Opening Day Stories/Mishaps

the scudd

well any reports in yet on opening day of the deer season

wexfordman2

the scudd wrote: »

well any reports in yet on opening day of the deer season

Yeah, slept in :-(

charlie10

snipeo2 brazzil and myself charlie10 hit the ponds early this morning and heres the results, great morning ,snipe is just mmaking the venison curry now and we are heading off again at 6 .

insignia33

That is a nice bag of birds you got there. Did ya get all those in 1 place or did ya go around a few different spots?

charlie10

different spots

darg

Broke my f**king flask getting into the boat:mad:

Dupont

Kicking myself here. Was down at pond before daylight. Was having a smoke in field and could hear someone calling ducks. Moved into position and 7 ducks rise but were out of shot. They came back 5 mins later and dropped into far corner. Could still hear somone calling so didn't mover over didn't want to be poaching their space as its a small pond anyway. Half hour after daylight ducks got off far end in twos and threes and then the calling started again as to call them back. Walked over to end and last duck got up and no more calling to be heard. It must of been a duck the whole time

Shoot2kill

Doe's... Doe's... Doe's...

Going back out again at 6, fingers crossed!

wexfordman2

Shoot2kill wrote: »

Doe's... Doe's... Doe's...

Going back out again at 6, fingers crossed!

You'll never fit your fingers in the trigger with them crossed!!

I'll get me coat.

Good luck at 6,heading out then myself

clivej

Nice pricket and a fox all before 7.30. Best first day ever.

driller2

Got these at first light. :-).

ferrete

im the exaCT same

One shot on kill

Went out for a while this morning. Seen 4 hind. I tryed to circle around but the ground was very rough so by the time I got up there I could see them heading on across the mountain.

Ah well just wasn't quick enough.

vapour_trail

Parked the car and trailer in the gateway of the bog (gate is never used , ever) some lad in a tractor and bailer stopped on the road and I was about 200 yards in. He must have just been taking the reg of the car, drove off after a while. Spent the whole time worrying as every car going past seemed to either stop or slow down and nearly stop. Nosy B*stards.

No peace at all

Cass

One shot on kill wrote: »

I tried to circle around but the ground was very rough so by the time I got up there I could see them heading on across the mountain..

Something similar.

Good few out this morning with a great to see a few príckets/bucks among them. Myself and Ruger1894c spent over an hour stalking three, in particular a nice buck, but we only gained a slight bit of ground and only got within 300 yards of them. Problem being it was over a mile, through rough ground, back to the jeep so let them on.

Still a good morning and good to see them out. Have a slight scope problem too, but will have that sorted tomorrow and be back on the stalk by Tuesday morning.

One shot on kill

What's up with your scope. Cass.

Cass

There is a parallax issue which leaves the scope with a constant blur, and the scope's mag ring is stiff between 11 to 18 power. I think it's a lens issue, and one is affecting the other.

Was at the range yesterday for the Hcap (not doing it, doing RO) and brought the rifle as i was not happy when i sighted it in last week (even thought re results were decent). Still could not get perfect clarity, and when compared to the scope on the Remmy (exact same make, and model) it was clear there was a problem.

So i'll drop down to the dealer tomorrow and he'll just exchange it for a new one. Nothing worse than going out with something you're not 100% happy with. Even if it shot well it's in the back of your mind that it's not "right". Luckily the Father was with us this morning so he was manning the Remmy 308.

One shot on kill

Oh change it out straight away. Don't even bother trying to send it away. I presume its new enough so.

Ye infairness the set up has to be perfect or your brain is always going. And running through all the what ifs.

Hopefully it works out for you anyway.

thekevin4540

i was out on the river this morning between me and my dad we got 14 mallard and we were finished for 10 o clock and i came back and went out fishing and got a 16 pound salmon a great day out i was going to do a flight but ill leave it off till tomorrow night

johnny3

We went to Shelin. Was poor enough. Got 3 mallard. It was poor i thought. Banging was over in an hour or less. Though there would be more guns on it.

Boiled-egg

On corrib, christened new wellies by stepping on a rock that turned out to be mud and sunk in knee deep water, then shear pin snapped on engine, of course the leather man was not in the bag so had to row back to the pier. Over an hour rowing and to add insult to injury one of my oars broke (see picture) Ended up with one nice mallard. Anyone know the best way to dry neoprene lined boots?

Cass

Christ.

That makes most other first days look like a picnic.

One shot on kill

Lord god lay off the protein.

Look your out the worst side of it I'm not going to say ah it could be worse. It would be hard to be infairness

PL05

not a bad day but not great either, saw one but wrong sex anyway she saw me so if i could have shot her it would,nt have happened anyway. Good thing was even though she seen me she was,nt too bothered and just walked away, a good sign in my books, as i reckon they,re not under much pressure. known my luck come november i probably wont see either sex but hopefully that wont be the case.

