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Anyone finding any pigeons in Northants?


cloudwalker
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I have just managed to get some more rape to shoot over in the north of the County. Only problem is there isn't a pigeon in sight. I have checked the fields over several times at different times of the day and not a bird in sight.

 

Even our regular ground to the south is devoid of pigeons. Usually we look forward to these being drilled with rape as we can almost guarantee goods days on it but this year- nothing.

 

Driving around the County I am not seeing any birds in numbers anywhere.

 

Is anyone having any luck?????

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I have always believed that over shooting during the months of may to august decimates the pigeon population and i think this year has proved this point everyone is having the same problem .you see guy's bagging 100-200 birds a day around me so you kill 200 adults then you can double it cos the two chicks on the nest starve to death keep this up all over the country and you don't need to be a genious to see what this will do to the population come winter i used to know a guy that whent out every other day shooting rabbits killing even pregnant ones full of young shooting tiny ones size of ya fist then come winter he'd always cry there's no more rabbits where the **** they all gone it's **** this year .This is the same with pigeon shooters who hammer them all year

Edited by Michael170874
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No, but if you do, feel free to give me a shout if you need a hand with them :) I shoot the South of the county, and over into Beds and Bucks and it's been dire of late.

 

Beds is the only place we have found any but it's an hours drive away and we cant shoot it more than once a week. It is the only area I have seen any large flocks 200+ birds.

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I have always believed that over shooting during the months of may to august decimates the pigeon population and i think this year has proved this point everyone is having the same problem .you see guy's bagging 100-200 birds a day around me so you kill 200 adults then you can double it cos the two chicks on the nest starve to death keep this up all over the country and you don't need to be a genious to see what this will do to the population come winter i used to know a guy that whent out every other day shooting rabbits killing even pregnant ones full of young shooting tiny ones size of ya fist then come winter he'd always cry there's no more rabbits where the **** they all gone it's **** this year .This is the same with pigeon shooters who hammer them all year

 

I agree with you. I stop shooting pigeons end of April and dont start again until end of August. I think they do need some time to breed even though they seem to have young all year round. The summer months are the main breeding season and they should be left in peace.

 

I know others on this forum will disagree with us!

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I have just managed to get some more rape to shoot over in the north of the County. Only problem is there isn't a pigeon in sight. I have checked the fields over several times at different times of the day and not a bird in sight.

 

Even our regular ground to the south is devoid of pigeons. Usually we look forward to these being drilled with rape as we can almost guarantee goods days on it but this year- nothing.

 

Driving around the County I am not seeing any birds in numbers anywhere.

 

Is anyone having any luck? ????

getting a few big flocks round the Bedford area just recently

 

I have always believed that over shooting during the months of may to august decimates the pigeon population and i think this year has proved this point everyone is having the same problem .you see guy's bagging 100-200 birds a day around me so you kill 200 adults then you can double it cos the two chicks on the nest starve to death keep this up all over the country and you don't need to be a genious to see what this will do to the population come winter i used to know a guy that whent out every other day shooting rabbits killing even pregnant ones full of young shooting tiny ones size of ya fist then come winter he'd always cry there's no more rabbits where the **** they all gone it's **** this year .This is the same with pigeon shooters who hammer them all year

so the farmer lets you on his land to keep the pigeon numbers down so they don't eat all his crop but you would rather leave them during breading season ( when you can really hit the numbers) for the numbers to grow so they can eat more into his livelihood ??

 

colin

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Numbers are low around my patch (west Lancashire),on the topic of shooting bigs bags I think if you shoot 50/60 birds you have had a good day and done the land owner a favour,the people who keep putting posts on about big bags, the more ammunition you are giving our bird twitching friends to have our sport stopped,we don't what to go down the fox hunting route!!!

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I have always believed that over shooting during the months of may to august decimates the pigeon population and i think this year has proved this point everyone is having the same problem .you see guy's bagging 100-200 birds a day around me so you kill 200 adults then you can double it cos the two chicks on the nest starve to death keep this up all over the country and you don't need to be a genious to see what this will do to the population come winter i used to know a guy that whent out every other day shooting rabbits killing even pregnant ones full of young shooting tiny ones size of ya fist then come winter he'd always cry there's no more rabbits where the **** they all gone it's **** this year .This is the same with pigeon shooters who hammer them all year

So, could you please tell me why the population appears to be rising year on year?

