Well chaps, the pheasant season in England has now come to a close and I shot for the last time at game birds on Saturday.
Firstly, the weather was a lot nicer than it was on Wednesday! There was a bitterly cold wind on the exposed parts of the farm but in the more sheltered parts it was quite pleasant.
We were shooting in the same teams as Wednesday but shooting the opposite drives so everyone got an opportunity to shoot each drive. This meant that I was shooting on the first drive which involved the guns lining out in the open field in front of the big wood and then the beaters pushing through a strip of young trees and cover crop. Unfortunately for me I was pegged at the end of the cover crop with the beaters walking towards me and as I predicted, all of the birds headed out of the cover and straight across to the big wood where they could keep warm so I didn?t get a shot on this drive.
After beating the next drive which produced a few nice birds but not many were shot I was on a drive which I was confident would produce and more confident as I was pegged right in the middle of the line of guns. The beaters pushed across a field of crops, through a strip of trees at the end and then towards the gun through a strip of (now dying off) maize. Whilst the beaters were across the other field and the guns were waiting a few pigeons were flying about but all out of range then three crows came over really high, a couple of the guns looked at them but decided that they were too far away?.I however decided to have a go anyway! I hit a very high crow with the first barrel and he jinked in the air and then I hit him again with the second barrel and he came crashing down in front of me?.much congratulations on a difficult shot from the other guns. As the beaters neared a few pheasants started to come out of the maize, sadly most of them just dipped a wing into the wind and turned away. A few partridge also came out but even though we were stood in a dip at the bottom of the field, the partridge still hugged the ground and did not get high enough to produce a safe shot. As the beaters got closer a nice cock pheasant got up and rose nicely coming straight at me like a missile?bang! Missed behind with the first barrel but kept swinging and dropped him with the second and he landed just behind me with a satisfying thump. A second cock bird then came towards me and passed to my left slightly and despite it being a much easier shot than the last pheasant and certainly a lot easier than my crow I proceeded to miss him with both barrels haha!
Then it was elevenses of sausage rolls, port and champagne before going off to beat another drive ? this time the drive went better than Wednesday when only 6 birds were pushed over the guns, this time at least 30 went over and so the other team of guns got some great shooting ? clearly due to the superior beating abilities of my team!
For the next drive we drove back to the other side of the farm to line up in the big wood and with the beaters pushing through the wood ? I was on peg 1 which meant I was on the end and walking through the wood?.this meant I got no shooting at all as the birds went no-where near me. The gun on peg 2 had 8 shots which resulted in 7 birds?.if only I had drawn peg 2!
So, the final drive of the day was in the other large wood, where we had seen an awful lot of birds left on Wednesday ? the plan here was for the beaters to take their guns and shoot any birds that went backwards and then us as guns to shoot anything pushed over us by the beaters?.from all of the shots fired by the beaters it sounded like they were getting a lot of shooting?.whilst I was waiting, the shooting was putting up a lot of pigeons which had come to the wood to roost and every time I chose to shoot at a very high pigeon, a pheasant would sneak past me! So after resisting shooting at speculative pigeons and concentrating on the pheasants I managed 3 further pheasant all of which dropped behind me and were picked at the end of the drive.
So really, with a bit more luck on where I was standing I could have had a lot more shooting but I ended the day with 4 pheasants and my skilful crow but then it?s not about numbers and I still had a very enjoyable day ? only spoiled slightly by England losing to France in the last minute of our first Rugby Six Nations championship!
So now the season is over, my shooting will be roost shooting pigeons in the short term, then back to decoying pigeons when they start to feed on the spring drillings, with the odd bit of rabbit shooting with the rimfires as well. On Monday I am going deer stalking again, still trying to get my first ever deer and this time going for a Chinese Water Deer which is a non-indigenous deer which escaped from captivity and has formed an increasing population in parts of the country. It?s a primitive little deer with no antlers and large tusks in the bucks so I am hoping to get a nice buck to get mounted for the wall of the kitchen!
