the hitman

Nice read, very descriptive- thank you for posting. Thats a great bag on a relatively short afternoon session. 28g no5 - that’s not a cartridge I have ever tried- by the photo they certainly work. No rape stubble locally yet - hopefully soon.

PC & MM Thank you for the words of advice- I recognise what you say in my own decoying practice. I think we all appreciate that when a magnet works well it can be a game changer on the day- but don’t rely on it.

Thank you for the advice MM I will keep an eye on the field in case another opportunity presents itself. I am probably set in my ways and just stick the magnet out - then bring it in if it isn’t working. Perhaps we should start a new thread- when or what situation does a magnet work best? For me it’s a must on Winter OSR when movement is important.

Having recced a stubble yesterday- I was in the hide and set up by 9am this morning. The conditions were good, with a fresh northerly wind making my sillo’s bellow. First 3 that came in were missing clean , however the next 2 were shot and the magnet was up and running. Pigeons were showing an interest without fully committing to decoy, but I was picking away by shooting a few singles. I decided that the magnet was the problem, so with 12 shot I brought the magnet and all 20 sillo’s in . This seemed to work and they began decoying with confidence. It was now 11am, and just as I shot another and looked around for more - I spotted a tractor entering the field with disc’s on the back. A quick chat with the driver confirmed that my day on this field was over. I was very frustrated to have to pack up what would have been a 50+ day with 20 pigeons. I didn’t have a plan B today, however this permission is historically very productive especially on stubble, and what I would consider to be the best fields are still to be harvested.

It’s been a frustrating time JD- I am in a family situation of almost daily welfare checks of an elderly parent and babysitting my granddaughter- shooting has slipped down the list of priorities.

Nice write up PC and well done perceiving to get a really decent bag. I am reluctant to shoot over laid cereal- as I have historically lost so many, however I would always go at the farmers request. I used to shoot on a permission where the farmer had some shooting rules - one of which was that decoys could not be used and a bag limit of 30 had to be observed- as he liked to see a few about. This farming family had 3 farms managed by the father and two sons- the eldest son was the rule maker and the youngest son was of the opinion that crop protection was paramount and wanted the pigeons properly controlled. I had some great bags on that permission, depending on who was home on the day. I am hoping to get out on a stubble tomorrow- so I may have my own write up after a long period away due to family commitments. Hitman.

Bullying should never be ignored whether at school or in the work place. I was never bullied at school- possibly because I had an older brother who liked a tear up ( typical geordie) . I work on a school and any students under my care who are accused of bullying and I have evidence -will leave my office a very tearful and snotty mess. This is a mostly male dominated site - it would be interesting to have a female perspective as they can be awful to each other.

To answer the OP’s question- yes you can shoot pigeons with No8 shot, and with confidence. I use 7.5 shot for decoying through 3/4& 1/2 choke. I have often notice that I have less runners with this combination than I had when I used 32g No5 & 6 shot many years ago.

What a good report - I enjoyed reading that- thank you for posting. Shooting in hot weather can be a challenge- but always preferable to sitting freezing my nuts off in deepest winter- in my opinion. Glad you are controlling the corvids, they are a menace locally- I have never seen so many carrions and magpies.

Glad your getting out and getting a few. The peas locally are all vining and are drilled and harvested in rotation. I have 2 fields very local to me which are only an inch or so above ground- hopefully I will have a report to share later this week.

What was the final bag MM ? I have pigeons sitting on eggs in a rowan tree in my garden - not seen many young birds on the wing. Hopefully I will be shooting next Thursday or Friday over peas - after a long period of inactivity. Hitman

Yes I agree with that - Mrs H and I regularly go out . We also like to have family & friends over - especially in the summer as we have a bit of a homemade beer garden “out the back”. Its all personal choice. I am asking is who has a machine and would you like to review beers you have tried ? I wasn’t asking who prefers to go out or stay in for a beer- as it’s possible to enjoy both.

Hi Markm Yes you have given me some good reviews on beers and some recommendations of what to try next. I am not really a lager drinker, but the Hasseroder is a fantastic drink on PD. I have had a few kegs of IPA and pale ales, with Cali pale and clwb tropica being very easy to drink. I am not a big drinker, and a keg will last me 3 weeks - unless I have friends over to watch football. Some of the kegs like Vocation life and death and goose island are absolutely beautiful, but at 6%+ definitely not session beers. The kegs are at their best for 30 days once tapped- so no rush to neck them.

