So It would certainly seem I am making up for losing all my game days, beating and ladies clay shooting events last year, as so far I have managed to do all 3 in the space of a few weeks of this years game season starting.
You know you are dedicated to field sports, when you cut your holiday short by 2 days so you can get out with your favourite team of guns on a driven duck day. I did have some slight pangs of nervousness and wished I had not spent all summer just messing around on the clays instead of practising properly and using my pre-booked lessons, oh and I had just bought a new gun, which I had only been out with twice on the clay ground- so no pressure!
I was peg sharing with my usual in the field mentor, Richard, who ‘casually’ asked as I climbed over the gate on the walk to our first drive, “You’re not scared of cows are you?” luckily I am not, as we soon had an audience of rather curious cows gathered behind us as we stood waiting for the signal that the first drive was to start; which was pre-emptively started by a rather ‘keen’ gun.
To say the first drive was intense would be an understatement, it was 360 shooting, with me and Richard stood near enough back to back at one point, as though we had agreed we would peg share, it had been done on the understanding and blessing of the shoot captain, that I could have my own peg if I didn’t struggle with getting any shots, and from the off I had found my feet, so Richard took up position on the peg next to me and had the great delight, in his own words, of watching me take a shot that was a joy to watch & take, and one that both of us will remember for a long time, I asked him why and his reply is one I will treasure:
“Driven duck often requires guns to have a much greater sense of gun safety and muzzle awareness due to the potential 360 degree nature of the shooting. Your duck came in from behind you and you correctly raised your gun vertically, turned around and addressed the bird as a true driven target conscious that of the line of guns extended to your left and right. Your footwork placed your weight forward onto your leading foot and your gun swing was fluid and controlled. This allowed you to place the pattern exactly in the right place and result was a text book kill”
The second drive was just as successful for me, with me rather tongue in cheek (and bravely for me!) ‘poaching’ a neighbouring guns duck (I’m still not sorry Steve!), and headmitted he couldn’t be mad at me as it was a great shot, and so another confidence boost for me.
The third and final drive of the day was a tad quieter; I had a wonderful lady and her Labrador join me on my peg as my personal picking up team, but the majority of the ducks gave my peg a wide berth! I managed to get one duck, which resulted in said Labrador being sent to a do a water retrieve, at which point I broke my gun, put it away, and stood, watched and chatted to his owner until the horn sounded to say the drive was over. Overall I had bagged myself 5 ducks and had the great pleasure of not only being back out in the field & being successful, but also catching up with friends, old and new, that I had not got to see last season.
Two weeks later I was back out on the clay ground, this time hosting for The Shotgun & Chelsea Bun Club on one of their ladies days at Sporting Targets. This one was an extra special event for me, as not only did I have 49 ladies booked on and attend;half of whom had never shot before, but also because the Bun Club renamed the shoot ‘The Shani Boswell Memorial Shoot’ in memory of my mum who passed away in April with Myeloma, which is a blood cancer. My fabulous co-host, Zoe, organised a charity raffle with amazing prizes ranging from a lesson and a bottle of their own gin by Sporting Targets, to a subscription gifted by The Countryman’s Weekly. Overall, we raised £1070.00 that was donated to the local Dialysis Unit in memory of my mum. We also ran a competition involving a giant cartridge, and the well deserved winner was the lady who climbed IN it!
I was bought back down to earth from my highs of my game day and successful ladies clay shooting event, by the keeper on the shoot I beat on, with a plea of would I go on stop this weekend as we were short. Now I am not a morning person and the 5am alarm call did not impress me, but I had a 45min drive to allow me to wake up a tad more and feel more human, and i did quite enjoy hearing the countryside stir and come to life as the sun rose; even if the pheasants decided to stay in bed!
As much as had missed the banter with the fellow beaters, I had not missed the battle of getting through thick cover crop and got lost more than once! although at least I didn’t fall down a badger sett or 3 (Mr Noel!)
Said fellow beater did get his own back on me for laughing at his misfortunes, as when he held back the last of the cover crop for me to emerge from on a drive, he yelled out ‘I’m just pushing a big bird out’ Luckily it was taken with the good humour from me as it was intended with, and funny banter and comments like that are what makes a good beating team.
A good few braces of pheasants were taken home by us all, including for me, a pair of stunning Melanistic pheasants that the younger members of the beating team solemnly told us were called ‘Ben & Jerry’. I confess ‘Ben & Jerry were converted into dinner for my friends the next day and their feathers have been transformed into a feather wreath for myself.
So within 3 weeks, I’ve managed to make up for all the time and experiences lost last year due to Covid & lockdowns, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this season has in store for me.
Clays2Game_lady 