| Archive for The Brittany Forum For all friends of the versatile Brittany |
| mcelkek |
Saturday morning in the November sun.After retrieving a difficult runner. Finn hunted, pointed and with a little help from me, retrieved. Made for a very memorable day! (Gun is unloaded!)http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0003.jpg |
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| mcelkek |
And Rosie, after rearing great pups, was now back in form and putting birds in the bag. It's a snipe but you have to start somewhere!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0007.jpg |
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| Ghilliegumdrop |
Well we were out on a shoot yesterday [Saturday] just getting into the swing of things when the heavens opened and it poured, and then there was thunder, and there was lightening, and there was hail. All in all a good time was had by all.
The Ghilldog sliced her leg on barbed wire and her belly on something else so we had a trip up to the vet, just in case as there are a lot of rats about and better safe than sorry. I think there were 47 birds shot in total despite the appalling weather. I wouldn't have minded a little bit of your sunshine though. Well done Finn and Rosie. Jan |
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| mcelkek |
Poor ghillie, I do hope she's alright. So far i have been very lucky with barbed wire, touch wood! The only injury I have had to dogs was a springer i once had, cut the tip of his ear. It was'nt bad, just that it was wet and it kept shaking itself. Everyone thought it had its throat cut with all the blood around its neck! | ||
| Ghilliegumdrop |
She is a little bit sorry for herself, possibly because I open her mouth and stick a pill down her throat every now and again.
She will be better on the 9th as we have another shoot then. Jan |
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| Victoria |
Stoppit, just you lot stoppit!!!!!!! How cruel of you to show such fantastic fotos on the forum when we have FIVE more months to go before that wonderful SATURDAY!!!!! 06hr30 on that WONDERFUL SATURDAY to be precise!!
I have been told that Brits are the breed for snipe. Can you tell us what they taste like?!! Snipe, I mean! We do not have them here. Hope the gorgus one is ok, Jan. Go Finn and Rosie... PS more fotos please!! |
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| Britmania |
Hope Ghillie is well on the way to recovering from her ordeal.What a shame after all the effort on the shoot.
This isnt really in the "brag" category..... we went to the presentations for the FT held this weekend and the judge was duly asked for his comments on the Pointer trial.He made mention of Spice's good performance, then spoilt it by suggesting that she could have possibly scored better as she lost a few rangeing points - however, he did notice "that she was carrying a considerable amount of extra weight!" That set the whole audience off laughing and when the prizes were handed to Barry, there was even more laughter because part of the collection was a 40kg bag of DOG BISCUITS!! Some smart person then yelled out, "Barry,you had better give those to Chris, for the pup!", which set off even more laughter. Poor old Spice has got noticeably portly round the middle lately and despite being on a bit of a diet has not really budged it.Obviously, plenty of other people had noticed it too. Talk about red faces! |
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| mcelkek |
Snipe are like, well.....  woodcock. Which to me tastes a little like fresh liver but without that kind of liver texture of course. It's a hard one to describe im afraid, its gamey but i love mine roasted in good olive oil and freshly cracked salt and pepper. Delicious! It was a good day for photos, I wish I had taken more. The scenery on my little shoot is stunning on a sunny day. The bit we were on has 360 degree views like this one of rosie with my shooting buddy!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0005.jpg |
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| Victoria |
It also looks as if it could be very very cold there too. Thank you for the description of the snipe and woodcock to taste. One day...! | ||
| honeys humans |
honey salivatingroast snipe - yum!
lovely to see the britts clearly enjoying themselves 
mike |
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| Ghilliegumdrop |
Is it woodcock that are cooked whole and with the inards still inside? Then you have them on toast.
