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Do I need a magnet


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I've been having some good days with my set up very similar every time I adventure out.

 

Between 10 - 15 decoys flocked shells on spring sticks and or FUDs.

 

As the above, do I need a magnet?

 

Will it help?

 

I've never been out and used one. The two chaps I go with also do not have one, so I do not have access to borrow one to test one out.

 

What are your thoughts.

 

If they are a help, where should you buy from? It's a bit of a mine field out there.

 

Are they much of a muchness or are some better made?

 

I look forward to your comments.

 

Pol

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On its day a magnet will pull pigeons like nothing else .

It will however make shooting them a little more challenging on most occasions as they do not tend to decoy quite as well as when not using one IMO

 

You need to be confident on taking any bird that is in range rather than just ones floating into the decoys

 

Do you need one , no , will you shoot more pigeons with one , perhaps yes.

 

They are not a magic wand though and pigeon do not appear out of thin air when you put one out , it still needs to be in the right place on the right field.

 

I have a ukshootwarehouse standard one and have been very happy with it .

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I prefer bouncers. Hawkeye on here does the best around and if I hadn't already bought some I'd be dropping him a pm. Bouncers are lighter than a magnet & battery, but I'm seriously tempted to also try a flapper.

 

Shells on spring sticks are good as general decoys, but the key is to get some good movement in the pattern :yes: . I don't think it really matters how you do it.

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I prefer bouncers. Hawkeye on here does the best around and if I hadn't already bought some I'd be dropping him a pm. Bouncers are lighter than a magnet & battery, but I'm seriously tempted to also try a flapper.

 

Shells on spring sticks are good as general decoys, but the key is to get some good movement in the pattern :yes: . I don't think it really matters how you do it.

I don't think movement in a pattern is by any means essential. A static decoy set-up in the right place will bring in more pigeons than lots of movement in the wrong place.

 

I have had so much success with magnets that I would find it hard to be without one.

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I've been having some good days with my set up very similar every time I adventure out.

 

Between 10 - 15 decoys flocked shells on spring sticks and or FUDs.

 

As the above, do I need a magnet?

 

Will it help?

 

I've never been out and used one. The two chaps I go with also do not have one, so I do not have access to borrow one to test one out.

 

What are your thoughts.

 

If they are a help, where should you buy from? It's a bit of a mine field out there.

 

Are they much of a muchness or are some better made?

 

I look forward to your comments.

 

Pol

Birds react to movement in lots of ways, it you miss a bird and it is flat out jinxing away from your pattern a second bird coming in will often turn away as it recognizes something is wrong.

But the flip side is a bird will swing around when it sees another bird dropping into your pattern....

I would describe them as an attracter/distractor, the first to get there attention and second while they are focused on the movement, then shoot them....

 

TEH

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Try a flapper from Ditchman. I had a great day last week using only the flapper and the pigeons came in very well. Some movement in the pattern, whether by rotary, flapper or bouncer is useful.

I went out today and tried the rotary and two timed flappers together with dead birds on cradles,pigeons wouldn't commit with any confidence possibly due to over shooting in the area.Resorted to dead birds on cradles,a few fresh on skewers and one of Ditchmans manual flappers,using just a bit of movement to attract attention the birds seemed to be more confident to commit.

Haven't used my rotary much this year as flappers seem to be doing a better job.

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I went out today and tried the rotary and two timed flappers together with dead birds on cradles,pigeons wouldn't commit with any confidence possibly due to over shooting in the area.Resorted to dead birds on cradles,a few fresh on skewers and one of Ditchmans manual flappers,using just a bit of movement to attract attention the birds seemed to be more confident to commit.

Haven't used my rotary much this year as flappers seem to be doing a better job.

very similar to our day but just the one timed turbo flapper, an hour into the session birds wouldn,t commit properly and some flaring away 100 yards from us turned out it was actually the flapper that was spooking them so turned it off and just had the rotary going with dead birds on cradles and laid out the difference was immediate with birds decoying nicely, but I will say the flapper dosn,t usually scare them but today it did

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Track down the boys in your area , and see what they use......if you have loads of birds in your area a magnet is usually just the ticket, if you are like me a flapper is great for "passing trade" with a few shell decoys....

 

one of the cheapest and most underated options is a floater set away from a group of decoys...in the right place they can work very well...............having said all that nothing beats getting out and watching and finding out where the birds are and what lines they are on....if you can begin the fathom out what their habits are ...then you are more than half way to some action

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On its day a magnet will pull pigeons like nothing else .

