actionman1

I just wanted to say a big thank you from my shooting buddy and myself for a very pleasant day shooting. Bleeh was kind enough to invite us over to his permission to shoot over Rape stubble today. He really is a great host, putting time in on recon and finding the place with the best chance of bagging a few. I am looking forward to getting him back to our perms for some Rabbit, Fox shooting.Its always nice to meet new people with a shared passion for fieldsports.

A day of days guys, well done

I will take this PM to follow

Lots of over reaction here, this should not of been put in the open forum. A phone call from Bleeh could reassure him of only my good intentions. Thank god i can speak to him on the blower in half hour to sort this out. I admit i do not have much experience with pigeon shooting, but i have plenty to offer people in return for a day out with anyone. Rabbit shooting on 3 permissions, High seats for Deer, Fox shooting and even a shooting hide thats big enough to sleep 3 .

If i get stopped by the Police when in transit with my Guns , i have to show written Permission to shoot, i understand that this land is a verbal permission. I do not like leaving things in a grey area. Unless i am wrong where the Law is concerned

No need to name and shame as i am the guy in question. I feel compelled to make a defence for myself on this forum at this point, but will be speaking to Bleeh in person as soon as. What started out as a plee for help turned into what i thought was a promising future friendship. We did exchange many emails and eventually i invited Bleeh to one of my permissions to have an evening Rabbit, and maybe Deer or Fox shooting. The time spent was very pleasant, i introduce a couple of shooting buddies who liked Bleeh and resulted in me offering shooting at any of my permissons anytime, also Bleeh made the offer to take us out on his permission which was very kind. Several months later the day arrived for me to go over to Bleehs permission for a few hrs shooting over peas, once again a very enjoyable few hrs. Bleeh pointed out to me the farmer who was driving back and forth most of the time we were shooting, then as we packed away and headed back to the road the farmer drove up and had a chat with us. He had rope bangers in his hand and i guess thats what he had been doing when we saw him drive around. I thanked him for letting me accompany Bleeh and he also said thanks to me, in the conversation he said Bleeh was the only person who shot his land, and he was surprised that i would drive an hour to come and shoot. He said first to me" come any time" as he was putting in the rape on a field he pointed out. Now this felt awkward so what i did was get a card out with my phone number on, which i give out sometimes as it shows who i am and that i am insured and not a fly by night sort of chap. Now here is the important bit, I could see that he was putting up bangers so must have a few problems with the pigeons, i thought the farmer was a nice old chap so i said in front of Bleeh, "this is how you can contact me , if Bleeh was on holiday ( and i know he is away in Sept) and he was getting hammered i would come over and help out for a bit, as long as Bleeh does not mind" this was a spur of the moment thing, i am not in the habit of going out to steal someones permission, and i judged my action as helping Bleeh in keeping his permission as i know only too well that to keep a permission you have got to do a job for a farmer or the next person to ask him will get the job. After the farmer left we popped to a local pub to have a chat and a well earned drink. Whilst chatting to bleeh i asked him if he was happy at what i had said to the farmer and that i was not going to be calling him and bugging him to shoot his land, as i was not going to try and steal a permission from who is a nice guy and very kind to offer Pigeon shooting tips to a new shooter ( on pigeons) but i though the offer i made to the farmer could only help Bleeh, and that the farmer would think he had the reassurance of help from a mate of bleehs if he ever needed it. Whilst chatting at the pub bleeh said that he was fine with things and viewed it as a positive point. and that is where we left it. After a couple of months chatting by email i mentioned that i was on holiday next week, and asked if he had any days off or evenings he could get out and shoot as i fancied a trip over again. But this is where i think Bleeh is getting the wrong end of the stick, i asked if he would forward me the farmers contact details so i could get him some paperwork to sign. this would include permission to shoot form to send to the police, i am a stickler for keeping things right as far as having paperwork to show should i need to as verbal agreements do not cut it in law, and as an open certificate holder for firearms i have to show that i do thing right. I think bleeh has viewed this as an attempt to steal his shooting, which is not the case. I hope to resolve the situation with bleeh, i may have pushed the friendship too fast, but i am a laid back kind of guy and love meeting new people and enriching my shooting experience. But i make this offer to Bleeh, if he is not happy with how things are going between us, i will state here and now that if he is not happy with me i will not go anywhere near his permission and will not contact his farmer to go over and shoot. I have plenty of shooting my way and will never try to steal anyones permission. But i do hope a phone call with bleeh can reassure him of my intentions.

