pat McGroin

First off , Happy New Year to all , heres hoping everyone has a great and a safe 2011!
Got out today for a couple of hours and brought the dogs for a hunt . Lovely day for it , nice cool crisp evening with a chill in the air , great weather to be out in . Off we hit in the jeep and over to a spot I used to hunt with my dad ,back when we had no dogs and I was used to beat the cover .
It's a rough piece of ground with heavy cover and wooded area's scattered around it and used to be good for woodcock and the odd pheasant. While I was crossing a fence/drain , the lab flushed a woodcock right beside me and as I watched him climb over the trees and disappear , I could'nt help but wonder did the Fecker see me unloading the gun and then decided to flush . Hmmmm
On throuh the rough ground and suddenly the dog goes on point , I park the lab and walk in twoard the pointer . I'm ready and he flushes a fine cock and I nail him just as he's climbing to clear the trees , off go the fetching troops and the pointer arrives back with the bird! Excellent .

On to next spot , a plantation beside a bog . About fifteen yards in , the dog is on to something again , excellent. He's pointing and moving , this is a clever old rooster running and hiding. This went on for 200 yards then a big cock burst from cover and BANG ! Number 2 in the bag , returned to me by the lab , happy out . She even carried him to the jeep for me

On the way home I pulled into another spot to have a look on a pond we used to shoot , Nothing in there but I said I'd hang around for a few mins and wait for it to get dark , I watched as a teal touched down but was too far out for a shot , then the labs ears stood up as she spotted two mallard coming in to land , they came in perfectly for the shot and I flattened the Drake into the pond. Out with the lab and back in with the duck , three from three ! :D

Got home and gave the dogs a good warm feed and some tripe as a treat for their good work , was the labs first action in three months thanks to motherhood but she was good as ever !

The birds were in top condition so they're well recovered from the frost down these parts.:)

clivej

Good shooting and a good read cheers and many more for the last few weeks of the season.

macadam

Nice shooting the woodcock would have finished the bag of nicely, had the lab a litter recently?

Pat McGroin

Yea , she had a litter of droppers out of the pointer . Great to have her back out again now though.