It will however make shooting them a little more challenging on most occasions as they do not tend to decoy quite as well as when not using one IMO

 

You need to be confident on taking any bird that is in range rather than just ones floating into the decoys

 

Do you need one , no , will you shoot more pigeons with one , perhaps yes.

 

They are not a magic wand though and pigeon do not appear out of thin air when you put one out , it still needs to be in the right place on the right field.

 

I have a ukshootwarehouse standard one and have been very happy with it .

 

Good answer.

 

I think to have one is good, you may not always use it. At times I use mine with some white plastic bag strips on it in another field to scare them off that one and hopefully get a better bag for it.

 

I used one the other day and was not happy with the result, I moved it 30 yards out to near the middle of the pattern (not what i normally do) and it worked a treat. I shot steadily all the day.

 

There is another piece of kit that does not get a mention which I love.... Angels. these give the birds confidence to land safely and therefor seriously commit to coming in. They just hold the bird upright as if just landing with the wings spread out. Made mine from some 12 inch steel spikes.

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On its day a magnet will pull pigeons like nothing else .

It will however make shooting them a little more challenging on most occasions as they do not tend to decoy quite as well as when not using one IMO

 

You need to be confident on taking any bird that is in range rather than just ones floating into the decoys

 

Do you need one , no , will you shoot more pigeons with one , perhaps yes.

 

They are not a magic wand though and pigeon do not appear out of thin air when you put one out , it still needs to be in the right place on the right field.

 

I have a ukshootwarehouse standard one and have been very happy with it .

Totally agree especially the red bit.

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We had 136 yesterday with just birds on spikes and four angels, as the wind was very strong and the angels had enough movement to bring the birds from all directions. I may be wrong but I do not think Archie Coates had a magnet? ??????

Nope I am sure he did not , but he did not have to suffer every tom **** and harry out pigeon shooting too !

 

His skills are often quoted but if he was still around would he be using a magnet ?

 

When I started my decoys were rough shapes cut out of grey plastic gutter with some white painted on where needed , but there are now better things out there .

While the basics like find the right field and shoot it at the right time will never change other things have moved on .

Edited by fenboy
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Nope I am sure he did not , but he did not have to suffer every tom **** and harry out pigeon shooting too !

 

His skills are often quoted but if he was still around would he be using a magnet ?

 

When I started my decoys were rough shapes cut out of grey plastic gutter with some white painted on where needed , but there are now better things out there .

While the basics like find the right field and shoot it at the right time will never change other things have moved on .

I do not disagree , the only problem is that if Tom, Richard and Harry are using a magnet every spooked bird will associate a magnet with danger. So some days will be better with or without the magnet. I do agree that the pressures of shooting have changed but you need to ring the changes occasional to get the edge.

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I do not disagree , the only problem is that if Tom, Richard and Harry are using a magnet every spooked bird will associate a magnet with danger. So some days will be better with or without the magnet. I do agree that the pressures of shooting have changed but you need to ring the changes occasional to get the edge.

 

Yes I 100% agree , you often need to ring the changes , I was not having a dig at you as I know you use one regularly and it can hardly be argued if you did not with the amount you shoot !

I was really just pointing out that times have changed and Archie Coates did not have the option to use a magnet when required , and in reference to the other post where his wife says he would turn in his grave if he knew they were being used , I bet he would soon get one if everyone was bagging up while he was not !

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Judging by the reply s here we all have had good and bad days with rotary s , there are times when they will bring birds in from fields away!

and other days they can put birds right off, I always start with one , in conjunction with a turbo flapper, and see what the birds do.

I have found that this year here anyway in hereford, the birds are not committing totally with the magnet, and have brought it in and just used the flapper with timer and maybe a floater . Like all pigeon shooting the right place is vital compared to magnet or no magnets.

And I suppose also the pressures of lots of people shooting and using magnets has an adverse affect to the pigeons reaction to magnet

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Us old diehards took a long while to accept magnets are an advantage AT TIMES, we were happy carrying on using time and tested ways to decoy pigeons but even us could see the advantage they could have until the day came where if you cant beat them you joined them. This year I can honestly say without one I wouldn't have shot as many if I had only used static decoys , on the layied wheat and barley it was a godsend for about a month, although lately on stubble its been on and off and when I turn it off I take one pigeon off and leave the other one facing the wind and that is sometimes enough movement.

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