Jan |
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| Annie as admin |
check google!Barbecued woodcockCook woodcock for ten minutes over a charcoal fire. This is enough to brown the skin, but the flesh should remain moist and pink. Cover individual birds with a sauce made from the following: 1/2 cup currant jelly or preserve, 1 tablespoon prepared mustard, 1 tablespoon butter, 3 tablespoons red wine. Melt the jelly over a stow fire, stirring so that it doesn't scorch. Add butter and mustard and let mixture boil for one minute. Remove from fire and keep hot. Just before serving, stir in the wine. Use sauce lavishly. Baked Woodcock Need: 4-6 filleted woodcock breasts, 1 bottle Hunt's chili sauce, 1/4 cup very fine chopped onion, 1 minced garlic toe, 2 tablespoon sweet pickle relish, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, place woodcock in baking dish. Mix ingredients together and pour over birds. Bake in oven at 300°F for two hours or until meat is very tender. Serve on toasted buns |
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| guy |
try here
http://www.game-to-eat.co.uk/blogsection/Recipies/ |
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| Victoria |
A friend hailing from England who has a pheasant farm here told me you use the bill of the snipe as sort of a skewer obviously leaving the head attached. She was so rude about Gaston sitting on his feet said something to the effect 'how can you take a dog who sits like that seriously' she's got ESSs so I ask you...! | ||
| Ghilliegumdrop |
Are you sure they are the English version and not the American Xs? It would explain a lot if they were.Anyway who says a dog has to sit straight before it can do the job it was bred for?
Jan |
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| Victoria |
How rude!!!!! Look at Finn; the way he sits...!!! American X be blowed!!!!! Ghillie, bite her!!!! Anyway, any self respecting Brittany boy has to sit on his feet like that to keep the damp of the undergrowth and all those soggy pheasant feathers away from his DNA transmission devices...so there!!! | ||
| Ghilliegumdrop |
I told you we are all mad on here.
I meant the ESS not Gaston!! Lord help us. Jan |
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| guy |
1st woodcock this year.
now what did you say I should do with it?? |
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| Ghilliegumdrop |
Ah, is he picking the brambles to stuff it with? | ||
| Victoria |
I dont know about brambles but I have picked the first of the red currants for jelly...now, if I had some of your snipe I would be about right!! | ||
| mcelkek |
Saturday morning in the December sun.http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0006-1.jpg |
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| Victoria |
And...this is what it is all about...! | ||
| mcelkek |
Im thinking of getting the bird mounted, it has such amazing colours, what do you all think?
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0006-2.jpg http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0008-1.jpg http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0009-1.jpg |
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| Annie as admin |
That is a beautiful bird, a shame to kill them sometimes.
We put up the most handsome cock pheasant this afternoon. One of the biggest I've seen for a while and such vibrant head and tail feather colouring. Freckles put him up, and sat immediately, then young Belle went off after him alternately leaping along on hind legs and then down on all fours to get some speed. Needless to say he was over the burn long before her, and she came back when she realised she had no chance of catching him. Annie |
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| guy |
Is this the same dog that won the TAN? |
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| Ghilliegumdrop |
Yeh, good isn't it!!Been practising at home!! | ||
| Victoria |
We call them mutants over here; the different colour roosters, not the Breton that poing along on their back legs! They seem to crop up everyonce in a while. | ||
| Ghilliegumdrop |
I don't know Victoria, some of those dogs fit the bill everytime!! 
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| Victoria |
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| Annie as admin |
Well, now - what dog isn't a mutant????? And to be honest - what about homo sapiens - are we not all mutants too?
A |
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| Ghilliegumdrop |
Pot calling kettle??
You speak for yourself up there.....me, I'm a PURE blooded English woman, so there!!! |
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| Annie as admin |
Rubbish - you're a mongrel Anglo Saxon like the rest of us. Only difference with me is I have a bit of Gael thrown in for luck
A |
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| Victoria |
Well, I'm Lancashire (Omskirk and there abouts) with a dollop of Highlander so I guess as springing from the issue of colonialists that makes me more mutant than you in the Motherland can ever be!!!! | ||
| Ghilliegumdrop |
MY Mom would NEVER do something like that!! So there. | ||
| Britmania |
My Father's lot are true blue English,but my Mothers family is French!!
