Outside Days » Press

Battle of the Somme: French Wildfowling

Howard — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:30:22 +0000

Having had so many great guinea pig trips, you can forgive me my audacity when I planned an expedition to explore wildfowling a la francaise and invited a journalist to join me.

Years of writing as a sporting journalist for titles like the Sporting Gun have left Ian Mason more open-minded and intrepid than most, and he accepted the invitation to cross the channel for an entente cordial with alacrity. After a comfortable night on the ferry, we awoke in France and made the two hour drive from the ferry port to Le Crotoy inland from the Bay of Somme. Famed for its duck shooting from hutte, this area is littered with flight ponds and wetlands and thousands of hutte to accommodate the nightly influx of guns from September to sometime in late January or early February.

In France, there is no law preventing the use of live decoys, so each pond has a holding pen for pricey ducks and geese (up to 200 euros a brace for geese). These decoys are taken out onto floating stands where they are fixed for the evening, able to hop in and out of the water at their leisure. The live decoys are laid out in straight lines so they don’t become targets as dusk descends.The logic for this arrangement becomes apparent when it is explained that while the evening flight is undertaken in much the same way as it is in Britain, the main event involves a shotgun with a telescopic sight mounted on it and the ducks that have settled onto the water between the lines of decoys.

Through the pillbox-like window of the hutte, we squinted out at indistinct shapes bobbing on the water. While it undoubtedly challenged our perceptions of a sporting shot, firing at a bobbing target in the dark through a small slit when only just awake is much harder than it sounds. Our bag was 6, one shot British-style at dusk and the balance in the French manner. While definitely not a sporting destination in its own right, when combined with wild grey partridge and/or walked-up snipe, the adventure becomes worth crossing the Channel for.

For more details or to book your trip contact us at info@outsidedays.com

Outside Days at CLA Game Fair in Countryside Alliance Shooting Lodge

Howard — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 17:31:43 +0000

We are delighted to officially announce that Outside Days will be hosting the Countryside Alliance‘s Shooting Lodge at the 2011 CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace Friday July 22nd to Sunday July 24th. Howard, No.2, Tony and the team will be around all weekend to share their latest tales of daring do and big fish. Please drop by for a chat, to catch up and enter our prize draw for the chance to win a great sporting prize.

Sporting Gun: Wake Up To Walked Up!

Jennifer — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 10:19:24 +0000

We had the pleasure of Ian Mason’s company on several days last season, and he was kind enough to write about Outside Days in the Sporting Gun. In case you missed it, here’s another chance to read it:Wake Up to Walked Up!

The Field: Gun Dog Class: Rough-shooting

Jennifer — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:39:31 +0000

Journalist Jan Menzies dropped our name in an article on rough shooting (walked up) in The Field, Gun Dog Class: Rough-shooting.

Sporting Shooter: Prize of a Lifetime

Howard — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:35:29 +0000

The folks at Sporting Shooter were kind enough to publish an article I wrote on my adventures in New Zealand last May. For those of you who missed it, here’s another opportunity: Prize of a Lifetime