OJW

They are not on the general licence but you can shoot them during the season between September 1 and January 31 in the same way you can shoot other species during this time. I shot one last season.

Very well written, you can picture it all vividly. A perfect weekend.

PM sent, I very much hope we can get something arranged.

We just turned up and winged it, you can book in advance though and if you go I would recommend it as it get very busy in August and especially over the weekends. They are official camp sites, some let you have a fire in a fire pit and BBQ and some don't so make sure you research the rules before you go as a fire is a must in my opinion. We didn't use any special gear to hike or camp to be honest. We bought / rented camping equipment as cheaply as possible as we went there as part of a 1 month road trip. Haha thanks! Alas, while in Vegas before we went to Yosemite we must have also got lost, because we ended up in Safires "restaurant" or at least that is what my friends bank statement calls it, luckily for him.. Lets just say in Safires the only things being served were strippers. It was a vast establishment and I wouldn't be surprised if they had an Ahwahnechee Indian Squaw if thats what tickles ones pickle. Another near miss for me, I was sober enough not to get conned into it but the other two left having spent far more than they could afford! Thank you everyone for your compliments on the photos and speculation on the smell of adrenalin!

Haha unfortunately not.. however the risk of wild fire is so high that being seen having a cigaret out there would be akin to being caught weeing in a public pool or something, legal but very frowned upon! A big no no and nicotine intake fell as a result. Rest assured that giving up is now my top priority. When we drove up the pacific coast we drove through a massive wild fire in Big Sur (another national park area) that was burning over 60,000 hectors. We were not allowed to stop and every camp site and road side store was closed. Yes, there are loads of places to camp and well used trails with lots of people on. Some camp sites you can book in advance, some you have to turn up and risk it. During the week there isn't such a big issue but over weekends it can be very difficult to find anything. You can rent a pitch for as little as $26 and then there are also cabins and things. in August it was very busy.

I've just been out in America with two friends and we camped in Yosemite Valley National Park for a number of nights spending our days hiking up mountains and through the forest. We are all young and fit and preferred to push the boundaries slightly in terms of going off the beaten track and not really worrying about whether it would get dark or not on the more well trodden popular trails. It was one of the most breathtaking places I have ever been. It's much slower covering distances uphill especially when carrying over a gallon of water in each of our rucksacks. We would hike for over an hour and then check the distance we had covered and see it was only a couple of miles which on normal ground we could run in around 15minutes. One day we drove 26miles up a mountain to the starting point of a trail that led right to the top, I could feel my ears popping and the air felt noticeably thiner, although maybe that was my imagination. We parked on the side of the road and began our hike from that point up the mountain. After a while we realised we might be slightly lost and needed to reorientate ourselves, as the maps and compasses came out I was walking ahead of the other two. I rounded a corner on the mountain track and walked straight into the path of a black bear a matter of meters in front. People have asked me how big it was, needless to say, it was bigger than me! It stood up and looked at me. I froze and swore saying to my friends behind me, "**** theres a bear". Of course they thought I was joking and immediately ran around the bend up to my shoulder to see, upon seeing it one guy also froze as well and the other turned on his heal and was gone in what I can only describe as a loosely controlled power walk. In these situations you are told not to run, to make yourself as big as possible and make a lot of noise. As the bear wasn't charging we just backed away slowly raising our voices talking to each other. It was one of the most amazing feelings being in the wild with one, a bit like seeing a great white outside of a cage but less dangerous / scary. It got me thinking, what do you think you would do compared to what you would actually do? I imagined what I would do if I did come across a bear when we first got to Yosemite, and the reaction I pictured was much more jovial, maybe making a joke about honey or porridge, than the real natural one I actually had. I'm glad I didn't have the "flight" reaction that one of the other guys did, but stopped and properly assessed the situation. I don't think bear attacks are very common but there are warning signs everywhere. In any case, the adrenalin kick and feeling of being surprised by one totally in the wilderness without any safety barrier or anything was immense and one I will not forget. I wish I had got a photo, something else that prior to the encounter I imagined I would do, but in the situation, the last thing on my mind was taking my camera out for a picture! However, here are some other pictures I took on our hikes. URL]

Well done Jdog, hope to catch up with you before I start in London on the 19th if you are available. Glad to see everything is going well for you.

Very very good, thanks for taking the time to post and talking us through the set/ up. Well shot.

Very well done!

Great write up, I am currently surrounded by the most beautiful scenery in Yosemite National Park but your write up makes me pine for England's countryside and sport.

This is a Cassoulet from south of France - quicker than a normal casserole. Sort of edited this recipe a bit as I had loads of pigeon to use and some similar but different ingredients. http://www.shootinguk.co.uk/recipes/pigeon/cheaters-pigeon-cassoulet-9092 Worked really well and I was very happy with it. Followed the same method as the one in the link. Pigeon breast 2 onions 3 cloves of garlic 6 sausages Bottle of red Plain flour handful of basil handful of rosemary small can butter beans sweet potato

Great views, well shot yet again!

