a very British field sports programme !

[Trekmoor]

I thought some of you folk might be interested .....or more likely, amused, by what passes for a field sports programme here in Britain . Don't knock it too much, it's the only one we have got ! The programme presenters make me cringe but the man seen at the start shooting pigeons is a very good shot. I have shot woodpigeons myself but I was never in this mans league.

http://www.fieldsportschannel.tv/

Bill T.

[DonF]

That was interesting Bill! Hard for me to hear but, I thought they said that guy was shooting pigeons at 60+ yds? I was pretty good when I was training years ago but never that good. But back then I shot a lot of birds, that really helps! Apparently there are no limits on wood pigeons? I'd hate to have to clean all he shot! Now why didn't he send out the dog to bring back the birds?

Guy in the camo G-string was funny. You couldn't get me to wear that thing even if no one else would ever see the photo's! A guy here in town years ago bought my wife a bikini bathing suit years ago, he didn't know her to well. Not a feminan bone in her body. So my son put it on. He must have got that from his mother!

[DogNewbie]

That was interesting Bill! Hard for me to hear but, I thought they said that guy was shooting pigeons at 60+ yds? I was pretty good when I was training years ago but never that good. But back then I shot a lot of birds, that really helps! Apparently there are no limits on wood pigeons? I'd hate to have to clean all he shot! Now why didn't he send out the dog to bring back the birds?

Guy in the camo G-string was funny. You couldn't get me to wear that thing even if no one else would ever see the photo's! A guy here in town years ago bought my wife a bikini bathing suit years ago, he didn't know her to well. Not a feminan bone in her body. So my son put it on. He must have got that from his mother!

My dad was telling me about a documentary he saw on some sort of British field trial and he said the gunners we all shooting 28ga and folding birds at 60-80 yards. Thought that was pretty cool.

[doco]

Ditto on the String. I thought I heard him say many were out at 100 yards. I found that hard to believe. Maybe I heard it wrong, but it sure caught my attention. Still he was folding them up nicely.

[Cajun Casey]

Love The Field (UK publication) and saw an outstanding photo on the CA's Facebook of a Hunstman confronting a camoed protester at a Meet. Thanks for the share.

[Trekmoor]

There is no limit to how many woodpigeons can be shot at any one time. They can be a serious pest here and 40 -50 years ago farmers were giving shooters the cartridges to shoot them with ! That has changed now. Men started to offer the farmers money to be allowed onto their land to shoot them and good pigeon shooting can now cost quite a bit of cash per day.

The most I ever shot was with a friend during about 3 hours or maybe a bit less of shooting. We squatted behind a drystane dyke and with no decoys out whatsoever we shot 242 pigeons . My lab was exhausted ! I sent him out during the few lulls in the shooting . Every bird needed to be searched for by him. He was with us behind the wall and most of the birds fell among very thick cover on it's other side. I couldn't even handle him, I couldn't see the fallen birds and I could not see the dog out there either !

The farmer saw us about to stop shooting when we had about 60 birds , we had ran out of cartridges . He rushed off and brought us another 500 and told us to keep shooting ! It was the most hectic shooting I have ever done. We were both shooting 5 shot semi-autos and at 18-19 years old we were pretty good with them. ..... Some of the time we were having a little competition as to who could manage the most often to have 3 birds dead in the air at the same time !

The man in the film was, apparently, shooting birds at 60-100 yards. I have shot quite a few birds at 60 yards but I would not put my gun up to a bird at 100 yards. My shooting isn't that good I would have wounded too many for my liking.
Driven pheasant shooting in Britain is now boasting of some very high birds to be shot. Up to 100 yards high , personally I would not raise a gun to those birds and I don't think shooting them is something to brag about. Pheasants are not vermin and should command more respect than to be treated as very high clays.

I guess I'm just old-fashioned or maybe I'm going soft now that I am no longer in the first flush of youth.

Bill T.

