the hitman

Excellent result BB- glad you had a few hours of good shooting. Did the magnet make the difference? I always think a magnet is essential at this time of year. Hitman

Nice shooting that man, thank you for posting. The rape looks healthy where your hide is. Hitman

That’s a cracking bag of pigeons- and a nice write up. It gives us all hope that better days are on the way as spring arrives. Nice shooting- well done. Hitman.

If I remember correctly he had crutches on that occasion. He was also well rounded shall we say and had enjoyed a liquid lunch. He had an answer for everyone with some additional advice thrown in.

Excellent result and thank you for posting. There hasn’t been many write ups recently so well done -52 in an excellent bag in mid January.

As described by PC - always looking, and taking different routes to cover more fields to from work etc. My time is divided into 4 category’s- Work. Spending time will wife and family including new first grandchild. Visiting mum in care home. Shooting pigeons. Recently the days I have set a side for shooting have been flat calm or heavy rain. So to answer the OP’s question- yes I still shoot when I can.

Sorry for the late arrival to this thread. Like most pigeon shooters I also have many pigeon shooting books inc Archie’s. I met him once at the CLA game fair at Floors Castle in Kelso in 1988 or 89 when I was in my 20’s. He had a stand sponsored by Eley and was open to questions from both novice and experts alike. One of my favourite pigeon shooting books is by John Gray written in the late 80’s which is an excellent read . One passage he mentions the challenge of pigeon shooting when you get into late middle age- I didn’t give it a thought when I was first reading it in 1988 - but I understand very well now. John Batley’s book is also good. Probably my lest favourite is written by a forestry manager ( his name escapes me) where he suggests wetting the eyes of dead pigeons and cutting off their eyelids - bizarre ! I was searching for a more recent book by Eric Prior however I have been unable to find one- apparently it’s also a good read.

Hi folks Out again this morning on a field I had recced on Wednesday- plenty about, but the problem was the distance I would have to walk with all my gear to where they wanted to be. I decided to ditch the magnet and travel light with sillo’s and probably one of the original battery operated flappers which I hadn’t used in years. On arrival at 08.15 it was blowing a very strong S/westerly which changed the pigeons approach to my advantage as it was a much shorter walk . Once set up the first visitor was a carrion crow, heading straight for my hide no more than 6ft off the ground, he was dispatched no more than 20 ft from the hide- this was followed by another, then another- 3 carrions for 3 shots. The pigeons began to move, and although groups of 10+ came in, I was only shooting singles as the wind was carrying them off after the shot. Another carrion was heading straight in - I was so fixated on him, that as I rose and shot it, a pigeon to my right lifted off the decoys, which I also shot. In all my years I can’t remember shooting a left and right at crow and pigeon. By 11am the field was deserted- so 10 pigeons and 5 carrions was the bag. I have to say shooting 5 carrions today did give me a sense of a job well done and perhaps a few songbird chicks saved this spring. Hitman

Agreed- I have preferred a trap load through tight chokes. I was taught that pattern was key. I have also looked at the fiocchi f blu - I might give them a try. Bywell has Fiocchi superlite 26g no8 quite cheap which would be fine for decoying.

Agreed- I tend to go for the cheapest trap loads for decoying- Trust,& prims were my go to loads when they were available. I am currently using the last of my superfast’s and just thought the select would be a good price based option.

Hi folks Looking to buy more 12g pigeon cartridges, and I am surprised how much the price has increased locally. Cheapest at Bywell shooting ground are Eley pigeon select @ £ 275, I haven’t use them before- I tend to use 1oz no 7.5 but they are a similar price to the pigeon select. Any recommendation?

