Catamong

PM sent. Cat.

Yes, you're dead right, it makes no difference, unless we get prolonged snow cover. Cat.

Yeah, great result Yicky, you're dead right about having to trek to where the birds are feeding, not where you want them to be feeding, it does pay off, but that invariably means a location at the furthest point from your motor, or, in my case, right alongside nearby houses, or a paddock containing horses..! As for PC carrying sacks with 71 pigeons in each, you must have been an Olympic Weightlifter in a previous life..??, the most I can carry without having to stop for a breather every few yards is 50 birds, and I'm no midget..! Cat.

No, it's not died out, but shooting a decent bag over Winter Rape requires a lot of effort and a fair bit of skill, which a lot of people don't have, or can't be bothered to acquire. Wait until the Spring Drillings start, they'll be no shortage of shooters around then. Cat.

I shot a Compak Sporting Grand Prix there a few years back, (I think it was the year before Phil's near victory..?) Good targets, mainly set in / over a wide ravine, so a good mix of birds, well worth a visit, food & drink in the clubhouse was cheap compared to prices generally on the Algarve. Incredibly steep paths around the ground, so not suitable if you're in a wheelchair..! As with all grounds abroad, do check the opening times, as they probably only open 4 or 5 days a week, and may not open until 2pm on practice days. You'll enjoy a visit there. Cat.

Entirely understandable, a years break from the event will enable a lot more interest to be generated for the next shoot, hopefully in 2019..? On a more positive and serious note, the trophy now rests safely in it's proper Southern home, well away from the hordes of weak Lager drinking benefit cheats that reside North of the Watford Gap services, long may that continue..!! Cat.

They're actually in sizes 7 - 11, which apparently will fit most folks, but not me, 'cos I'm a 12 ..! They also have some cammo in this week jackets which may be worth a look..? Cat.

Kitch, I'm sure we've had this debate before..?... but I'm of the opinion that pigeons will feed pretty constantly throughout the shorter Winter days whether it's plus 5 degrees or minus 5 degrees, it makes no significant noticeable difference to their appetite, but on this forum, we see the often quoted "Old Wives Tale", generally from Newbies to the game that "we need a good cold snap to get the birds to show interest in the rape", absolute cobblers I'm afraid, in fact my biggest bags over Winter rape have been when the weather has been relatively mild, not frozen solid. As for snow cover, that is a disaster for pigeon shooters, as the birds appear reluctant to venture out of the woods, those that do display a kind of "snow blindness" and seem unable to see pretty much anything on the ground, and if the snow cover is prolonged the birds will leave the area and move off to other less snowy areas, often never to return. Freezing conditions and snow are the last thing that pigeon shooters should pray for..! Cat.

I'm not a "doggy" person, as I've never been able to find the time required to properly look after a Gundog, but I used to go shooting with a Guy who had a GSP, it was a lovely tempered animal, and so versatile in the field, as it would point, then flush, then retrieve. It used to love pigeon decoying, and would often exit the hide looking skywards when it could tell from our voices that birds were nearby...! If I ever had the time to own a dog, it would be a GSP. Cat.

I had to pull out of this years event as I was shooting in France that weekend and I couldn't get the time off work to shoot it midweek. It was the first time I'd missed that event, always good targets and a well organised event. My only complaints would be about the antiquated scoring system of felt tip pens on A1 paper, and that sometimes squad numbers are too high, but, all in all, it's a good event with a good balance of targets. Am looking forward to being there next April. Cat.

Yes, a magnet, (or two, ideally), is an absolute must over Winter Rape, I don't bother with shells or fuds, the birds struggle to see them, the more movement you have, the more chance you have of drawing the birds in, provided you have done a proper recce the day before and worked out exactly where the birds are likely to be feeding, it's as simple as that. I've only been out once this year on Winter Rape, most days I've been hoping to get out have been a disaster weather wise, but the one day I did get out, i picked up 85, shooting from 7.30 until it dried up around 11.30am, all down to a proper recce over the field whilst game shooting the previous day. Cat.

An update on this crop, it's brimming with Pheasants, but it's so dense and around 5 feet tall in parts, that' it's so easy to lose birds once shot, as the dogs can't get a mark on them as they can't see a damn thing..! Apparently it will be sprayed off early next year and ploughed in, a top quality break crop, but very frustrating to shoot. Cat.

This is all well and good, but the problem where I live is actually finding a Police Station that's open for business to accept any weapons for handing in, they're all closed up around these parts, mainly due for demolition as they've been sold off to Property Developers to build yet more Apartments. Happy days indeed for the ever growing numbers of thugs and villains frequenting our streets and neighbourhoods. Cat.

I had the same Op as Fenman in October 2008, but had to have follow up Radiotherapy the following year. If I had been diagnosed more recently, the Op probably would not have been recommended as there are now other more effective, and less invasive procedures. As many of you who attend the annual PW Charity shoot will know, I am a great believer in the benefits of early detection via a simple PSA blood test, as there are very few symptoms of early stage Prostate Cancer, by the time you know something is wrong, it's probably too late for a cure, so to all of you Guys aged 45+, get yourselves checked out..!! Cat.

It's drilled in rows, but once it's up then you'd never know it, it just one mass of leaves, doesn't grow as tall as tic beans, it looks a bit like a good crop of sugar beat. An interesting article here: http://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/harvest/growers-enjoy-soya-success-as-crop-yields-impress.htm Cat.

