Cranfield

meandassey, an opportunity missed, at least you will know next time. Isn,t an "Alpine" a car ? I thought you were going to Scotland on a tandem. I,m not so impresssed now. Dead-eye, whats a "cambelt" ? Sounds expensive, perhaps I,d better phone my local Subaru Dealer, need to arrange a mortgage first. highdowns hunter, now I,m not very bright, but even I know that Hassi Messaoud is not in Durham, where your profile says that you are. Is there something you need to tell us ? Are you in the Foreign Legion ? Are you a fugitive from the law ? Come home son,it can,t be that bad, yer Mum misses you, the cats not eating properly and the dog needs de-worming. If its a secret you can trust us.....we won,t tell anyone.

dead-eye, if you didn,t understand. Yorkshire is referring to the farmer discing in the rape stubble. If its left and it rains, all the spilt seed starts to sprout little rape plants. PIGEONS LOVE ,EM !! :( Hard bit is trying to get the farmer to leave the field alone for a week or two.

Mark, here are two more suggestions. http://directory.google.com/Top/Recreation/Guns/Reloading/ http://directory.google.com/Top....ponents Both sites are Web Page Lists that cover these subjects. Your local Gunshop may be able to help out as well. If you start to reload your own cartridges, its probable that you will not be buying the powder, shot etc in quantities that will enable you to buy from a Manufacturer/Supplier in the first instance. You will therefore need to contact a Gunshop anyway. I,m sorry that this is not a lot of help, but I ain,t a re-loader. I,m one of the "filthy rich" that 20citori20 refers to.

Hi Mark,this topic has been all over the place, but its on reloading at present. Try http://www.alliantpowder.com/beginner/how_to_cartridges.php Click on "shotgun shell" at the index on the left hand side of the page under, "Reloading your first". I hope this helps.

Did anyone go pigeon shooting ? Whats happening ?

Dead-eye, My Subaru Legacy has air-conditioning. Park one in the showroom and "demonstrate" it all day. Seems like a good plan to me.

Further to the .410 hulls question. I have made numerous enquiries and cannot locate any .410 hulls. New and unused ones don,t seem to be available at all. Used ones can occasionally be found at Clay Shoot grounds, but the .410 is not a popular gun with clay shooters apparently. I was also told that you have to have permission from the Shooting Ground owner before you remove empty cartridge cases that you have not shot yourself. Although they are "rubbish", they are his "rubbish". Technically its stealing. It was also pointed out that with Winchester .410 2 1/2" @ $13.55 per 25 and 3" @ $14.00 per 25. Gamebore .410 2 1/2" $6.70 and 3" @ $7.25. (my currency conversion are approx), not many people were interested in re-loading. I am sure unused hulls must be available somewhere, but where ?

I like to make my hides as "invisible" as possible. Ideally a hedge, bushes or trees type background. I use the darker green/brown ex Army style cammo net in Spring and Summer and the Realtree lighter cammo net in Autumn and Winter (depending on the background colours). I will also use any available natural foliage to enhance my "invisibility". I try to avoid building large hides that stick out too far from the background cover. I frequently make them "wedge" shaped, which breaks up the outline. High at the back and sides sloping down to a low front. More important than "invisible" hides is, no visible movement. One thing I am careful about, making sure the background is "solid", if in doubt, put a net there. I set up a hide along a patchy hedgerow once and from the outside it looked perfect. It was...... until I got in it. The pigeons spooked as soon as they saw it. Fortunately the farmer visited me at lunchtime and said that he could see my outline moving through the net, against a hole in the hedge. Despite taking all this time and effort, one of the best days I ever had ,was leaning up against a seed drill left at the end of the field, no cammo net and in almost full view of the birds. There have been experiments with bright orange netting supposedly, not putting the birds off. Bale hides in the middle of fields don,t exactly blend in, but I suppose the pigeons get use to them eventually. Some days the pigeons are fussy, other days they ain,t. Hopefully, some of the other lads may have some answers.