Stevegeraghty

Slept in so didn't get out till about 8.30 and all the ducks had gone didn't even see a rabbit on the way to the pond, saw a few on the lake but I can't shoot there, ah well!

On a plus note I was sittin there and a buzzard landed on a fence post beside me about 3 meters away, fecked off when I tried to get my phone

wexfordman2

Went out this evening at 6, just back now, saw three fallow, no males :-(.

A few other lads locally must have got lucky though, I counted 6 shots from various directions within a mile of me! That was mostly between 8 and 9ish!!

So must be plenty of males about, just not where I was!

beretta686s

was out on the river today saw an insane amount of duck must have been the mild summer but there was a lot of birds around we shot around 10 birds in total so very good day i got 4 myself.:D:D.Most all the birds we saw today were hens seen feck all drakes,also saw loads of salmon jumping and my first ever osprey jesus there big birds.so all in all a great day was had:)

Jimy1971

Headed up along the river before first light. Met 3 mallard and got 1. Very poor first morning around here. Headed in to the game fair in the afternoon and picked up a few bits. Went out this evening and seen a few mallard but they were too far away.having a well earned can of cider as I type, fu#%ed is an understatement lol

alsace royal

was out on a bay for the tide this eve saw a silly amount of teal, got a couple but 99% were out of shot. flighted a few ponds tonite only saw 4 mallard all out of range but using the head tourch on way out and was 3 foxes in 200yards will deff be back out there with caller and rifle soon lol

sikahuntejack

Bad day duck shooting shot none my dog picked up 2 ducks that were shot by other shooters whos dogs failed to retrieve will try for deer tomorrow

wildfowler94

Was out camping awaiting dawn to head to the hide, shot in 14 mixed mallard wigeon and teal. Oh and to grey crows that were in range missed another:mad: awh well next time, ould have shot better early season jitters, lost a pair of mallard that dropped in heavy scrub and no dog!! i took a picture of the bag. Enjoyed the day

German pointer

Was up early 5ish and gone soon after saw a load of deer most does with fawns never even checked what sex they were saw one or two prickets but could not get a clean shot on them. One was galloping up and down the field with a black plastic bag on his head and could not see where he was going until he crashed through some scrub and it tore off he was in such a state I'd say he is still running.

On a different note after finishing on one permission and before I went to another I chanced a grey crow at 278 (range finder) yards so took out my new ballistics app dilled 4 clicks on the scope as it told me to do and walla no more grey crow did not even need to bury him 130gr .270 SST did the trick

Vegeta

Poor first morning. Went to the lake and between 5 of us we got 2 duck. Teal and a mallard.

Went for a stalk in the evening and saw a few females but that was it.

It was just nice to be out though.

fiestaman

Had no luck on the 1st but had look thisevening, headed to the river and sat in on the bank. 6 duck came and i missed them but 5mins later 3more came and i dropped one high from the clouds, sxs full choke did the jod, dropped the bird the far side into long silage grass. waited for about 15mins to see if anything else stirred bit no joy so headed off for the retrieve, fairly dark now at this stage. Dog hunted lovely and after about 5mins he comes on with it in his mouth and dropped at me foot. job done. all hard work paid off. Delighted

cookimonster

Missed the 1st due to work, got out Monday evening and saw three animals. Managed to drop a nice spiker and at the same time give a lovely stag who had come up from my blind side the fright of his life:eek:. He was last seen leaping the Wicklow mountains.
Nice start to the season even though I say it myself (just in time to I was running out of burgers)

gregers85

Had a bad day at the office myself!! went out in a group of 4! got up about 4am and headed off out to a few creeks, decoys out callers on and good to go! 15 ducks knocked in total! 14 teal and 1 mallard! not one did I knock! not from the want of trying! i was as blind as a bat :mad: My young springer made a few good retrieves on his first day out so I was happy with that but still raging i missed everything that presented itself to me haha! out again on Saturday! hopefully a better story to tell afterwards haha

DubPredator

hello all,
Normally dont post up what i shot but thought i would today.
did'nt get anything on the first but seen about 10 hinds and not even a pricket.
so off i went today to another spot i gave abit of a break to last year.

arrived about 6:30pm and parked my van at the gate, unfortunately i found a gralloch at the gate right on the road so i had guessed the lampers had shot themselves my trophy stag last night :mad:

got geared up and as soon as i walked up the trail a pricket walked out infront of me at about 80 yards. i lay down opened the bipod and drew a bead on his heart..full sure he should have ran away by now but guess the sun was in his eyes...bang...dropped on the spot. 6.5 hit its mark. after gralloching him i left the grollach out on the trail and dragged the carcass up onto abit of a clearing on the higher ground. lay down among the bracken and watched about 10 hooded crows, 8 magpies, a rook and two ravens fight over the left over gralloch...very tempted to squeeze off a round at the hoodies but decided against it.

