Dr D

You were right!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣 wrong photo. I put the correct one up. Apologies. Still the fact I made the mistake probably proves my point of needing to be little more inventive with the pics

In fairness to you it is pretty similar picture to the one I put up a day or so ago. A pile of pigeons lying on a stubble field 😂. Not so many birds in this pic though. I will have to up my photography skills any suggestions? Will take some pics of my set up etc next time

There is a spot I know where three flight lines converge. Pigeons use it all the time but if you didn’t know you would often look at the fields and think they are devoid of life. However, when the pigeons want to get somewhere they will use the lines and on the right day you can draw them in even if they are not feeding there. This is exactly what happened here in the space of a few hours. The days have closed in now and everything is nearly wrapped up by 2pm, but the barrel was pretty hot for a spell. Result 93. It was quite a bit of sport out of nothing.

Benelli Here’s another bag from a fortnight ago. Equally big write up! 😂 they were on stubble as you can see! I started with half a dozen plastics. Replaced them as I went. No contraptions, just dead birds. I think I ended with 117 from memory. The most eventful thing was a female merlin trying to take a free lunch. I refused since I was shooting lead. I think I have few other photos somewhere on the phone I could stick up. Going to try to post a wee bit more to support the site.

I know 😂 it posted before I could write up! Damned iphone. I was flighting for a few hours along a nice line to some fields where they had been feeding on hedges. The line was all over the place but a strong westerly channelled them enough to get few. I picked 27 in the end. Unusual for this time of year because they are normally on beech. But there is very little about this year so I suspect they will be out of the woods shortly. Not a big bag. But nice to blow the cobwebs off in a good breeze. Oh, I also put the rotary out to draw them a bit. It proved to be marmite so I got rid of it and just stood behind the hedge. Result was very testing shots. Good to get the eye in

I’ve been on here for years and with a few notable exceptions I had increasingly found myself bored reading quite a bit of rubbish. There was also some pretty horrible stuff in ‘off the topic’ at times fuelled by brexit and other stuff. It put me off bit so I just stopped joining. I have returned over the last while and it does seem the community has shrunk! But I have posted nothing. I haven’t stopped shooting pigeons though and had quite a number of decent bags over the last three months. I might put a few posts up to show support. I still like reading what some of the old hands have been up to in field and look forward to seeing the return of pigeon controller.

I've been biding my time for the last two weeks. Lots of pigeons had arrived. They usually don't hang around for long before heading off again. Also they come in tight flocks, some about 500 strong and are very jittery. Not great for decoying. The weather today however was forecast to be pretty miserable with alot of wind and so it was time to execute a plan. It worked well. I started with nothing. No gadgets no decoys. Just the cover of a dike, the gun and a bag of cartridges. The aim wasn't to decoy but to get some dead birds out to bring passersby down to a shootable height on a flightline. This is my favourite type of pigeon shooting. The shooting was testing to say the least and the bag was a soaked through but respectable 114. Winter pigeons are the best in my opinion. A big flock sliding over your head in the wind, picking your bird, giving it lead and watching it drop half way down the field with a thump.

Haven't posted for a good while. But I have had pretty steady shooting since september. Here's a few pics

I would do exactly this

78

Me too. And I'm going to recycle the plastic cases

It should be Jonathan Rea. But it won't be.

The first two pics were on stubble over decoys in the last two weeks. 116 and 82. The others were flighting. I try to get out once a week, when a bit of wind is forecast work permitting. It's the best sport. Smaller bags, between 40 and 70 in the afternoons on a return line. The best sporting shooting available in my opinion.