Geo

Thanks for that ,very helpful comments. I did have a plan B on a pea field which is not as easy to set up on or pick birds from but I think I will do that instead and see how it goes.

I am planning to have a go for the first time this afternoon on a local farm in Essex where the crops are almost all peas and beans . I have had a couple of trips to observe bird movements this week but it all seems a bit random with birds flitting about in ones and twos with no real indication of flightlines. I am planning to set up on the edge of a bean field with my back to a wood , there is a wide enough strip of bare earth between the wood and the beans to put some decoys out and also should be able to pick up the shot birds if I can drop them accurately. What do you think ? Does this sound like a plan for a first time foray on a new permission? Are the pigeons likely to be on fully grown beans or would I be better off trying to find a spot on one of the pea fields ? It would be nice to get a few as the pheasants are going to be in the wood as of Sunday so this patch will probably be off limits after the weekend. Advice appreciated.

Thanks for replies, I will check as advised and let you know if it comes back to life, the battery is new so should be ok. How easy is it to fit a new motor for £24 ?

I don't know what the model is , it's quite old been well used , I bought a job lot of pigeon stuff last year for £100 including loads of decoys , hide net and poles a flapper and a magnet. I can't complain as the decoys alone were worth more than £100. I have attached a pic which looks like it , quite a big motor , not one of the modern lightweight versions. Might be time to bin it !

My magnet seems to be running slowly even with a fully charged battery . I bought a new speed controller but made no difference , only goes at one speed , about 75% of what it used to be. Any ideas ? New motor , or new magnet ?

Hi, I have a junior 410 Yildiz approx 1 year old only used a few times , originally bought for my daughter, she has already grown out of it and wants to move to a 20. Would be willing to do a straight swap. Please let me know if you are interested. I am in Essex . The gun is as new, still have the box. Thanks Steve

I am a member of a fishing syndicate with two lakes on a farm. When driving into the farm at the weekend I disturbed a large flock of pigeons feeding on a rape field, which all took off and landed in the trees surrounding the field no doubt to return to feeding when I had left. As luck would have it the farmer had a walk round the lake while I was fishing , I was the only person there so we started chatting , and when I mentioned the pigeons he said that I could shoot them anytime as long as I let him know when I was going to be there ! Result ! He said that he had given others permission but they typically turned up for half an hour and if nothing was happening they just went home and hadn't really been any help. So all that remains is for me to drop a card into him with my details and it looks as though I finally have some local permission approx. 1 mile from my house. My question is how to tackle this field that is obviously a favourite feeding spot. It always has birds on it and every time I drive past they all lift off and head for the trees. I would have to walk across it to set up , so what are the chances of them returning to feed having sat there and watched me put a couple of their dead relatives on a magnet ? All advice welcome.

Great photos, I have recently started my 12 year old daughter with a 410 , against everyone's advice. Most advise a 20 bore but she seems to do ok with it, as you say it's all about getting them out there and offering them something different that they can take with them through life.

I have been a member of a syndicate in Essex for the past few seasons where it has worked out approx. £25 per bird . We all pay the same but obviously some shoot more than others so it is luck of the draw ( or maybe skill level) to a certain extent . After 20 years it is not continuing this season due to change of land use , so I will be looking for something similar , not easy to find in Essex. If you have any vacancies please message me. Thanks.

I contacted my Police and Crime commissioner to complain about the time taken to process SGC application, got a response fro the Chief Super of Essex police and things speeded up a bit then, may be worth a try. Recommend Graham's at Stow Maries to get started.

Hi , From another proud resident of the glorious county .

I am with you on this . I can't see this transferring from shooting clays that are predictable and slowing down to partridge that are accelerating over hedges and shot instinctively in a very short window of opportunity. I am not the greatest clay shot , probably average 65% most of the time so it might help me with this, but I would want the improvement to carry over into my game shooting and I am not convinced it would happen. If anyone has tried it I would like to know how they got on.

If it takes years of practice to become good at something you enjoy and then someone finds a shortcut to success most people will take it . I have been shooting for about seven years ,and although fairly average really enjoy all aspects of it, game, clays, pigeons etc , I am not particularly worried about becoming better than I currently am although I am always learning. I don't think I would use a sight as I am happy with my clay scores in general and don't shoot comps, but I can imagine someone really competitive that gets really frustrated at their rate of improvement will try anything to speed it up so there will always be a market for this kind of thing, it's the same with fishing, there are flies that catch more anglers than fish, I've got boxes of them !

I though that might be the case. So if my clay shooting improved over the next few weeks due to the red dot/ring, I would be kidding myself if I thought that it would make any difference when I start game shooting at the end of this month. It might improve my confidence though which could help me shoot more decisively. I might try one just to see what all the fuss is about.

I enjoy shooting clays but mainly shoot them as practice for the game season , never competitively other than among friends. If I used one of these devices to improve my clay shooting would it help when I took it off for game ? I couldn't turn up at my syndicate shoot with one on the gun , the banter is fierce enough as it is and it probably doesn't fit with the etiquette. But would I retain the memory pictures when shooting crossers , quartering and driven clays and be able to transfer that to real birds ?