greeneddie

Given the recent debate caused by the ridiculous debarcle regarding the changed wording of the general licence it seams increasingly that we are going to have to be able to satisfy anyone who questions us that our days sport out shotting the grey hordes is for the direct benefit of protecting crops over which the birds are being shot. How do we therefore justify to anyone when harvest time comes and the pigeons are flighting in to feed on harvest spoil that would otherwise rot in the ground that we are complying with the terms of the general licence? As far as I'm concerned wood pigeon are on the general licence as in the large numbers that they exist they are a major agricultural pest and therefore it is for the better good of our country's farming industry that all who wish to do so get out there and shoot as many as they can regardless of the precise circumstances that this occurs. Birds decoyed over grass feeding on clover may not be causing any great damage that day but those same birds will be feeding on someone's crops at somepoint. And besides they are a tasty source of free range food avaiable in abundance at the cost of a few carts and a good days sport. But unfortunately what I think doesn't make it law:( In this month's Sporting Gun magazine John Swift (Chief Exec. of the BASC) on page 77 states "It is crucially important to understand that General Licences cannot be fig leaves to kill or take the named species year round in whatever circustance." So it seams he's clear that you have to be shooting in circumstances that directly protect a particular crop. And then on page 138 of the same magazine Robin Scott reports a recent incident where a friend of his was nicked by RSPCA and Police and warned that he was breaking the law as he was shooting over a crop of unharvested barley and so the pigeons were not doing any harm. Who says shooting is safe in our tree hugging townie society!

Hi Peregrine, I'd love a copy on dvd (not sure that my pc/internet connection could handle the download). At least it will give me something to watch now the hawks are moulting and the rape is too high for the pigeons!

I couldn't believe the amount of media hysteria that has gone on over this. We heard nothing on the news about anything else for days. Why did all our news stations decide that as a nation who's church going Roman Catholics must number as a significant minority we all were so interested in the health and subsequent death of the pope? Also, what really p's me off is that now his dead he is being credited with just about everything from the colapse of the cold war to peace in Northern Ireland. Maybe I'm just a bit cynical about this but if he was a great leader of billions around the world then why didn't I actually notice him doing anything when he was alive other than try to stop people using condoms and having abortions?

Peregrine, thanks for the advice. When you do pest control clearing areas round buildings of feral pigeons does your harris actually hunt or is it just flown free in the area? I just wondered as the comment that a male would be more suitable suggests that actually hunting the pigeons is an important part of the equation?

Good to see there are other falconers on here who also enjoy a bit of pigeon shooting as well. Our hawking club meetings sometimes feel more like a pigeon shooting discussion group now that the flying season is over as many of us are able to shoot on the same land that we fly our hawks over. My farmers love me flying my falcon over their rape fields for the same reason that they love me shooting over them too! I fly a female harris and a male gyr/saker and I have often wondered whether I could find some additional work using my birds for doing bird clearing. What would be a good way of going about finding such work?

As I understand it the heavier weight just refers to the weight, and therefore number, of shot with the charge adjusted to give a similar speed for the different loads in a similar brand. I also understand that more shot doesn't give a wider spread, just a denser spread and so a heavier load will have more impact due to more pellets striking the target. Taking this further in terms of shooting pigeons does this relates to less pricked birds and more clean kills? If I'm right then this surely means to be as humane as possible we should use as heavy load as reasonable? Anyone agree, disagree? Also, is a tighter choke more humane as this will also give a more dense/smaller spread of pellets. You may hit a few less but you will kill more of the ones you hit cleanly. Again, anyone agree, disagree?

I am a falconer but unfortunately do not know of anyone in the Glos neck of the woods. However, the National Birds of Prey Centre is located near Newent in Gloucestershire. Check out http://www.nbpc.co.uk/home.htm This centre has just changed hands and so I do not know what changes have occured but they certainly used to do falconry experience days and they were, to my mind, the premier location to visit to see birds of prey and this is where I first learnt about falconry.

The flocked shell deeks that my local gun shop sells already has these springs on the sticks. They are great as even in the slightest breeze they cause the shell decoy to rock and pitch. If you watch a woody walking around they have a characteristic 'waddle' that these decoys mimick really well. The proof is in the pudding and so many times this year I have seen woodies land amongst these shell decoys in an area where they are reportedly starting to shy away from the rotary magnets (I don't have a magnet but another guy who shoots the same farm as me mentioned this to me).

As apple is to port, mint is to lamb, redcurrent to chicken and horse raddish is to beef is there a good sauce to have with roast pigeon?

I gave this a go following a recent successful days shooting. It is a great way of quickly preparing meat for the freezer and still gives the option of roasting on the bone or removing the meat from the bone for frying when the time comes for cooking. Cheers for the advise Paul!

