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DSS Pro-staffer "Stotty" keeps up to to date with his wildfowling exploits in September 2010

Stotty's Wildfowling Diary, September 2010

Stotty’s Wildfowling Diary

Diary entry: 1^st September 2010:- Morning flight: Met long time goose chasing friend at the car park at 4.00am. Sky was clear and star studded with no wind. Definite Autumn smell in the air. Good to be out again! Had the goose decoys with us today; ten full bodied and fifteen of my home made Greylags. Geese had been roosting on the estuary for a good while now and had been feeding on the stubbles inland. We both found saltings foxholes to crouch in, our front covered by low scrim cammo netting mounted on ‘rod rest’ V sticks. At 5.50am a small bunch of Canadas

dropped unsaluted into the stubble fields. At 6.20am the first greys came over the seawall from the other marsh to be ‘welcomed’ by the inland gunners. After being shot at inland, many geese were now behind us on the sandbanks. One bunch of 20 came over my hide from the inland fields. I judged they were a little rangy so it always makes sense to not to shoot. A better chance usually presents itself. It was the right decision. Three Canadas then hurtled out across the seawall to my left at a fair old pace. Took a nice right and left at 25 and 35 yard with Tungsten matrix No 1’s. That was my clubs 2 goose per flight limit taken on the opening morning of the new season. The gun was unloaded and out came the camera. Fifteen minutes passed and a bunch of >125 greys then broke out from the inland fields, saw the decoys and slanted directly over us both. My friend took a single shot and knocked out a lovely 40 yard greylag which I managed to capture on camera. We packed up at 7.20am leaving the geese still out on the sands in safety. They could flight inland to feed without being molested any further. A good start to the season!

 

Stotty’s Wildfowling Diary

Diary entry: 4^th September 2010:- Evening flight: Arrived about an hour too early for evening flight at the clubs access point. However, just happy to sit in solitude, just me and the spaniel watching the day slowly fade away across the estuary and relive in

A Wildfowlers Sunset.

the mind, the successful events of the opening morning. The last two mornings had drawn a blank in terms of actual shooting but not in terms of the delight in watching the greylags flight off the estuary and the Osprey fishing near the railway bridge. Found a likely looking mud hole for ourselves in the saltings edge, next to the channel edge. Waded out and positioned half dozen mallard decoys 20 yard to the right of me. Water was deeper than expected so the trusty hazel wading stick came into play yet again to be on the safe side. Wind was blowing from the North so any duck would turn back into the wind, past me and into the decoys. That’s the theory anyway. Some rain clouds were starting to form in the west, but the sun set was still fantastic across the sand flats. A good flight of mallard were ‘sky scraping’ it out from the SE of the estuary, but what a height! A single teal came straight down the channel with the wind. No hesitation. Straight into the decoys without even turning into wind! So much for the wind theory.  First duck of the new season brought to the bag by a single shot at 30 yard as it evacuated the decoy spread. Packed up at 9.15pm. More than happy with a single teal this evening.

 

