kitchrat

This "deal" works out at £250/day if it doesn't work then £3.50 a shot if it does work (more than 71 shots being the £250 watershed.) So, if you shoot at the 3:1 ratio many shoots work to, your 71 shots should yield about 24 birds, ie £10 a bird for a wild, un-fed pests. That's if you get 71 shots.... There after at 3:1, it's still £10 a bird. Cheaper than game shooting but almost no costs involved. A complete con, again.

To be fair to Essex Police, they were really helpful to me when I moved into their area from Herts.

In a word YES you can overshoot an area, in my opinion. Of course there are other factors which play a part but round here it is very clear that farms with frequent game shoots (some are twice a week) seem to have few pigeons in spite of the extra feeding opportunities. The highest bird density is on a local farm shoot, only shoots every 2 weeks and only 4 times. Lots of food is put down and NO pigeon shooting during the game season. Wait for Feb 2nd.....!!! (had a few 100's off there last year) In addition, pigeons here seem very magnet, decoy or hide shy and are very flighty. I have seen bunches of them approach a flock of undisturbed feeding pigeons, then flare away in panic, that flighty. On the other hand, I found a lot of happy birds on an un-shot farm the other week, 2 of us had a 70-bird day on winter rape, which for me is very unusual. Some farms, which seem idea for them, historically carry few pigeons, even if the crops are suitable. Is this because the local pigeons don't teach their young that food can be found there, because they (parents) never fed there? Then in turn, migrant birds are not "directed" there by following the locals? Something to think about as we await Freedom Day

My 1st 2 fields of barley went in in the 10th of Jan!!!!! 75 acres and by the 14th had the biggest number of pigeons on it I have ever seen - estimated between 1-2000!! Got on it in a hurry and................................................... 1 shot all gone, never to return just like rape. In fact, worse than rape because the week before a pal and I had a 70-bird day on rape on the next farm. Now the barley has been sprayed with pre-emergence spray and either this has put the pigeons off or they have cleaned it up because none on it now, except crows. Back to the rape.....

Am I the only vote for WILD turkey? I am also told that Sandhill Cranes eat really well but don't want to shoot one. (not allowed in BC or Alberta but OK inSaskatchewan) Coots are also recommended by my shooting buddy but I don't fancy them! Kitchrat

Yes, my pal and I did a "Goose flight and duck flight" day with them last year. Just got dumped off by the "guide" and told to get on with it. Has no shots at geese and about 5 shots at duck. Complete con, they had my money then hid behind the "That's shooting wild game" ticket but in fact had made almost NO attempt to put us on birds. NEVER AGAIN!!

Sounds like great fun! But where in the country are you? West to East? Where have they come from and where are they going? Send some to Essex please!

Yes, I've had birds with little else but snails in their crop so they must be able to grind them up. On the same note a wild turkey I shot this spring had a few complete hazel nuts in it's crop. Now that would take some grinding!

Have these fields been cut with a combine and chaff-cutter, or baled? I have a theory which says that a chaff-cutter lets cut chaff drift down onto any lost grain and covers it up. Don't forget that pigeons cannot/do not scratch like chickens do. Then, sometimes, as mentioned on other posts, a field seems to get more attractive to pigeons once it is roughly cultivated. Is this because the chaff has been tipped off the grain??

I never intended to question YOUR reporting, Motty, but as my shooting is in Essex, the story you related is beyond belief. I know there are some good flocks my way from time to time and good bags can be had but a massacre on that scale????

Not wanting to question your observations/reports but 500 shots in 2 hours?? That's more than 1 shot every 15 seconds!! Did he double/treble-gun it with loaders?? Who opened the boxes of ammo? Did the gun burn his hand?? Anyway, great to hear of your brilliant day, laid barley is almost a thing of the past but I know you have had a remarkable spell of weather and storms. I bagged my 4th ground squirrel last week. JK

This pulling out at 60-70 yards is what they have been doing 90% of the time in my part of Essex for years. I put it down to overshooting, do you remember ridiculing my post about educating Essex birds - "mensa pigeons!" you called them?? Shot my 1st wild turkey last week, they are quite well educated too... At least you can call them in. Cheers, Kitchrat

Thanks to you all for your ideas. I never got a reply from Howletts. Pubs can work but usually Health and Safety rules prevent them taking birds legally (at least that's what they think), same with butchers.. In addition, I hate driving about, spending time and fuel, to give away something that will appear on the menu for £7.99. Keep thinking please!!

that was the 3-hour round trip!