 

There is no way that shooting over the summer 'decimates' pigeon numbers. Between myself and a couple of mates, we shot nearly 600 pigeons from an area of stubble in a week. There were many thousands more in the area that would have survived - and probably many bred again during the Autumn.

I am certainly not seeing a lack of pigeons in my area, and come Spring and Summer I expect to be shooting plenty of pigeons.

Numbers are low around my patch (west Lancashire),on the topic of shooting bigs bags I think if you shoot 50/60 birds you have had a good day and done the land owner a favour,the people who keep putting posts on about big bags, the more ammunition you are giving our bird twitching friends to have our sport stopped,we don't what to go down the fox hunting route!!!

Don't be Silly! We have nothing to hide by shooting big bags of pigeons!!

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Numbers are low around my patch (west Lancashire),on the topic of shooting bigs bags I think if you shoot 50/60 birds you have had a good day and done the land owner a favour,the people who keep putting posts on about big bags, the more ammunition you are giving our bird twitching friends to have our sport stopped,we don't what to go down the fox hunting route!!!

Pigeons are a serious agricultculturial pest and should be shot when we can, however they deserve huge respect and maximum effort should be made to pick every bird possible and the said birds treated in the correct manour to make them fit for human consumption, shooting birds deliberately in situations where no chance of picking them like in standing rape or corn is a big no in my eyes, were in the modern age, we have gas guns and rope bangers and other scaring devises to use in these situations, shooting big numbers is not the issue it's the idiots that think it's fine to shoot pigeons and chuck them in the hedge or leave them laying there to rot that will bring the demise of our sport.

Edited by rich1985
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Not really relevant to Northants but drove today from the Humber Bridge to Grantham,and back by a different route past thousands of acres of well grown rape and apart from very small and infrequent groups of pigeon in roadside spinneys,saw no numbers of birds whatsoever.No wind,dull but some sunny periods,very cold.

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Plenty here in North Norfolk, most I have seen for a long time.

You should scare a few down here around Great Yarmouth, Ive been out three times checking the normal feeding areas but nothing, Sat for 3 hours in the hide Tuesday and only saw half a dozen, had two long shots and missed both, I usually have at least a couple of hundred floating about through the day , but they have just disappeared, Ive seen more on the bird table than out on the fields, It can only get better. :lol::lol:

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You should scare a few down here around Great Yarmouth, Ive been out three times checking the normal feeding areas but nothing, Sat for 3 hours in the hide Tuesday and only saw half a dozen, had two long shots and missed both, I usually have at least a couple of hundred floating about through the day , but they have just disappeared, Ive seen more on the bird table than out on the fields, It can only get better. :lol::lol:

They turned up about a week ago and numbers building everyday now, I was out other morning and there was a drove come over and they were up there like dots, coming from the sea direction a few birds dropped out and landed in a fir tree belt, so impressive to see just how quick they can drop when they want to.

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we have gas guns and rope bangers and other scaring devises to use in these situations,

 

that in most cases just don't work,

they scare them for a short time then they are back

 

colin

I wish they did come back. Gas guns have been put on 2 areas that I shoot and I haven't seen a pigeon near for weeks. Numbers were just beginning to build up too before they were put out.

 

One of them hasn't worked for a couple of weeks but no sign of any pigeon coming back on to the field

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I wish they did come back. Gas guns have been put on 2 areas that I shoot and I haven't seen a pigeon near for weeks. Numbers were just beginning to build up too before they were put out.

 

One of them hasn't worked for a couple of weeks but no sign of any pigeon coming back on to the field

it may well be there is a lot of rape fields in the area that they are not getting disturbed on the farmer round the village i live in has gas guns and they will just lift up and move to another part of the field yet if you walk round field with a gun you don't have to even shoot at them they will be gone not to return,

would guess it has something to do with them seeing humans and associating us with danger,

on a slightly different note i have sat out and shot rabbits within 30-40 yards of a working gas gun

 

colin

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