1st Of September

Vegeta

Well lads its approaching again so who will be out for a duck or a deer.

My brother is bringing his 4 year old son to his first day of school so he's going to miss the morning hunt. Myself and Mr. Beretta will be out for a duck on lower or upper lough derg at the crack of dawn. During the day when my brother drops his kid off to school we will probably go looking for sign of deer and try and track one down.

So who is going out the first and what have ye planned??

Degsy

Assuming i'm not on holidays,i'm hoping to head to malahide estuary to have a pop at a duck or two.I got a permit last year but never got a chance to get out there so this year i'm hoping to bag one!

thelurcher

Looking forward to it too - I'm taking the Friday and most of the week after off.
The Friday I'll try for a deer in the morning and have a few local ponds to try in the evening for a duck. They've been there all Summer but have a habbit of dissapearing all season.
Must go scouting out more permission as well.

Hezz700

I'll be on the beer in Stradbally at the "Electric Picnic":( so all will be safe on my patch untill the 5th or 6th depending on my head. But a dawn raid on the local pond will be on the menu. I think i'll have to invest in a new pair of wellies/waders though, which is a total pain in the arse.

Hezz;)

BOBTHESHOOTER

Degsy wrote:

Assuming i'm not on holidays,i'm hoping to head to malahide estuary to have a pop at a duck or two.I got a permit last year but never got a chance to get out there so this year i'm hoping to bag one!

How do you go about getting a permit for Malahide Estuary? What part of it do you shoot, there is a lot of housing in the area, how do you manage to avoid hassle!

macnas

Will be headin for Lough Ree for the 1st as per tradition. Stay down there for two days, first day shooting and second day walking the islands with the dogs picking up other peoples woundies.
Won't start on the deer til November.

thelurcher

Just wondering macnas - why not start in September?

CJhaughey

My Beretta has a problem slide won't return, and I haven't got my deer rifle yet.
No gun no fun

Terrier

The West is alive with Ducks, numbers are well up..
Going to be a good season!!

Vegeta

yeah i am prob going to scout out a few places for duck this weekend. Anyone here do much goose shooting.

We have only ever shot 2 but my god we put in a lot of effort to get them.

well if macnas is waiting til november its probably for a stag

macnas

I usually wait until the doe/hind season starts and the rut is over, I'm not really into heads or eatin pissy venison. I don't have access to a cold room and september/october can still be fairly warm for hanging deer. Pretty much the same with the ducks, I'll shoot the first couple of days of the season and then wait for the foreign duck to arrive at the end of October.

thelurcher

Heard a few lads say the same more or less.
Me - I'll be out as much as possible - being my first season I wouldn't mind a few trophys - also a local semi retired butcher has a cold store.
Main thing though is that the farmers are putting me under pressure to get out - all Summer in fact :rolleyes:
They'll bring in lads to lamp them if they don't see me around so I'm the lesser of two evils - for once!

macnas

I enjoy hunting for bucks on those hard frosty mornings in February, they tend to be in much better condition then too. I usually stop shooting does after the first week or so in January, just too messy.

PAIMEI

Was out yesterday evening feeding a small bay on Lough Ree for the ducks. Bit late starting this year but I find for the last few years that the first for ducks has been a bit of a dissappointment because of the abundance of guns and the shortage of ducks on the lake. Still cant beat that feeling though, and the thought that this year could be the bumper season when you bag a handful of birds.

Vegeta

PAIMEI wrote:

Was out yesterday evening feeding a small bay on Lough Ree for the ducks. Bit late starting this year but I find for the last few years that the first for ducks has been a bit of a dissappointment because of the abundance of guns and the shortage of ducks on the lake. Still cant beat that feeling though, and the thought that this year could be the bumper season when you bag a handful of birds.

I hear Lough Ree is a bit of a belter for duck alright. Lough Derg is very big so its tough to find a place where you get a consistent flight of duck coming over.

You're right though its the feeling of sitting out on a brisk morning with some of your close friends and enjoying your sport. Its fantastic

Vegeta

macnas wrote:

I enjoy hunting for bucks on those hard frosty mornings in February, they tend to be in much better condition then too. I usually stop shooting does after the first week or so in January, just too messy.

sorry macnas i am new'ish to deer hunting what do you mean by messy?

thelurcher

Pregnant?

Like Vegeta I'm new to deer hunting so advice on etiquette etc. would be greatly appreciated.

As I said here before I got the handbook that the WDAOI etc. put together but realise that just like fox hunting there's bound to be do's and don'ts that aren't usually put in print.

macnas

thelurcher wrote:

Pregnant?

Yup,

Although I don't think it's an etiquette thing, it's more of a personal preference. Does are pregnant throughout the season but the later it gets the more and more obvious this becomes. I was shown how to stalk by an older brother who I followed around the hill for years before I was even old enough to licence a rifle and I have never done a deer hunting course but I believe if you don't have someone to show you the ropes this might be the best way to go. I shoot a good few deer in a season but I don't think I would be qualified to give advice as such, there would be far more knowledgeable members on this board than me but if you want to PM with a question or two I will certainly try to answer them.

Meanwhile, to bring it back on topic, I'll be camping somewhere around the Black Islands on Ree this 1st, firing lots of lead and scaring off a few duck.

