nagantino

Got out today cos the forecast was good. It's good for tomorrow but I think other guns will be on the permission on a Saturday. So I set up where I thought was perfect, and although I brought in crows and pigeons and had dropped 8 or so, they began pulling away every time. I convinced myself they could not see me but after a while it was futile to continue. As I poured a cup of coffee, a buzzard landed beside the crows. It sat perfectly still looking back over its shoulder for minutes on end then hopped on the back of the crow, plucked it and got stuck into its back! By 2 o,clock I dragged the hide into a ditch on the opposite side of the field. It was the saddest hide ever. It was draped over me mostly and i was standing in an inch of water, but I was hidden. The birds started dropping in and it was great fun for the next hour or so. I could not have operated an O/U or a SxS in the confined space of the wee hide, but the Beretta semi-auto was a gift. 27 woodies and 5 crows, but the lesson of complete cover in a well shot - over field was not lost on me.

I bought a new gun last week. I researched them all. I left the house to buy a Benelli and came home with a Beretta. It felt better. I had a long day planned over a freshly cut stubble field but when i arrived at least 2 other hides were visible, one with a magnet. I drove around and found an old permission with some activity. 25 birds 20 picked up. A few feral birds a couple of crows and the rest wood pigeon. The gun performed without a problem.

Mossy, you will need to expand a little. Are you retouching old decoys or are you making your own from scratch? Which ever, it is not easy to match colours like those found on a wood pigeon.......think of grey velvet that blends into irredescent indigo/violet. However I seem to remember reading that old hands used to paint milk bottles any light grey matt that was available, and adding two white stripes. It worked too.

Everyone's been there. It's so frustrating because you know you can shoot so what's changed? Focus, trying too hard or complacency.....they all kick in. And those periods when it goes quiet and you beat yourself up sitting in the hide, they make it worse. One things for sure, it will come back.

I had this issue a few weeks ago. I asked the house owner and he give me the permission to shoot and he owned the field as well. I did notice that he was not present for most of the day and that helped. Try shooting during the working week. Not everyone can do this.

Yes mine is a few minutes from my home. It's up a lane with a tiny little chapel and a field of barley at its end. It's well shot over but I keep a close eye on it and because I can go when ever I want, I'm not 9 to 5 or Monday to Friday, I can get the first day or so after cutting.

I've one field of barley left to shoot but its still not cut. I check it each day on my way home. Evening time there are lots of birds flying which might provide some sport but ill wait until its stubble.

It's about the quality of the day not the number of birds downed. I've never shot any more than 52 birds in one day in all the time I've been shooting but its how you did it and the enjoyment. I don't expect to beat that anytime soon.

I have friends who shoot good bags but they they tend to keep locations under wraps and you hear about it over a pint. I have a friend who shoots regular bags of 100+ crows. Crows are great fun but your right, we don't see super bags of woodies here. I had the Montefeltro also and loved it, such a simple mechanism. I traded it for a Miroku 7000 also a class item.

My Mossberg 500 is fixed Cylinder and drops birds just fine. Be sensible with range. I'm relaxed about choke now. When I drop a bird with the Cylinder choke i congratulate my skills on being a great shot, when I miss its the Cylinder chokes fault.

Gonna use my next woodie to make pâté. Lightly poach the breast, allow it to cool. Tesco Ardennes pâté and sieve both through fine sieve. You can use half and half or adjust it to suit .Heat gently with a little butter and black pepper. Cool and fill small ramekins with the pâté. Serve with toast.

Dear Dr. Yes I've been out. I hardly shot last year at all. Plenty of clays and rifle and pistol though. I mate sold me a 24 inch Mossberg 500 and its so much fun it ignited my pigeon lust. First day the bag was 44 pigeon and crow, second day was 45 pigeon and crow, next day 7. All my permissions are very local to me. I live in Lisburn. This week I checked out a field I have not shot in a few years. Houses are encroaching but I noticed that the houses have no tenants so i went and checked it out for birds. Each time there were plenty of feral birds and crows and woodies also. I drove round again on Thursdy and the birds were every where. It was intense. The birds seemed dancing on the stubble. Soooooo. I set up on Friday morning. The hide was nicely hidden. Not a freeking sausage. Nothing. I stayed until 1:30. I remember cos Hugo Duncan was coming on. I went home, just a few minutes away. Watched tv and went back at 4:00. Now lots of birds were flying, mostly feral pigeon. There is a large barn nearby. I didn't build a hide just got well into the hedges. I shot 21 birds in 1 hour and 20 minutes. Awkward shooting cos i had to walk out and take the shot, but good fun.