A farmer I know has grown Soya Beans for the first time this year, after the failure of some Oilseed Rape. They have to be drilled late, (end of April), as the young plants are frost susceptible. This particular crop got off to a bad start as it was pretty dry straight after drilling, but the plants picked up when the weather turned wet later in the Summer. The farmer was forewarned about pigeon damage and as soon as the first birds started to hit the young plants, bangers ropes and gas guns were used to keep the birds off, I never got any sport there..! They were cut around mid September, well after all other cereal crops had been cut. Apparently there was very little bean spillage as the beans tend to remain in the pod as the combine header touches them and do not easily get shaken out, unlike the tic beans that most farmers grow in these parts, I have not seen any birds on the stubble since. The farmer reckons that they were a good crop, yield wise, and not a disaster, and he has already set another field aside to try again next year. All of the beans were sold back to the seed merchant as they were guaranteed GM free, unlike the Soya that is produced in the USA, which is predominantly GM. Cat.

Yes, absolutely so. Cat

Can I also make clear that my comments refer to pigeon shooting over decoys, within the normal maximum range of c.40 yards, not flight shooting duck or geese at 50 yards plus, as I've been harangued in the past by Wildfowlers who haven't properly read my post, and assume I'm suggesting using 28 7's at Canada Geese or similar, which I'm certainly not... Cat.

An interesting topic, and one that I've commented on before on this forum. The OP has flagged up a particular issue with steel shot that I've encountered a good few times over the last 4 or 5 years that I've been shooting steel loads more or less exclusively on pigeons. When I first switched from 30/32g lead 5/6 shot to steel, the "perceived wisdom" at the time was that you'd have to go up a shot size or two when using steel to achieve the same results that were achieved using lead. OK, fine, I tried a multitude of various steel loads from 32g 4's up to 36g 5's, shot through no more than 3/8 choke, typically over decoys at 35-40 yards max. Using that combination, I would have expected 100% clean kills pretty much all of the time, (that pre-supposes I know where to point the gun..!! ) However, I'd have to say that I did find I hit a good few birds that came down like the proverbial brick, apparently stone dead, but when I went out to pick them up, they very often simply got up and flew away.. This was not something I had expected, and certainly not something that happened often when using lead loads. I queried this with a Keeper friend of mine who shoots a lot of pigeons using steel, he recommended that I switch to a smaller shot size of 7.5's, in 28 gram load, I was sceptical at first, but believe me, you certainly don't get anywhere near as many "runners" as I did previously using the bigger, heavier loads. I started out using Gamebore Black Gold HV, 7.5's in 28g, but they have now gone up in price from £165 to around £215 / thou, so I now buy all mine from a Hunting Supermarket in Calais: https://www.terreseteaux.fr/cartouches-as28-12-28g-n7-1.html At current exchange rates they work out at less than £165 / thou, so , all in all a pretty good deal, and they certainly kill pigeons well..! Cat.

Yes, you're dead right, it's a break crop of Mustard and those fields are part of my permission. I'm looking forward to seeing what quantity of Game birds will be in there when we have our first shoot up there later this month. The actual area of Mustard being grown is pretty big, probably double what you can actually see from the motorway, so we'll see what's in there..? Cat.

I won a raffle prize at the Pigeonwatch shoot last year, it was a day on the pigeons with PW Member Motty way up in the top end of the Fens not too far from Kings Lynn, anyway, I'd been looklng forward to this one for a long time, so I was there shortly after 8.00am, in fairness the weather was not too good, little wind with almost full sun, right in our eyes, but we plodded away, taking out the odd bird that came into the barley stubble. Things really started to liven up between around noon and 2pm, they flooded in from all angles, we both had some great longish birds..! Motty's black lab worked really hard to pick up so many birds, he was a real diamond..! The final tally was 142 pigeons, plus 5 corvids that were silly enough to come into the deeks, not too bad..! It was great to be able to shoot alongside a Guy that clearly knew what Pigeon shooting was all about, a truly accomplished pigeon shooter, so stready and precise, hope to see you down my way soon..? Cat

Doh...of course it will be the same, the only difference will be the weather, and I daresay the sign that says a certain target has to be taken as Driven, will have disappeared..? Cat.

When we shot that stand on Saturday there was a notice on the cage saying that the report midi had to be shot as driven. Apparently that sign was put there after day one when a good number of shooters were shooting it as a crosser / going away and the shot was falling on to the pool shoot area, so if you shot it that way on day one, it gave you a clear advantage, as it was a bitch to shoot driven, you simply couldn't miss that bird in front, it needed so much lead, I dropped 2 there, but Duane Morley on my squad, (who finished on a 110), didn't touch any of them.. Cat.

My verdict, for what it's worth, a very good shoot, well organised, it ran pretty well, we had only one breakdown on the stand up the top with the fast bird coming racing down the hill, followed by the pink teal on the left, they had to replace the cable and the guys that did it said it was the first breakdown they'd had over the whole competition, that speaks volumes about the professionalism of the ground..? As to my score, well, I can honestly say that I have never ever started so badly at a major event, I missed 5 out of 8 on stand 1, I totally misread the left to right battue, the scorer later told me I was behind every one of them, I felt so bad after such an appalling start..! But, I suppose I threw caution to the wind after that and managed to finish on a 105, so, it could have been a lot worse..! I must say that it was not the most exciting shoot I've ever shot there in terms of target quality, if I was to be hyper critical I'd have to say that there were no long crossers that the ground has put on so well in the past and which normally sorts the men from the boys, but, hey ho, even the close ones are easy for us mortals to miss..!! Good luck to all who are going back for the final, I hope you all shoot well..! Cat.

Mid morning on Saturday for me, I'm looking forward to a really good shoot, as always at Hodnet.. Cat.