Now I know why I have Brittany's .....it was my destiny.........!! |
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| Victoria |
Vive le Breton!! Vive le Tricolor!!! | ||
| Victoria |
Well, out here desperate times called desperate measures!!!! And I guess a 6'5" Highlander lad with flaming red hair whose proposal of fourteen children (seven sons and seven daughters) and years of ironing lace, oops proposal of marriage, was a pretty good option at the time!!!! | ||
| Britmania |
Are you talking about your ancestors Victoria? If so, you obviously inherited the glowing tresses but what happened to the height?? | ||
| Annie as admin |
Or is she describing her husband??? Sounds an excellent marriage proposal to me! Mine were both 'well I suppose we'd better get married then(Sandy)/set up home together(John)' - no offer of kids/dogs/washing/ironing/life-to-which-I-hadn't-yet-become-accustomed-but-would-like-to. At least Sandy left me with two smashing kids - one of them, Donald is a 6 foot 4 inches tall handsome Scot with a penchant for meeting girls who don't want to settle down, the other, Sarah is about to present me, just as I am about to Judge Best of Breed at Crufts, my THIRD Grandchild (due 12th March, bet she's early!)
A |
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| Victoria |
gosh, I don't know Chris, it was the Lancashire strain of DNA I got the blunt end of!!! How neat, Annie, another Piscean; we are special we Pisceans!!
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| Victoria |
Keith please post some more wonderful fotos of Breton doing what they do best just so we get back on track!! All this geneology!!!!
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| mcelkek |
No Problem!
And the Guy's having a day off! Click on it for the Video 
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| Victoria |
Thank you, Keith, these fotos are fantastic. The boy looks most aristocratic! Please excuse my ignorance but land with all the fern on it is that what you would call 'fenland'? What gun is that? No more mutants I see! | ||
| mcelkek |
In Ireland we call it 'bog', no matter what is growing on it. If there's peat beneath your feet your on bog (black,red,wet or dry!). If on the other hand its rough pasture with fern growing on it then we don't have a local name for it...It's just the Irish country-side!
The gun is a bettinsoli and the only mutant there was taking the pictures! |
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| Victoria |
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| Ghilliegumdrop |
No answer to that Keith! Super pictures.
Jan |
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| Annie as admin |
Question for you, Keith. Do you just upload a mini video same way as a jpeg? Just going to try it now. Watch this space!
Annie |
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| mcelkek |
Sort of. I just downloaded the video to photobucket.com ( its free!) then copied the URL address it gives you for your video on the forum and there you go, hopefully! | ||
| Annie as admin |
Hmm - did all that but it doesn't show a wee bit of the film on the message like yours. Will try again
http://s128.photobucket.com/album...askingbelletoplaywithnchicken.flv |
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| Annie as admin |
AHA! Got it this time - easy peasy!
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| mcelkek |
Well done Annie. I hope we will see more footage of your guys now! | ||
| Victoria |
bring it on, Annie | ||
| mcelkek |
First time on a beach for Oisín (pronounced 'uh-sheen'). Little unsure to start with but soon got the hang of all that sand and shingle. He also knows now you can't drink sea-water!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0007-2.jpg http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0005-2.jpg http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0002-4.jpg |
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| mcelkek |
Rosie with the spoils after a very wet day.
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j177/mcelkek/PIC_0004.jpg |
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| Victoria |
Well done, Rosie. I named a Cymric queen I bought in Australia Roisin: Oisin is lovely. When is our 1st Saturday of April?????!!!! All these wonderful fotos of the faisan....whoever came up with the adage 'patience is a virtue' must have led an extremely boring life; obviously one without the Breton!!! | ||
| mcelkek |
Out with Rosie again today Flushed a wealth of game; Pheasant, snipe, Hare, duck, woodcock and pigeon. Shot me a few ducks for the pot from Lough Neagh and a couple of snipe to eat later in the season. The Pheasants were playing cute and slipped out the side. The hare was off limits, the pigeon took me by suprise and the woodcock were too good for me!
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| Victoria |
Sounds like a perfect day!!! | ||
| Annie as admin |
Is Rosie happy to pick woodcock? I'm told that many dogs dislike snipe & woodcock - oily or foul tasting feathers I think I was told.
