Tony

Speaking from a new members perspective, I do like the little stars awarded for the number of posts. They give you something to aim for in life! I feel like a newbie at Macdonalds with an empty badge just waiting for me first star!! I Suppose by that reckoning that makes Cranfield the Branch Manager!!! :laugh: :laugh:

What are we talking about here? cartridges, milk, those sexy stocking thingies that hold themselves up on their own... sorry I'm rambling again. They are the wife's! Honest :( :( :( It's all relative. I remember when a Mars bar was 2.5p and you could get eight fruit salad or black jack chews for a penny...I'm rambling again aint I? :( :(

Ahh! Now that's the "catch 22". :what: I'm thinking of getting some of those foam flying thingies to use until I shoot a pair of the real thing.

Deako, you are a bad man! I can see that I'll have to tread carefully in his forum. ......and no, she aint!

Opened myself up for that one! :thumbs: Why not just shoot them? On the wing of course, not in the trap as that wouldn't be cricket. It must be easier to shoot them than rather than trap, or is it one of those set it and come back later sort of things? I imagine that only one bird can be trapped at a time a second bird would be spooked by the trapped one. As you might have guessed I have never trapped birds but I am interested.

What do you do with them once you've trapped them?

I don't want to show my ignorance, but what do you trap in a larson trap? This forum is just one big learning experience! :thumbs:

It's good to see that we are all on he same wavelength. I think our views can be summed up by saying the pest control element of pigeon shooting is clearly evident when crop protecting where as the sporting side comes to the fore when there is no obvious benefit to the farmer other than reducing the local woodie population such as flighting or shooting over stubble. Either way, it's the enjoyment of the sport that gets me up at the crack of dawn in the depth of winter (and they ain't so far away!) :love:

I have used a pair of 4ft pinewood flappers for many years. I used them religously until I got the rotor. However, I have started using them again but much further out from the rotor and decs. There are so many variables it's hard to say what does work and what doesn't. One good gadget is the Vale lander. It places a dead bird in the prone landing position about 1ft off the ground. I use it all the time as it presents a nice picture to any interested woodies. I will be interested in your progress with the speed controller.

I read an article in Sporting Gun today about shooting big bags of pigeons? Some shooters feel that restraint should be shown to avoid shooting excessive number of birds in a single outing. I have only ever shot two 100+ bags in all the years I have been shooting. I reckon that taking into account those days when you wish you had stayed in bed, my average is probably around the dozen bag per trip. When I shoot, I take 'em as I see 'em! If they keep coming I keep shooting. I don't see enough exceptional days to show restraint. I would be interested to hear others shooting ethics if any!

As with the other guys, I believe it's both. I have seen fields ravaged by pigeons and received pleas from farmers to help rid fields of the problem. No one doubts they are a pest. However, fruit farmers may be plagued by greenfly ruining their crop but you won't find me out at the weekend with a sprayer full of insecticide! I shoot pigeons because I enjoy it. It's nice to be able to discuss the sport with fellow shooters without prejudice. Many of my work colleagues and friends know that I shoot clays and pigeons. They accept the clay shooting as a sport but some frown upon the pigeon shooting. I often find myself offering excuses of crop protection and the likes to vindicate myself. Why do I do that? Maybe to keep the peace in the eyes of non shooters as they do not support the thinking that shooting pigeons is a sport under any circumstance. That's part of what the march was about today – awareness. Sorry to get ‘political’ over a simple question!

Cranfield, Are you hinting that your Pinewood rotor spins too fast?

I have three 12V/7Ah batts, two are Yuasa and one is from Screwfix which is a DIY type mail order catalogue. The scewfix batt cost me £14 and performs the same as the Yuasa type. I think Deben sell the Yuasa but I don't have a catalogue to hand. screwfix online - www.screwfix.com but beware browsing ,cos I always end up looking for a pack of screws and buying half the book! Loads of goodies.

Tim - I get the idea now Cranfield - I'm not a sparkie either but the way I see it is the stamina doesn't vary to much from one 12V/7Ah battery to another 12V/7Ah battery unless one is at fault or 'tired'. It all comes down to the current draw of the device attached to it. As most of the 'thirstier' rotors use 12V wiper motors, it makes me think how long my car battery would last if I left the car wipers running! And the car uses a BIG battery. I originally thought that the wiper motors may have more torque so use more power. The pinewood seems to have the same if not more torque than my old wiper model although I'm not sure if this is achieved by the gearbox or motor, either way, it doesn't account for the massive difference in running times between the two styles.

Tim, The N+S pecker must be a different design to the ones I have seen as the pecker you describe sounds as if it is suspended somehow. The only model that I am aware of has a standing pigeon mounted on a base. Its legs are hinged at the 'knee' joint and the movement is achieved by means of a small crank connected between the base and a motor inside the pigeon body. I know this is straying off topic but how effective are peckers when combined with rotors? I imagine the movement generated by a rotor would detract the pigeons attention from the pecker that has relatively little movement.