Yes there are cheaper ways to have a beer, however the beer on perfectdraft is of pub quality compared to bottles and cans. I recently bought 3 kegs ( 10.5pints each) and with keg returns and discounts, it works out about £2.40 a pint. With about 70 different kegs - it’s a nice to try beers that you don’t always see in pubs locally.

Hi Folks Just wondering how many members have a perfectdraft beer machine at home? Thought it would be good to share reviews on different beers available on perfectdraft. Hitman

Congratulations Thats a fantastic achievement- so what is the secret to a long marriage ? We celebrate our 30th next month

My wife and I had 1st & 4th - small bets so made £13.40 , it’s my once a year bet - just a bit of fun. Sad to see that a horse was destroyed after a fall.

Newcastle is a great place to go out and the beer is reasonably priced. In my town we have a nice microbrewery which serves good beers at £4-5 a pint. Has anyone tried an IPA called rolling papers? - what a beauty and £5 a pint locally. I have a perfectdraft machine at home and a keg called Clwb tropica IPA is a lovely citrusy drink. And my tip for the national is - Born by the sea .

I may have told this before - I was beating a few years back, and one of the guns had forgotten his cartridges- the keeper asked if anyone had any in our vehicle’s . I had about 150 of the 30g 5.5 shells which I offered to the gun. Later in the day he asked where he could buy some as they out performed his expensive game cartridges.

Many years ago when Bywell shooting ground stocked proper cartridges, they had a 30g 5.5 called proper pigeons in a dark blue case. These were excellent cartridges- designed for high pheasant rather than decoying pigeons. When Bywell stopped stocking proper cartridges, I contacted George directly, and found him helpful and delivered the cartridges free of charge. Towards the end of my business with him he became a tad more abrupt and was always trying to get me to by greater amount, which I resisted. I think he also had a car sales business, dealing in second hand 4x4’s.

I had a drive around my patch, where about half of the fields to be drilled have been. I didn’t see a single pigeon on any of them. I did however see a good number on a heavily grazed rape field, which is where I will be heading when the weather permits this week. I have peas still to go in so chitting peas might be better than drilled. If I recall I didn’t shot anything on drillings last year- however that won’t put me off looking.

Yes - I just normally put them in a pile , however after recent comments by PC I thought I would make an effort- ish. The pigeons have been feeding undisturbed on these fields for quite a while hence the confidence to decoy. I would normally expect to shoot for 6-7 hours to get a return like that. I am fortunate that I can get rid of them - it’s my hobby so not looking to make anything from it. The temperature is increasing up here so I expect the spring drillings to begin anytime. Drillings haven’t yielded much locally in recent years, however I am always the optimist.

I had a 40 mile round trip to the game dealer late afternoon who pays me 30p each .

Hi Folks My shooting has been seriously curtailed by work and family commitments recently. A window of opportunity presented itself this morning, and although I hadn’t been shooting I had been spotting where pigeons were feeding on my route to/ from work. I had identified a large block of three rape fields and as I have shot this ground before I knew the best spot for my hide. This land is very high up and i had a great view of where the pigeons were coming from. I was set up at 8am and didn’t have to wait long before the first group came in for a look - 2 shots 1 down. An easy single followed and the magnet was set up. The wind was a gentle southerly and the pigeons kept coming up the field, spotted the magnet and headed straight in. There seemed to pigeons in the air all the time, and a strong line into my decoys. I was a bit rusty and called myself some nasty names for easy misses, but was still shooting more that I was missing. I set myself a challenge to count how many I could shoot with my next 20 shots - and killed a respectable 18- so well chuffed. By 10am I began bringing shot birds in as I had a big pattern out. By 11am there was an obvious slowdown of birds and by 11.30am I was packing up with 72. Not sure when I will get out again but memories of today will keep me going. Hitman

Hmmm - I was born and lived in Newcastle then moved to Berwick upon tweed. I am told that my Newcastle accent is still there but with a mix of the local Berwick accent. I have always considered a Newcastle accent to be rather warm and welcoming, but I also recognise that it can be difficult to follow if you live south of Gatesheed.