Mightymariner

Well, I haven't been shooting for months due to work commitments and other issues, so I finally had a few hours free last week and was determined to get out. We have had lots of drilling recently when the weather has held up so I thought there might be somewhere. In my head I was heading to one farm but I had a text from a local pigeon shooter telling me some fields very close to home were "blue over", so I thought I would look on my way. He doesn't have permission on this land so I knew no one would beat me to it. For info and JDog (who shot this field with me when it was peas), the field is beside a busy road which takes traffic to Skegness but it is big enough to shoot safely. It borders a large block of woodland on its far edge, and there is a good stand of trees alongside another edge which birds often flight up. When I got there, there small flocks flitting about but only a few on the ground (it's beans by the way). I decided the best spot was the hedge dividing the larger field from a smaller one behind, with me facing down the large field and the northerly wind at my back. I thought this would allow me to walk to the stand of trees and shoot any flighting pigeons if they didn't decoy. There was little action to start with, though I did manage to down one bird for the flapper. I had a couple of very large flocks head my way but most traffic was heading along the stand of trees. So, with my cartridge bag and gun I walked down to the trees. This paid dividends immediately, with birds battling a 20mph wind over the trees. I shot quite well, amazingly, and had six down fairly quickly. More followed and when I had 12, I decided that was plenty to carry back to the hide. Back at the hide, I spread the dead birds around and thought I would have an hour to see if any more would come. The attraction of dead birds worked well, with plenty of birds peeling off their flightline and coming to investigate. Some decoyed, some didn't. I shot pretty well, even managed a couple of left and rights. By about 5.30pm it was all over, which was fine by me as I had it all to carry back up the field. I lumbered back to the car with exactly 24 pigeons. A lovely afternoon all told.

Thanks. It's still wet, though they were drilling on Sunday and yesterday, but it rained again today! I think they are a month behind.

I haven't done any shooting recently for a variety of reasons. Anyway, I did manage to stick my wildlife camera out last week after some beans had been drilled on a local field. As usual I captured trespassing dog walkers, pigeon shooters without permission but also a few nice shots of pigeons in flight (which is quite unusual). So I thought I would share them.

Well done, the old silver tongue works again😄

Looks like a cross between a G-Wagen and an old Defender. Cheapest is the two seat utility starting at £66K! It might have won more friends had it been built in the UK. As it is, it is ridiculously expensive. The cheapest Defender starts at £61K and I would argue is a far superior vehicle. For that money you could buy one of the latest old style Defenders and a used new Defender.

🎣 Well done JDog. So easy.

I saw an advertorial in a Land Rover magazine about a company who convert series Land Rovers to electric... it was over £65,000! I don't see the point apart from people/businesses proving it can be done, at a price.

Yes remember it well.

Good video as always. I am trying to picture the field, is it alongside the A18?

Sounds like me! Fair play to him for sticking at it. I would have given up. I hardly do any game shooting but I am not very good at it, especially when I have plenty of notice of birds approaching and can see them coming from a way off. I much prefer pigeon shooting, especially if I can set my hide up so I am 'surprised' by birds and have little time to think.

That was kind of you. So, none of your shots were caught on camera....hmmm!

Nice video chaps - did Johnny get a shot?!

My kids bought me a wildlife camera for Christmas. I have to admit, I have had a lot of fun with it.... captured all sorts of animals and birds in various locations. With the harvest underway I have tried a couple of timelapse videos. This one is of the pea harvest, which is in full swing here. I had to reduce the quality to upload it though. I thought members might like it. NEWONE.mp4

...and did you run out of cartridges....again?

Well, old boy. There are hardly any pigeons around here. We have a lot of pea fields but no pigeons on them yet. I have one area of about seven fields in a large block, and as soon as two pigeons appear a couple of fair-weather shooters appear. There are some up on the Wolds near your old place which may yield some shooting but they have only just gone in. There is a hiatus in drilling now as they don't want the crops all ready at the same time. So when my marsh peas go in it may improve. The only pigeons I have shot are ferals, which I shot from a barn as a favour for a farmer.