Geese!
Memoirs of a Wildfowler
Published on 3. October 2007
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-1-873674-13-0 (ISBN)
Description
A lucky soul indeed, is how Edward Miller, who spent 46 years in the gun trade, describes anyone infected with 'goose fever'.
In this lively memoir, he conveys the passion for wildfowling that gets sane people out of bed long before first light, to walk miles across dangerous tidal flats in the depths of a winter dawn, to lie flat in damp sand for hours, waiting for that evocative beat of wings to pass overhead.
Every chapter in Geese! is full of interest, amusement and advice. Camouflage, the techniques of goose-calling, how to recognise flight lines, choice of gun, what to wear, where to stay, how to behave and how to avoid overshooting, are all topics covered, right down to cooking wildfowl, including a mouth-watering stuffing of wild mushrooms and seashore blackberries.
The instructional index at the end of the book is an invaluable instant reference for the wildfowler.
In this lively memoir, he conveys the passion for wildfowling that gets sane people out of bed long before first light, to walk miles across dangerous tidal flats in the depths of a winter dawn, to lie flat in damp sand for hours, waiting for that evocative beat of wings to pass overhead.
Every chapter in Geese! is full of interest, amusement and advice. Camouflage, the techniques of goose-calling, how to recognise flight lines, choice of gun, what to wear, where to stay, how to behave and how to avoid overshooting, are all topics covered, right down to cooking wildfowl, including a mouth-watering stuffing of wild mushrooms and seashore blackberries.
The instructional index at the end of the book is an invaluable instant reference for the wildfowler.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Shropshire
United Kingdom
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paper over boards
With dust jacket
Illustrations
17 Illustrations, black and white; 70 Halftones, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
771 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-873674-13-0 (9781873674130)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Ed Miller was born in 1933 into a long line of Ribble estuary shooters and fishers. After his education at King Edward VII School, Lytham, he joined a Lancashire freelance press agency and remained in full-time journalism for eight years.
At 26 he bought Entwistle Guns, in Blackpool, a business established in the late Victorian era, and shortly afterwards opened a branch in Preston.
Adhering to a long-term plan, he retired to the Lake District before he was 50 to 'play village cricket and do a lot more shooting and fishing'.
A serious cycling accident in 1990 threatened to end his active life, but he recovered sufficiently to resume his beloved goose shooting.
Now he concentrates on driving his teenage son, Jago, in the early hours of winter mornings, to marshes as far apart as the Ribble, Morecambe Bay and the Solway. All are reachable in little more than an hour from their Cumbrian base.
'The frisson of pre-drawn forays and the sounds, sights and smells of saltings - they stir me as much as they did over 60 years ago.'
Rodger McPhail was born in Lancashire in 1953. He is an internationally-renowned wildlife artist. His love and enthusiasm for the countryside and its birds and animals are evident in his work.
Rodger has illustrated over thirty books and he also produces cartoons, caricatures, portraits and stage sets.
He lives in the Lune Valley in Lancashire with his wife, Cecilia. They have two sons, Gavin and Alastair.
At 26 he bought Entwistle Guns, in Blackpool, a business established in the late Victorian era, and shortly afterwards opened a branch in Preston.
Adhering to a long-term plan, he retired to the Lake District before he was 50 to 'play village cricket and do a lot more shooting and fishing'.
A serious cycling accident in 1990 threatened to end his active life, but he recovered sufficiently to resume his beloved goose shooting.
Now he concentrates on driving his teenage son, Jago, in the early hours of winter mornings, to marshes as far apart as the Ribble, Morecambe Bay and the Solway. All are reachable in little more than an hour from their Cumbrian base.
'The frisson of pre-drawn forays and the sounds, sights and smells of saltings - they stir me as much as they did over 60 years ago.'
Rodger McPhail was born in Lancashire in 1953. He is an internationally-renowned wildlife artist. His love and enthusiasm for the countryside and its birds and animals are evident in his work.
Rodger has illustrated over thirty books and he also produces cartoons, caricatures, portraits and stage sets.
He lives in the Lune Valley in Lancashire with his wife, Cecilia. They have two sons, Gavin and Alastair.