Vegeta

yeah it is definitely a different ball game to any other type of shooting I have done.

My bro is more experienced than I but we are both always willing to learn.

we only shoot 1 or two a season but if we had someone to use the meat we might shoot more as they are more than plentiful around us

PAIMEI

Well lads, only 2 more sleeps to go. Looking forward to just getting out now and the possibility of getting some game, the last 2 firsts have been such an anti-climax (No duck shot last year and only one the year before by me) that I'm looking forward to the season just opening, as the saying goes a bad days shooting is always better than a good day at work.. Weather is meant to be windy too which should help things..

Vegeta

PAIMEI wrote:

Well lads, only 2 more sleeps to go. Looking forward to just getting out now and the possibility of getting some game, the last 2 firsts have been such an anti-climax (No duck shot last year and only one the year before by me) that I'm looking forward to the season just opening, as the saying goes a bad days shooting is always better than a good day at work.. Weather is meant to be windy too which should help things..

yeah i was a little worried about the weather being mild.

Bought the ammo last night and will be doing the equipment check tonight so I can get at least a few hours sleep thursday night.

I have friday off and was tempted to take monday off as well but that would be over doing it I think.

macnas

Must get ammo!

PAIMEI

Have the ammo bought, but busy tonight so Thurs evening will be taken up with cleaning the gun, dragging out the decoys, checking the camo nets and stands for it and possibly getting my mates boat ready so I reckon there mightnt be any sleep got at all..
On the weather, I wouldnt mind it being mild, every duck in the country will be on the move but when its calm and bright they fly at some height, I've often been sitting there and you hear the wings whistling, look around and cant see anything then look up ,about 100 yards in the air and theres 7 or 8 big mallard vacating your area. Hopefully some wind and an overcast sky might keep them down within shooting range..

Vegeta

ahh the whistling wings. I love that sound.

PAIMEI

Have you ever heard the swoosh as they drop in close around you and you cant see them, happens to me a fair bit when shooting floods, you're relying on them coming in against the sky that the sun just set behind to get a shot, but when they dont and drop in to land with their wings opened they make a swoosh that kinda makes you want to duck (excuse the pun) and you hope that they might actually be able to see you so you dont get a belt of a mallard in the back of the head..

macnas

PAIMEI wrote:

Have you ever heard the swoosh as they drop in close around you and you cant see them, happens to me a fair bit when shooting floods, you're relying on them coming in against the sky that the sun just set behind to get a shot, but when they dont and drop in to land with their wings opened they make a swoosh that kinda makes you want to duck (excuse the pun) and you hope that they might actually be able to see you so you dont get a belt of a mallard in the back of the head..

Snipe????

Vegeta

looking forward to friday even more now.

I know the exact sound you are talkin about.

Mac.....Snipe shooting is fantastic sport. I am not the best at it though. tricky little feckers

PAIMEI

Snipe make the same noise but they need to be very close to you, I think Teal really swoosh in as they fly very quickly and have a habit of jijjing around in flight especially when landing, but any duck with its wings opened to land make it.

Hezz700

Lucky gits the lot of ya, i won't get a shot off until next monday. The semi auto is clean and oiled, the Remington shurshot is in the safe the hide is in good nick. but i have an extra 4 days to wait.

Hezz:(

moby10

the only duck that i have ever shot was while i was out pigeon shooting last sept would you believe:p they came right in to land amongst the decoys and to top it off it was a left and right. but i dont know anyone who has done proper duck shootin-i know it sounds stupid but can someone explain the times to go out, setup, the ideal setup etc. it sounds brilliant and i sure am envious of yous heading out tomorrow.

Vegeta

From what i have learned over the years: only 7 years of shooting so not an expert by any means this is just what works for us.

I shoot on Lough Derg, the lower lake and the upper lake. It is a big area (duck can fly up the middle of the lake if they want) so you have to get the duck to stay close to you on the shore. This generally implies the use of a hide and/ or suitable clothing and decoying. I use camo all the time, some people on here think its useless and carries negative stigma. I like it.

The duck will genreally stay in the shallows near the shore as they can feed there and hop onto land for a snooze.

Dusk and dawn are the times to be out as they will be on the move. At dusk they may be finding a quite spot for the night and at dawn they'll be heading out for feeding.

So you set up in a nice little area where you have seen duck or signs of duck (feathers and droppings). It is good to put out a few decoys and have a decent caller.

As with using any caller it is a skill, as for the decoying we don't over do it. Unlike pigeon shooting, I don't really put the mallard decoys in a pattern as when they fill with water and the weight hits the bottom the decoy will move around in the wind and current I like using 3 or 4 decoys

Basically you want flighting duck to come and land near you or fly close enough to have a shot.

Unfortunately there are not that many duck on our part of the lake anymore. This has forced us to start rearing duck ourselves in the gun club to try and keep the numbers up.

So i wouldn't be too jealous as by the sounds of it the pigeon shooting is pretty good for you. The most duck we have ever shot in a morning might be 10.

myself and the brother did once shoot 6 in a go. We both had 3 cartridges in the semi autos and we were walking along the shore, 6 duck got up and 6 duck fell down.