Stotty’s Wildfowling Diary

Diary entry: 6^th September 2010:- Morning flight: Prospects were favourable for a morning flight at the greylags which had evaded me on the morning of the 3^rd. It had been blowing a gale all through the night from the South East & was still giving it some at 4.30am this morning as I looked across the dark estuary. I’d have preferred a North West wind though to keep them down a bit. They’d be coming with the wind behind them this morning and would take some stopping. It’s incredible just how many times a wildfowler can be ‘off the spot’ when flighting these fabulous birds. As I’ve mentioned before, ‘luck’ is an important factor, even when combined with a good heap of reconnaissance and field craft. The latter will undoubtedly put you in a favourable area and at least increase your odds of success more. All was quiet from the sand flats, I wondered if the geese were on another marsh. “Arg, arg arg”….the sound was then whisked away. They were out there alright, but on the roost a long way off from the saltings. The sky lightened. I knew it was time. The wrist watch said 6.00 am. A long line of dark ‘goose’ shapes were on the far side of the sands sporadically stretching and flapping their giant wings. Whoosh. The left line was suddenly running and moving fluidly as one as they lifted. What a noise! The right of the line was mimicking the left but heading to the South…..a big split had just occurred. The left hand pack was heading 80 yards to my left but wanted to wheel back onto the sandbanks. The right pack then turned and made a huge circular sweep to join them…now these were the ones I was watching. I judged that this pack would sweep directly over my position. The sky in front was a mass a sliding geese travelling at goodness knows what speed! I was desperate to keep tucked in until the last minute. Suddenly they were there…greylag right overhead at 30 yard! I can only remember vaguely what happened next…it was all over so quickly. The gun mount and swing through was instinctive, but I remember being ‘two gates’ in front of the beak to compensate for their speed…..two rapid shots of Steel 42g No 3’s resulted in two folded geese being carried away with the wind over the deep gutter and onto the saltings over 100 yards away….they must have been going some!! The sound of the shots was blown away so disturbance seemed minimal. The geese dropped straight back on the sandbanks almost directly in front. I put the gun down, got the camera out and waited while Rolo was busy bringing back the two geese. It wasn’t long before they lifted again and came directly overhead. This time the trigger finger had the pleasure of firing the camera shutter instead.  What an incredible sight to witness. The photographs capture it all!

 

Stotty’s Wildfowling Diary

Diary entry:  18^th September 2010: Three evening  ‘inland’ duck flights on the 9^th, 11^th and 14^th  had provided some testing wild duck shooting resulting in a respectable bag of eight teal and two mallard to my own gun. However, since the success on the 6^th at the greylags, my three subsequent forays onto the estuary had resulted in blanks; something a wildfowler never sees as time wasted as there’s always something to new to see or learn. I’d had skeins directly over my head on two of the morning flights but well beyond the range of my gun, cartridge and skill level. They were all allowed to fly on without a shot being fired. Why are so many people tempted to shoot at out of range wildfowl? All they achieve is to ‘educate’ the birds into rising higher over the mudflats earlier than they should and then increase the risk of pricking an out of range  bird from a stray pellet that has lost most of its energy. Totally unnecessary! 

The other flight saw me lurking by a small flooded area on the saltmarsh one evening with a few decoys out on the splash. At this point I’ll introduce ‘Wildfowlers Law’. This Law will have happened to you at some time or other. If you want wildfowl to appear here’s what you must do….1) take down your hide & pack away your decoys and start heading home 2) pour yourself a coffee 3) stand up to stretch your legs 4) answer the call of nature. Well, after a very uncomfortable two hours lying in 2 inches of water and watching the light fade around the decoys, I decided it was time to call it a day. The deeks were collected in, the hide & poles were packed up and the auto placed ‘safe’ across the decoy sack. As I stood motionless reflecting on the evening, with the spaniel running off his stiff legs nearby, a pair of teal dropped straight into the splash, where I’d been previously waiting to greet them. By the time I’d fumbled frantically for the gun they were climbing up into the evening sky and away. It’s a frustratingly real Law!  It WILL catch up with you one day.  

Snipe, now overlooked and underrated by many "modern fowlers". Great fun and hard work.