Annie |
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| Ghilliegumdrop |
Ghillie doesn't mind woodcock. I don't mind being here in Perth in SUNNY Australia at last. The Airport was pretty grim last night. We didn't arrive till 3 in the morning and the queues were extremely long. It took 2 hours or more to get through and then the hotel that we are staying at wouldn't answer the phone to send a courtesy bus. Boy was I mad.
Never mind, the weather is great and we have been exploring. We keep being shown buildings that the convicts put up. Must have been my ancestors!! No Brittanys as yet but will keep you posted. Jan |
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| mcelkek |
She doesn't get much choice Annie snipe make up the bulk of my shooting! When i was training with dummys I always sneak snipe wings taped to the dummy with the pheasants wings. I was aware that they do not like the taste so was prepared for it. Woodcock, i've never had any problems with , probably because they taste similar to snipe.
Keith |
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| mcelkek |
3 Day Hunt.Well, the first days hunt is over. My feet are in bits from going the extra mile! I started this morning at 10AM, I would have started sooner but the rules of this ground are duck only before 10AM. I parked up in a likely spot, readied my gear, adjusted my dog and set off. The weather today was a little overcast but very mild with bright spells here and there. With a soft breeze I reckoned it would be a perfect hunting day. I took Rosie with me first she was the most experienced and as I was stepping out in prime snipe grounds I wanted to give myself every chance! We bore into the breeze and she began to take up ground to either side of me. We had only started our hunt before the first shrieks of departing Snipe could be heard, unfortunately these were too far in front, but at least I knew they were there. We walked till lunch without seeing another bird. Rosie had worked her heart out so I owed it to her to bring her to some better snipey ground.
I thought I would give Rosie a break and run her daughter a while. Now Holly isn’t your typical French Brit, She runs a bit like an Irish Setter very wide and very pacy. To top that she is very head strong and I and only I can put at least some reins on her! She was trained by my better half and has had, shall we say, her own way a little too often! The one thing I will say for her is that she is a very exciting dog to follow! 
We hunted some yellow grass first, this is interspersed with patches of heather and damp or wet open ground, the very place a snipe could pop up! She quartered her ground for a good 20 minutes before she begun hinting that something was ahead of her. I know enough of her now to know that it wasn’t a snipe and this bird was running hard ahead of her. Her area she was hunting got smaller until I knew she definitely had a line. Her head lowered as she cantered forward, her rump quivered and her ears rose listening for what was ahead. She stood on point. I crept forward and nudged her in. Up got the bird rocketing away I fired and watched it fold on the far side of a huge drain. Holly had sat for the flush and I now sent her for it. She brought me back a beautiful plump hen pheasant. 
Now on this particular shoot we shoot hens and cocks. The ground is peat bog and the landowners cut deep drains everywhere to dry out the peat before bagging for garden compost. The result is that any broods the hens raise are killed the minute they hop over a drain. So in midsummer we release pheasant poults into the wild to supplement the small wild stock. Itching to get down to the Lough shores I bring Holly and bird back to the trailer and change her for the now rested Rosie. We cross the area where I shot the hen, let her have a sniff around and get her Geee’d up. We cross the old gate and look at the Lough stretching out before us. I thank God for such a great day and to be spending it this way. I have the dog, the gun and this stretched in front of me, hopefully full of snipe! 
We start working the shore, me slipping and sliding about like a horse on roller skates and Rosie tip-toeing through the puddles like a gundog should. We must have walked a mile without stopping, I could see duck out beyond the hides flying back and forth, there was no hope of them coming any nearer. I stopped to take a picture of the hide. I wish I had a zoom lens to show you all those duck just beyond the hide, if you can zoom in on the picture on the right hand side, those dots above the horizon are a flock of about 50 Pochard crossing right to left. 
