JDog

No one could ever say that you are not keen to get out after foxes, rabbits, pigeons etc. If you lived closer to me in the cotswolds I would, I know, enjoy your company and sense of humour in a pigeon hide.

There is one estate on which I shoot which has a flight line to die for. I treat this flight line with respect and do not overshoot it. Today was the day to shoot it for the first time since harvest. The birds come out of two valleys and fly up a steep hill to flat land on the top. They always split into three flight lines and it is very dificult to draw birds off the two lines which have not been chosen for the hide position and decoy pattern. All of the fields into which the birds were heading were winter wheat stubble and all had round bales in them...ideal for getting under the best line. I was set up by 1:30 and had birds coming in straight away. I could see the other two lines and wondered if I had made the correct decision setting up where I had as there were a lot of birds on them. However I stuck to my decision which was vindicated as the birds on 'my line' came in well to the pattern and after three hours of shooting I picked 67 pigeons. Birds were still flighting as I packed up but as there will soon be a bean stubble at the end of these lines I left earlier than I would normally have done so that some of the birds on the line will not have been shot at. I will go back to the bean stubble in two weeks time to see if there are any pigeons feeding on it. If there is a better sport/hobby than pigeon shooting I have never heard about it and whilst I would not consider that I am obsessed about it I remain very very keen and I have been keen for the last forty years and I hope my interest continues.

There has been lots of conflicting and contrasting advice posted. Are you any the wiser about your future actions? I went self employed many years ago which certainly avoids situations like this and which gives me more time to go pigeon shooting.

All good advice as above but I doubt whether you will need all 38 birds as decoys. As a condition and concession to my having dead birds in one of the fridges I have to triple wrap them in plastic bags and in this way, if they have been cooled down properly in the first place, they will last for at least a week. My other half will still not go to the 'death fridge' if there are any birds in there.

A holiday when the geese and pigeons are flighting?

The field I chose to shoot this afternoon was a difficult one in terms of hide position as it was triangular with two long sides adjacent to roads, albeit minor ones. The only real option was to set up in the middle of the field on a telegraph pole facing farm land and away from the roads. I must admit I am normally unhappy about having a hide in the middle of a field but in this case there was no alternative. I have two extra long hide poles between which I put netting and this was placed behind the hide as a 'backdrop'. The front of the main hide was well above head height and the backdrop was two feet above that. My fears were unfounded as birds came very confidently into the decoy pattern although some came over a belt of trees some distance away and continued on over my head producing some 'screamers'. The wood in the background is a major source of pigeons on this estate but the flightline today came from elsewhere. That particular field is just too close to the wood to shoot when birds are flighting from it.

Stupendous camera work. How far were you from the doe in the top picture. It looks as if it may have been feeding out of your hand.

Possibly a silly question but do you put the fish back?

Squirrels are more active at this time of year as they are collecting and storing conkers and other nuts for winter. Now is an excellent time to run them over.

It does look like an old pellet wound or similar. That poor bird will have had to eat so much more than normal if part of the contents of it's crop kept falling out as seems likely.

Whilst lots of keen and knowledgable shooters, including myself, are struggling you keep coming up with the goods. My hat off to you.

Then you do not have a problem.

You could be right about the swinging stopping. The difficult birds, the ones coming back down the flight line from behind me (I was in a bale hide) 40m up or wide of me I connected with, the ones coming straight into the pattern I often missed.

I have had a fair amount of shooting over the last few weeks ever since the first cereal crops were harvested. One would have thought that with so much practice my shooting would be spot on but infact I feel as if I am beginning to shoot poorly. I am never one for cartridge averages as I shoot at anything within range whether it decoys or not but this afternoon I just could not connect with relatively easy birds. Does this mean that because I have had plenty of shooting I am becoming complacent? Have others had a similar experience?

I have only been on the forum for two months but I have noted your considered views, gathered from experience in the field and other places, with great interest and it is a shame that you are leaving. Have I missed the reason ie the posts and adverse comments for your decision somewhere?

You may be lucky and find that the pigeons find the rape in the winter and you may get some shooting but I wouldn't get too excited until the rape is harvested.

An inconclusive report As promised a blow by blow report! I was set up by 1:30 and there were no birds flighting anywhere for an hour so my 'magnet or no magnet' experiment was null and void. By 2:30 birds were flighting but few came into the decoy pattern, choosing to skirt it presenting 35-40m shots. I had ten in the next hour. At 3:30 I put the magnet out, actually outside the pattern. The pigeons did the same skirting the pattern thing but some did come in and there were more flighting and in the next hour I shot eighteen. Needless to say an inconclusive excercise but isn't that what pigeon shooting is all about? If we knew how to decoy them close in to a decoy pattern every time it wouldn't be as much fun. It is the 'not knowing' and the anticipation which I enjoy.

I believe that I have become too reliant on the magnet, but I must confess it has usually worked in bringing pigeons into the pattern where I want them. This afternoon I will be going out onto a wheat stubble where there are several flight lines crossing the field but only birds on two of them ever descend into the field to feed. The other flight line is very complicated and the pigeons end up travelling almost 1km to feed on a barley stubble. As an experiment I will not be putting out the rotary when I set up but I may resort to it if I cannot get birds to decoy as I want them to. I will report later.

But were there any pigeons flying around when you had your initial pattern out? I suspect not. Time of day is important and the birds may have just started flighting to feed when you coincidentally changed the pattern.

The earliest I have ever seen Fieldfares was in the first week in October and on the same day I saw Swallows and a Red Admiral butterfly. An unusual combination.

Well just for a second or two I do let go of the gun but I can manage my equipment with one hand thank you.

Not one even to contemplate. I know that when I am about to die I will never regret the amount of shooting I have had. At the moment I am out four days a week, some good some bad in terms of the bag but all enjoyable.

If the birds are coming in thick and fast of course I take a leak in the hide, why wouldn't I?

I never let my gun out of my hands whilst I am in the hide. I sit with it across my thighs with my hands on the semi pistol grip ready for action.

I am not sure about the importance of incoming pigeons seeing wing bars although that is what I see when viewing through binoculars at birds going in to land. What I am sure about is the importance of incomers seeing heads and necks of birds on the ground, particularly the white collar and especially in stubble.