ShropshireSam

I have tried several weather apps but always thought the wind data is not as easy to monitor over several days. A sailing friend put me onto Windy - this is a free app and has the useful weather data but focuses on wind. You can add locations as favourites. I liked it so bought the pro version for £10 and then found you could alter the settings ... so not sure if you can do this on the free version or not. With the settings I could change the wind speed from m/s to mph and I could remove all the wave information - hopefully not relevant in a hide! The best thing is that you can look at the wind over the next week and see the speed (wind and gusts) and direction ... also gives temperature and rainfall. Recommend it...but see what you can do with the free version as this may do all you want.

Excellent roost shooting. If I shot that well on a roost shoot I would be well chuffed. I can't get those ratios over decoys never mind on a roost shoot :lol:

Watched a few rape fields for a couple of weeks and decided I would set up early on the next windy morning. Had a chosen field with lots of pigeons feeding on it, decided to go Tuesday as 40 mph winds due, even though I could only get an hours shooting. Set up by 8 AM under a large oak with the wind behind me and a tiny screen of camo in front (low and tied to the tree) with the magnet 20 yards in front of me. Didn't bother with any other deeks as they would just have blown away. First few pigeons appeared and drifted over to another oak half way up the field. I know this was the flight line and favoured tree, but it was too close to the farmhouse and other properties so opted for the oak at the bottom of the field. Put a shot up to move the birds on, looked around to see more than 500 birds lift out of a wood two fields away. They drifted round and settled in the middle of the rape ... none interested in the magnet. I walked them off and they swirled round, over the other oak and off to other fields. Another small flock came over and landed in the other tree, again put a shot up to move them on. Another 500+ birds lifted out the wood and came over. I walked these off and off they went. Sat watching very little traffic. Had 2 shots at passing pigeons and hit the one woody that came to the magnet, packed up and went to work. If this roost wood had not been so near I could have had a steady stream of birds and a good hours shooting...although I would probably have needed to move to the other oak. Wondered if it would be worth moving the birds out the roost wood on an evening....if they roosted further away hopefully they would still head back to this field in the morning if favouring it at the moment? It would be an ideal roost wood as a small plantation of conifers, but just over the boundary of my permission. But first must decide what to do in the morning. Snow on the ground and high winds due. Have another available rape field but not much traffic today and wind in wrong direction, or can try a flightline along a river as this can be a good flightline when the wind keeps the birds low out the wind

My advice for winter pigeons - Do plenty of reccies, wait for a windy day and get out and set up (on a flightline if possible) before the pigeons arrive ..... AND never expect a big bag!

Your choke choice should depend on what range your shooting. I use 1/4 and 1/2 for most decoying, aiming to shoot the first target at 20-30 yards. It doesn't matter which barrel is which choke, but you should shoot the more open choke first as the second shot is usually further away. I then switch the 1/4 to 3/4 for roost shooting or the 1/2 to skeet for shooting skeet clays ... so usually only changing one choke but switching which barrel I set to shoot first. Some people use skeet and skeet as rarely shoot at range while other like full and full all the time - it depends what suits you, the gun and your cartridge. It is good practice to use some gun grease on the choke threads and slacken/tighten ever few months if not changing them to make sure they do not seize up, my second gun had both chokes locked solid and took some getting out.

Supposed to be the best crop for pigeons but I've never had a good day with them. Few beans grown on my permissions and had very few days shooting on them after been drilled. After harvest the fields are normally drilled with wheat soon after harvest and pigeons never seem to find them in time.

Limited experience on geese but more likely to pull them in range rather than not using them.

I have been waiting for a windy morning to break up the flocks before having a go on some rape. Well with storm Barbara due I thought I could get out yesterday. I was out before light having already reccied the options. Choice was a large rape field with plenty of pigeon interest over the last week. Had a tall sitty tree off about 10 yards off a corner and over a beck and two small sitty trees just down a hedge perpendicular to the beck. Set up in the corner with 3 lofted decoys in the nearest small sitty tree, about 20 yards from the hide. Put a flapper 20 yards out in the field and 10 half shell decoys scattered around in the bear patches. Across one field to the right is a large wood where the pigeons congregate on a morning before dropping across to the rape. My hope was that as the pigeons arrived at the wood they would see the lofted decoys and come over. I was set up by 8 AM and had a couple fo pigeons approach just as I finished setting up. Had slow traffic for the next 15 minutes and then it got busy with various size flocks from pairs to about 100 birds. Lofters really seemed to work as pigeons came over the far wood and instead of landing turned towards the decoys. As they arrived some would commit to one of the sitty trees or the decoys on the ground. Had a busy 40 minutes and then traffic slowed to a trickle. I stayed for another 2 hours but very slow traffic. Wind was only 15 mph to start, but gradually got stronger. Finished with 30 picked from 56 shoots. Checked the forecast and Barbara was due to peak in the early afternoon. Home for some lunch and family time then back out to a roosting wood I can shoot anytime..... not many pigeons as it was overshot a few years ago .... but worth a go in the wind. Storm Babara had passed the Midlands without too much rain but winds were ca. 40 mph. In place by 4 pm and not much pigeon traffic but had a good 30 min session with pigeons whizzing past and jinxing about. Finished with 3 picked for 14 shots. Not big bags but great sport.

