The Seasons End

The Seasons End
​ Reflections Of A Countryman

In the blink of an eye there it is gone, by this I mean the game and wildfowling season here in Britain, OK there are some remnants of it still going, like wildfowling on the fore shore until the 20th of February, but for almost all of us it all finishes on the 1st of February each year, so with this short humble scribbles I will reflect on the season past for me here in Somersetshire as well as my travels all around Britain catching up with family and friends hunting, Shooting or Fishing, I do have one shoot left in me this season on the 31st of January I am heading to Hampshire as the personal guest of my dear friend Rob the 4th generation game keeper and my other dear chum the estate owner David, I will report on that one in my next humble scribbles so please look out for that article.

Season 2022-2023 blimey where should I start ??? I suppose right back in the spring of 2022, coming out of the previous season post COVID and Brexit was a bit of a tricky one and uncertain times, many shoots didn't survive, the lucky ones who had forward thinking had to pull their belt straps in and work differently to survive, this I think we did well and have come out of this season bigger, better, stronger with good businesses heads streamlining what we do, so I for one think we have a bright future ahead of us, but time and circumstance will tell I suppose.​

As the spring became summer and I went back to breeding my own birds with a couple of students under my wing wanting to learn this art I found a new lease of life for rearing, something I had retired myself on some 5 years or so ago, again time and circumstance made me return out of retirement, well what's the point in having all these qualifications and a lifetimes experience if I don't use them, plus the fact I had some fine young people to coach and inspire, I must say we had a wonderful first season breeding our own birds, we have now invested in some new incubators etc and will be streamlining some of the lessons we have learned this last season, I have enlisted the help of another old friend who breeds a lot of ornamental fowl etc too so this should make for an interesting spring and summer of 2023.

​This year my birds flew so well you would swear they had jet packs and Nasa written up their backs, I will get to that a little later in this article, of course game shooting is not all we do, we cover all forms of shooting sport and country sports.

​Crop protection was fun this year and I am still eating the pigeons from my game freezers from the summer and autumn harvest, wildfowling this season has been a little hit and miss, with the hot weather and drought like conditions of late summer all of my 7 ponds were bone dry, we didn't have water in them until December, so flight pond shooting this season has not really started, the Somerset Levels in this area are the same, its not until the late November and early December that we had any splashes to really write about, then we had too much water so found it hard to concentrate the wildfowl etc, although we have had a few wonderful flights.

Ferreting I love traditional ferreting, but again a lack of rabbits, hot weather to start with and now we finally get some good frosty weather to knock the brambles and vegetation back everything is flooded, you just cant make it up can you, so I suppose as the saying goes, you gotta learn to dance in the rain, Big Yin (Billy Connelly the comedian/actor/singer/ musician) says there is no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing, so go buy your self some oil skins and some wellington boots and enjoy the weather, one reason I have Jack Pyke as a sponsor as I love their gear and it really helps me to stay out there when others call it a day early.

This happened just recently, I took my under keeper and his sone wildfowling with another good mucker of mine, my exact words wrap up, have gloves, a warm hat, extra socks etc, nope they didn't listen when I told them this is a wild place and much colder with the wind chill, they only lasted a couple of hours and left just when the wildfowl started to flight in on this wonderful full moon, what a flight my ole mucker and I had, Teal and Wigeon all over the place flighting around, the spectacle of them in flight really made my heart smile and made me think of past seasons and my ole Girl Hollie and her Granddaughter Brook and some of the finest retrieves, my Goose was at my side watching all this as a sword of mallard dropped right into me, I mounted swung through and dropped two duck with one shot, on Command Goose my cocker spaniel who had marked them down went straight out and had them retrieved back to heal in no time, what a wonderful little dog who has the mighty heart of The Wolf In My Living Room, he loves his Jack Pyke dog coat too, he knows were going wildfowling as soon as I take it off the hook, he just switches on into I am a serious hunting dog mode, I love that little dog he is my right hand man we go everywhere together, even as I type he is sat on my feet keeping them warm.

Goose and I spent Christmas and New year on a Welsh Mountain staying in a wonderful Railway Carriage, within ten minuets of being there the farmer had asked oh you do pest control? Could you do some for me whilst you are here, talk about a busman's holiday, of course I agreed and a good job I took and armoury with me was it not, I was supposed to meeting some Welsh chums and go hunting and ferreting, alas this did not happen their wives put their feet down saying its the Christmas break, you have to so spend time with your in laws, damn poor show if you ask me, not really I dont mean that, you should spend it with family, but that farmer was a life saver for me as I would of gotten bored, as it was I dealt with a host of vermin especially rabbits and squirrels, the farmer has asked me to go back to deal with his mole problem as well as other other pest problems, hmmmmm I think another busman's holiday is on the cards pretty soon. 

So here we are at Seasons End, I have just got back from my final shoot of the season my estate, I decided we should finish the season as a walked up rough shoot so we could all shoot and work our dogs, make it a real social shooting day, finish this off with a roost shoot on the pigeons, I must say this was a wonderful last day of the season, my birds flushed and flew strong, a glut of woodcock all over the estate, I have not seen that many in years, there were as many as pheasants coming out, they all went on un saluted, I wont shoot them unless I am going to eat them and my game freezer is full, this day I decided to use my 1891 Peterson's and Son’s of Peterborough 16 Bore Hammer Gun for some nostalgic shooting, we also went around doing some squirrel drey poking, that little gun made short work of the tree rats, you know she is still as sweet on the eye and in the arms as she was back in my great grand fathers day, or as I say back in modern times.

Well we finished the season on a big high, all looking forward to preparing for next season, I still have one fabulous days shooting left for this season, the icing on the cake for me, the one I mentioned earlier in this article and I cant wait, I will be suited and booted in my finest estate tweeds, a wonderful days game shooting lays ahead of me, with full corporate hospitality, catching up with old friends and making new ones, spending time in the company of some of the finest sporting folk in the land, what a way to see this season out, a season that's a triumph to the passion and tenacity to The British Game Shoot and all who sail under her banner.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and my latest humble scribbles, scroll back and read some of the past ones or keep your eye out for future articles etc, everything is written from the heart in my own words as I see it, the only thing left to say is Arrrrrr Its Proper Job Mucker.

The Seasons End
Reflections Of A Countryman​

By The Ole Hedge Creeper
www.theolehedgecreeper.co.uk


# Please Note Photos and video's are for illustration purposes only, they may not be on the day, time or year in question#