So, who went shooting today?

declan1980

How did ye get on today?
I went foxing today with 7 other lads and 4 terriers. We did all small beats, and drove out 4 foxes in different spots, two got away and two were shot.
On one drive, we were beating a heavy ditch alongside a pond. I positioned myself behind a bush about 40 yards from the ditch because I knew that if a fox was going to come out my side, he'd have to pass me. Any way, the lads started beating the ditch towards me and in a minute I heard movement in the bushes behind me. A big dog fox burst out of the bushes and tore past me. I threw up the gun, put the bead just in front of his head and BOOM he turned upside down. He was wriggling about a bit so I gave him a second one, because the terriers were hot on his heels and if they got near him he'd tear strips off them if he caught hold of them.
I was using Remington 3" 50 gram 0's, and they are some cartridge for foxes. The only reason that lad didnt die straight away with the first shot is because I could have lead him a bit more, maybe if he was crossing me it would have been cleaner, he was kind of quartering away from me so he got most of the shot back behind his shoulders, but at the same time he wasn't going anywhere with the slap off them cartridges

marlin vs

declan1980 wrote: »

He was wriggling about a bit so I gave him a second one, because the terriers were hot on his heels and if they got near him he'd tear strips off them if he caught hold of them.

Just aswell you gave that big dog fox the second one cause those terriers could have been in big trouble.:rolleyes:you should have let them finish him.

declan1980

marlin vs wrote: »

Just aswell you gave that big dog fox the second one cause those terriers could have been in big trouble.:rolleyes:you should have let them finish him.

I was under orders to finish off any fox that had a bit of life left in him for that reason. The terriers get it bad enough in the burrows, we like to make things easy for them above ground

charlie10

i went out at ten this morning to meet a lad that had a springer . i got on to him through a mutual friend, hunted for a few hours he hit cover well and retrieved a cock that was shot and i missed a woodcock:(:( any way long story short i bought him he is 16 months and a real monster for his age. pics to follow tommorrow

garv123

Went out all day and none of the 3 of us fired a shot until we went shooting crows at last light:mad:
just one of them days.

declan1980

charlie10 wrote: »

i went out at ten this morning to meet a lad that had a springer . i got on to him through a mutual friend, hunted for a few hours he hit cover well and retrieved a cock that was shot and i missed a woodcock:(:( any way long story short i bought him he is 16 months and a real monster for his age. pics to follow tommorrow

Cool, I love to hear about a young dog doing well

charlie10

declan1980 wrote: »

How did ye get on today?
I went foxing today with 7 other lads and 4 terriers. We did all small beats, and drove out 4 foxes in different spots, two got away and two were shot.
On one drive, we were beating a heavy ditch alongside a pond. I positioned myself behind a bush about 40 yards from the ditch because I knew that if a fox was going to come out my side, he'd have to pass me. Any way, the lads started beating the ditch towards me and in a minute I heard movement in the bushes behind me. A big dog fox burst out of the bushes and tore past me. I threw up the gun, put the bead just in front of his head and BOOM he turned upside down. He was wriggling about a bit so I gave him a second one, because the terriers were hot on his heels and if they got near him he'd tear strips off them if he caught hold of them.
I was using Remington 3" 50 gram 0's, and they are some cartridge for foxes. The only reason that lad didnt die straight away with the first shot is because I could have lead him a bit more, maybe if he was crossing me it would have been cleaner, he was kind of quartering away from me so he got most of the shot back behind his shoulders, but at the same time he wasn't going anywhere with the slap off them cartridges

can u give me the low down on how you shoot foxs this way, do the terriers go into the cover or what and how you know which ditchs to "beat"

Longranger

Went out this morning and things just got better from the start! As we walked into the field we heard flapping and as I was loading the gun a lovely cock pheasant rose about twenty yards away. A quick shot and down he went,. Up the hill and we walked into three clouds of snipe, my tally, six! Bit more walking around and we hit woodcock, and then the fun really started:) On a down note,I broke my camera, but feck it, it was only an aldi one anyway:( final score for myself was two pheasant,six snipe and one woodcock. VERY HAPPY(mind you, I. Still fired a full box to get them, time to fix that Clay trap and get practising). I'm heading out now after charlie with the new hmr so we'll see how that goes. Talk to ye later all.
LR

Tackleberrywho

Went out for an hour today before dinner, no deer around and had to be home for 3pm.