Any wheat drilled now will still be a winter variety. Most winter varieties can be drilled as late as february. I should think most growers not growing winter wheat due to black grass will be growing a spring cereal so unlikely you will see much more spring rape or peas Aga Man.

Not been on the pigeons since September stubbles ... too busy and not many about. Had a call from one permission that high numbers on a thin patch of his rape at 8:30 in the morning. Had a look at lunchtime and no pigeons in sight, but had a walk round and found an oak tree in one corner with plenty of pigeon **** under it and and a small overgrown pit hole under the tree I could use as a natural hide. Went back this morning at daybreak with a light kit. Woke up to heavy rain so stayed in doors another half hour, then only a light shower and a steady breeze. Set up 10 half-shells and made a crude hide around the pit hole with some brash wood from a fallen branch. Set up by 8 AM and soon had passing starlings and crows but about 20 mins until first pigeon appeared. Came straight down hedgeline to my chosen sitty tree and dropped. Quickly set up a flapper in front of deeks. Field started to be busy with several large flocks but field is surrounded by oaks and a small wood so they have plenty of options, and once some had set-up in a distant tree the others followed. Had to put a few shots in the air to move them on. Only had odd lone birds or small flocks decoyed towards my sitty tree. Had five from five shots but then messed my hit rate by shooting at some high crows, dropped 2 of them. Finished by 9:15 with 7 pigeon and 2 crows for 14 shots including 2 doubles, so well worth the little effort/time to set-up.

Main issue of using a .22 LR on foxes is that you will rarely get them within range unless youngsters. I often see foxes out while rabbiting but usually fail to get them in range of a .22 (ideally 50 yards as this is what gun is zeroed to). Much more chance of a shot with the range of a CF.

Davyo - many thanks for starting this thread and continued advice. I have followed your build/advice and I am very pleased with the results. Using a Black Sun B20 IR illuminator from Ward and could see out to about 300 yards. It was too bright at close range so need to widen the beam at close range. Fitted a red filter over the screen so very little glare. Took it out last night for the first test with a full nv kit (driver camera, spotter and now nv scope add-on). Zeroed the scope without the NV on as it had been knocked about a bit during the "fitting" of the nv. Slotted on the nv and scope alignment not affected. Had a drive round a couple of fields looking for bunnies - not many about as I shoot them regularly. The nv took some getting used to, with too much light at close ranges and not as easy to find the quarry on the screen as I would through the scope. But good thing was the bunnies just ignored me as I "played around" with the kit. Finished with 7 bunnies and a bonus fox that was great to watch on screen as I called it into range. Still need to improve the target image. I can get the cross hairs sharp but not the target. I have a new hawk with front parallax as suggested. Assume I adjust the front parallax to get better focus at different ranges? (I have not played with the iso settings - can this improve target focus?)

Thought a large drone might be ideal for placing "lofting" decoys in high trees ..... but would need to be an expensive hefty drone, a good pilot and wouldn't work when you want them on windy days.

Unfortunately with state support human evolution has stopped and is probably in reverse .... we will only get more morons. Always have to be wary of idiots .... I always like a hide set-up with a good view of all shooting angles and a thick hedge to my back.