Neil, I had a similar problem with a new Browning O/U. You could see rub marks on the action although it didn't shave brass as you have found but it still made the action 'tight'. This was not due to the gun being new as it had a 'smooth' tightness when closed without cartridges. I was using Hull at the time so switched to another make that I cannot remember now, probably Winchesters. After a short while the gun loosened up and I never saw the problem again even when using Hulls. It could be down to a batch problem at the cartridge manufacturers. I have had boxes of my normal loads that appeared to have slight swelling that made them a tight fit on the diameter to the point that they would not eject.

All three of my batts are Yuasa 12V/7Ah. On an average day I would use two of these on the Vale. Looks like I made a wise move switching to the pinewood although the size and weight are still the most impressive feature. One thing that I am still a little anxious about is the stability of the pinewood. I have the MK II model with a corkscrew arrangement on the end of the single spike to allow you to screw it into the ground using the t-bar that is provided in the kit. It appears to be OK in firm ground but I imagine it may work loose in the winter when used in soft wet clay rich soil which makes up most of the land I shoot. This would be more likely if birds of different wieghts were used. The Vale had a 5 prong spike that wasn't going anywhere once you managed to get it in the ground. As a precaution I asked pinewood to fit the tripod arrangement that was standard on the previous model. They were very good and fitted it without extra charge. We will wait and see. With regards to the peckers, I know what you mean about the varying prices for what appeared to be the same or very similar product. It saw them for as little as £40 at the CLA but much more at stands that have dedicated marketing for peckers. No names mentioned It would be nice if the manufacturers of the peckers could produce a model with a second motor/servo that swivelled the base so that the pecker appeared to peck and rotate from side to side.

Cranfield, Thanks for the info, sounds impressive. Do you have a standard 7Ah battery or higher capacity? I didn't buy the battery from pinewood as I had three from my old rotor. Now what can I do with my spare batts? Sounds like they are begging to be attached to a pecker! Now where did I put that credit card....

Cheers, Got the link to N+S. Cranfield, I have not used my pinewood in anger yet. They claim a 12V/7AH battery will last upto 10 hours! What is your experience of battery life on the pinewood? I must admit, it was one point I considered important when I chose the pinewood as a replacement for my old rotor as much of my shooting involves a hike so less batts is a bonus.

Excuse my ignorance, but who are N+S and do they have a web site? Tony

Hi Nigel, I too was fellow lurker until yesterday! I have some experience of rotors having successfully used a Vale rotor for the last year. It probably falls into the cheapie class but I found it did the business, not all the time but most of the time. I have still managed to blank with it . I have just sold it and bought a Pinewood Advantage model purely to save on bulk and weight as the pinewood is very light and slinky but does the same basic job. I saw the Pigeon Magnet in operation at the CLA show and it looked very effective if not a bit bizarre. The pigeons looked very realistic with the flapping action but I think it is at a high price. My personal opinion is that any rotor will attract pigeons into the killing zone by movement alone. I think the rotors success lies in attracting birds off the flight line that would have otherwise steamed by and getting them into your dec pattern. After that the birds are either drawn to the decs or spooked by the rotor although hopefully it will be too late by then. This is one reason why I don't subscribe to the 'remotely switch it on when you see pigeons' theory. I reckon the rotor pulls in the birds long before the shooter sees them; hence I leave it spinning all the time. The downside is the extra batteries required to keep it going (1 batt lasts about 3.5 hours in the Vale). Something for you to chew on! Tony

Just joined the forum and have been reading past posts with interest. I have looked at the web site many times but unfortunately never checked out the forum until now ... For my first post, I have some info on nets that may be of interest. I have used a standard army issue net for the past ten years. It doubles in weight when it rains, when wet it stinks like a rotten fish and is generally getting a bit tatty. As Everygoodnamewastaken pointed out, the trend for rotors, batteries, peckers, flappers, etc, means that it's almost at the point of needing a trolley to transport the kit to the hide! I should point out that I have just sold my Vale rotor in favour of a Pinewood Advantage II which is less bulky and considerably lighter so the weight issue has improved a bit In an effort to reduce the load, I decided to go for a lighter net. I prefer a mesh with scrim rather than the punched camo sheets that seem to prevail the gunshops these days. I had no luck finding what I was after until I went to the CLA. Deben had a net on display that was just the ticket. It is a new product called CamoReal Moorland and it looks the biz!. They do another colour, woodland I think it was called but it's too green for my liking. It's a strong nylon net with a tied on nylon scrim that resembles realtree X-tra brown. It's still a bit bulky compared to some nets but it doesn't rot or absorb water so stays light! It still benefits from a bit of local vegetation to break it up but it works very well. :( ps - I do not work for Deben or have any association with the marketing of the above mentioned product! :thumbs: Looking forward to posting on a regular basis Tony