My original post was lighthearted. I had checked my permission last night at 5:30 walked off lots of birds so i was determined to give it another go before I go on holiday. For different reasons, I was going to build the hide in the middle of the field and new this would be problematic so I read all the Pinned messages on the Forum. I was so built up for the challenge. There are some dwellings nearby and wanted to be able to take birds at all angles. But as I pulled up to the field this morning it was plain something was not right. The farmer had spread muck over the whole field! The best laid schemes............

If a guy plans a day and gets his stuff ready, flask and sandwiches and all, and goes to where he shot 40 odd last week, is it not reasonable to expect a decent bag of birds? I mean, am I being unreasonable? Is it me. 7 birds from 10:00 till 2:00.

Good shooting. About a year ago I had a similar experience. Late evening in September last year I had set up in a well shot-over field. A pigeon came into my pattern, I shot and missed, it flew away wide and then very high. I can't hit birds at a distance but this time I put the bead well ahead of it and fired..... Head back it tumbled and fell right in front of the hide. It's these things that keep you coming back.

Set up near my home this morning at 10.00 am, mixed flock shells and full body pigeon and crows. I had a steady days shooting, not hectic but steady. I was trying to master a new ( to me) Mossberg 500 with a fixed cylinder choke. Swing through is of course the answer but it was good to get it right. Longest bird taken was 33 paces from the hide so i am we'll pleased. 24 wood pigeons and 19 crows at 3.00pm

Maybe "tossing" was the wrong word ......ahem!

I posted last week about setting up over a potato field with zero results. Today I set up over a field of stubble barley with better fun. I set up at 10 am. I used full body pigeon and flock shell with 2 or 3 full body crows. I walked back into the hide to see a buzzard and a crow had already settled into the pattern. I hit the crow when it flew off, but the buzzard was tossing over a shell decoy! Off it flew silent and majestic. The bag was 19 crows and 25 woodies. I used 99 cartridges for 44 birds which doesn't seem bad but it felt like I was missing all day, especially woodies. A new Mossberg 26 inch, cylinder choke might not have helped. Anyway, my best day in ages.

Any points in decoying over a potato field. It's a huge field but no action over it yesterday. Is there a time?

Great stuff. I watched 2 blackbirds playing in the garden yesterday. A magpie flew down and butchered the female. I mean butchered it! Feathers and flesh everywhere. Next time I'm out I will make it my business to kill as many as possible.

Hi everyone, I have bought a secondhand Miroku 7000 Sporter that needs a little attention to its timber. I have worked on a few guns of different types, restoring {very carefully} woodwork and steel parts. I need to remove the buttstock from the 7000 and I know to remove the recoil pad its the next part I need help with. Does this model need a wrench or a screw driver to get at the bolt securing it to the action?

While picking up a case of cartridges, this time last year, I met a gun dealer from the republic of Ireland and we fell into conversation about decoying. He told me that this question of "When is it legal to shoot Vermin over crops" was being tested in the courts in Dublin. Ive never heard the legal outcome though

The 31 crows and 11 feral pigeon were Castlewellan, the 11 woodpigeon were near where I live, Lisburn

Ive been out three times this year. First time was near Catlewllan almost 2 months ago. 31 crows and 11 feral pigeon. That was a good day but 2 weeks ago I had a great day in a field near me. I was shooting over Oil seed rape and the woodpigeons were loving it. This field normally attracts crows but this Saturday it was woodies only. The final bag was 11 WP which is great for me with lots of misses. Last week I returned to the same field and now its all yellow flower. I set up again, eat my sandwiches, drank my coffee,eat my snickers, listened to "Im sorry i havent a clue" on my ipod. Pigeons? Nahhh

I dont think you will be disappoined with either gun, but I opted for the Benelli Montefeltro. I liked the idea of fewer parts required. I always follow "simple is best" and the benelli inertia system is simple and clean. The last Beretta I owned had a problem with recycle and I sold it. I had to have an inch cut from the spring. Research the issue on the net and you will find folks line up behind one or the other fairly evenly. The handling of the Benelli is great and I had one failure to feed. It was from a bag of old cartridges and was a paper Baikal at least 15 years old. All the rest of this old bunch went with no problem. The shooting ground where I bought the gun was very happy to let me do 25 DTL before I bought. Second hand of course.