All you need for sporting nirvana

There are few pleasures in life comparable to hunkering down on a lonely estuarine outpost while the sun leeches from the sky or feeling the crackle of the frozen marsh under foot at dawn as you crunch towards your chosen holt. There is a magic to the alertness that comes with trying to hear the whispering vortexes rolling off the tips of a teal’s wings and straining your eyes to spot a skein of grey lag amidst the gloaming. As dusk creeps up, I still take a childish delight in observing the fiery tendrils flash from the muzzle of my gun, for an instant illuminating the watery scene and just as quickly engulfing you in shadow.

This is all wonderful stuff but there are also more terrestrial and tangible sensations to be enjoyed when wildfowling. Wherever you choose to hole up, it is terrifically bonding stuff to feel your hound shivering or panting next to you depending on its thermal properties and effort levels. My pal Thomas’ barrel-chested Springer, Finn, wags his tail with such ferocity on these outings that the noise his scut makes in a shallow puddle could quite give away ones position, or if the puddle were made from egg whites we’d have stiff peaked meringues in moments.

I have conducted most of my wildfowling around my childhood home on the Solway Firth where the river Tarf hits the coast at Kirkudbright. The mud here is something else. Mud is a major part of all wildfowling excursions and the alluvial sludge that surrounds Ross Bay where we sometimes ply our trade is of a unique and primordial viscosity. The ooze pulls you down, suckering at your boots like an insecure octopus, daring you to fall over as you ford even the narrowest brackish creek. Taking a tumble here would be curtains or at least leave you jolly sloppy.

Unlike a driven day on pheasant or partridge, when wildfowling it is imperative that you know a little about the place you intend to shoot. It is important to have checked the tide and kept abreast of current weather; if there are plenty of inland watery scrapes and flooded fields on account of a recent deluge, then your prey might not bother venturing to the coast to feed. It is useful to have reconnoitred the area to determine likely flight lines and you also need to understand your environment. An ability to identify species in low light is essential: you must be able to differentiate your mallard from your mergansers, your pochard from your pintail, and your gadwall from your goldeneye.

Settling oneself at an appropriate spot, seeing, identifying and shooting your bird is still only the beginning. Retrieving the downed fowl is a further mission, often with as much excitement as the shot. I have had enormous difficulty traipsing around trying to locate a bird with multiple dogs helping the cause. The phrase ‘needle in a haystack’ may well have been coined in direct response to trying to pick a snipe in the dark amid vast prairies of towering rush. When it all goes right and you down a pink foot at 40 yards that is then retrieved by a porpoising labrador fighting a perihelion tide; it is otherworldly. However, to give oneself the best chance of reaching this sporting nirvana you must start with the right clobber or else you’ll be scampering home to warm your pallid waxy toes by the fire in no time.

Bison 5mm Neoprene Chest Fishing Waders 

Price £89.99

Contact www.fishingmad.co.uk

A pair of chest waders isn’t always essential depending on you portion of foreshore, but they can often come in jolly handy. I was duck flighting early this year without a dog, and my chum Al was extremely effective in his waders, slogging out into the middle of the pond to collect several mallard that had landed there. With his arms held wide to avoid dragging them in the cold water and backlit by the light pollution of Edinburgh airport some 5km away, he was quite reminiscent of Christ the Redeemer; but crucially he returned to dry land with feathered bounty.

These Bison neoprene numbers are warm with their 5mm thick neoprene which is a godsend in Baltic inland lagoons in winter. They are durable with reenforced knees and have a handy pocket on the front. They come with removable studs for extra grip on the heel and are very good value. The neoprene shoulder straps are more comfortable than others which can cut in, and as one who doesn’t go in for any of the digi/photo-camouflage patterns that adorn hunting paraphernalia it is relieving that these waders only come in olive green.

