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Minime46
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Hi all. Iv been watching this forum for a long time but this is my first post.

 

I had my first 'busy' shoot today. About 24 shots, and 4 hits.

 

My problem is.... I keep trying to shoot them when they are too high or too far out. Do u all just sit and wait...? It frustrates me if I see they are not flying into my pattern so I just chance it and take a shot instead of watch them fly off... needless to say they just fly off anyway!

 

I had 2 pigeons land in my decoy pattern. And a good number come close. But then a good number didn't come low they just circle and away they go.... my flapper is out of order, so just have flocked decoys on wobblers.

 

Also putting out the dead pigeons... should I open their wings and lie them down??? Does a little bit of blood on the dead pigeon put the pigeons off?

 

Hope people can help. Sorry I am very new. Just wanting tips :-)

 

Thanks in advance

Edited by Minime46
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You need to limit your range to what ever range you can usually manage to hit the target , for most that is 40 yards for the better shots 50 or so.

Put your furthest decoys 35 yards out and you will know anything around that area should be well shootable .

 

A bit of blood on the decoys will make no difference , you have not said what crop you were shooting on but your decoys need to be visible and sometimes need moving around to get the birds coming in as you want them .

 

Have a look at the pinned topic in this section for some ideas of decoy patterns.

Edited by fenboy
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You need to limit your range to what ever range you can usually manage to hit the target , for most that is 40 yards for the better shots 50 or so.

Put your furthest decoys 35 yards out and you will know anything around that area should be well shootable .

 

A bit of blood on the decoys will make no difference , you have not said what crop you were shooting on but your decoys need to be visible and sometimes need moving around to get the birds coming in as you want them .

 

Have a look at the pinned topic in this section for some ideas of decoy patterns.

I have rape fields, drilled barley, and I was on a freshly drilled beans field.

 

I'm going out now. Should I open the decoys wings up when placed on the ground?

 

And thanks for your answer, I will try that!

Edited by Minime46
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You need to limit your range to what ever range you can usually manage to hit the target , for most that is 40 yards for the better shots 50 or so.

Put your furthest decoys 35 yards out and you will know anything around that area should be well shootable .

 

A bit of blood on the decoys will make no difference , you have not said what crop you were shooting on but your decoys need to be visible and sometimes need moving around to get the birds coming in as you want them .

 

Have a look at the pinned topic in this section for some ideas of decoy patterns.

 

I totally agree. limit your range to 30-40 yards until you get more confident and accuracy improves its all down to experience. pattern shape, wind speed positioning flappers/floaters.

It will come my friend , you will get better with time. there are plenty of books/dvd's around. plus you have the guys on here that can help. Good luck.

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You could do a lot worse than spend some time with Fenboy, if I was you I would bite his arm off :good: .

 

You could also book on to the BASC Introduction to Woodpigeon Shooting Course.

 

There is a course being held by our very own Flycoy :yahoo: on 30th April at Country Field Sports, Unit 10, Folgate Road,North Walsham

Contact Liz at BASC for full details.

 

2 opportunities not to be missed :good:

Edited by bakerboy
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Hi all. Iv been watching this forum for a long time but this is my first post.

 

I had my first 'busy' shoot today. About 24 shots, and 4 hits.

 

My problem is.... I keep trying to shoot them when they are too high or too far out. Do u all just sit and wait...? It frustrates me if I see they are not flying into my pattern so I just chance it and take a shot instead of watch them fly off... needless to say they just fly off anyway!

 

I had 2 pigeons land in my decoy pattern. And a good number come close. But then a good number didn't come low they just circle and away they go.... my flapper is out of order, so just have flocked decoys on wobblers.

 

Also putting out the dead pigeons... should I open their wings and lie them down??? Does a little bit of blood on the dead pigeon put the pigeons off?

 

Hope people can help. Sorry I am very new. Just wanting tips :-)

 

Thanks in advance

hello, i am sure you will get some good advice but when i started shooting over 50 years ago this book was a great help, pigeon shooting by archie coats you can still get copies for a fiver, well worth getting

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OP,well worth meeting up with an experienced shot,ie fenboy. my tuppence worth from along way away is are you keeping still until they are within range?The most important bit(once you've got set up in a good spot) is to keep v still and learn the timings of mount & fire at the 'right moment' which when decoying well is the point they commit to coming in,but often learning when they are not but judging their range and lead required.Decoying is pulling them within 40 yards of you ,rarely does every bird commit to land but if you've got them within range you have done well,the 2nd part is shooting them and that will come with experience of a)range judging b)picking the right moment to mount c) making a good shot. But without keeping still/good field craft both b) & c) are pretty irrelevant.remember pigeons have brilliant eye sight and never chose to fly over a bloke with a gun...all best.

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Turns out me and fenboy are about 5 houses from eachother!! Ha small world! We have arranged a meet up so fingers crossed he can see where I'm going wrong.

 

Iv gone out again today but it's dead so packing up. They have stopped coming to the drilled fields now. Looks like back onto rape for me...

 

Thanks for all the help, going to invest in a magnet as well... esp as the rape is getting high now.

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as to range ....if you are shooting over a short young crop cut 4 sticks about 4ft long and put the first on out at 20 yards...2nd one out at 30yds and the 3rd one at 40 yds...that will start to give you an idea at what you are looking at.......

 

dont be put off asking thats what the site is for...you may get your leg pulled as we all do...so go ahead and ask away.. :good:

Edited by ditchman
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Turns out me and fenboy are about 5 houses from eachother!! Ha small world! We have arranged a meet up so fingers crossed he can see where I'm going wrong.

 

Iv gone out again today but it's dead so packing up. They have stopped coming to the drilled fields now. Looks like back onto rape for me...

 

Thanks for all the help, going to invest in a magnet as well... esp as the rape is getting high now.

5 house's apart, but how many fields in between the house's?

You mention fingers crossed, as I understand in Norfolk it is webbed fingers

 

Have a good day with Fenboy, I am sure you will learn a lot.

Edited by bakerboy
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I would recommend Archie Coates book and following the advice on this forum. I started pigeon shooting four years ago and I struggled to get more than 10 in the first year but then got my first ton in my second year. You need field craft to get the birds in range and then the ability to shoot 'em. When I started I could do neither well. Birds can be hard to decoy this time of year but shooting at birds out your range will not help. Sit tight and they may swing round for a closer look. If your getting birds in comfortable range (25-30 yards) but not hitting many then you need to get on a clay ground and improve your shooting. Skeet is a good discipline for pigeon shooting.

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Fantastic advice, and I'm in the same position as the OP, so will try and put it all into action next week. I have decoys and a couple of bouncers, but am ordering a magnet and the archie coats book.

 

I can only blame myself if I'm using that lot, but much like stalking, most of it is fieldcraft, so "watch a lot, move a little"...

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Well I went out with my binoculars, studied some flight paths and then went out for a few hours... shot 10 pigeons. That's my best so far. Used about 20 cartridges. Missed a few... but also managed to get 2 in 2 shots for the first time. I did that twice.

 

My magnet hadn't arrived so was only using flocked decoys. I did put a floater/bouncer out but it seemed to scare them off... so took it down and then they began to come in to land.

 

Perfect :-)

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