lloydi73 Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Being a novice to shooting our feathered friends, I went up to my usual permission with a friend on Wednesday night, to a field where I usually bag 15/20 birds and always see them coming in and out and around about. However, Wednesday night was a particularly hot night, and we saw next to nothing, very odd. Nothing even going into the trees where they usually roost. The only other reason I can think, was the farm held it's annual truck fest concert last Friday/Saturday/Sunday (loud live music and bands), so....Do you think the birds all disappeared from; a) The hot weather, they just stayed put elsewhere and couldn't be bothered to fly or b) Did the loud music drive them off, and I should leave it a couple of weeks before returning?? ATB LB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 You may have shot them all. You cannot keep returning to the same place and expect a decent bag every time. Simples. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Agreed , you are unlikely to get a decent bag if you keep shooting the same field. I am lucky enough to be able to walk out of my back door and onto land I can shoot , but I only shoot it around 3 or 4 times a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloydi73 Posted July 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Sorry, I have obviously mislead you.....The farm I shoot is 550 acres, and I shoot all the 10 different fields....There were no pigeons much about over the entire 550 acres.......we drove around top to bottom....nothing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobba Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 If pigeons were predictable it would take the fun out of it !! Perhaps one reason may be that there is so much cutting going on that they can pick and choose where to feed and were elsewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konnie Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 as above worth learning a bit about farming practices if you have the first field in a area harvested good, but as more are cut the supply increases,some fields are harvested with more falling to the floor than others these may be a exception. I have heard that air pressure is supposed to have a effect on how much harder they have to work to get lift to fly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Sorry, I have obviously mislead you.....The farm I shoot is 550 acres, and I shoot all the 10 different fields....There were no pigeons much about over the entire 550 acres.......we drove around top to bottom....nothing!! I have 5 main farms and would struggle to guess the acreage to within 500 acres, sometimes driving round all of them for hours doing recce you'll see nothing worth setting up for, maybe nothing anywhere in fact. It all depends on crop rotations and where they want to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Hot weather can make a difference to pigeons feeding Habits . Generally they will take a feed first light and again later in the day . In hot weather they don't need to feed as much as they would in very cold weather . In the winter they need to feed at least once a day to stay alive in the summer and warmer weather they can miss a feed and not suffer . Look around the trees on your farm or trees anywhere and you will see the birds sitting and catching a breeze . Very gregarious creatures are pigeons . I am convinced that they sit and chat about where the best feed is for their next feed and how good the pigeon shooter on the field is . Don't forget lots of them are in the woods sitting on eggs . Harnser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Sorry, I have obviously mislead you.....The farm I shoot is 550 acres, and I shoot all the 10 different fields....There were no pigeons much about over the entire 550 acres.......we drove around top to bottom....nothing!! 550 acres is a pretty small area. It is very likely that there will be periods when there isn't a single pigeon for you to shoot. I have struggled to find any good decoying situations for a little while now, and I have a few thousand acres to go at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezi bez Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 As harnser said the birds are in the shsded trees when its hot . Just think how hot youd be with a down qquilt raped round you! atb ezi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaz Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 As harnser said the birds are in the shsded trees when its hot . Just think how hot youd be with a down qquilt raped round you! atb ezi What a load of croc, not only do the feathers keep em warm they also keep em cool. I've been on caravan site underneath a cracking flightline (Sod's law) and the pigeons have been moving about all day feeding on the clover and it's the temps touching 28deg. In answer to the OP, I reckon the birds have moved on just because they can and there's so much food about they can take their pick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 B) Did the loud music drive them off, and I should leave it a couple of weeks before returning?? ATB LB I have found the pigeons up here in the North West do prefer classical music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 Yes it certainly does. Pigeons need to take on a lot of water when the weather is like it is currently. Especially if they are feeding on dry grain and rearing young. Its essential to produce crop milk. They can get very dehydrated and will generally feed early and late. There are exceptions to this of course if they are feeding on greens with a higher water content or laid cereal which may be higher in moisture. One of the best days pigeon shooting I ever had was on wheat field which was just cut and I knocked about 30 pigeons off a cow trough with my air rifle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloydi73 Posted July 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2014 Thanks lads....all makes sense...about 4 of the big fields were cut last week, and I saw the combine move over to next farm, so as several of you above gave said, I guess they're spoilt for choice and dropped on the deck of other farms to chomp on the stubble.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloydi73 Posted July 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 Well, Thanks for the reply's above guys and think I've had an experience to remember....Went up permission last night and saw about 20 crows and 10 pigeons sat in a slightly different place. Took Cyrus off here with me, we set up smack on the corner of the field where they were sat, and just sat back and blasted. Boy did we have a night. The birds were just flying in, don't think I've seen them quote so blasé before?? But there was a stiff breeze and it was a lot cooler!! That combined with sitting in a different location I think helped. The breeze was coming from behind us and through the trees so they were coming into the wind. Cyrus even cooked two of them that night and finished them off......with what I don't know,,,haggis probably lol,,,,,, Greta night had ATB Lloydi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barley Posted July 30, 2014 Report Share Posted July 30, 2014 been shooting ten years and i can say personaly it dosent seem to bother the birds at all some of my biggest bags have been shot in peak summer. it sounds like theres genarally no birds there if ur only shooting small bags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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