As is my luck, concentrating on the picture, Rosie sends two snipe out and up above the water. I watch them for as long as I can until they disappear. Rosie now with the scent of game in her nostrils charges on. It isn’t unusual for a snipe to sit tight while his buddies are making a fast exist around him. So I let Rosie work out her ground and BAM she comes rock steady on point. There is a little clump of rush ahead of her and I figure the snipe was at the base of it. She is inches away from it and as I move in to nudge her, up gets a cackling rooster. In pure shock I put up the gun, swing through and fire. He’s down but running, I send the dog. Rosie catches up with him just as he jumps a small stream. She pins him with her mouth and I whistle her back. As she jumps the stream I see she has grabbed him by the base of the tail, and the tail has come out! Off the bird runs again hopping the small stream. This time she makes no mistake and brings him to me with head up and a spring her step. I was very proud of her. 
Two pheasants in the bag, but I was really after a snipe. I hoped for red letter day and fill the hoops on my game bag with 10 snipe! I told myself I wasn’t leaving this place without one as it will be September before I get the chance again! I dropped the bird and some gear back at the trailer with all the walking I was feeling the pinch! I took Rosie onto some dryer ground; I figured that the birds hadn’t been in the wet areas of the Lough as it was too wet to feed. There was about an hour of light left so we had to crack on. We moved out into the yellow grass areas again, this time keeping Rosie nice and tight in the hope of walking up a bird as much as pointing one. I didn’t have to wait long Rosie before my eyes went rock hard into point. She was so steady I took the camera out and snapped away. 
I could not see what she was pointing even though the grass was so short. I nudged her forward and at last I heard the rasp of the snipe as it leapt forward. I took my time, mounted and swung, BANG, nothing. Refocus, BANG, nothing. It flew on then it staggered and tumbled towards the ground. I was so relieved I ran out and picked it myself! 
It was the most enjoyable day; we worked hard for our birds. They may be the only birds of the weekend, tomorrow is a different day. But for now I feel just as tired as Rosie! 
Day 2. Well, day two found me fit and well, the feet had recovered and the dog was itchin’ to go! The weather this morning had a very cool feel to it. It was still overcast with quite a stiff northerly breeze. The plan was to hunt my own ground today. It covers quite a large area of mountain bogs mixed with rough pasture and small parcels and clumps of trees and bushes. After settling myself and dog for the path ahead, I decided that today I will hunt the out of the way places on my shoot. I always do this on the last days of the season. I don’t know why, maybe it’s to give me an overall view of how the place is doing. The ground before me can be a mecca for snipe, sadly this year it has been disappointing. 
As I rarely cover this ground I know only a few places that definitely will hold a snipe. My plan is to work the poorer areas first with the hope that my hunting would improve as the day progressed. I started to work Rosie out of the long grass and pushed her out onto the bog. This is a magical place were photos can’t do it justice. 
It wasn’t long before Rosie made her first point. She produced a rabbit which I helped her put in the bag. I have to say I do love rabbit and wonder why it isn’t eaten more? 
Back to the job of finding snipe. I started to cover better snipey ground, I came across the Whin bush as we call it, I think in the UK they call it gorse. In the spring and summer the flowers smell like grated coconut and is one of the sights of Ireland when the countryside is covered in them. 
Rosie was covering the ground well and a few snipe had already rose ahead and out of shot, but the omens look good. A few more steps forward and a snipe rose far out and I downed it with the second barrel. Even thinking about it now it surprised and pleased me as it was at the limit of my range. 
Up over a small hill I came across this stone circle made by hunters a couple of thousand years ago! There are a lot of examples of these in my county and I would say not many people other than me know of this one. 
As per usual Im taking pictures when Rosie, fed up of waiting, decides to flush a snipe! I turn round to see it making off downhill but its call rises another bird to my left which I snap a shot of to. To my surprise it crumples and folds. Rosie makes a nice find and I now have two in the bag and the day looks a lot brighter. 
I now crossed over to an area I rarely hunt for two reasons. Firstly it’s way out of the way! You have to do a lot of huffing and puffing to get this far. Secondly, the near side has rough pasture on it and the cattle are turned out onto it in the late spring. Generations of cattle have left the bog pot-holed with their foot prints. Any time I had been before I left with a twisted ankle or a fall or both! 