[Mountaineer]

The man in the film appeared to be Digweed.....the yardages appropriately accurate for him.
That is much of what he does.

I shot walked-up red grouse with pointers in Scotland once...I had a free day during the trip and now wished I had shot woodpigeons on that day.
The large bags would not interest me at all but, like flighting ducks under the moon, I would like to have had at least a go.

The sight of the heathered hills remains with me still.

[Trekmoor]

I used to take out clients for the estate I worked part-time for onto the moors to shoot over my pointing dogs. I loved that work ...and I got paid as much for doing it for one day as I got for doing my regular job for one week ! My boss used to wonder why I wouldn't work overtime in the shooting season !

In my opinion shooting or even just searching for red grouse with pointing dogs is the cream of gundog work and I have done the lot with labs, spaniels and pointers.

Bill T.

[Mountaineer]

My hunting was north of Blairgowerie on a couple of estates.
We shot several red grouse and came almost too close when a few black game got up.
Great expereince, nice folks all tho we sat down at one place, Tulchan perhaps, the owner left some beers and departed.
We did not know he was returning with glasses.
He pops back in with said glasses, looked, laughed and said, "Ah, I forgot...you Americans are can drinkers!"
It is quite the experience to watch the pointers flow over those hills.
Been about ten years since...I would like to go back to that area someday.

[Trekmoor]

I did most of my grouse hunt guiding a little bit south of Blairgowrie . When I first went there the laird used to have me working the dogs for the clients, and a keeper to carry the birds and do the guiding until I got used to the terrain. That keeper also brought with him a couple of labs ....in Britain "pukka" pointers do not retrieve , or they are not allowed to in trials anyway. The man I felt sorry for was the underkeeper. That poor man was required to lug around with him, Thermos flasks of tea and coffee which decanted into a sort of silver dinner service jug ! :roll: He also carried very good quality tea cups and coffee cups plus a bottle of wine and a couple of nice glasses ! In addition to all that he carried the lunches for those very posh and wealthy guests of the "Big Hoose !"

The gamekeeper and the laird then noticed that my dogs (An American Brittany and 2 GSP's) were all very capable retrievers so the keeper ceased coming out with us and the underkeeper and I shared carrying the shot grouse. I was then asked by the laird if I would take out the shooting party on my own and I agreed to but drew the line at carrying silver tea services etc. with me !
After that the guests carried their own lunches and drinks and we had a great time. I took out guests from all over the world including a few Americans. Those were some of the best days of my life and I really miss hunting over the heather on moor and mountain. I just cannot walk well enough to do that now.

Bill T.

[Mountaineer]

Nothing quite so fancy as silver sets for us, I'm afraid.....box lunches as I recall.
We rode to the top of the moor and hunted down for the most part.
Major Gibbs did walk some on his place and had his lab along but that was the only one....nice fella.
I inquired why he preferred red angus...he replied, "I simply like the look of red cows on green grass."
He went to the pub with us after the shoot...Glen Isla hotel I think....kinda of a rarity for him to do that I heard.

Thanks for help in bringing up these memories, Trekmoor.

[Neil]

Even with #4 buck, no one is killing anything with a shotgun at 100 yards, it is not a matter of skill, but balistics.

[brad27]

Even with #4 buck, no one is killing anything with a shotgun at 100 yards, it is not a matter of skill, but balistics.

Ballistics tells you how far the shot drops and how much you have to lead them. Skill is when you can use ballistics and drop birds at 100 yards.

[Neil]

No, ballistics also tells you the energy in the shot at every distance, and at 100 yards with any size shot it is near zero. Barely enough to burst a ballon, let alone penetrate a bird to kill.

And it does not take much skill to hit a target at 100 yards, even with extra full chokes the pattern is about the size of a barn door.

The skill is required for those 60 to 70 yards, real skill and tight chokes.

Don't believe me, go buy a ballon and try it, you will hit it and move most every time, (hold over about 1 0- 12 feet to start), but will rarely break it.