.223

Happy Birthday Mark! :( :( :( :( :(

Spent all morning looking for pigeons there were hardly any about any were the most we saw was about 10 on a drilled field. Decided to have the last roost shoot of this season tonight as there was a strong wind we started abot 4.30 finished at 6.00 and had 23 pigeons 8 crows 1 magpie between 3 of us for about 70 shots i won the top shot contest so i won the £15. we all put £5 in a pot the bloke who comes back with the most wins it. i ended up with 11 pigeons 3 crows for 22 shots. :( :(

my dad has a moderator on his .308 and is deciding whether to have one on his .223 so i would be gratefull to know how you get on with it. and is your moderator one that slides down the barrel and screws on down the barrel so it only extends the lengh 0f the barrel a couple of inches or one that screws straight to the end of barrel.

on two seperate occasions last year on the same farm i had a sparrowhawk chase the pigeon on the magnet round both occasions witnessed by my dad. i have also had sparrow hawks on loads of occasions drop down onto shot pigeons when roost shooting i think they where trying to get a last meal before it got to dark.

i don't bother with a hide just wear my realtree coat and green combat trousers, a definate must for roost shooting though has got to be a face veil and gloves. the main secret to not being spotted is to just stay dead still till the very last moment. as for calls i never bother when roost shooting but i regulary use crow calls when deacoying with great effect.

i just throw my carp back like you.

for me it has to be feeder fishing for roach, a light quiver tip rod 2lb main line down to a tiny maggot feeder with a size 20 hook on 1lb hook lengh.

i'v been into falconery for about 4 years now since my dad took a harris hawk from a local falconery center because it was losing weight and getting old and they didnt have the time for it he kept it for 2 years untill it died.then he got a male peregrine but this was to much for him so he gave it to a friend. then i was offered a harris hawk male about a year ago which i had and have flew him most weekend and school holidays since and my dad has now just bought a female so we can fly them together. i like harris hawks because they are easy to look after and unlike falcons you can cast them up a tree and they will follow you and most of the action happens really close you can also hunt them in packs. i have never flown or been out with many other kinds of birds so i cant tell you which would be easyest to look after but i think if you have a harris hawk or a buzzard as your first bird you cant go far wrong.

my dad zeros the rifles at: .22 rimfire bang on at 50yards .223 1 and a half inches high at 100 yards .243 1 inch high at100 yards. :(

I prefer cream ferrets as i do a lot of ferreting with hawks and have found they are less likely to take a cream ferret as they are a totally different couler to rabbits so the hawk dose not confuse the ferret for a rabbit as sometimes happens with polecats.

My dad asked permission of the local police to shoot geese with his rifle to use his .22 rimfire.He could not shoot them with a shot gun as it was near a supermarket and the owner thought it would be to loud and attract to much attention.However the lake had to be totally cleared of all people before he could go ahead.

You need a rod licence at the age of 12 and over. if you are between 12-18 it cost £5 for the year.

My mum will not touch any game i bring back, its not allowed in the house unless totaly cleaned out, she will not eat it either and then spends about 2 hours disinfecting everything afterwards

i get the Sporting Gun delivered every month, get the Shooting Times every week and sometimes get Air Gunner, My dad also gets the Gun Mart

just found this website if any ones interested seems pretty good. http://www.tmbdesigns.clara.net/decoying.htm :( :thumbs:

my most memerable day pigeon shooting was 9 years ago when i was 6years old it was a very hot summers day and we were shooting on some stubble in a bale hide the size of a large shed. it was my first ever day pigeon shooting and will always stay in my memory the birds came in all day consistently and i remember watching my dad shooting not knowing i was going to have to wait another 5years untill i had my own gun. the bit that stands out the most in my memory is when the roof fell in on us both.it was a fantastic day which resulted in about 70 birds i think. :(

Thanx for the advice i will probably do most of the shooting inside the barns as the farmyard is in full view of a road and the canal footpath as far as i now there was one person who kept pigeons in the area but stopped keeping them about a year ago because he got to old.

I recieved a phone call last night from a farmer who had just been given my number from a friend. He asked me if i could go down to his farm and control the feral pigeons around his grain stores with my air rifle he said there is betwwen 75-125 around constantly but before i go. i want to know will i be braking the law by shooting these as most of them are racers gone wild, or are they classed as vermin once they land as i have been told.

we had a couple of lamp shy foxes on our land last year we tried red filters wich didn't work beacase there are alot of people shoot on this paticular farm using red filters so we borrowed a blue filter of a friend and it worked a treat foxes didn't care about the light being on them and came right in. :(

An old manatu .22 they have been taken over by falcon now i think, though im getting half inch groups at 45 yards with it on still days never really shoot over that though but i have shot an killed a rabbit at 55yards which is the longest distance i'v shot at anything with it.

thanx for the tip definatley give it a go and report back. :( :(

sounds good i'll give it a go but would this work in large woods as most the woods in the estate are between 6-13 acres big wouldn't it be better to keep on the move in these woods. :( :(

could any one give me some tips on roost shooting with an air rifle as my local estate is holding an air rifles/410's only roost shoot in a couple of weeks, i have attended these in the past without much look and so need some advise please. :( :(

ok i'll try that and report back with my verdict

i always use 32gm 7's with half and three quarter chokes unless it is really windy i will use three quarter and full with no.6's in my full choke because my second shot is usually fireing at range. But as dogsnuts said it's what your comfortable with.