BACK TO REALITY

Firstly i would like to wish all the viewers a happy new year and hope 2010 brings plenty of shooting opertunities for you.

Thank god its all over,back to what we hunters do best and rid the farms we protect with our lives of pests that eat into the farmers profits and render them paupers,not likely.

Well to start this session off, me and the old man had a call from the owner of the woods we have been culling the squirrels in.He had invited us to a walk around the bounderies and take a few pheasants for the good work we had been doing last month,now not one to kick an opertunity in the teeth we was on our way before the phone hit the docking station.
With a  bottle of my old mans vintage brandy slipped quietly in my pocket we set off to meet the farmer and find out our route for the day.When we pulled up he came out smiling wishing us a happy new year and gracefully i slid the big bottle out of my pocket and wished him the same and hoped he would have a good drink on my old man and of course myself.Looking at his little map of the farm he showed us the best route to take and hoped we could get on a few of the wild birds that had stayed on and bred, since the shoot had finished some years ago.Well off we went guns in hand and a belt full of shells each,oh and  me old man still kicking me for giving one of his best brandy`s away to the first part of our little pheasant day.I had decided to take my little springer x lab called Dee with us on this trip as she is great for those tight sat birds and is a must in my book just incase we do prick a bird and decides to go on a mile sprint once he hits the deck.
The first field we walked round was a little bare under the hedgerow so i wasn`t holding out for anything here and as thought we seen nothing,The next field leads upto one of the old pens and still has a good covering of dead grass and bracken mixed in.Within 30 yards of this walk a cock bird had broke out on my dads side and was motoring across him , as this was his first pheasant shoot i thought he would struggle a bit with understanding how fast these birds are actually going ,but he didn`t dissapoint and hit it square on and dropped like a brick.The next bird broke out his side again , it was a hen this time and in a nice calm manner he dispatched this one stone dead a good 30 yards away.
Feeling a bit peed off at the jammy git getting the most out of my dogs hard work we proceeded to the next field,this runs along one of the woods so i walked in the wood with the dog and dad stayed on the field.The first oppertunity fell to ,you guessed it dad again,it was a woodcock,unfortunately for dad it was faster than his old frame and he nicely avoided both barrels.Now it was my turn,Dee had put two birds up fifteen yards in front of me ,i took the right bird going away from me just over the tops of the trees with the first shot,as i was swinging  to take the second bird DAD took it out ,with a middle finger swinging freely aimed at dad i went to collect my bird while Dee fetched the second bird.We was doing well now so we had a break as we didn`t want to shoot loads we was just enjoying the chance to bag a brace or two for the freezer.

Now fully refreshed we took on the last field that we could get both sides of the hedge.It started off well this time as Dee pushed a rabbit out from the hedge and instead of running up the line it tried to circle round me, bad mistake  it was rolled over in true fashion as rolling rabbits go.Half way round the field we stopped to nip in the small wood,dad had spotted a squirrel and was in hot persuit so i took the other option of a slow walk and go for a closer on he had scared while running after that one.It didn`t take long for me to hear the shot from dad and another,and another , he must be onto a couple i thought  and luckily for me his shots had turned my squirrel straight back at me. I took mine with a single shot ,it wasnt hard it was running right overhead on a thin branch and took the full brunt of a 30grm no5 so i went over to dad to see what he had shot,it was only the one,it had give him the runaround but he got it all the same.The squirrel had fallen in another of the old pens so  Dee was sent to get it,i thought it would be a good time for her to practice a blind retrieve and she didn`t dissapoint me.

Well time to get a last pheasant before we had finished we thought,we wasn`t to be kept waiting , Dee sent three bursting out from under some blackthorn, all three came my side so i took the one furthest out with my first shot then missed an easier one for the left right.Just as i was cursing my shooting dee had sent another hen up and dad took it out no problem straight over his head going over some conifers.That was to be the end for us as i didn`t want to take to many as it was nice of the farmer to offer us a good bit of sport,however we did manage a pigeon each and another two squirrels on the way back through the wood to the car.

Well i will sign off now as i am waiting for some pictures of my outing yesterday with  a freind from the rapid7owners club,all will be revealed asap.

ps.I dedicate this post to David Stonecold, as with all this snow about i have been informed that he has been forced to read my blog just to relieve the boredom.Catch up soon buddy .lol.