Not had much luck this harvest with no decent bags on the stubbles since I shot over some wholecrop rye stubble in July .... very frustrating. I found a decent flightline onto some barley stubble on Monday. It was on a permission I need to check before I can go on. Phoned and sent a text and never got a reply. Phoned Tuesday and got the all clear. Returned and field was very quiet with the flightline now continuing onto another permission. Followed the birds and found them on a very large wheat stubble with another good flightline in and birds all over the field. Too late to set up so checked forecast and went yesterday as the wind was up. Checked again on Wed and still plenty of traffic so invited a mate. Arrived at 12:30, flightlines were still there but didn't seem busy and about 100 birds in one corner. Set-up under an oak in a line of oaks on an old hedge line in the middle of the field. Had a 20 mph wind to my back on a slight angle (facing North and wind from South West), a line of decoys to my left, a small cluster to my right and a magnet about 15 yards out centre-left. Main flightlines were from my back and from the right, along the line of oaks. Moved birds off and in place by 1 pm. Had a hectic start with birds swirling round the trees and missed with the first 8 shots in about 2 mins. Then managed to drop a few and had 14 by the time my mate turned up at 1:20. We had a busy 2 hours shooting with many birds decoying within seconds of others been shot. Most birds were pulled towards the pattern but then swirled around the trees. The birds were buffeted by the wind as they flew in and out of the shelter of the trees, and made for some great sport. Not many doubles as the birds were soon out of range after the first shot. Had a double followed by another double within about 15 seconds ..... if we had shot like that all afternoon we would have cleared 200. Traffic slowed by about 3:30 and birds were not pulling as well so put some dead birds out and this helped. Very little traffic by 5 PM and packed up with 120 picked for about 300 shots .... a better ratio than I expected as it felt like we were missing a lot! This is not my highest bag or the best sport I have had but it was certainly the best combination of quality and quantity of shooting I have had. Makes up for the days of reccying with no joy and setting up only for the 200+ birds not to return.

Never had much luck on stubbles once cultivated.

Good meat for a slow cooker. Use any recipe for tough beef (eg brisket). I use an Italian recipe - Stracotto = "slow". I like the sound of the pastrami and the smoked recipe. I also freeze the legs and cook when I have a slow cooker full (about 8) with plenty of fat to make confit or rillettes.

Had a double with a rimfire on bunnies and the second was about 2 ft behind the second and 1 ft to the right .... the bullet had deflected markedly while passing through the head of the first ..... re-inforces the need for a good backstop for every shot.

Ratios totally depend on the situation...if you have a steady flightline into a pattern and so presented with the same "picture" then the ratio should be low and only really effected by the difficulty of the shots you take at the second bird (and third bird if with an auto). I like to be under 2:1 when they decoy well and under 3:1 when skirting the pattern or when windy .... when shooting a flightline or roost shooting in windy conditions don't worry about kill rations just enjoy the sport.

A good bag and well earned. I hate packing up and moving even though I often rush to set up and end up in a less than ideal spot. I have struggled this harvest and never found a field the birds are keen to return to so even when I move off a decent number few return and even fewer decoy well. But it has meant I have had some more challenging sport with 40-50 yard crossers.

Well done and well deserved. Most rape is cut round here and the birds just move onto another field when moved off. Just need to find that one field they want to stay on.

Take a dog...he usually attracts them more than me . Or as above - any crows or ferals then keep a yard off the hide and flies will be busy on them .... best if they are bleeding, so if not rip some skin off that will attract the flies. If you put shot pigeons in a wet hessian sack on a hot day that will keep the flies busy. They lay 1000s of eggs on the sack and the pigeons inside are kept cool and in good condition.

Congratulations - always good to get a PB. Keep watching the stubbles and you may get a ton this harvest.

As others have said. Fly eggs are not a problem. Only need to make sure they are cooled and frozen or processed before they hatch. If I am freezing for the dealer I try to remove any obvious clumps of eggs. I collect birds and place single layers in hessian bags with the opening folded over and keep in the shade. If a very hot day I soak bags in water as the evaporation helps cool the bags down. Some days the damp bags can be covered with fly eggs but the birds inside are fine.

Been watching a field of winter barley for a week with what started to be high numbers of crows and then a steady build up of pigeons over the week. I did not want to target the crows ...but thought by shooting the pigeons I would keep the crows off as well. Had a busy weekend and could only get out at 3:30 on Saturday for a few hours. Set-up in a hedge with wind behind me on wrong side of the field to the main flightline but didn't want to walk across the field with all the gear in that heat. Moved the birds off the field...about 150 birds and set pattern out by 4 pm with a chosen spot of thin crop and flat crop in the kill zone. Started with a half-dozen half-shells on sticks above the crop and a magnet with two preserved (dried) dead birds. Had a few young birds decoy but several others didn't decoy or flared off...shot a few of these that dropped on track behind me. Added some dead birds on cradles above crop, put magnet away and replaced with a flapper. More birds decoyed and decoyed well so could drop most in the pattern with some second shots of birds flaring over the hedge. Still had a lot of birds that appeared in no rush to feed and dropped into numerous oaks that surround this field. Took care to mark the birds and dog retrieved well with no obvious damage to the crop. Finished with 28 picked, lost a couple + 3 crow and a feral. Particularly pleased with the crows as only shot at these 3 and they were all high, soaring over having a nosey. Expect barley harvest to start here next week...looking ripe but still some green in the tramlines.