I tell you I was glad I made the effort. As I crossed the brow of the hill the first snipe rose as it sensed our presence. As it shrieked down hill I fired, I kid you not, at least 40 yes 40 snipe rose in pairs or packs of five at the sound of my shot! The hill was alive with them. I fired my second barrel, reloaded, fired again. I missed every one! I didn’t mind as I knew there would still be a few brave souls that had stayed behind plus my stance was all over the place on the rough ground. I Hunted the area with Rosie and a single broke here and there, all were at my extreme range I missed cleanly, but my, what shooting and fun! At the bottom of the area Rosie pointed ahead of me, as she did a snipe rose and turned heading back up hill to my left towards me. As it passed by it was to close to shoot. I let it out some, then some more, I fired near the limit of my range and it folded into the heather. I was very pleased with my shot and felt for the first time since I got this gun that it actually fitted me. You know? Rosie came back with the birds head still up. I kinda wished I could have let him go to fly away for another day. 
I decided to call it a day there and then. It had been my 'Day of the Season', I knew it would be a good note to finish the season on. Unfortunately my Dad has a bad dose of the Flu and won't be joining me for tomorrows trout fishing trip. There will be other days i'm sure, enjoy the rest of your season guys, I hope you get as much or more shooting, and more birds in the bag, as I did. 
Keith and Rosie. |
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| Victoria |
Keith what a fantastic series of photos and captions...wow!! What beautiful country...aren't those snipe gorgeous birds...thank you so much for sharing this with us...hope you had good fishing. | ||
| Annie as admin |
Keith - I was enthralled all the way through that. And the photographs are fantastic!
Have you ever thought of taking up writing? And PLEASE, can I send this to Gay Davies for our next Newsletter - by the way, are you a member of the Club? Annie |
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| mcelkek |
Thanks for your very kind words,
Check your PM's Annie. Keith. |
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| Annie as admin |
I have copied Keith's lovely story to a Word document and sent to Gay for our next newsletter so all members can enjoy.
Annie |
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| mcelkek |
Day 3
Well the third and last day of my end of season finale has come and gone. I woke to hear the wind buffeting the windows. The day was overcast, cold, but the sun peaked through now and again to give a hint of winters end. I made my way over the hills to a little Lough on the mountain. 
This Lough is stocked with rainbow and holds a good number. Fishing a stocked lake is a little like clay pigeon shooting personally for me; it’s not quite the real thing. The Lough serves as the towns’ source of drinking water, the rain filters through the surrounding bogs and leaves the water a little coloured but free of sediment. I’ve heard it’s still used by the local Poitín ('putcheen') maker for the ‘mountain brew’! 
As the land is pretty exposed the wind whips up the valley and meant I couldn’t fly fish, not yet. People do fish this Lough from a boat but today there were quite a few waves out there. I set up a spinning rig with a small blue and silver and cast out into the depths of the Lough. On my second cast I was hit with an almighty BAM. I struck and hooked the fish with it instantly taking to the air! I love playing fish, Salmon are more your powerhouse trying to pull your arm out of your socket whilst shaking their head in anger and making your arm feel the vibration 10 fold! Trout of this size are fun to catch, jumping and splashing making last minute runs, but you have more confidence that you will land it! 
With three fish caught this way and with the wind now dying I moved to a more sheltered spot and got the fly rod out. I was using a floating line with a sinking leader with a green nymph tied by my Father. I started a regular cast left to right with a slow retrieve and thankfully hooked up with my forth fish. A fish caught on the fly is 10 times the fish caught any other way I reckon. A lot more effort and joy can be had from even a smaller fish! 
I ended up the day with six fish for a total weight of 9 pounds. The heaviest was 1-¾ pounds. An exceedingly great day by my standards and one I won’t forget. I have really enjoyed my three days and urge anyone to spoil and indulge themselves like this once and a while. As I looked around the bogs they sensed like wonderful places to find a snipe or two. I find myself unable to pass by any piece of ground nowadays without summing up it’s potential for sport, in my head! 
Travelling back over the hills I spot two people hunting way out on the bog with what I think are a brace of English Setters. I envy them. The area does hold Red Grouse but not in any numbers. I think they were after snipe but may be surprised along the way. Ah well it’s finished but already I have places that next season I would like to visit and others I will be visiting again. 
