motty

Value for money. I have shot thousands using these decoys.

72 from me in a cracking 3 hour session on rape. Total ( possibly) - 4913 ?

Is it worth keeping count??!!!

I've done that plenty of times with good results.

A disappointing 14 from me today. Total - 4571

I've used 8 and even 9 shot at decoying pigeon. They do the job if you keep within 30- 40 yards. I regularly use 7 1/2 in lead and outperform my mate who uses 5's.

Why would having a hide standing out like a sore thumb, put off pigeons? Pigeons don't know what hides are and aren't scared of them- they're scared of the bloke inside. My dad once drove up to me on a farm track to join me on a pea field. He said that my hide stood out like a sore thumb. I explained that he knew i was shooting and the pigeons didn't. That's why he saw my hide easily and i had a big pile of pigeons next to me. I think some people get too hung up on trying to make hides almost disappear. I think this to be one of the least important parts of setting up. Just because a hide can be easily seen by a human, doesn't mean a pigeon will notice it.

I still find that these will shine.

194 on saturday on beet tops. Total - 4551

Carl took some photos on his phone. Not sure if i can put them on here. Might see pics in sporting gun in the future.

I don't see any reason why 2 in a hide can't be safe. As long as you both know what each other is doing. I sometimes shoot at birds on the right as they come in as the bloke next to me shoots the ones on the left of the same flock. I wouldn't do this with a novice or someone who i did'nt know, however.

If you buy decent flocked decoys, the flocking will take years to start coming off.

I had a disappointing day on a freshly harvested beet field last week. The rain showers were frequent and the birds were reluctant to decoy most of the time. The final score was 36. On Friday i checked the field again twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. In the morning, only a handful of birds were around whereas in the afternoon there was getting on for a thousand munching away. I stayed to watch the incoming pigeons- there were plenty more. It seems like the flocks are starting to break, so i was hopeful of a better bag this weekend. I have shot a fair few hundred bags on this particular field in the past 4 or 5 years, so i was confident that we could get a decent bag today. So yesterday morning, my friend carl and i were set up at first light with a hide around one of the trees in the middle of the field.We chose to set up so that the wind was coming from our left. It was quite breezy and it was nice and dry. We were using 2 magnets, 20 flocked shells and around 15 dead birds on cradles. The set up looked good. It started fairly slowly, but the birds that were around decoyed confidently and were subsequently shot. This was a different story to last week. We were shooting quite well and the scoreboard kept ticking over. By around 10 o'clock we had beaten last weeks total. At around 11.30 i went for a quick drive around to see where the birds could be. I looked on the neighbouring farm's cover strips and found nothing. I did find around 2000 sitting around the woods about 1/2 a mile away from where we were set up. I got back to the hide to find carl had shot another 9 in my short absence. From this point on we got a bit busier. There was a lull again at around 2pm, and we were strugglng to get over the 100 mark. This was soon passed though and then the action started to really hot up. A flightline started from the woods i mentioned earlier, and there was a steady stream of birds.They found it hard to resist the pattern of now over 100 decoys. It was a case of reloading as fast as we could at times, as there always seemed to be birds ready to drop in. In the end, we knew we wouldn't make 200, as the flight had completely dried up, but were happy to pack up at 4pm with a bag of 194.

Not everyone is having this problem. I know of a few people taking 100+ bags recently. I got 194 yesterday. The flocks now appear to be breaking up.

36 from me on a recently harvested beet field. Disappointing day and rain interrupted. Total - 3603

I know of some 3 shot semi autos chambered 3.5 inch that you can carry three shells in the magazine.

I have found in my experience, that if you have a lot of rape in the same area as your peas, that the pigeons may be reluctant to leave the rape until it has grown too tall for them. I've found the good days on peas for that reason, seem to start around mid may. Of course, you can shoot these fields at any time and get a result. Also, don't forget to keep an eye on any old stubbles that don't get ploughed in, as you may find the birds on them even a couple of months after harvest.

Absolutely correct, it's an offence IF someone is injured, interrupted or endangered. But i would still be careful about where i set up, especially if near a fairly busy road.

Have to agree with cranfield and cosd.

You can't go wrong with the magnet and flapper deal. I bought mine about 5 years ago and are both still going strong. I have killed thousands of birds using these. I honestly don't think there is any real benefit in buying a more expensive magnet, either. I've used ones costing over £250( pinewood ones and three armed flapping ones)and have faired no better with them.

I'm pretty sure it's not actually a legal requirement to be more than 50 feet away from the road. I was surprised when i found out, but apparently that's the case. Therfore i'd set up somewhere in the top left hand corner of the field as it's pictured, and only take shots down the field.

I shot 140 on sugar beet tops on a field four years ago. I'm now waiting for the same field to have the beet taken up this time around. Fingers crossed.

35 more from me. Total - 2620 (including hyfliers)

I have an intermittent cycling problem with my extrema. The bloke i spoke to at gmk said it was probably a weak mag spring that was the cause.

I'm currently using saga 28g 6.5 for pigeons. They do the job and are only around £132 a thousand at the moment.