after about an hour a hind cautiously appeared aprox 160yards away, i watched her through the scope waiting to see if a stag would appear, after about 20 minutes a large pricket appeared at 200 yards facing me.
put a round through his shoulder and he fell over kicking. waited another 20 minutes and decided i should go get the pricket.
went up the hill leaving the first pricket hidden in the bracken.
got to the second done the gralloch and dragged it back across and down the hill onto the trail. left it and walked the 100yards up the high ground to the first pricket. turned back to see a fox running down the trail i had just come down towards my deer! took the rifle off the shoulder and put a round in. fox stopped looked at me and continued. put rifle on the fence post and fox stopped and looked at me again..bang dropped on the spot.
two prickets and a fox.. makes up for nout on sunday

DEMOLISHER

was out this morning early . passed few deer on roads on way to fields, parked up an walked 20 feet an three prickrts too off running up lane , that was all I saw no shot .

It wasn't me!

DubPredator wrote: »

hello all,
Normally dont post up what i shot but thought i would today.
did'nt get anything on the first but seen about 10 hinds and not even a pricket.
so off i went today to another spot i gave abit of a break to last year.

arrived about 6:30pm and parked my van at the gate, unfortunately i found a gralloch at the gate right on the road so i had guessed the lampers had shot themselves my trophy stag last night :mad:

got geared up and as soon as i walked up the trail a pricket walked out infront of me at about 80 yards. i lay down opened the bipod and drew a bead on his heart..full sure he should have ran away by now but guess the sun was in his eyes...bang...dropped on the spot. 6.5 hit its mark. after gralloching him i left the grollach out on the trail and dragged the carcass up onto abit of a clearing on the higher ground. lay down among the bracken and watched about 10 hooded crows, 8 magpies, a rook and two ravens fight over the left over gralloch...very tempted to squeeze off a round at the hoodies but decided against it.

after about an hour a hind cautiously appeared aprox 160yards away, i watched her through the scope waiting to see if a stag would appear, after about 20 minutes a large pricket appeared at 200 yards facing me.
put a round through his shoulder and he fell over kicking. waited another 20 minutes and decided i should go get the pricket.
went up the hill leaving the first pricket hidden in the bracken.
got to the second done the gralloch and dragged it back across and down the hill onto the trail. left it and walked the 100yards up the high ground to the first pricket. turned back to see a fox running down the trail i had just come down towards my deer! took the rifle off the shoulder and put a round in. fox stopped looked at me and continued. put rifle on the fence post and fox stopped and looked at me again..bang dropped on the spot.
two prickets and a fox.. makes up for nout on sunday

Sounds like a great morning, but the thought of lying in bracken when it's this warm gives me shivers. Hope you had a very good look for ticks!

dodderangler

Just back from walking the dog. Gonna have to go up later with my mate. Same fox was about but not in same spot he was sitting tight to the ditch so I avoided the ditch with te pup.
No pheasants about today but the buzzards were around so I assume the rabbits and phezzy's were in hiding. Had a good walk though. Seen 3 does also.

DubPredator

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Sounds like a great morning, but the thought of lying in bracken when it's this warm gives me shivers. Hope you had a very good look for ticks!

yes thanks im tickless

wexfordman2

Well, managed to get myself a pricket last evening, delighted!!

Nice bit of fat him, good healthy looking animal, liver as clean as a whistle, looking forward to a fry later.

One of the hardest animals Ive ever had to skin though, really surprised it was so difficult. Hoping to cure the pelt, see how it goes.

Brazzill

End of the 1st day shooting myself(Brazzill), Snipe02 and Charlie10....Great day/evening's shooting, great banter and missing 4 or 5 mallard from the table!

allan450

up this morning at 6am waiting on a friend to pick me up to go for a few ducks.6.30 no sign of him ringing and ringing so i said **** him.headed for the 1st spot no joy completly dry.2nd spot nice river to walk along could see a few duck up stream so crept up with cocker at heel cast him in front they lifted 3 in it dropped 2 happy days cocker retrieved to hand.next spot same lake in middle of a feild no joy their.as i waited for my mate around 10 i walked a few drains in front of his house again nothing i started to panic about no water.misses rang she wanted the car so dropped in to her. done the river close to where im living just as we walked in a flock landed.after a few bangs well 5 four down lovely at this stage i thought.i had swaped the cocker at this stage for the gsp i didnt want to do to much on his 1st day.headed for a spot in sligo 20 mins away again looked shot we walked it anyway.i dropped 3 my mate dropped 2.we walked the far side i got one single my misses was now with us 4 got up and see misses them she was bittin by the bug then.we then drove back an done an other part of the river wind seemed to be in are fav all day.you could tell by the gsp when walking to heel if their was ducks.his tail would not stop so id just follow his nose.up lifted an other 5 ducks got an other 3.at this stage i said enough we will call it a day until night flight.one more spot said my mate no prob so headed up to this bog hole up got duck he missed i got him around 60 yards 36 7 best shot all day.wont have one of these days again 15 ducks 1 snipe{forgot about him}and a bunny.thanks for reading