Keith. |
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| Victoria |
Wow, again!! Beautiful fotos, fabulous fish...we still have 93 days before our opening day... | ||
| mcelkek |
It will soon come around Victoria. I prefer the pre season build up to the post season blues any day! 
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| Victoria |
I would agree with you there! Just keeping this boy entertained until then is difficult!! Is that a Okuma rod in the foto; Bryan gave me an Okuma spinning rod and reel for Christmas and I am so impressed with the ease and distance I can cast. I am saving for the fly version!! | ||
| mcelkek |
No, for these kind of rough days out I was using my cheap and cheerfull shakespeare setup. I picked both rod and reel up cheap at a game fair last summer for just such days. It's amazing what you can convince yourself that you can't live without when at a Game Fair! Now where did i put that hip flask with the picture of my dog printed on it???! | ||
| Annie as admin |
Hmm, yes - and the mugs, and the plate, teatowels, christmas cards etc - now just WHO would want Christmas cards with MY dog on it - except his breeder, of course!
Mind you, I am promoting the idea by selling stuff like that it the Club Shop - new badges now available everyone - and don't forget I still have Anniversary HAndbooks for sale. Annie |
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| Victoria |
Just to attend a Game Fair would be enough for me...!! I can imagine they would be dangerous places. Shakespeare has a good name here. | ||
| mcelkek |
I agree they have a good name here also, in as far they are cheap and reliable. I think I will come over this year for the big English gamefair. I have everything I think I want (can afford!) from a game fair and lost interest in the one's here. So maybe one big last dose of gamefair is called for.
Also I don't mean to sound disrespectful but at the fairs here they have comps for best lurcher, terrier, bulldog/ pitbull?. It isn't uncommon to find them causing fights between them and other dogs around the arena. It's not the dogs fault rather its' muppet owner not controlling it. Oh, and i've seen a few very snappy gundogs too that were maybe best left at home! I like to bring my dogs to these places as they do generate some interest, like 'Ooooo is that a welsh springer'! But I always end up with orders for pups then never hear of them again, no loss! I did meet up with a couple with nova scotia duck tolling retrievers and had a good coversation on each others dogs' hunting styles. Also after about 5 months of little shooting related activities I do be chomping at the bit to immerse myself in the hunting world again! |
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| Victoria |
I know about the waiting; got the gun out of the cabinet last weekend to look at it; forgotten what the scroll work looked like!! Whilst in Poland, my sister bought me a lovely shooting bag; its just been hanging around ever since!!! Working on a growers vineyard today which is situated hard up against the flood banks by one of our provinces main rivers...heard three roosters hooting...we are trying to talk fishing friends into the following competition on opening day; morning have success against a ringneck, over lunch tie a fly with his feathers and in the afternoon, catch a trout with it! Not much interest shown just yet!!! | ||
| mcelkek |
That sound like a great idea! My dad often ties flies with the feathers of birds I've hunted and is very satisfying to catch one this way. I like combining expeditions in one day like hunting roosters in the lowlands in the morning, something to eat, then up to the mountains and bogs in pursuit of snipe. If you have had a poor morning its nice to know that there will be something very different to do later! | ||
| Victoria |
Yes, but you are so lucky with the assortment of wildfowl you have; we have pheasant, waterfowl ie duck, teal etc, quail (in this area mostly Californian); I understand the local shooting estate will be availing partridge this year. Chukor are also found in some areas. Are the woodcock and snipe easy to pluck? Thank goodness the pheasant is; not like the good old goose as much as I love cooking and eating it getting those feathers off is surely a labour of love! Our 10 year old geese have not succeeded in raising a batch for a couple of years now and I keep telling them that we shall be reviewing their contract!
The powers that be have reintroduced the three barb hooks on spoons; they were illegal for about a decade or more. Are you permitted three or one barbs? |
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| mcelkek |
I do find the snipe and woodcock easy to pluck as they are smaller in size! No, seriously they are easy as the feathers seem to run in groups of rows down the body rather than coming out of every available piece of skin! Yes we are allowed the threee barb hooks and only for them my fishing would be a lot harder Victoria! | ||
| mcelkek |
I took Holly out today for an amble amongst the snipe. Didn't flush any but we did get a few points on pheasant.
