doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Edward Paton 8ga double

And by way of a closing of the circle on the Paton 8ga, after nearly a year since purchase, I am proud to say she has claimed her first grey goose (a greylag) on the foreshores of the UK on yesterdays dawn flight. A lovely 35yd goose from a skein of 7 birds, cleanly killed with 2 1/4oz of Bismuth No 1's using blackpowder in specially made brass cases. An absolute honour to use the big bore and hopefully the first of many foreshore geese in her renewed life on the marshes.

Nice job. Must of been a lot of fun.

OWD

As a follow up note, I have continued to use the Paton throughout this wildfowling season, taking her out for about 10 flights in total and each one being a pleasure. Several have been a blank but the flight was none the worse for it - a delight still to be out.

What has surprised me though is just how well the gun patterns and how cleanly it kills. It has no choke, but that did not stop it cleanly killing a 60 yrd pinkfoot (grey goose), as well as having an incredibly memorable evening flight over duck decoys where 5 wigeon fell to 7 shots. By keeping shots above 30 yrds, all birds were superb for the table.

12lbs is not unduly heavy to take across the marsh, and by using a modern day leg-o-mutton gun case (Napier UK) and assembling the gun once I have walked out across the marsh, it is much more manageable than I could have perceived.

Less than a month left of the UK season on the saltmarshes now so I intend to get out a few more times before looking ahead to reloading practice!

Craig

Just a wonderful gun. I have a baggo eights that I enjoy, but yours would be a wonderful addition to my collection or a one gun collection for anyone. I envy your opportunity to use yours on waterfowl.

That's a great looking old gun. I would love having it in my collectin. Actually my uncle has an 8 bore hammer gun he was telling me about at Christmas time. Don't know what make but perhaps it could find its way into my "group." But I just picked up a 10 gauge Elsie hammer gun so I'm going to try it out on Turkey.

Thanks Chaps. The real pleasure is the ability to use the gun on the foreshore, although I am paranoid about cleaning it after it has been exposed to the mud and seawater of the marshes of the UK. I enclose a couple of pictures to give a sense as to what the saltmarshes of North Norfolk are like - this is the "mecca" of wildfowling in the UK and it gives me great pleasure to be able to shoot with good friends on marshes like this. Walks out are often at least 1 mile out/1 mile back and across some slippery and glutinous mud so keeping fit is critical. However, once out in the creeks (and watching the tide carefully), cranking back the hammers on the big eight as a skein of pinkfeet move over us is right up there in terms of my favourite shooting experiences.









For anyone interested in reading more about UK wildfowling, I recommend "Folwers Moon" by Thorneycroft, "Norfolk Fowler" by Savory or some of BB's books such as "Tides Ending". Cracking stuff.

Craig.

Craig,
Great pictures of Peter Scott Country as seen and described in his book,Morning Flight.
For those not Familiar with the writings of BB,"Dennis Watkins-Pitchford M.B.E." you are missing a treat!Dennis was a distinguished author and artist.His books Tides Ending & Dark Estuary,are wildfowling classics.The Shooting Mans Bedside book,a pocket sized collection of the works of the great writers on field sports/shooting; compiled by BB has been my frequent read for more than 50 years.Dennis during his life time,also published many articles under the pseudonym, "BB"in the U.K magazine, Shooting TImes.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Do you hunt over decoys? Or jump/pass shoot?

Any dogs?

OWD

Primarily flight/pass shooting on the saltmarshes, involving a lot of fieldcraft and reconnaisance, not a little luck, and hopefully some decent blowing winds and cold temperatures. Dogs will always be with us if possible given the amt of water/mud. If we go out without dogs, we would restrict ourselves only to non-flooded areas where any shot bird could be safely and humanely retrieved easily on foot.

Occasionally shoot over decoys but this tends to be tideflighting where a set of decoys is placed on a main creek running out to sea.

Wildfowling, like waterfowling in North America, has a lot of history and tradition and that does not change to this day. I love all forms of shooting, but if I had to choose one, it would be wildfowling. Out in wild places, at dawn and dusk, with often no one around for miles is absolutely magic - and although there is no guarantee of any shots, when it works, it really feels as if you have made an effort for the hunt. "Red letter days" in pure numbers shot terms are however very few and far between!

Back a hundred years ago, there were a decent number of professional wildfowlers on the coast of N Norfolk, and they made their base in Wells-next-the-Sea. You would often get people up from London taken out by professional guides, and outside of this, the chaps were out in all weathers, sometimes living on the foreshore in houseboats.

Couple old time postcards out of the collection showing fowling in the UK. Just thought they fit in with the discussion.


Destry