Up and Running

As we near the end of November the season is now well and truly underway. So what has been happening on our modest syndicate shoot here in Wiltshire? October saw final preparations being made, one or two paths cut for access purposes, feeders topped off and our shoot room (I exaggerate, its actually a barn) set up ready. No major disasters with the pheasants and the duck are looking good, they ought to as they are eating a lot of our wheat.

The Bosses Day

The first day of the season at the end of October is The Bosses day when we put on a driven day for him and his friends. Although I always had some anxiety leading up to this day as we want to put on a good show for him, in truth it is the easiest day of the season for me. I have a permanent team of beaters at my disposal as opposed to chopping and changing every drive as is the case with our normal walk/stand days. Syndicate members - The Accountant, The Carpenter, The Entertainer along with regulars - The Magician (his dog is called Merlin) and The Irishman form our picking up team and Les Roastbif drives the beaters wagon.

The day turned into a pretty much perfect shooting day, broken cloud cover and a gentle breeze. 10 guns and a plethora of "extras" in the shape of partners and children. For my sins I was given six of the "extras" as beaters, none of which lasted past the first three drives - brambles and wet game crops were not for them they decided! To cut a long story short the day went exceptionally well - too well in fact as we finished with 124 pheasants which was 40 more than I wanted. There is a very fine line between putting on a good day for the boss and  compromising the rest of our season, for some of the syndicate our shoot represents the majority of their season. 370 on the "clicker" so pretty much a 3:1 ratio, if I am honest the syndicate would have been a lot more selective with what they shot.

The First Syndicate Day

We spent the morning at "The Moor", three drives some distance from the main body of the shoot. Another lovely day, warm and still - probably did not help as the birds certainly did not seem to be in the woods. First drive saw the odd pheasant, most of which did not fly well and the pond which was supposed to have 60 duck on it was empty - they had gone walkabout. Second drive was even worse, very few pheasants, we did find the missing duck though as there were definitely extras here - not much good though as they declined to go over the guns. Our final drive before lunch was a little better although I failed to get the majority of what was there over the guns again - I have plans for next time! Lunch saw us with 6 pheasants and 2 duck with 46 on the "clicker", desperately disappointing - I felt like packing it all up there and then.

The afternoon was much better.  "Hilltop" first, a few early birds from the wood and a good show from the game crop - 50ish shots for maybe 12 birds. "Seniors" next and again a steady flow of birds, with some really good ones amongst them - maybe 70 shots for 15 birds? The Marine was in the hotspot and was claiming six at the end of the drive. Finished with "The Brake" our regular final drive that is made up of a large piece of game crop on top of a T shaped wood that runs downhill all the way. The birds from here can be spectacular when they flush from the top and head for the other side of the valley. It turned out to be as reliable as ever and we finished our day with 52 pheasants, two duck, a pigeon and a squirrel with 220 cartridges returned. Pretty much the bag I wanted but not from where I wanted and also not the pheasant/duck ratio I wanted. We are going to have to tread carefully on "The Farm" part of the shoot over the next few weeks to avoid running out of birds.

Second Syndicate Day

Our second syndicate day dawned bright and frosty without a breath of wind, not great weather for showing good birds but the kind of day that it is a joy to be out in. Spent the whole day at "The Farm" part of the shoot. Started with "Hilltop", a few birds at home but they did not want to fly in the bright/still conditions, the guns were very respectful and left a lot of low ones. "The Cemetery" next and not much in it followed by "The Enterprise" drive which involves a lot of blanking in for one or two of us and a lot of standing around for the rest. Basically a strip of game crop alongside a thick hedge, when it works it is great as everything is visible to guns and beaters alike. Alas today was not to be the day, we managed to run a number of pheasants into the drive but they did not behave as normal, getting up early and flying through the beating line. This strange behaviour was explained right at the end when old Charlie fox himself ran out through the guns. 7 pheasants and a pigeon at lunch, I wanted to go carful but not that careful! 

After a rather good Chilli for lunch the sweepstake parameters for the day were announced as  heads + legs + cartridges returned x number of pigeons. This was good news for cartridge makers as there was some optimistic pigeon shooting from those choosing high numbers. "Seniors" first after lunch was good, adding 10 or so to the bag with some decent birds shot (and a few more missed). "Juniors" was not as good as it has been on occasions, "Blackbelt" (he is a Judo instructor) who works his spaniel in the beating line was fortunate to avoid the bottle of port fine as his dog came very close to "pegging" a white pheasant, it flew on OK but was missing a few tail feathers! Finished with "The Brake", plenty of birds but again conditions did not help and they didn't fly as well as the can from here. 

Finished with 34 pheasants and 6 pigeons. 173 cartridges returned, a bit down on what I had hoped for but happy as we certainly left few for another day.

Shoot Dogs

This week I would like to introduce you to "The Lieutenants" spaniel Fern. Fern is one of the regulars, always enthusiastic and as is the case with many a spaniel inclined to become temporally deaf in the heat of the moment. A wonderful working dog and companion, she is now almost 12 years old but still does a full shift in the beating line and still feels it her duty to assist with picking up at the end of the drive (whether requested to or otherwise).  

The Squirrel Cup

Lunch time on the first syndicate day marks the end of the season and awards are duly presented. The Squirrel Cup Umpiring Marshal (SCUM) gave a review of the season before presenting the trophies.

This year there was a wooden spoon award which was won by "The Lieutenant" who talked a good game but failed to register a single squirrel all year.

The clear winner was "The Carpenter" who finished with 15, a full 5 squirrels clear of "The Entertainer" in second place.

As the season ended at lunchtime the next season started straight after lunch and it was only part way through the first drive when the first point of the new season was recorded by "The Entertainer" who is clearly after reclaiming his title.