Following the demise of Hide and Deeks at Bishops Stortford, I have been struggling to sell pigeons. "Fortunately" I haven't shot many until the smashed-up maize-cover season this month. This year, the maize grew well, with lots of cobs and for once, the pigeons liked it! The 1st Sunday, my team shot 155, which I took to Rigby's, for 25p each. However, with the traffic round Chelmsford etc, the round trip took me 3 hours and used half the cash on fuel. The next couple of weeks we had 75 and 120, filled our freezers with breasts and gave many birds away. Does anyone know of a solution to the problems of successful pigeon shooting, nearer to Great Dunmow?? Many thanks, JK

Cat, That's my point exactly! Kitch

Several posters have been asking for a spell of cold weather to focus the pigeons on rape. Well you got it, but did it work? For me, strangely, it was a negative event. Pre-snow, I had a large farm with lots of patchy rape which was getting attention. In spite of the inevitable gas guns and game cover, I managed a good day's sport in high wind the other week, even though they came from the wrong direction (behind me), down wind at Mach 2 and swirled away on seeing it was a trap, I had 20 birds and some great sport. (I could not shoot in the other direction due to a busy road) Another few farms, with better established taller rape were also getting interest. Then it snowed - lovely!!?? Spent all day Tuesday riding round. The snow had (naturally) covered the shorter, chewed up rape but the birds had not gone on to the taller stuff which was showing through. Saw some on ivy, a few on acorns and one flock sitting in the trees(when I stopped the truck, 200 yards away, they flew off, never to return). Overall, I saw far less birds. Just goes to show how unpredictable they can be. Off to see what the thaw has brought....

Yes, it was blatently half-hearted

He lent us a call (which we didn't know how to use) then left, returning briefly a couple of hours later (spooking some incoming geese which MAY have come in - but probably not) It was a classic case of take the cash, dump them and hide behind the "wild birds" escape clause Yes, the other two guys, who had a similar failure to fire a shot, had come from South Wales.

It was a 2-hour ride to get there, leaving my house at 3.30am to pick my mate up. Arriving at 6.00 was too early but what did I know? I would like to join a club but have neither experience in "true" wildfowling nor a dog, so would feel a bit of a nuisance to other members. Then, I know it's a bit hit and miss and 2 hours each way to see no geese is a bit of a downer (as I found out!). By the way, the charge was a 3-figure number (just over)!!

Yes, once it was fully light I could see that the wheat was lightly grazed in places but the goose footprints and droppings had been washed by rain, then dried out again. Then I knew we were doomed.....

OK, so it was mainly the wrong field. However, being 100 miles from the sea, we have little choice but use a shooting outfit and take a chance. On this occasion, we lucked out, much like the guy posting on the pigeon forum the other week. But it was a very half-hearted attempt by the so-called experts.... Yes it was expensive...

No it's not a joke, I really don't know. The reason I ask is that a mate and I recently took a morning Pinkfooted goose flight with a well known outfit in E Anglia. We got there at 6.00 and were escorted to a field “they had been hammering yesterday”, told there was a hide in the hedge and some decoys in the field and left to it. We put the Sillosocks decoys out to the best of our ability (pigeon shooting style) and waited as it got light. About 8.00 pinks began to arrive, fly past nice and high and land in the next field. More followed so I put a shot up to lift them off. Many geese flew high over us in the next hour, all going elsewhere and showed NO interest at all in our decoys. When we had full light I was horrified to see that our decoys were Whitefronted geese. Now I know we were in the wrong field (ours had been grazed a little but not lately and the next field was unharvested volunteer barley the geese much preferred) but my question is, “ If all other things were equal, would Pinks decoy to Whitefronts??” I guess that IF we had been in exactly the right part of the right field, almost any decoys could work but would cross-decoys help in normal situations when you have to persuade geese into range?? Another couple of shooters were out with the same outfit, they never had a shot either and told me their decoys were Canada geese – same question.

Oh well. you caught me then!! I admit I was a bit surprised..... Cheers, KR