I use pro flaps but am unsure about them, would rather use real birds but don't have the attachment. I've got one up in the vid I just posted in the vid section if that helps, you can only see it from a distance though.

Haha, thank you for the promotion . Cheers for the tip, I will make sure they are flush next time. I'm out again tomorrow for the last time before I head across the pond during aug. I will try and get a video together in the short space of time I have before Wednesday. If the PW shoot day was anything to go by I think you might agree stationary birds in trees are easily underestimated Thanks Stevey G and Cranfield. Glad you enjoyed.

Short video I've rushed to put together from last Thursday. I had a great time firing 92 shots for 36 birds. I've included some silly misses for your enjoyment. I even missed a bird sitting in a tree (unsporting but pest control I'm afraid) with the first barrel, lucky recovery on that one. The wind was blowing in on my back and I set the decoys up in a V shape facing into it. I placed the magnet out on the left as from that point there was a view stretching over at least a few miles of fields and I wanted it to grab as much attention as possible. I put two floaters beyond the pattern to try and attract the attention of bird crossing the field from behind the big tree in front. Not sure how well this worked. Where would you have put them? As always, interested to hear how people may have tweaked things. I experimented by putting a net over the hide, this seemed to work well with birds flying high over the top of me. Unfortunately, I didn't realise at first that the net covered the camera when I stood up to take a shot so only one of these birds has been included in the video. I took the net back down after a short while. I shot a bird over the tree to my left and looked down to see it fall onto a patch of grass in the woods. I climbed a fence and walked over to retrieve it, but when I stepped onto the patch of grass I immediately started to sink, it was like quick sand. Luckily I got out. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

That sounds brilliant Jdog, Quantity and Quality. Well done again!

Yes I went out yesterday and shot 66 birds for about 100 shots over some wheat. I was out from 11am - 6pm. I used a magnet with Pro-flap decoys on that I thought looked a bit dodgy but seemed to work OK. Then just put some decoys up on sticks above the wheat. The birds came in well, I was only shooting at birds that came in close due to the standing crops. I'm going out again on Thursday and will try and take a video and write a half decent report on that day if it is any good.

Is it ok to eat birds that have had eggs laid in/on them? I plucked and breasted some and washed the meat, it looks fine. This is a real problem as the flies are laying eggs on the birds in minutes after they are down. Every single bird had eggs in their beak / wound or under the wing unless they were picked immediately and put in a hessian sack. Picking each bird right away is impractical as it disturbs other birds. I don't have a dog that is old enough to work yet else that might help. Thanks.

Very well done!

My understanding is that you don't need a SGC to use a shotgun on game or clays as long as there is someone with you who has SGC in supervision. I don't see why this would change if it is your own land you are shooting on?

This show is not doing hunting or game shooting any good at all.

A mate of mine bought one last year for about £35k pre built and with a good finance deal, I think and it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. He can't drive it when there is a risk of rain and it really turns heads so if you feel self conscious I wouldn't recommend it!

Cheers, I am in the Elmbridge area. I was thinking about what you would be do while I was wondering where the pigeons were, I decided that you would have seen that there was no traffic at all and probably wouldn't have bothered setting up (which would have been the right decision).

I ended up just pushing the spike flat so that they sat on the floor, but even then the rounded red bit poked out.

Yesterday Had a call from a keeper saying there were lots of pigeons on his land, I jumped in the car and drove down to the estate around an hour away. The under-keeper told me to set up on a long strip of cover crop seed he said the birds were keen on. I got set up and felt good about the hide and the decoys. Alas, over about 5 hrs, for 8 shots I only shot 5 birds. I had a good view of the surrounding countryside and couldn't see any pigeons at all. Furthermore the keeper had set up bangers in all the other possible spots so I felt like I had good chances. I didn't have a 4X4 so couldn't move and didn't want to bother the keepers. On a positive note, I have been given permission to go back anytime I would like to between now and when they put their pheasants down. Really enjoyed being out and about despite the lack of pigeons and humidity. Today I was invited by a friend to go to his farm near Newburry. I set off in the car very early this morning. Thanks to last nights ferocious storms, the Police had to block off both ends of the main road outside mine because of flooding. I made it past eventually but the traffic was so awful after spending 40mins stuck in traffic and still only 10mins away from my house I had to abandon the remaining 1hr 30 journey and turn back. Unfortunately he won't be out of London again until September now. Fingers crossed for next time. On another positive note I got to try my new AYA XXV which worked well in the hide and seems to shoot straight. Not 100% sure that the FUD deecoys are much good, can the pigeons not see the red metal sticking out of their backs?