When I was a kid I virtually lived in a field near my house that was only ever used for a single cut of hay every year. In the meantime I got to know every chub holding eddy in the stream that ran along one edge of the field, and I knew every rabbit hole and vole hole there. 20 years later and the field comes on the market for a second time in recent years. As it is waterlogged for much of the year it can't be used for horses, as the previous owners discovered, and being part of a flood plain in green belt territory no one is ever going to give planning permission for anything other than leaving it as a boggy old field. Then the gypsies buy it.. They start off by bringing in lorry load after lorry load of hardcore and then build access roads and bingo, they have themselves about 50 pitches for caravans. Whenever I go back and visit my folks I can not bear to drive past there any more as I am too full of sadness at the loss of such a treasured piece of wild land and so angry at the authorities that let these people get away with it. Even my father (who is a church warden and retired teacher and prone to being very p.c. and understanding) has started to mention the thefts and the harrasment that locals experience with a real feeling of distain for these people. You are made to feel a racist if you say things against a group of people and so you don't like to say anything. But I'm not talking about an ignorant and predjudiced view of them, I',m talking about facts that I have experienced and it makes me really ******* angry!

I started a similar thread due to a recent outing where I managed only 3 birds for 30 shots the other week. Well I was back out on a freshly drilled bean field on Saturday and managed 36 birds for 77 shots, so I'm back in the swing. I figure that when pigeon shooting I can be pretty happy with a ratio of about 2 shots per bird as the shooting can be pretty testing at times. But there are so many variables to a day that can mean one day is full of 'easy' shots and another day only fast crossers so there are no hard and fast rules. What do others consider a good ratio of shots to birds in the bag?

Defra's cock up in their orginal wording has only helped raise awareness in all who shoot as to how vulnerable our freedom has become under this government. At least in this case I see that shooters are the winners in as far as we are now all more educated against how easily a threat to our way of life can be created and those that weald power have had a lesson in just how quick the shooting lobby are in picking up on a potential threat and taking action.

We were at the Sandals resort in Varadero. On both of the days we went out no decent fish were caught by any of the boats. It was a real pitty as I sat there all day waiting for a run thinking that any momment now I could be into a monster marlin, with dreams of Ernest Hemmingway and 'the old man and the sea' going through my head. The lures that they used were pretty big so I'm guessing that we were after something sizable. Also a pity that we didn't catch as it wasn't cheap!

You lucky b@%*$#d! I spent a fantastic fortnight in Cuba on honeymoon 2 years ago during which I managed to persuade the newly acquired wife to go on a days sea fishing, not once but twice. We trawled the caribean sea getting a sun tan all day long for two days and didn't get a nibble. From the look of your picture it was the same place as you. We did enjoy having lunch that consisted of gorging to bursting on freshly caught lobster whilst bobbing up and down on the cystal clear caribean.

Today I was out decoying over the rape on the edge of a small spinney and I perfected what is probably a long known, but not so often discussed, method of bringing the woodies to you. The method is this... Take a BIG flask of hot sweet tea into the hide with you. Take every opportunity to 'reward' yourself with a cuppa (ie once decoys are set have a cuppa, first bird of the day.. have a cuppa). Now just having a hot cup of tea in your mittens instead of your trusty 12g is often the cue for that woodie to apear out of nowhere in the middle of your decoys, but that's not the prize trick... After a few hot cuppas nature comes calling and requires you to break your vigil and exit the hide during what you hope is one of those quiet spells between the action. Then, just when you have you have got into full stream, it is guaranteed that the sky will reverberate to the sight of incoming squadrens of woodies. This happened so often to me today that I took to taking my gun with me when I went for a quick jimmy riddle. The problem was that I ended up grabbing the gun and taking a shot with the old john thomas still swinging in the breeze, which at least is my excuse for missing with both barrells!

Thanks for all the replys, very helpfull. I'll check with the farmer and if he's ok then I've got yet another reason to keep out of the missus's way on a Sunday and avoid doing the gardening/decorating/visitting her mother!

What is the etiquette (I had to check the spelling on that!) and law relating to pigeon shooting on a Sunday. I am well aware that the law does not allow game shooting on a Sunday. I was wondering whether the grey hordes starting to gather together on my local rape fields are afforded similar protection by law, or perhaps it may be considered to be bad form to be letting off a 12 bore whilst the urban dog walkers take their Sunday strolls?

I was reading this piece and was disturbed to hear about people leaving shot birds out for birds of prey. It is a noble act indeed to assist these great creatures in this way, but your kindness could be killing them! The reason is that lead is VERY poisonous to birds. Just one lead shot consumed by a small hawk (or even by larger ones) is potentially fatal. As well as being new to pigeon shooting (out again tomorrow on the rape fields, I can't wait!) I am an experienced falconer and it is common knowledge in falconry that under no conditions do you feed shot birds/animals to your hawks due to the risk of ingesting lead shot. Even feeding rabbits that have been caught by your own hawk is to be treated with care due to the potential for a rabbit having been 'pricked' by shot earlier in its life. I hope that this advise is of help. Cheers, Eddie