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 ?

That would be great if it were possible . I have e-mailed my MP today and will forward a copy to the BBC , hopefully any BASC representatives reading this thread will urge other members to do the same.

I agree, it is easy to e-mail your MP if you look them up on the internet and as I said in my earlier post it has been effective for me in the past, I am going to send it later today. They are elected to represent you and should be able to hold a publicly funded body like the BBC to account. The problem with Packham is that he has made so many false statements I wouldn't know where to start listing his misdemeanours, maybe I will just ask if they can raise the matter of a BBC employee leading a march for extremists as he did recently.

Coordinating 145000 people and asking them all to write a letter would be a bit of a job , it's not like we could just arrange a meeting and get them all to form an orderly queue . BASC campaigning on our behalf means that all members are being represented through a single point of contact. I am also a CA member ,they are very active and frequently challenge the BBC on behalf of over 100,000 members. If you want to do something as an individual to raise the profile of Packham's wrongdoing then I think lobbying through a sympathetic MP is the best route, I intend to do this. I also did it for the grouse debate . My MP replied to my letter and said that although he doesn't actively shoot grouse he would be supporting the shooting community in the commons during the debate, as he represents a rural community, one of the main speakers on our behalf at that time was Liam Stokes of the CA . I think going through the correct channels and supporting those that are the mouthpieces of BASC and CA and writing to your MP will be most effective.

I have just used an old carp rod and a small spinner on the Chelmer in the past , small mepps or something similar red and silver. Near Hoe Mill lock has been good ,you can park there at the side of the road ,decent perch sometimes as well. I might give it a go myself now that you have mentioned it , but the weed can be a problem this time of year. Good luck

I agree , I would rather write but I am not sure if they answer post from individuals. I have had success through contacting my MP in the pas,t both with my SGC application , he contacted the Chief constable of Essex and speeded up the process for me and got a letter of apology , also the HMRC ,another letter of apology for poor service and a rebate. He may be able to question the impartiality of the BBC in the commons, although I am not sure if he can name Packham as an individual. Failing that we could try and get on Question time and hoist a banner just when Dimbleby is least expecting it.

It would be good if the CA/BASC started an online petition , that would be an easy way of getting the opinion of a few thousand under the noses of the dear old broadcasting service. Before creating a twitter account I had underestimated the strength of feeling among the anti everything brigade . I follow Countryman's Weekly as they publish all manner of stuff of interest to the fieldsports enthusiast ,but every tweet they put out is immediately met with a load of abuse from some saboteur group or the other , it is difficult to read anything without it being hijacked , why can't these people take up golf or something and just leave us to get on with out own lives.

I like the Field , lots of other interesting stuff in it other than just shooting, given up buying all the others, shooting times always has a good front cover then lacks content.

Looks good , have had a few like that with a deerhair fly trimmed to look like a dog biscuit , good fun on a fly rod.

I am on Twitter and quite innocently follow a few shooting and fishing people and organisations just out of interest, but I recently responded to a tweet from a pro Packham anti and wish I had never started . There are loads of them on there waiting to abuse people that have any interest in field sports, I have had all sorts of comments fired at me , maybe I am naïve but it is very easy to get dragged into a prolonged argument which then becomes a total waste of time. Their reason for being just seems to be to disrupt people that have busy and enjoyable lives. Why don't they get a life themselves ? I have also learnt that hunt followers now need to wear masks to protect themselves from abuse , as well as the antis who are wearing them to avoid being identified and arrested. What's the point in a load of people standing in a field in masks shouting at each other ? We'll be wearing them on the syndicate shoot next and chatting in muffled tones while trying to eat a sausage roll. The world has officially gone mad , Trump's got nothing on that lot.

Last week one of my neighbours heard a noise outside at 1.30am and got up to find that his work van was being ransacked by 3 blokes with crowbars, he ran outside and they just said 'do yourself a favour mate and go back indoors' so he did and they carried on , he was completely powerless to do anything other than phone the police . The Police turned up about half an hour later and took some details , he has to replace a load of expensive tools but he is still in one piece . How tempting might it have been to go back indoors and then come out armed and see how much they fancied their chances , although I guess the Judge would say it was premeditated rather than self defence. Also you would only have 2 shots, so assume you manage a left and right on the first two you might have to take the third bloke on in unarmed combat. I live in a fairly quiet pleasant village but the amount of vans that get emptied in the small hours of the morning is ridiculous, a friend of mine has now taken to parking his van in a secure location several miles away and commuting in a beaten up old car every morning to pick it up and go to work, crazy.