OD
Firstly, the weather was a lot nicer than it was on Wednesday! There was a bitterly cold wind on the exposed parts of the farm but in the more sheltered parts it was quite pleasant.
We were shooting in the same teams as Wednesday but shooting the opposite drives so everyone got an opportunity to shoot each drive. This meant that I was shooting on the first drive which involved the guns lining out in the open field in front of the big wood and then the beaters pushing through a strip of young trees and cover crop. Unfortunately for me I was pegged at the end of the cover crop with the beaters walking towards me and as I predicted, all of the birds headed out of the cover and straight across to the big wood where they could keep warm so I didn?t get a shot on this drive.
After beating the next drive which produced a few nice birds but not many were shot I was on a drive which I was confident would produce and more confident as I was pegged right in the middle of the line of guns. The beaters pushed across a field of crops, through a strip of trees at the end and then towards the gun through a strip of (now dying off) maize. Whilst the beaters were across the other field and the guns were waiting a few pigeons were flying about but all out of range then three crows came over really high, a couple of the guns looked at them but decided that they were too far away?.I however decided to have a go anyway! I hit a very high crow with the first barrel and he jinked in the air and then I hit him again with the second barrel and he came crashing down in front of me?.much congratulations on a difficult shot from the other guns. As the beaters neared a few pheasants started to come out of the maize, sadly most of them just dipped a wing into the wind and turned away. A few partridge also came out but even though we were stood in a dip at the bottom of the field, the partridge still hugged the ground and did not get high enough to produce a safe shot. As the beaters got closer a nice cock pheasant got up and rose nicely coming straight at me like a missile?bang! Missed behind with the first barrel but kept swinging and dropped him with the second and he landed just behind me with a satisfying thump. A second cock bird then came towards me and passed to my left slightly and despite it being a much easier shot than the last pheasant and certainly a lot easier than my crow I proceeded to miss him with both barrels haha!
Then it was elevenses of sausage rolls, port and champagne before going off to beat another drive ? this time the drive went better than Wednesday when only 6 birds were pushed over the guns, this time at least 30 went over and so the other team of guns got some great shooting ? clearly due to the superior beating abilities of my team!
For the next drive we drove back to the other side of the farm to line up in the big wood and with the beaters pushing through the wood ? I was on peg 1 which meant I was on the end and walking through the wood?.this meant I got no shooting at all as the birds went no-where near me. The gun on peg 2 had 8 shots which resulted in 7 birds?.if only I had drawn peg 2!
So, the final drive of the day was in the other large wood, where we had seen an awful lot of birds left on Wednesday ? the plan here was for the beaters to take their guns and shoot any birds that went backwards and then us as guns to shoot anything pushed over us by the beaters?.from all of the shots fired by the beaters it sounded like they were getting a lot of shooting?.whilst I was waiting, the shooting was putting up a lot of pigeons which had come to the wood to roost and every time I chose to shoot at a very high pigeon, a pheasant would sneak past me! So after resisting shooting at speculative pigeons and concentrating on the pheasants I managed 3 further pheasant all of which dropped behind me and were picked at the end of the drive.
So really, with a bit more luck on where I was standing I could have had a lot more shooting but I ended the day with 4 pheasants and my skilful crow but then it?s not about numbers and I still had a very enjoyable day ? only spoiled slightly by England losing to France in the last minute of our first Rugby Six Nations championship!
So now the season is over, my shooting will be roost shooting pigeons in the short term, then back to decoying pigeons when they start to feed on the spring drillings, with the odd bit of rabbit shooting with the rimfires as well. On Monday I am going deer stalking again, still trying to get my first ever deer and this time going for a Chinese Water Deer which is a non-indigenous deer which escaped from captivity and has formed an increasing population in parts of the country. It?s a primitive little deer with no antlers and large tusks in the bucks so I am hoping to get a nice buck to get mounted for the wall of the kitchen!
OD
Oh no, catch them pigeons and bring them here we will give you 3$ each for them 
