tealer

7-12 weeks is a prime time for spars try as you may you will always loose a few, hanging shiny objects does work to a degree and the radio to come on and off is good for everything else, spars won't eat dead carcasses that they themselves have not killed and will only attract more unwanted.

The birds have already told you where you should have been, next time walk them off the field and set up where they have been, put your horse shoe the other way round with lead bird facing the wind you can alter any of the rest to various degrees but never tail in to the wind. A flapper is good this time of year and the birds are wise so cover up well, if after you have watched birds fly over uninterested or chink away don't be afraid of checking or changing the pattern, learn to read the birds and don't be put off by failures as this happens to everyone. If decoying was always easy not as many would bother doing it in the first place.

Food for thought, we are all aware of Global warming and it seems year after year reports of things getting earlier, for instance check out the tip leaf on an elderberry, note i did not say bud. Pigeons too are pairing up ready with the male chasing the females, the list is endless but it does seem to me everything works to a different clock to ours and its us who are late yet again not nature and the rest of wildlife that's early it only goes to show how separated we have become whether it be global warming or not. Everything else has already sensed a change and reacted accordingly whilst we are left only beginning to notice, is it a sense we have lost or something we have never had.

Snaring rabbits is a difficult one, to do it professionally you must snare out in the open so make sure ,no cattle etc. Rabbits are too wary exiting holes and the runs to the field are few,you may have half a dozen runs to the field and forty rabbits using them so if you did catch on every run which is highly unlikely, you would only have six. you must locate the runs out in the field off the main runs, snaring here you have more chance as all the rabbits are allowed out into the field, but don't be fooled into thinking it is easy, the placement of your snare,size and height is crucial. I have had some success in the past placing mine just after the front foot marks others say differently also three fingers width high to the bottom of your snare. good luck, put out markers so you don't loose any and count them on and off the field,make sure, check first thing and evening with binocs as you may not be the only one watching them.these days.

If you know which field they are feeding on and have access to their roost you can go early before light and walk them out(best if windy), this splits them up before their first feed, if you can pull them straight in you should have a good steady day and those that are not shot will go back to their previous roost. better than being a mobile bird scarer

Hard work, you generally get out a percentage of what you are prepared to put in. like minded friends who are prepared to get their hands dirty are a must which is easier to say.

The present laws that exist today as far as pigeon shooting are concerned do not evolve around the practice of sport, however we also must not purely defend ourselves as pest controllers and also promote the 'sporting value'. For me, the lack of this reason has seen the demise of fox hunting in the UK. This post on feeding the fields only highlights the many current misconceptions that are held between people on the same side and could only show weakness to the many powerful adversaries of country 'sports'. So my answer to this is 'BOTH', by feeding the one non value field i have provided the quickest maximum protection for all the high value surrounding fields, that equates to minimum damage. The concentration of pigeon now on the non value field means i have efficiently taken control. As for bag, i will enjoy taking as little or as much as i wish, when i wish, job done, with pleasure, 'no charge' to the farmers or agriculture.

glad there is someone on this forum who knows what they are talking about :good:well put,

doesn't there just, spot on

No, nor will I ever, you are outwith the reason we are allowed to shoot Woodpigeon. why, you use decoys don't you, to trick them. feeding a stubble field is an extension of this. do you shoot a couple for the pot and leave two thousand feeding on crops.we are allowed to shoot pigeon because they are classed as vermin, i don't pay for sporting rights therefore i have to keep the farmers happy to keep myself happy, this is a way of doing both. why are you allowed to shoot pigeon? I am not presently working as a keeper but have over ten years under my belt plus sparsholt college. you are run off your feet on the rearing field and gets easier when your birds are put to wood and are only on one feed a day now.Why do i have to defend myself?If you havn't heard of it you have now, you learn something everyday

That's more like it, thanks for a decent reply , yes it does work and have done it many times, when i was keepering it saved time to concentrate the birds onto a field that's cropped so every body is happy, the farmers stop pestering and you get better shooting :( i only posted to see if anyone else was doing the same, didn't expect to be called an anti oh i am using weat

I’ll treat the ‘idiot’ bit with the contempt it deserves but I will say this...you in your own words say you don’t have permission to shoot the field of beet PLUS it’s been harvested so what’s the point in your ‘pest control’ exercise??? Aren’t you just trying to lure birds in to shoot for the sport? Oh and by the way why don't you post your location or are you keepering in London town call me an anti and you get idiot back, obviously the farms i am shooting on have more than one old stubble field but they are mainly on the sugar beet, ,,not harvested..yes i do enjoy shooting,but i don't pay.as i provide a service too. it works both ways. olde london town

Generally you catch them entering the trap, but i have found the larger catch traps more effective

I have been a keeper for over ten years and you call me anti? the farmer has left this stubble field till march and the pigeon are hamering some sugar-beet nearby so hopfully i will pull them off the crops on to this, i know it works but was just interested if any others where doing the same

Hey ho another anti trying to wind us all up! Listen m8 we're all sportmen on here and 'baiting' fields simply isn't sporting! What are you talking about, feeding the stubble keeps them off the crops so you can concentrate on doing your job for the farmer or is pigeon shooting just a sport to you have you forgoten the reason behind it! ,idiot

Its always hard trying to bring them down on a field they don't want to be on especially if all your deeks look like shiny milk bottles

I have just started to feed a stuble field i can shoot, the pigeon are on sugarbeet tops on the next field i can't shoot but have not yet found the food, has anyone else done this

Its a shame they are not really worth taking to a gun dealer as you don't even get half your cartridges back, hopfully things may change in the future