Keith. |
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| tenbellies |
nice one kieth.taken mine aswell but the snipe would not oblige.do you get this problem in ireland.ie=will not lie to the dogs.go next day and a good hr or 2 spent pointing.
les |
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| mcelkek |
The very same problem Les. I find that with a stiffer breeze they point further back from the snipe and it may not rise. Get too close, about 15 feet for a snipe, and they are away. Also I think my dogs are getting closer to the pheasants without them flushing and thinking they can do the same on snipe. They may think on! | ||
| mcelkek |
Found an old piece of video of Finn on his very first retrieve (blind) of a rabbit. They are pretty scarce around here so that explains the wait. Anyhoo keep an eye out for the prancing holly who was more intent on hunting than bothering with Finn, thankfully. A couple of seasons under his belt and his style has improved considerably! Still it was nice to find him buried in my P.C somewhere! I don't know what happened to the sound but i remember alot of 'Get Back!' and recall whistling!
I also found one on a retrieve of a pheasant, I had forgotten he liked to spit them out at my feet and the daily retrieves to try and sort it! 
Keith. |
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| Andrew B |
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| mcelkek |
OooopppsOoopps!!!Turn your volume down a bit the whistle is a little shrill! 
Keith. |
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| Annie as admin |
Brill!
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| mcelkek |
My Pups growing up fast!My pup has turned six months old and now the hard work begins!
Keith. |
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| Victoria |
Keith, he is a cracker!!!!
P.S New Zealand and Australian speak for something really good ! |
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| mcelkek |
Monday morning in the March Snow!Took my oldest two out for a run in the snow and took a few pics. The fresh air blew away the last of the St.Paddys day hangover! And it was bank holiday too!
Keith. |
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| Andrew B |
Superb photos
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| Annie as admin |
photosYes, real Christmas stuff too - the cards we have in teh Club shop are quite honestly rubbish. Could you email me some of your pics above and I'll make some new ones.Annie |
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| Mugi |
Wonderful pics. | ||
| Victoria |
Ditto  Thank you for sharing them with us.
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| mcelkek |
Puppy PicturesIm having a clear out of my PC and came accross some puppy pictures of my last litter. Maybe it could be a section on the photo competition?
Proud dad with kids! 
Oh and a picture of Rose in the spring sunshine for good measure! 
Keith. |
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| Victoria |
THOSE PUPPIES!!!! | ||
| honeys humans |
such gorgeous pups, how old are they now? | ||
| mcelkek |
They are over seven months now, I keep in contact with the owners of 5 of the pups pretty regularly and the owners of the other 2 are very happy with them with one telling me he hopes to trial it!
This is a picture of Conan the pup in the last puppy picture taken.
Keith. |
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| Victoria |
Keith, I think the foto of the puppy on the newspaper is gorgeous especially when you read the caption!!!!! Conan is a fine young chap!! | ||
| mcelkek |
Ah, well spotted, 'Potty training made easy!'. That pups name was called 'Runty' as I didnt want to name pups as I knew they would be going. The others were called , Lion face, speckled, granny face, ginger, Conan, liam and Oisin. I must take a picture this weekend of it. It's now called ruby and is the apple of my cousins eye, as well as the shortest Brittany I have ever seen!
Keith. |
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| mcelkek |
This is Ruby the Pocket Rocket!
Keith. |
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| Victoria |
Ruby is lovely!! Oh dear, guess wot Keith? and this has nuffink to do with our gorgeous canines; I discovered the January 2007 issue of the Fly Fishing and Fly Tying magazine in a little bookshop; contained within that issue was a catalogue for the www.fishingmegastore.co.uk: it is only our exchange rate that stops me in my tracks; our dollar is worth .36 of the pound. | ||
| mcelkek |
Ouch! It could be worse you could be here in Ireland paying way over the odds for less!
Tight Lines! Keith. |
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