We have very strict rules in the UK on the movement of fish fromwater to water.Even land/water owners have to have the correct licences todo this. We also have problems with illegal imports from Europe, notably specimen sized carp from France. There is quite a business in fish smuggling. Private syndicates, more than Pay to Fish waters, will pay large sums for such fish. I am not sure if you can buy cartridge cases only, new or used. When I reloaded, I went to the local clay shooting ground and picked them up. Hopefully, one of the lads can answer this question. Does this help ? www.4-10.freeuk.com/cases.html Not wishing to be irreverant, but are the flathead catfish the ones you eat ? I must confess to being partial to catfish fillets cooked anyway you like. Just don,t want no grits.

Sounds as though your Dad has got it right. I know a lot of people that very successfully shoot 1 oz (old money ) loads in 12 bores. Shooting heavier loads doesn,t mean that you hit more birds. Aiming correctly does that.

Being a "foreigner" I will have my first exposure to turkey hunting in the company of an expert. Dewey Johnson is a top Georgia Guide, who I have met and become great friends with through our shared interest in speckled trout and redfish fishing along the Panhandle. He has pestered me for some years to go on a hunt with him and I am going to accept. We had a "dry run" 2 years ago, when he called up some birds out of season and we weren,t all cammo-ed up etc. That was a fair old hike to find the birds and we moved location quite a few times before he found cooperative birds. I found out afterwards that the birds are very difficult to call at that time of year. His success was even more meritable because of that. One of the big benefits of having shooting and fishing as interests........you get the chance to visit and see some wonderful places. I believe I have mentioned that we have no public shooting land in the UK, except the foreshore below the high water mark, in some areas, but not in others........very confusing. The length of a pigeons memory is quite a debateable issue. Some people credit them with almost super inteligence and others give examples of their stupidity. I suspect its somewhere in between, as usual. I do know that they can quickly become "spooky" at seeing decoys, on a well shot field. Thats happened to me quite a few times. The weather in our area has warmed up and there is very little wind. I don,t like going pigeon shooting in these conditions. Neither party seems to be very interested. I want to sit in the hide and doze and the pigeons want to be somewhere else after just one shot. I much prefer it overcast and windy with not quite so many alternative feeding opportunities for the pigeons. I must add that the situation varies considerably around the UK. Is there a commercial market for pigeons or doves in the US ?

If for some reason the wounded bird is unreachable, a second shot is the right thing to do. However, when you start buying your own cartridges, I think you will agree that a short walk from the hide, is a far more economical solution.

Malc, I ain,t got a Vulcan Death Ray, is that whats going wrong ? Do I need to make that two fingered "Peace and Prosper" sign ? Or is it Nanno, Nanno ? Thats it !!!!!!!!!! I,m taking a baseball bat with me next time. :D :angry: . I will try again.

BigDave, Congrats on the new gun Sounds to me as though your Dad is a great bloke, sneaking off and buying it when you weren,t looking......nice suprise. :( I hope the Midland will be as good as the CLA fair. Its a long time since I have been to one and I,m looking forward to it. If your Dad,s not doing anything in mid September........he can come along and buy me a gun :( :( :(

Its strange how some migratory birds have such a strong instinct and others seem to have changed their lifestyles completely. I live near loads of lakes (good fishing country), they are populated by Canada, Brent and Greylag Geese. These birds are supposed to migrate back to Iceland (or somewhere similar) in the Spring to breed and return in the Winter. What has happened over the years is that they don,t go back. They remaion here , breed and raise their young. There is also some interbreeding with escaped domestic geese. A lot of the local Mallard have interbred with escaped farm/pet ducks as well, causing some very weird looking concotions to be flying around. Our fox has become a very urban terrorist over the years and is more common in some back gardens in the towns, than in country lanes. A ride in to London on the train will show you loads of them running around on the railway embankments, just yards from homes and offices. Not as big as a coyote, but one of our biggest shootable mammals. Do you turkey hunt on public land ? Can you call your own turkeys, or do you use a guide ? I have become quite fascinated by turkey shooting and intend to try it (shotgun), probably on my next visit to Georgia (which could be in October ) I,m lucky to have two main sporting interests. When the pigeon shooting gets hard or slow...........I go fishing

Craigie, its the 14th & 15th September at Weston Park, Shropshire. Good luck with your gun hunting, Big Dave.

