first Duck flight of season

[optima]

Me and a mate had our first flight of the season last night over an inland pond. He,d been down there at 4 pm to feed and there were about 10 mallard on there which he pushed off,we arrived a good hour before dark to see ducks already droppping in, walked down and counted 51 going out. Anyway settled in hides after about 20 mins i saw 3 mallard coming from right, which circled high before deciding to drop in, as they did i could see another 4 coming, anyway mate went to shoot at the first 3 and had a miss fire,they flared off and the other 4 turned off,so no shots fired and an opportunity missed, any way another half hour passed then 4 widgeon came boming in these weren,t so lucky,left n right each, it was now 8 pm and in came a steady trickle of teal and an odd mallard, and for once we were both shooting quite straight, finall shots were a pair of mallard coming in from my left, i killed the back one swung onto next only to see it fold, nice finish to a good little flight,4 mallard,4 widgeon and 7 teal, dogs had a good workout then retrieving them.

Any one else been out yet??

 

[Darkside]

Too many flappers about this year, leaving them until the end of the month at least......

 

[optima]

Yea just plucked them and there were a few with the dreaded pug feathers that need to be pulled out one at a time,kept the kids busey for a while though,hehe. Trouble is we left them last year for that reason and they moved on,without a shot being fired at them,so we,ll leave it another couple weeks and see what happens,teal seem early down with us this year

 

[optima]

In work friday wind blowing hard thinking to myself good weather to shoot the pond when my phone rang my mate had same idea informed me plenty of ducks about so get my arse up there for 6 pm.

Anyway he went down about 4pm and fed it and said a dozen or so mallard lifted off,we arrived 6pm and there about !0 or so lifted which we let go unshot at!

settled into our two hides about 20 yards apart ,me with my two spaniels and my mate with his black lab.The pond is roughly square,and diagonally corner to corner about 45 yards accross.

6.35 pm i heard ffrrrrrrr and 4 mallard came sreaming in taking me completely by suprise as i hadn,t heard or seen anything and it was still broad daylight ,anyway grabbed gun and managed to drop last Duck,causing first to to carry on and my mate dropped em both,the other one turned and tried to head back out the way they came in but i dropped him in the pond,at this point i thought i wouldn,t mind if i didn,t shot another duck all evening as i find it so excilarating.

It was now about 5 to 7 when a pair of teal again came in from same direction and again unseen and landed in middle of pond and sat there quite happily swimming round for 5 minutes or so till the next ducks arrived, my mate got a pair and i missed the other as it sailed straight over my head. carried on like this for another 10 mins or so and as it was now darker i was stood up and could see them coming in better and also easier to turn and shoot better,we both shot quite well from here on in and we finished up with 12 mallard and 4 teal,dogs worked well finding and retrieving the birds for next 20 mins or so,and my younger springer whose 5 now has really come of age,finding a teal which i,d dropped 30 yards out in field about 120 yards away,i was always worried that i,d never be able to replace the older dog whose now nine and a half and has been a good servant but her daughter seems even better,and i,ve now got the daugher out of her now aswell though she,s still only 9 months old

 

[sibaldib]

Sounds good fun.

I miss our duck shoot. We had 6 fight ponds up a long valley. Woe betide any one that dropped an occasional Canada that came over, if they were shooting on No1 pond. It was a mile walk back, uphill and muddy.

My two labs (now sadly departed) loved duck shooting and were in the ponds at the slightest excuse.

However we found in the last few years that the ducks were coming in later and later and I decided to give up my gun in the syndicate.

I used to love watching the sun go down and hear the rooks going to roost. Really evocative of autumn and the approach of winter.

 

[optima]

Sounds good fun.

I miss our duck shoot. We had 6 fight ponds up a long valley. Woe betide any one that dropped an occasional Canada that came over, if they were shooting on No1 pond. It was a mile walk back, uphill and muddy.

My two labs (now sadly departed) loved duck shooting and were in the ponds at the slightest excuse.

However we found in the last few years that the ducks were coming in later and later and I decided to give up my gun in the syndicate.

I used to love watching the sun go down and hear the rooks going to roost. Really evocative of autumn and the approach of winter.

yea forgot to mention the crows and jackdaws going back to roost soon as this happens you know the ducks ain,t far behind them, i find wild duck shooting one of the best of all the sports, even if it does normally only last 10 to 15 minutes,did take some photo,s i,ll see if i can upload them tomorrow!