dodderangler

allan450 wrote: »

up this morning at 6am waiting on a friend to pick me up to go for a few ducks.6.30 no sign of him ringing and ringing so i said **** him.headed for the 1st spot no joy completly dry.2nd spot nice river to walk along could see a few duck up stream so crept up with cocker at heel cast him in front they lifted 3 in it dropped 2 happy days cocker retrieved to hand.next spot same lake in middle of a feild no joy their.as i waited for my mate around 10 i walked a few drains in front of his house again nothing i started to panic about no water.misses rang she wanted the car so dropped in to her. done the river close to where im living just as we walked in a flock landed.after a few bangs well 5 four down lovely at this stage i thought.i had swaped the cocker at this stage for the gsp i didnt want to do to much on his 1st day.headed for a spot in sligo 20 mins away again looked shot we walked it anyway.i dropped 3 my mate dropped 2.we walked the far side i got one single my misses was now with us 4 got up and see misses them she was bittin by the bug then.we then drove back an done an other part of the river wind seemed to be in are fav all day.you could tell by the gsp when walking to heel if their was ducks.his tail would not stop so id just follow his nose.up lifted an other 5 ducks got an other 3.at this stage i said enough we will call it a day until night flight.one more spot said my mate no prob so headed up to this bog hole up got duck he missed i got him around 60 yards 36 7 best shot all day.wont have one of these days again 15 ducks 1 snipe{forgot about him}and a bunny.thanks for reading

That's a fantastic looking pointer. Her colours are beautiful

allan450

its a male ha ha.iv to bitches as well.just after selling a litter of pups.they were lovely marked.

Brazzill

Went out for a duck with my daughter and younger springer last night to a couple of local ponds, shot a young mallard in the 1st pond and met a teal in the second and had no shot as he was in orbit by the time I copped him.


Then this morning when I was dropping kids to school I could feel the chill in the air and said i'd head for a snakey duck. Texted charlie10 but he was working so I said i'd head on my own with my older springer. Got to the 1st pond anyway and 3 teal got up and I got my first ever triple teal:D:D:D, was buzzing after this all retrieved fine. Walked on to the next pond and nothing there so walking in on the next pond up got two more teal, hit the first one and pulled on the 2nd to no avail. Sent out the springer and no way could the teal be found, a rare experience for me and this particular springer, so walked on back to the car. Hit another local pond then on the way home and 6 mallard got up off it, missed my first shot with excitement(I hope) and nailed 2 more mallard with remaining 2 shots, my 1st ever double mallard:D:D. What a morning for me and Odie.....heres some pictures

fiestaman

Good job brazil, mind me asking what cartridge you using in the semi?

charlie10

fiestaman wrote: »

Good job brazil, mind me asking what cartridge you using in the semi?

Think he uses sipes

Brazzill

fiestaman wrote: »

Good job brazil, mind me asking what cartridge you using in the semi?

Yesterday I was using RC2 34g 5's(blue box) with a 3/4 choke. But also use Sipe's 32g 5's as Charlie10 said. Great shells, swear by them, started shooting pheasant with them he end of last season, leaving them out more obviously!

deeksofdoom

Went out on the evening of the first with a couple of the lads to a pond they had been feeding. However when we got down there two ducks got up off it and later on 3 came back into it. The week before there had been 50 or 60 duck feeding on it, later on in the week we heard that it had been shot a couple of evenings before that...... in August, what can you do, this sport seems to breed selfish pricks.:mad:

The Pond


This morning I got up, was supposed to be minding the kids but the wife's plans got cancelled. I said right I'm off with the dog.

I brought the German Wirehaired with me she'll be 7 this month, had her out yesterday for a run and she performed lovely bumping into a few pheasants.

As I was walking down along the river, I was up on some high ground where I spotted a flock of ducks, they are under the trees in the right hand bend in the river, see picture.



I gave them a wide birth going around to the right and creeping in with the dog it was literally a hands and knees job as the place was wide open and it wouldn't take much to spook them. But they spotted me and took off to the left and right all was left was to sit and wait maybe they would fly over me. I took a knee and watched the ducks flying about eventually 3 passed directly over me in a v, I picked out the lead duck pulled through her and gave her about a meters lead, she must have been 40 meters above me. I pulled the trigger and she folded dead. The duck landed about 4 meters away, a nice handy retrieve for the dog. A nice morning was had by all.