I'll posts.pics later of the deer I saw yesterday later on.

They are on my Bridge Camera so it's more effort to post them.

He another dinner tomorrow @3pm so not a lot of time to get in a stalk before dinner, and after hang over has worn off

declan1980

charlie10 wrote: »

can u give me the low down on how you shoot foxs this way, do the terriers go into the cover or what and how you know which ditchs to "beat"

We position the guns strategically along the cover, so that all possible escape routes are covered. Then we send the dogs into the cover with a man either side to keep them moving along, the dogs will usually hunt inside the ditch but will also slip in and out. Big clumps of furze in the middle of fields are usually good spots as well as over grown fairy forts, but these require a man inside to drive the dogs on. It also helps if the man in the fort/furze has a few light clay pigeon cartridges to fire up into the air every once in a while. This can help drive out the foxes. The lads on the outside should stand close to the cover with their backs to it, and let the foxes out past them, that way they won't be firing into cover, or towards other guns. The main thing to remember when shooting like this is to know the positions of the guns near you because you won't always be in a nice straight line and some times a lad might be further down the line behind a bush and you mightn't be able to see him, so safety first.
We always hunt the same spots every year and they always seem to hold foxes, but from what I see they're usually nice warm spots and can often have a burrow in or near them. They're often in the same places you find pheasants

I forgot to mention that the lads beating the cover do it with the wind at their backs, so that the scent swell as the noise they make drive the foxes towards the guns. If the guns were upwind of the foxes they would be reluctant to run towards them

Glensman

We got 3 rabbits, 1 Pigeon, 7 Pheasants and a HUGE cat in the snare.
None fell to me unfortunately,,,

charlie10

thanks for the reply there is a lot of preparation so, turning the back to the cover is a good idea actually , i know a couple of right spots so i must try and get on to a few lads with terriers and spot the crack,i can be positioning them like i know what im at !! ha ha:cool:

Birdnuts

Down in the West ATM - me and a M8 got 2 snipe, 1 woodcock and thinned out a few hoodies down by the shore at the back of the farm:)

PS:Himself got the snipe with 8's and i got the Woodcock and Hoodies with 7's. Really enjoyed myself since its the first time I've got out since early in the season:)

beretta686s

went out this morning with to mates saw plenty of birds my bag was 1 cock a rabbit and a magpie, d boys were to busy yapping like auld 1's when any bird got up in front of them so there were pretty safe:D them lightweights gave up at dinner time so i soldier'ed on my own but inlisted the company of my little nephew he loves coming out with me and done 1 big cover before dark rose pheasants duck woodcock snipe but all got up other side of ditches from me where here is sum1 usually:rolleyes: didnt get a shot off after dinner but more 4 another day mite try and get out 1 or 2 more days befor i have to get back to work.two of my other buddys went goat stalking this morning and picked up a nice snow white kid for the pot:D

declan1980

charlie10 wrote: »

thanks for the reply there is a lot of preparation so, turning the back to the cover is a good idea actually , i know a couple of right spots so i must try and get on to a few lads with terriers and spot the crack,i can be positioning them like i know what im at !! ha ha:cool:

Sure go for it, you never know, you might have a bit of luck and a bit of craic too

charlie10

ya will do hopefully the new springer will throw a few out of cover

patdahat

well off we set today 3 of us and 4 springer's had a big glen to hunt that has not been hunted yet this year, well what we were to expect we did and a hole lot more, the glen was handy cover of everything a woodcock could love to be in, sally's, hazel thicket's, furs bushes, fern's, holly and ivy tree's. well all the birds were not killed, cock pheasant was off the list, it was woodcock we were after in the 3 hours we were hunting the glen we met 26 woodcock, 3 cock pheasant's, 2/3 snipe, 2 mallard (duck and drake) and a sika doe. to cut to the chase we had a total of 14 woodcock and a duck at the end, 1 is not in the pic,met a farmer and he wanted to try 1 so we were only happy to oblige.

