Being outdoor types, I'm sure you've all noticed we've had a bit of rain recently, in fact we've had an awful lot of rain recently! A local farm we shoot woodies on has a wheat field that's taken a particularly heavy battering from the weather (thanks to nearby "redevelopment" affecting drainage) and was flooded quite badly.
But every cloud has a silver lining and for us this morning that silver lining has come with feathers! Set up with my dad early on this morning at around 7, just a few scattered decoys and a small hide was more than enough to have a nice productive half day at the ducks. The odd rain shower spotted over but good waterproofs always help and it didn't put us off. Divided to call it a day at 3 mallard (2 drakes and a hen) as we are both of the opinion that there's no need to kill everything that's in the sky and only ever take what we need.
All where shot using Express 32g Supreme steel, although it does shoot a little hot out of my dads valmet (below) its an effective load, if nowhere near comparable to lead. My Mariocci is a little heavier so soaks up the recoil from higher velocity, reasonably heavy cartridges a bit more.
Currently getting them prepped for the freezer, using old rusty of course!
Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable day even if I did manage to stand on a duck call and end up with 1 wet foot.
Also gave my pigeon a bit of time to marinade for another batch of jerky!
But every cloud has a silver lining and for us this morning that silver lining has come with feathers! Set up with my dad early on this morning at around 7, just a few scattered decoys and a small hide was more than enough to have a nice productive half day at the ducks. The odd rain shower spotted over but good waterproofs always help and it didn't put us off. Divided to call it a day at 3 mallard (2 drakes and a hen) as we are both of the opinion that there's no need to kill everything that's in the sky and only ever take what we need.
All where shot using Express 32g Supreme steel, although it does shoot a little hot out of my dads valmet (below) its an effective load, if nowhere near comparable to lead. My Mariocci is a little heavier so soaks up the recoil from higher velocity, reasonably heavy cartridges a bit more.
Currently getting them prepped for the freezer, using old rusty of course!
Altogether a thoroughly enjoyable day even if I did manage to stand on a duck call and end up with 1 wet foot.
Also gave my pigeon a bit of time to marinade for another batch of jerky!
Last edited: