daithi

hi everyone just to let ye know how i got on saturday.. we shot 28 pigeons and 3 crows.. it was a lovely day to be out and about..

cheers is that the bearing in at the back of it with a shaft sitting in it.. i never thought to check it i will do tomorrow cheers

hi everyone ive dusted off the magnet i bought a few years back at the fair to use it at the weekend.. ive hooked it up to the battery but cant get it to speed up.. ive adjusted the little screw that pushes a ball bearing up against the motor shaft but its made no difference.. i even stripped and cleaned it incase the shaft coming from the motor to spin the birds was seized but it hasnt helped.. its doing about 28/32 rpm heres a video of it ive also changed batteries to no availl now it was a cheap magnet so maybe thats the fault

whys that.. some fella shoots his land that has no permission,, and then leaves dead birds and empty casings there..

thanks.. wind has been none existent here lately with the hot weather.. hopefully it picks up for the weekend.. will follow those other tips yu gave also cheers

hi everyone i will be shooting these two fields on saturday which is 38 acres the farmer has cut around the head lands and cut a few strips through the field as the pigeons were eating the laid barley so he said he would harvest it.. the pigeons seem to be coming from a few different direction some dropping in and some flying on to other areas.. a barbed wire fence runs through the centre of the fields and provides some basic cover.. we will add some bracnhes and have a net..we are thinking of setting up there in the middle of the field.. as the field runs off down a hill to where a small forest is.. some idiot of a poacher who left two decoys behind with his name wrote on them had set up in front of the forest on sunday in the low ground and shot a nice bag of pigeons and crows and left them where they fell,,i had a nice time yesterday evening picking up his maggot infested birds.. anyway the farmer isnt to happy .. passed on his name so hopefully the farmer follows through would setting up in the middle of the field(marked with black circle) be the best option as its higher and we would have a better chance of passing birds seeing us.. or is the forest the best option (marked on picture)in the low ground.. havent done that much pigeon decoying but have got a nice bit of gear together over the last while ie a magnet 20 shell decoys 2 bouncers and a diy flapper

hi all this is my attempt at making hide poles..the material i used was 18mm round bar by 3 feet ... fits nicely into the hide poles 50mm angle iron by 1 foot 4x clothes line poles from B&Q 8mmx30 bolts with loctite nuts 8 altogether ... if using a hand held drill maybe use 6mm instead i sourced all these parts in a local steel supplies as they have a better selection and are easier to deal with.. the hardest part for anyone with basic tools will be drilling the holes.. my local steel suppliers are very easy deal with and would have no problem in cutting the steel up for you.. you could throw them an extra fiver maybe if you liked.. the reason i used the angle iron was so i could use my foot to shove the poles into the ground instead of using the poles and bending them.. the original poles can be extended to 2.4m which is very high.. it comes in two parts so i cut 30cm off each bar to make them shorter and easier to carry and store.. i then cut the 18mm round bar into 8 inch lengths and put a point on them using a lathe.. i understand most people dont have lathes but the guy in the steel stores can cut 45 degree angles on them easily with a bandsaw.. or else you could source hollow steel and use a hammer or vice to flatten a point onto it... after this cut the angle iron into 20mm strips and drill holes 30mm apart.. again the local steel store will cut this.. i then inserted the round bar into the hide pole 2 inches.. and clamped them in a vice..drilled 30mm apart again.. if you havent a vice.. a vice grips would do and you drill it with a hand held drill once you had the poles secured.. but will be tricky start with a small drill bit at high speed.. google drill bit speeds so you will be doing it right i then tightened it all together wit the nuts and bolts and then the finished product.. if you have any other questions id be happy to help

email husqvarna who make mcculloch and ask them for one.. they are proud swedes and would probably love to see some ff their gear working after so long.. i have an old diawa reel and a spring broke in it..i emailed customer support and told them the story and they were very helpfull

very good shooting.. something id love to try sometime

ya cant beat those last minute phone calls.. are ya coming for a shot?.. scramble the gear together jump in the car like the dukes of hazard and away ya go.. hit the first permisson and not two minutes out of the car when ya glass a herd of three deer grazing together.. the wind is right the lay of the land is right and ye set about the stalk. after a bit of hunkering and crawling we are in position and ready to fire.. a good evening out i took two and my friend took one

ive a concrete blocked shed.. suits what i need it for better.. holding fuel for fire etc and as a workshop.. the walls can take more abuse and less maintenance

this is well worth a alisten.. i was listening to it on the way home from work yesterday.. it just shows you the mentality of some americans.. they sound like they are in gun fights once a week the way there going on.. fast forward to 11 minutes http://www.todayfm.com/player/listen_back/7/25964/05th_January_2016_-_The_Last_Word_with_Matt_Cooper_Part_1

thanks il have a look if he has any faster ones cheers

thanks very much davyo

no we were shooting together but i think it would be better one at a time more room to maneuver... would of shot more this way i think

ya i no it can vary a lot.. found that out reading about here lol.. i was just trying to get the point across to other newbies like me to not be afraid to spread out the pattern as we were the first two times..

wow 300 didnt think it was flapping that fast just shows you

hi all im looking at making a pigeon flapper and i was wondering if anybody knew what the rpm was on them as im looking to purchase a motor for the idea and put a tutorial up on here when im done

if you have nothing positive to say in relation to my posts then dont bother commenting on them in the future .. we cleaned up the place when we were finished the automatic spits them everywhere mine were nice and tidy in the hide .. were not idiots

first of all id like to say a big thanks to all the members here.. for all the help and tutorials that are spread out over the forum and replies to previous threads ive posted... so anyway it was our third time decoying.. but the first time doing it correctly.. having had time off over the christmas i trawled through this forum gaining lots and lots of info for a days decoying with a friend.. so after almost two weeks keeping an eye on a rape field due to this **** weather we finally got a break in the weather where we could do a days shooting on new years eve.. we hit the field at ten after i dragged the buddy out of the bed lol.. carried in the gear and the buddy started on the hide and i started on the pattern.. one thing ive learned and to all other newbies is make your pattern very big.. the first two times we did it was two small.. granted a pigeon is tiny but when 10 or 12 come together they cover quiet an area.. so anyway i put out 12 decoys in a horse shoe pattern and it was about 20 yards wide and 10 or 12 deep we had two floaters on either side of it and kept it simple after all it was a learning process,,, after everything was setup and we sat in the hide for 10 minutes looking out at the pattern we soon realised we needed to move as the wind was cutting us in two through a gap in the hedge.. so we relocated about twenty meters up the ditch where we were nice and cosy.. we werent in the hide 5 minutes when birds started coming we were so excited "its some buzz" to see your efforts pay off.. we missed a lot of birds due to the fact we were so excited and inexpierenced..we were shooting at them to early and we werent focusing on one single bird.. as when your peering through the net you see 3 or 4 coming but when your come over the net to shoot sometimes there was 8, 10 etc so after wasting the first box and a half of cartridges we settled down and got the hang of it.. let the bird come in and commit to the decoys and it was so much easier.. we had a right days shooting and are truly hooked thanks to the advise from members here if there is any advise i can give any newbies reading this post is dont rush out and start putting out the decoys and expecting big bags read up on this site and look at youtube clips..." i spent hours doing it and can see where to improve now on our next outing" study the field you will be hunting and even walk it study the field again practice setting up gear in your garden.. "dont take it for granted you no like we did" birds need to be 2,3 yards apart not 2,3 feet like we did the first time take pics of these decoy patterns on your phone http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/topic/153348-setting-a-pigeon-decoy-pattern/ we used this pattern with two floaters to the rear on each side,, wind and hide were in the same direction and place and heres a pic of the sucessfull day.. the brain is going non stop now with new ideas and how to improve on things

cheers fpr the replies lads the local game fair is in birr at the end of the month and il get some grear there i got a good few bargains there last year so hopefully the same again this year... saying that the euro to pound exchange rate is a killer at the minute

cheers for the info lads i had been keeping an eye on the field over a few days and there was good pigeon numbers on it there was two big flocks of about 40 to 60 birds anytime i was there in two areas.. so i setup at one of the areas where they were feeding it was after 12 today when i started and there was a good few birds on the field which flew away... i would of been there earlier only the weather was very bad this morning il work on the pattern and il give it a go again next week when im off

hi all dave here joined the forum today after getting a few tips on the site over the weekend i just had my first days decoying today and it didnt got to badly it was on a field of cut rapeseed and i shot 3 birds should of had a few more in a 2 1/2 hour period it started well and i should have had 6 or seven shot in the first hour.. a couple of birds came in ones and twos and a few groups of tens and twelves but after the hour it just dyed off and a lot of birds were landing in ash trees around the edge of the field etc... haven been doing some reading around since i came back i think what let me down was my hide... it wasnt badly camouflaged but protruded from the ditch a bit so it looked out of place the wind was coming from left to right and my pattern was placed correctly.. however the layout might not of been correct i had six shell pigeons in it well placed apart so ive a few questions for ye 1 how wide should the horse shoe be and how deep 2 how far should it be placed from the hide and how many birds in it 3 should birds be high off the ground or down low there jack pyke ones with the spring stands 4 i used eley olympic trap 28g 7 1/2 are these good enough my under and over is fixed chokes 5 what extra gear do i need i have 12 shell decoys 2 bouncers and im starting to make a magnet id appreciate any help

its my name in irish which is david

hi all dave here from ireland came across the site the other day and got some very good tips for my first days decoying which was today... so i said id join up and contribute to this fine forum ye have setup across the pond anyway il be posting a thread on some info i require if anyone can help id appreciate it