Have done a recce on Friday I decided to have a crack at a large block of OSR today. I was out parked up and watching the field at 8.30am, with a good number down and more dropping in. This is not one of my regular permissions and I hadn’t realised there was a ditch with fast running water to cross en- route to my ( rather the pigeons) chosen spot. Once clear of the ditch I was set up with 20 sillo’s looking rather static in the calm conditions. First bird shot was a single followed by one from a group of 3 - so the magnet was set out, and seemed to pull them in nicely. Having shot about 10 in 30 mins, it went quiet for long periods, although the odd group can in just enough to keep me interested. This field has been mauled and I am always surprised at this time of year how so many pigeons can just vanish into the countryside. By 2 pm I was considering how best to negotiate that bloody ditch with all my gear and 27 pigeons. Something must have clouded my judgment as I considered what I could throw over the ditch - this included my cartridge bag, which had about 75 cartridges in it. What I thought was a good throw bounced and rolled down the bank into the water and began to move quickly down stream- I topped both wellies getting it back. I do miss the days when you can drive to the hide .

Nice write up MM - Happy new year to everyone. My 2022 pigeon sorties were limited compared to the previous year mostly due to family and work commitments. My 2023 pigeon shooting adventurers will begin tomorrow as I have spotted a good number on a large acreage of OSR- however very little wind is forecast locally. Then it’s back to work on Wednesday. Hitman

Agreed I lost my 14 and a half year old cocker 18months ago- my daughter sends a daily photo or video on our family WhatsApp. Really sorry to hear about your friends dog - I am sure he had a great life and was loved within the family.

R.I.P Pele - arguably the best footballer ever. His playing days were before my time, however the recording show just how talented he was. About 20 years ago I won a football competition and the prize was to choose any football shirt with any number on the back- I chose the 1970 Brazil shirt with 10 on the back - which I gave to my big brother who was old enough to have seen Pele play. Hitman.

Merry Christmas everyone . I hope the bird at your table is a juicy one 😉

I shot 62 on the 26th November last year ( the day of storm Arwen) . The conditions locally haven’t been great- no wind or foggy. Still plenty on beechmast and berries, however I am seeing more and more on winter rape. When the conditions improve I will be out again- it’s been a while since I shot a pigeon. Hitman

Locally we have a few showing interest in the OSR, however I have seen hedges full as they gorge on haw berries, which are in abundance. Acorns and beechmast are still on the menu too. My prediction is that as already mentioned once we have a cold snap then we will see them appear in good numbers on the OSR.

Yes - just finished it, and a good watch once it got started. The French spy was a welcome addition to the plot.

I have watched 3 episodes so far - it’s initially a slow burner, however the action increases with every episode. Real hero’s in every sense of the word. Hitman.

Yes it’s very early for getting a decent bag on OSR locally- historically it’s well into next month. I will need to be convinced of a steady line into a field of OSR over a few days before I will be setting up.

If anyone who is eligible to join Costco and has a store with a petrol forecourt not too far away then I would recommend joining. Their diesel is supermarket price but premium- something like V-power . My outlander definitely runs more economically when I use it. My nearest Costco is 60 miles away, so whenever I am heading that way I always make sure I have an almost empty tank when I arrive.

Spotted the first flock of pigeons down feeding on winter rape today. I was surprised as there is an abundance of other food available and the mild weather.There is a huge acreage of OSR locally and this was the only field I seen with pigeons activity feeding. I am looking forward to this winter’s pigeon shooting opportunities.

To answer the OP’s question- no I don’t think Boris will return, which is probably best as he is an ex for a reason. In my experience you going go back to an ex if your desperate. The county needs someone who is untarnished from the Boris or Truss era, but has the tools to do the job. My vote would go to Penny Mordaunt, she is probably the one person Kier Starmmer would fear most at PM Q’s . Fresh start fresh ideas needed from whoever gets the job.

Hi folks i just thought I would add a comment on my local observations. Following some strong winds recently I have spotted scores of pigeons feeding on beechmast & acorns. I noticed many young adults with almost complete white neck bars and very juvenile birds with no obvious neck bars. I am hopeful that we will see a bumper amount of birds as they begin to flock up as the natural thermostat drops.