Gateway1 Woodwalker 18″ 4mm Wellingtons

Price £154.00

Contact www.gateway1-footgear.com

If full waders are mild overkill for the environment you are shooting in, then you will at the very least need a stout set of gumboots. The Gateway1’s Woodwalker is a top quality, unpretentious wellington that is at home in a grouse butt, the inter-tidal zone or a cattle shed. If you have a full calf and tend to go for wellies with a zip to accommodate your ample lower limb, then don’t. Zipped wellies always cost an astronomical amount due to some inexplicable prevailing view that they are overly stylish, and those same zips that inflate the price of the boot then proceed to perish almost immediately.

The Woodwalker has a stretchy neoprene top that provides the very same ease of ingress to the boot that a zip provides except that there is no need to risk the soul crushing disappointment one experiences as the first watery drops make their way down your sock. The reinforced heel helps you wrench it off when using a boot jack, and the soles are springy but deeply incised for extra grip. The neoprene top also helps seal in the warm air next to your leg which is very handy if you are static for long periods on the coast.

Thermos Light and Compact 1.0L 

Price £25.00

Contact www.thermos.co.uk

With the best will in the world the birds don’t always come. Sometimes on a wildfowling outing you can be waiting stock still for a good while, and although it may only be a breezy October evening on the Wash, it can feel like you are Fritz Kasparek on the North face of the Eiger. You’re going to need a brew or a hot Bovril to keep you going. The best value to quality make of vacuum flask is Thermos itself. Stanley make good vacuum flasks but are about double the price. The Thermos Light and Compact is low key and exceptionally durable. It keeps contents hot or cold for around 24 hours and is a really solid item.

Benelli Super Black Eagle 3

Price £2450

Contact www.gmk.co.uk

Other than the name, which sounds like it was devised by a 12-year old who’s been watching too many Chuck Norris films, this semi-auto from Benelli is a superb fowling piece. The stock and forend are moulded from hard wearing synthetic which can withstand a proper kicking and it’s easy to wipe clean. Benelli have rock solid credentials when it comes to making guns that stand up to rough and tumble environments as seen from their M4 which has been used in warzones by the US military since 1998. That build quality certainly carries through to the Eagle 3, so there is no need to be precious about it when on the tide line.

The Eagle 3 has a three-and-a-half-inch chamber for accommodating large loads fit for geese coupled with an inertia system that makes firing them very manageable too. Chunky bolt release and safety catches make the Eagle simple to operate in the cold or with gloves on and it cycles ammo through even if you throw in a variety of sizes. Not super cheap but a serious piece that could last a lifetime. If you are so inclined it is also available in a camo trim.

RC Steel Atomic Line 70mm — 34g HP no 3 

Price £132 for 250

Contact www.shootingstarc.co.uk

These cartridges are incredibly fast and hit hard. An olive green 70mm case and brass cap covers well-made shot and a photodegradable wad. They are a high-power load, meaning you will need a gun stamped with a fleur-de-lys. Recoil can be quite crisp with a high muzzle velocity of 1,355fps which is why a gun that features some form of recoil management mechanism like the Eagle 3 is advisable. The powder they use is regarded as one of the best on the market and they are lethal for large quarry at distance. These loads have a tight pattern so you will likely crumple your target or miss.

 Fine Shooting Accessories Travelling Gun Slip 

Price £275.00

Contact www.fineshootingaccessories.com

A good slip is a really key piece of kit. I can never remember if it is ok to keep your barrels facing upwards in the rain so while I wrestle with this conundrum ensconced in a murmuring reed bed, it is always comforting to know that whether I get it right or wrong, I have a good absorbent slip to wrap my gun up in when I’m done. I tend to take a canvas slip wildfowling as it is likely to be bashed about a bit and more than probably sat on. Good canvas is extraordinarily hard wearing and shrugs of the inevitable mud and dirt like water of a ducks back. There are very good value canvas slips available at Jack Pyke but this example from FSA is delightfully utilitarian but still extremely smart and could be used for any occasion. The leather work on the trim is beautiful (as is everything from FSA) and I am more than partial to the natty foxy red and olive hues it comes in.