They say it's an ill wind which blows nobody any good and the recent prolonged spell of bad weather has done very little good to anyone. However it did me a favour today, it closed one of my golf courses.
I was a tad busy - for a change - this morning however I managed to take the afternoon off.
After phoning plod (Police) I quickly assembled the shotgun gear, Benelli semi auto, a couple of crow deeks (decoys) and a couple of cartridge belts and I was off.
I let myself onto the course via the "tradesman's entrance" - great when you have your own key - and parked the Freelander close to the greenkeeper's workshops.
The workshops look out over a shallow valley which leads to the river. It is a great view but it isn't the easiest shooting setup as crows can see you for miles. Behind the workshops however the Blackthorne & Laurel have grown to 8 to 10 feet high very good cover and it was this I intended to use in the couple of hours I had before getting back to see customers.
I setup the two crow decoys about 30yds from the intended cover and headed off to a known squirrel copse. I hadn't walked even 100yds when something caught my eye, at first I thought it was a small pile of leaves but it wasn't it was a squirrel and we'd both seen each other. As I pull the trigger on the Benelli the squirrel was half way up the nearest tree. I was ready and waiting for his next move. The small copse offered little in the way of cover and I knew he would move, seconds later he did and instinctively I swung the 12g pulling the trigger a second time.
It all feels so easy when you just do it, none of this aiming, how much lead, keep your head down etc etc just gun up bang. Anyway gun up squirrel down. He was as dead as so I picked him up and carried him over to the made in Hong Kong crows. He was going to make a great crow bait.
Have you ever noticed the size of squirrel gonads? If mine were in proportion to a squirrel's I would have problems walking !!
After positioning the now deceased potential squirrel porn star I set off to see what I could add to the "bag".
Surprisingly very few more squirrels showed, I did however see a fox cub - I think - briefly through some scrub. They tend to walk or run with their head held very level so I pretty sure that's what is was.
I walked the river bank but the mid summer foliage gave far too much cover and I saw nothing. Turning back towards my deeks I checked along the side of a well wooded path, squirrels often are to be seen here but not today - hang on whats that? About half way up a Sycamore tree and silhouetted against the sky I saw what looked like the outline of a squirrel. It was stock still obviously thinking I couldn't see it. I took a single shot and after about 4 seconds a second squirrel came crashing through the leaves thudding to the ground. I was feeling well chuffed.
I decided to see how my deeks were doing and set off back to the workshops.
The first well endowed squirrel looked like something had pecked him so I took cover in the bushes and waited. About half a mile or so away I could see crows in a field on the other side of the river. I gave them a few blasts on the power crow decoy call. Within minutes two crows crossed over the river to a high tree vantage point. Keeping very still I called to them for about 3 or 4 minutes. They both took flight and headed down river - were they coming over? I suspected they were - and I was right !! I held my position until they were both in range and then continuing in the porn star theme I shot my load. Two crows in the bag thank you very much.
I was running out of time so I decided to collect Ronny & Reggie Crow and "foxtrot oscar". (F Off)
A very pleasant few hours as long as you weren't a crow or a squirrel.
[Footnote Ronny & Reggie Kray were famous London gangsters]
I was a tad busy - for a change - this morning however I managed to take the afternoon off.
After phoning plod (Police) I quickly assembled the shotgun gear, Benelli semi auto, a couple of crow deeks (decoys) and a couple of cartridge belts and I was off.
I let myself onto the course via the "tradesman's entrance" - great when you have your own key - and parked the Freelander close to the greenkeeper's workshops.
The workshops look out over a shallow valley which leads to the river. It is a great view but it isn't the easiest shooting setup as crows can see you for miles. Behind the workshops however the Blackthorne & Laurel have grown to 8 to 10 feet high very good cover and it was this I intended to use in the couple of hours I had before getting back to see customers.
I setup the two crow decoys about 30yds from the intended cover and headed off to a known squirrel copse. I hadn't walked even 100yds when something caught my eye, at first I thought it was a small pile of leaves but it wasn't it was a squirrel and we'd both seen each other. As I pull the trigger on the Benelli the squirrel was half way up the nearest tree. I was ready and waiting for his next move. The small copse offered little in the way of cover and I knew he would move, seconds later he did and instinctively I swung the 12g pulling the trigger a second time.
It all feels so easy when you just do it, none of this aiming, how much lead, keep your head down etc etc just gun up bang. Anyway gun up squirrel down. He was as dead as so I picked him up and carried him over to the made in Hong Kong crows. He was going to make a great crow bait.
Have you ever noticed the size of squirrel gonads? If mine were in proportion to a squirrel's I would have problems walking !!
After positioning the now deceased potential squirrel porn star I set off to see what I could add to the "bag".
Surprisingly very few more squirrels showed, I did however see a fox cub - I think - briefly through some scrub. They tend to walk or run with their head held very level so I pretty sure that's what is was.
I walked the river bank but the mid summer foliage gave far too much cover and I saw nothing. Turning back towards my deeks I checked along the side of a well wooded path, squirrels often are to be seen here but not today - hang on whats that? About half way up a Sycamore tree and silhouetted against the sky I saw what looked like the outline of a squirrel. It was stock still obviously thinking I couldn't see it. I took a single shot and after about 4 seconds a second squirrel came crashing through the leaves thudding to the ground. I was feeling well chuffed.
I decided to see how my deeks were doing and set off back to the workshops.
The first well endowed squirrel looked like something had pecked him so I took cover in the bushes and waited. About half a mile or so away I could see crows in a field on the other side of the river. I gave them a few blasts on the power crow decoy call. Within minutes two crows crossed over the river to a high tree vantage point. Keeping very still I called to them for about 3 or 4 minutes. They both took flight and headed down river - were they coming over? I suspected they were - and I was right !! I held my position until they were both in range and then continuing in the porn star theme I shot my load. Two crows in the bag thank you very much.
I was running out of time so I decided to collect Ronny & Reggie Crow and "foxtrot oscar". (F Off)
A very pleasant few hours as long as you weren't a crow or a squirrel.
[Footnote Ronny & Reggie Kray were famous London gangsters]