I think the mouth call i have greatest success with is the WAM call, it has a better natural sound than the widgeon, perfect for the less windy days as its quite a quiet call. But on windless summers evenings its a killer. You can cup a hand over your mouth while calling to vary the sound..... I do love the sound of the Tenterfield call , you can get a very raspy sound, but takes a lot of practice. very good for the winter and can be blown hard for lots of volume.

Some semi`s shoot flat,and i think the o/u is set 60% of the pattern high , but the pattern plate should get your sight picture right.

Great tip, the simple ideas are the best! but then it cannot be that simple or we would all have thought of it!!!!! well done and keep em coming

Just visited the Commando Comics website. You can sign up there to get 4 issues free on you Tablet/computer or phone. Ideal so show the youngsters some great bedtime stories

I used to save my pocket money and looked forward to popping to the Newsagent and picking up the latest copy. Also they did Annuals, still in paper format but several stories together, i used to think it was Christmas when one came out! I did not keep my original copies as they were passed on to my brother, but i did buy a box full off a guy on the net to read a few years ago. they brought back memories. In the box was number 1 of Battle picture library, they were a rival comic, still got it somewhere, must be worth a few ££££

You could pet a fold in 2/3 rds of the banding strip to firm it up a little. If you have a vise this can be done easily

I got the 3 ply one form A1, it is still quite see thru . It is useful to have the stealth net underneath my doubled military camo net, but have it a little higher as it is good to watch approaching birds thru the stealth. But id does defeat the object of having a nice light net to carry with the rest of the gear. I did an experiment and just used the Stealth net, as some crows approached i kept below the height of the net but moved my gun barrels, the crows flared off every time i did this, so they can pick up movement thru it. But if its all you have just sit still until the last moment.

Just a reminder to newbies or anyone who needs some more poles, that asda have the washing line props for £2.50 !!! in green ,slightly longer than dedicated hide poles but a bit stronger/ heavier . The props have the same tops and center adjuster as my hide poles, but have no stake end. I just pulled out the plastic plug and flattened the end to make a point. Grab yourself a bargain

On Friday morning i thought i would have a couple of hrs Shooting. I fancy a bit of Pigeon shooting i thought, so a quick dash to get my Gear and its off to the Maize stubble field across the road. The land i shoot is not that good for Pigeons at the moment, but i am fast getting addicted to the sport. I have plenty of Rabbit, Fox and Deer shooting, but find my thoughts turning to the winged quarry more and more. . The birds have been feeding around my permissions on Rape, but they have been flooding in numbers to a plowed Rape field from last years crop. They have been feeding on that field for a number of weeks now, and luckily there is a flight line across the maize field i can shoot close to a wood. The birds were coming across the line in small groups of three or so, and for once the wind had turned to a favourable direction to allow me a bit of a go at them .I set up my hide on the edge of the wood and put out 15 Shells in a comma pattern 20 yards away. Now i am not very experienced so i am having to try a few different patterns to see what works. After only 5 minutes one came over the trees behind me and turned to have a look at my pattern, tucked his wings, dropped his speed and in he came! so exciting. I tucked down and watched from a hole in the camo net and waited as long as i could resist, then popped up and Bang 1 for 1. I was trying some Trust halycon Gold carts, are they a good match for my Lanber?, or was i getting a bit better shot? A few more birds did fly over, had a bit of a look, then turned onto there normal route and into the field across the road. Out came the magnet, thought it was worth a go as they may be fooled as the approach over the trees might get a snap reaction from them. I put it to the left side of the comma about 25 yds from me. This did pay off for me as it did bring quite a few off the Flight line to the decoys. i missed quite a few but managed to pick up 9 with a few lost in the treetops behind me. I know this was not a good bag in comparison to the numbers you guys shoot, but it is a bit of a step forward for me as i was getting some interest. I must say i bought some ezey wobblers for my shells and was impressed with the extra movement they brought to the pattern. A very enjoyable couple of hrs, and the sun way keeping me warm flooding into the hide, so for once it was an entirely comfortable session. http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp158/actionman100uk/pigeonhide_zps7e6cd452.jpg