Today, the 18^th, found me trudging a rain lashed saltmarsh, on reconnaissance to check the pools for duck sign. I’d taken the auto with me in case there was a chance of a mallard or two or even a chance at Gallinago gallinago. The Common Snipe is an underrated quarry for the wildfowler, but one of my favourites for its culinary value and test of one’s shooting ability. It’s just a shame the bird is so diminutive as the meat is delicious. A brace of cold snipe was one of Sir Winston Churchill’s favourites for breakfast. Signs of nocturnal visitors to the splashes were non-evident, although previously Robert, Sam and I had witnessed plenty of duck activity on here. It was still raining ‘cats and dogs’ as I neared the end of the marsh with not a glimpse of a single ‘fowl or wader. Scraaaaaaaaaaakkkkkk…….two snipe jumped from a boggy pool 50 yards away and were now erratically zig zagging their way skywards, up and away from me. The pair levelled out, as Snipe do, but to my utmost surprise turned back over me at about 40 yards. It then dawned on me that I’d got Steel 3’s up the chamber! An unconventional load for Snipe and not a recommended shot size…I hesitated. “Just watch these fly through the pattern”, I thought to myself as the gun mounted well in front of the left hand ‘black speck’. At the shot, I became suddenly aware that the right hand bird was still travelling on a direct line but the target bird was spinning earthward. I didn’t even fire a second shot. It was retrieved and then admired for its wonderful mosaic of speckled plumage.  I wrapped it in a tissue and put it to the bottom of the jacket pocket. Just this one bird had certainly made the afternoon recce all the more worthwhile.           

 

19^th September Evening flight Estuary:- No other ‘fowlers out tonight so walked out to a backwater away from main channel and put out 6 mallard decoys. Sat against the marsh edge and covered Rolo and I with cammo netting. Several hundred Greylag lifted off from their inland feeding at 7.45pm straight down the middle of estuary to drop into the clubs Sanctuary zone. Only saw one pack of mallard heading toward railway to turn across the marsh further to my left. Blank flight. No shots.

24^th September Evening flight: Estuary. Set up half a dozen decoys on a tide pool and draped the cammo net round me. The cammo must have been effective as curlew, dunlin and little egret landed around the dog and I, but not a duck showed. Packed up well after moonrise. Wildfowlers Law kicked in again! Decoys and netting packed up and the mallard zipped past as soon as I stood upright. Blew a hail from the DR-85 which dropped them straight into the water 50 yards to my left without any hesitation. They lifted immediately as soon as they saw me. Thwarted again!

25^th September Morning flight: The day before Robert had reported that 2,000 Greylag with Canada’s were flighting off an inland lake so an early rise and drive over from the West coast was a must. Met the DSS prostaff at 5.45am and took cover behind a hedge to flight them as they lifted off the roost in the distance. As we arrived, a few bunches of geese were coming off. As it turned out all the geese (approx 800) flew over the area where they’d been flighting over earlier in the week. Not a goose came in range and not a shot was fired. Headed back to the West coast with all our efforts unrewarded. Always nice to see a good flight of greylag but just one skein overhead would have made it a bit more special. That’s the joys goose chasing though!

25^th September Evening flight:- Shot an inland floodwater under the moon. Had the Beretta Xtrema II with me and the trusty 36g Steel 3 loads. Quite a lot of duck activity over the flashes as the moon rose. It was calm night with quite a clear cloudless sky which made spotting duck even more difficult than usual. Many were coming from behind and dropping straight in. Emptied all three from the auto on a ‘sitter’ of a mallard crosser but missed. Then had a pair of what I thought were mallard coming at me. First one folded up and I missed the second of the pair with the remaining two shots. Had a similar high overhead singleton directly overhead which dropped over the fence and onto the field behind me. Missed another ‘straight over the head bird’ as I failed to take safety off! On retrieval of the birds, the two supposed mallard turned out to be drake Gadwall. It was a special night as these were my first of this species in 37 years of shooting.  

30^th September Evening flight:- Back to Wildfowing reality and more blanks: High tide was 8.3 metres at 4.45pm so not a large tide and was dropping as I arrived at 6.00pm for evening flight (after work). Tide had almost ebbed but still some filled some of the channels. Fifty plus mallard and wigeon were sat on the channel and in the tidepools when I arrived. Unfortunately they all lifted and headed out into the bay. Put some decoys out on the tidepool but nothing returned to the channels on evening flight. Two nice bunches of wigeon lifted from cente of bay and headed across the centre of the bay. Two packs of mallard and pintail came over at good height later on, but well out of range. I’ll remember this place for later in the season!