Catamong

The peas are already a foot tall in the sunny South...!!!

I couldn't agree more...everybody should be able to provide some basic info on themselves.

RJ, Your new Avatar is really good, it fits your image as a hard drinking, jet setting, Amex using man of the world....!!! It's such a pity that our good friends Tony B & George B have completely failed in their attempts to find either Bin (Knobhead) Laden or Saddam whats his name? Perhaps they are both a lot smarter than we have all been lead to believe??? No doubt they will soon find the WMD's, but if we look closely, they will no doubt have "Made in USA" stamped on them...!!! Watch this space...!!! If you want a good laugh at Sadaam's expense, try this website.... http://crew.tweakers.net/JvS/zooi/realhussein.swf

I'd like to bring some sanity to this debate, with an un-biased opinion of the "Original Pigeon Magnet". Several of my friends bought them when they were the only??? rotary machine on the market. Having seen what they got for their money, £300?? approx, I thought that whilst they worked well, they were very expensive, and I was therefore not surprised when any number of "copycat" designs appeared soon afterwards, marketed by any old entrepreneur with access to a scrapyard and a welding torch. The big drawback for me though, was the weight of it, which when added to the battery and all of the other clobber that that you have to haul across a muddy field in January, made it a non starter, and I ended up buying a device from a guy which weighed in about 50% less, at a cost of £150. The guys that I know who purchased the "Original Pigeon Magnet" have all now switched to a lightweight, more compact model, mentioned frequently on these pages, which, in my opinion certainly is no better than the "Magnet"in terms of bird drawing, but is a lot more compact and a lot less heavy. They still use their magnets, but as a back-up when 4WD access to the hide is possible, and 2 rotary's work better than one .... ask Jim Allbone...!!! So, you pays your money and takes your choice, however I am surprised that Will & Co appear not to have a policy of continuous improvement, by developing a less heavy, and less expensive model? Perhaps they do, and I am out of touch...:blink: I must also point out that, unlike others on this forum, I have no personal vendetta or axe to grind with the Beasleys, and have shot clays alongside Phil and his mates for many years at clay shoots in Oxfordshire and beyond, no doubt when Will was still shooting Coke tins with a .177, and Phil used to be, and probably still is, one of the finest clay shots in the area. So, lighten up, all you knockers, everyone has to earn a living, even the Beasleys...!!!! By the way, Will - please check your signature - there is an unfortunate mis-spelling in "Discount"...!!! B)

RJ, Thanks for the info, very enlightening, if ever I get the time to consider owning a gundog, I will definately consider a Flatcoat, All the Best

At the risk of upsetting good old YP, I must say that having shot plaswads at clays with approx 20 other guys every weekend for 15 years over one arable field from '82 to '97, I walked that same field in February and can honestly say I could not see a single plaswad on the field....where did they go?:blink: - They have all literally disappeared, and I must say that over arable land, I don't believe it matters. I'd like to think that they've been eaten by all the Crows, Magpies, Rats, Foxes, Stoats and Weasels that frequent the same field, and that they've all choked to death...!!!

FG, Get yourself a Larsen trap, and get even with the Skinheads of the bird world. :blink:

Sniper, It was obviously a necrophiliac woodie............(not bad spelling...!!!), as many that post can't even spell pidgin...!! In response to interesting stories, many years ago, I was sharing a hide with my shooting mate early one morning over peas - we had a couple of lofters in a dead tree alongside which stuck out really well, when all of a sudden, BOOM........., down came one of the lofters and the branch he was near - I assumed (wrongly), that my mates gun had gone off by accident, not so - I looked over the nets to see a guy in full cammo gear that had stalked the tree and taken a pot at our lofters..!!! We were gobsmacked, but believe me, it happened...!!! Shortly after that we did a deal with the farmer to give us exclusive rights over the farm, and our stalker went elsewhere, fortunately for us...!!!

RJ, Scuse my ignorance, but is a flatcoat a nickname for a GSP? I used to shoot with a guy who had a GSP - it got so excited about the possibility of spending a day in the hide it used to sit up whining the night before the shoot keeping the family awake - it came to recognise the sound of my mate loading his hide poles into the 4WD...!!! It was a very versatile dog, and good natured, but a bit scatty - sometimes it was so keen to get out of the hide to retrieve it would literally charge straight through the nets, taking them with him into the field.

Buzzer, I think you get Opium from Poppy seeds - perhaps the Woodies will be so high on the dope they will try and mate with your full bodied flockies...!!!

To HH, happy Birthday from Double H - i'm catching up with you....!!!!!!!!!!

To all of those who wished me luck at the British Open Sporting this weekend, thanks for your support, but my chances vanished on the 3rd stand when I missed 4 out if the 8, on a stand that I knew I should have straighted...!!! The wind and rain didn't help, however we can all find excuses for missing, and as the Sergeant said on that epic film, "Platoon": "Excuses are like ********* - everybody's got one...!!!" I hope you all shoot straighter than I did - all the Best...!!!!!!!

Neil, Thanks for your kind words - Have you thought about a Gamba instead of a Perazzi ? - they look and feel very similar - I know that Mickey Rouse has just started using one - I had a play with it at a shoot near Oxford the other week - it handles and points well, just like a Perazzi. I know that my friend Trevor Stanton has a few in stock in his shop near Watford, tel 01923 772916 - they are serious money, but they are good...!!!

Some brands "Hit" harder than others, on the shoulder as well as the bird, for Woodies the favourite for most people seems to be the 30gram "Clear Pigeon".

I'm hoping to qualify for the final of the British Open Sporting Championship, this year being held at the Somerley Estate in Ringwood, Hampshire. My sources tell me that Richard Faulds has already posted a 114 ex 120, and with the weather forecast to go downhill from tonight onwards, I will have to get my finger out...!!!

The downside to Flexicoys is that they are relatively heavy, you are better off going for a lighter model, such as the Double H. See this months edition of Sporting Gun for the phone no of the manufacturer......or try one of those flock covered shell decoys that everybody keeps raving about.

Reminds me of the old days - back in '79 we were getting 45p a bird....!!!!!!!!!!!

Klaas, Don't give up yet - we are just entering the peak period for trapping these black & white skinheads of the bird world - keep moving the trap to different places, and if possible raise it about 0.75m off the ground - that way they will go straight in through the top, and not keep running around the sides...!!!! Keep up the good work...

Try putting a crow and a magpie on a rotary device - i'm told it works well...!!!

I've not tried it myself, but i've heard that one black and a magpie works even better...!!!

C'est la vie...!!! Carry on fumbling...!!!

I'm on NT HELL, which costs me about £25 a month, but god help you if you ever get a problem, you've got more chance of seeing a flock of pigs fly past your window than you ever have of getting any customer service from them...!!! P.S. What shot size should I use on a sow...............AAA...SG...BB .....?????? B)

A few on the rape near me, but quite a number are scoffing the beech and ash buds just starting to show on the nearby trees... pigeons are by nature pretty lazy birds and if a ready meal is available close by, then they won't bother to flight to the nearby pea fields, where they could get shot up...!!!

Cranners, Surely you are old enough and wise enough to realise that a safety catch is totally irrelevant to most shooters...why bother with it... Get it taken off and it's one less thing to worry about when there's a flock of 50 or so descending on your deeks and you're wondering which one to take first...!!! B)

Kevin, I shoot on a number of farms bordering the M1 between Luton and Watford.