Post for the shooting bods

Ravenwood

Ravenwood

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Well, our shoot has taken over another shoot that gave up a year ago. This means that they are shooting almost 6 days a week throughout the whole season :eek:

God damn the fact that I have to work full time now, otherwise I would be out everyday!! However I have managed to book enough days off work to go about twice a week :)

If I get the sack in September (when contract is up) then I will buy a couple of ready made spaniels and go everyday :D Anyone offering their spaniel for the winter? LOL

Still cussing son for getting a BC instead of a springer!!!

They have released 25,000 pheasants and 5,000 partridge here and its driving my spaniel mad!! Poor boy!

Roll on September :D

Who else is excited about shooting starting again - nothing better than watching your dog work brilliantly :D
 
GinaB - we have loads of commercial shoots round here - infact every single farm has turned to shooting for diversity. It would seem that shooting on Exmoor is a priviledge due to the high birds and it has become "the place to go".

I haven't shot myself for at least a couple of years now but because there is such a density of shoots in this sparsely populated area, they are crying out for beaters and picker ups (thats me!).

Infact this year not only have they put up the money but are offering more money for anyone who drives throughout the day (that'l be me then with my new 4x4!).

LOL - people at work are amazed at the fact that I drive all manner of trucks off road - they have no idea :P Its a completely different world!

If you ever get the chance to come over - please do, you can stay with me and bring a dog or two. I took Flynn to Ireland last year and we had a blast :)

Actually I am off again to Ireland in a fortnight for a wedding! (Co Cork) I am doing a reading too, hope to God that they understand a word I am saying!
 
The shoots over here seem to do ok for beaters and picker ups. You have such beautiful land to shoot on. No wonder you can't wait to get out!

We shall ust be sticking to our rough shooting for now. We'll soon be heading to RoI to talk to farmers for shooting rights and we have up usual spots up here as well.

I would be too embarrassed to bring Midget :p She is really rather special :D And my poor Tina is done. She's 11 now and deserves a quiet life, she worked ehr socks off for us.

We are hoping to breed Midget next year (hip/elbows/eye scoring dependent. Have homes lined up already) and provided I have my own house sorted by then I will be keeping a pup and it will be 'mine' as opposed to mine and M's :D :D He told me it has to be trained to the gun though. Like I'm going to do anything else :D

Cork is beautiful, I haven't been in years though. I think you should be more worried about you understanding them ;) :D
 
I CAN'T WAIT FOR SEPTEMBER!!!!!! I've saved 20 days Annual Leave for the season :)

You can borrow Lucy and Willow ... Dad's 'trusted' ones! They are s-t-e-a-d-y!! I'd offer Ellie but she's very hard to hold in the line!

Plus i will have Maisey to educate in January! Really excited about that, not to mention JAKE!! His training and general personalitly has soared this summer so far, i have high hopes!!!!!! :)

Sounds good re the shoot being taken over ... that means i have more days to pick from to come up and see you all this year then :rolleyes::D

Love it!!!!!

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
I may possibly have found a small local shoot to take Henry picking up at this season - am REALLY SCARED but also really excited! Apparently it is a really nice, family friendly affair, my friends OH has to check with the syndicate but he thinks it will be fine. EEEEEEEEEEEP!:eek:
 
MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE can't wait :D :D :D :D
cocker walked past a crow with an injured wing this morning that was only a meter from him as i'd said NO - and stood and watched rabbits bolt and the chickens flap around him - so hes getting better and better - alas though he still thinks of pheasants as a cue to ruuuuuuuuuuun DOH! but he's getting better with them :) can't wait to see if he;s improved from last year - when he was good until he got tired - then he got spangle selective hearing :rolleyes: but it was his first season - 6 months before he was living on a council estate in dundee and about to be PTS for aggression = so hes come on leaps and bounds :)
 
posie_honey said:
6 months before he was living on a council estate in dundee and about to be PTS for aggression = so hes come on leaps and bounds :)
Click to expand...

Well done!! :) It's great isn't it - Same (ish) situation with Jake ... was going to be shot as he was 'a waste of space' terrified of men and any loud noise, shut in (very dirty) kennel 24/7, this time last year he would wee all over himself everytime you looked at him, if you laughed too loud, sneezed, coughed he'd be 2 fields away with fear! Now he's a happy, healthy soul, loves guns, people and other dogs with a great picking up career ahead of him! :D
 
we have a lab like that - at 11m was written off as gun shy (actually shy of everything!) that took us longer but he's now a fab worker - just took time and patience and lots of praise! i'd say he took about 1.5yrs to be confident - 1st season we literally 'walked' him about and let him look - by end of season he'd done a retrieve but buggered off in other direction with it lol!!
but the next sesason he worked fantastically and by end of that season he was doing walked up shooting too
so satisfying = and i've never met a gun shy dog yet that has not come round with lots of patience ;) too amny peeps write them off because they are not easy :rolleyes:
 
awwww it's so lovely giving them a 'new life' so to speak isn't it?! :D

I've got a dog coming over soon, The Rep of the Feed Merchant on the Estate has a 'gun shy' lab, coming over for some work with me. I totally agree re gun shy, there is no such thing lol it's just a fear to be over-come with time a patience! :)

Hey - maybe we should start a 'Gundog Rehab Service' :rolleyes::D
 
Can't wait, it will be Mabel our springers second season our this year, although last year she only did a little bit and mainly working in the beating line.

Looking forward to it already and I am pretty sure she is too, everytime that we go to stay with my parents she thinks it means going shooting!
 
Really looking forward to the season, but as I have just given up my gun and the other shoot that we (BF & I) pick up on is not running this year. We are looking for some picking up, can't offer you a dog but if you need another couple of people (& dogs) we'd love to come. We have 2 springers, a cocker and a Lab. We also have a 1 year old Springer and a litter of Labs one of which we are keeping so they can keep each other company at home!
 
Lordy, you have just all made me sigh at the thought of more washing, dirty dogs, dirty boots, zillions of birds needing hung/plucked etc etc etc.

OH has a shooting business so I get the "down side" of shooting trailed through the house every day!!!! lol
 
Its a shame you are so far away Whoopsidd as I would love to help you out!

But, I have to say, that most of us with working spaniels buy them as working bred - there is a massive difference in show/pet bred spaniels to working ones. Working ones have the instinctive working drive naturally and do seem to be easier to train - however, there are many exceptions as already mentioned above! :)

The very key, basic, requirements are to get him whistle trained - stop and recall - if you can do that then you are onto a winner :D
 
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