I,m not going to this one (some of the Archers are though), but I am still planning on making it to the Midland Show in September (If I,m back from Cantabria in time).

Cancel the holiday Craigie..........you know you want to. :(

I only use a shotgun and so rifle or bow shooting is not available to me. We don,t have groundhogs, turkeys or coyotes, but we have all of the rest and a few more. I use to shoot driven pheasant and partridges, but gave up my syndicate memberships when I had problems with my right eye (ultimately lens replacement). My wildfowling was done many years ago when it was accessible freely to most people. Now it is mostly privately controlled shooting. I have shot foxes, mostly at harvest time and I use to net rabbits using ferrets. The last hare I shot was over 20 years ago.They became very scarce in our part of the country and its nice to see them making a comeback. Not being a rifle man, I have never shot deer and have never had an interest in "big game", I much prefer "bird" shooting, but I will defend the right of other shooters to pursue these animals. Rats, squirrels, starlings, crows, rooks, magpies, jays and a few other "extras" present themselves as targets on occassions and are dealt with accordingly. I got the impression that in most parts of the US they are reintroducing coyotes, as they have been disappearing. I now have a sneaky idea where they have been going. I am suprised that such shooting activity doesn,t either wipe out the local black bird population or at least persuade them to move to another area. We will have to send a few of the Forum members over to give you a hand. In Europe they use large nets strung between buildings and trees to catch the birds in circumstances similar to what you describe. Not very sporting, but very effective. Rarely have my gun barrels become "too hot, to hold", but I do have a leather hand sleeve that fits on my sidebyside, for that purpose. In the old days they use to shove the musket barrels in to tubs of water, to cool them down during battles. I have always thought that this would distort the metal after a while. What you need is two guns and a "loader". Its not often that the problem is too many targets.

Dead-eye, I suppose 1 right out of 4 ain,t bad. :(

I think it is important to get on to the field soon after its been cut. I went today and shot over a field that was cut a week ago. Although there was still some spilt seed on "my" field, they were mostly interested in the field that was cut two days ago. They really are spoilt for choice. I shot 9 birds between 8.30 and 2.30.....for 10 shots. Not an earth-shattering total of birds, but I think as the fields of stubble (rape,then cereals) become more available to the birds, it will be harder to shoot big bags. In about 3 weeks time, when all the wheat is combined around here, every field for miles will be a prospective dinner table for the pigeons. I suppose thats what makes it interesting........hard,but interesting.

Do any of you have a vehicle that you use only for shooting ? It sounds as though PC does. I have thought of this as I do "beat up" my Subaru a bit. Can you still get cheap ex Army or BT landrovers ?

Malc, I tried that method on a wounded bird today and I couldn,t find "a notch in the spine". I pressed the whole area from the neck down, but nothing went "crunch" and the bird didn,t die. In fact I think it quite enjoyed the "massage" I was giving it. What am I doing wrong (apart from shooting at long range pigeons) ?

If you are buying the gun from a private seller who lives a very long way away, then you normally arrange to meet halfway. If its a Gunshop, then you just have to drive the miles. If one Gunshop sent your chosen gun to your local Gunshop for onward delivery to you, then you can be sure that you will pay extra for the "handling". Why don,t you tell your local Gunshop what you want, how much you are prepared to spend and let them look for the gun for you. I can,t see any other alternative. :(

I don,t support large areas of land being leased by a few hunters to the detriment of others. My point was that if you came to an "arrangement" with the owner of the fields you shoot, it protects your shooting rights. Your comment on crop rotation does rather kill the idea stone dead, unless you lease loads of fields. The "new breed" farmer is evident over here. Farms are more frequently owned by a Company and the "Farmer" is a Manager. He often has no authority to permit shooting on the land. Fortunately, there is still sufficient Farmer/Owners who see the value of effective crop protection, so all is not doom and gloom. Do you get involved in any other hunting ?