Dupont

:Dwent out today pointer was first up(which is a change because the springer usually jumps into van first,he had to be held down:D)got a lovely left on a snipe and went for the right but wasnt on it when i fired:rolleyes: went into a thick planting with a strip cut about 20 ft along a drain trough it where i rise a cock before.no bird to be seen but tossed a crow out of the sky,then onto another spot where we rise a cock 2 weeks ago, no cock but rise a woodcock,looked around but uncle never fired, walking along edge of bog woodcock got up wild and touched down to a 32g 6:D,up another and down he came. must have rise about 20 snipe all day,most getting up wild.great day was had espically as i have the new beretta since the start of season and was starting to curse it as couldnt hit a thing.all above fell to first barrell:D

tac foley

Glensman wrote: »

We got 3 rabbits, 1 Pigeon, 7 Pheasants and a HUGE cat in the snare.
None fell to me unfortunately,,,

MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm! Cat pie!

tac & ALF

poulo6.5

well declan, i went out yesterday for a shot, i diidnt have rosie with me so had to meet up with my buddy that got there before me he wondered up the river bank before me so as my brother in law and me walked up toward him a flight of teal got up and i hit 2 of them.
my buddy came back down the river when he heard the shots and his lab retrieved the duck.
then as we wondered up along the dogs flushed up a lovely big cock that my brother in law fired at twice but missed:eek:

but we made up for it when we nailed a big dog fox between us we cornered it between us as the mate was on the other side of the ditch with the dogs and we were on this side and the river was in front of him. both of us fired in it at close range :cool: it was one holey fox when we were finished.

a couple more duck got up as we walked back to the jeep the brother in law got one but the rest of them were to far ahead of us to get a shot off. so just before we got back i nailed a pigeon

total bag for the day
3 duck
1 pigeon
1 fox

tfox

Out with the springer, he's only been beating twice so still fresh to shooting.

In the field beside my house, little boggy patch in the corner, 2 snipe flushed, bang bang, 2 down, delighted as it was in front of my girlfriend

Anyway dog worked like mad and retrieved the 2 almost to hand, very happy

declan1980

nice goin poulo, you're gettin on well with that shotgun. are you goin to eat the duck yourself or give them away?
shootin a fox like that is fair exciting.
i was at a clay shoot myself today. it was good craic, but i couldn't see myself getting into it as a sport. give me rifle shootin any day instead of it.
we must try and meet up next week for a shot

poulo6.5

declan1980 wrote: »

nice goin poulo, you're gettin on well with that shotgun. are you goin to eat the duck yourself or give them away?
shootin a fox like that is fair exciting.
i was at a clay shoot myself today. it was good craic, but i couldn't see myself getting into it as a sport. give me rifle shootin any day instead of it.
we must try and meet up next week for a shot

i have them hanging and i will breast them tomorrow. her self might throw them on the pan for me if i am good.
ya the fox was an unexpected surprise and it got the old ticker pumping

i cant complain about the shotty, for a cheep old beater it is great fun to shoot and i am not a bit worried about dropping it or scratching it. its exactly the shotgun for me. but give me a rifle any day

kemen

generaly a fox will go with the wind or nearst burrow so if thats covered its a big help! i finished work early 2day do some burrows with great results! 2burrows 2 huge massive dog foxes! 1 bolt 1 dig very happy man! a wee nip would do a terrier no harm, hardin him up bit an he should defo retaliate!!

charlie10

well lads went out with the new springer today ,he really is a credit to his last owner he would stay within range and would hit any cover i pointed too,now i know first hand why springers are so versatile ,i shot a snipe for him as he was quartering a bog and he went and picked it and brought it back to hand,i have to say i absolutely love this breed ,he is a bull dozer and i cant wait to go out again . he will come back first toot of the whistle and loves water too. heres to the rest of the season:D:D:D:D:D

ill try and post a pic asap

jellybaby21

We got out ourselves the other day for a few hours.The first place we went to we never saw a thing.So we headed to another place that we hadn't seen many birds on so far this year and to our surprise we flushed 14 pheasants and 3 mallard.The dogs worked well and we took a bird each and called it a day.2 cocks and a mallard.

charlie10

well done 3 fine birds and two nice dogs(is the black one a cocker)

jellybaby21

charlie10 wrote: »

well done 3 fine birds and two nice dogs(is the black one a cocker)

Yes mate,a cocked in bad need of a hair cut.

charlie10

ha ha looks like a poodle:D