Imperator SKB

I remember watching this on Channel 4 when it was broadcast, I still have a VHS Tape of Archie Pigeon shooting with John Batley. Not a bad video if you still have a VHS player of course!!

I have several books on the subject, one of my favourites is Pigeon Shooting by Richard Arnold I have a first edition of this book signed 1958, a great book and another one I like is Shooting Wood Pigeon by A.E.B Johnson 1961, this one not signed.

Yeah make your own, I make mine out of 3mm plastic coated wire n its green so perfect. I use a jam jar to wrap it around and make them various lengths. 25m of it for £6!!

Another nice afternoon on Acorns.

My old 4 gallon drum, had it for twenty plus years, and I cut a hole in the side and I carry sacks and a flask inside of it.

Oh and Pencil Pointed as well. Had these Poles set up out in the middle of a 60 Acre Field a while ago in a 50 mph wind and once put in I never had to re set! I walk long distances to set up sometimes even though I have a 4x4 truck, most Farmers don't appreciate you rutting up Headlands, but they are worth their weight in gold to me.

Made from 10mm Mild Steel, so a bit more stable than old 3/8 rod as in the book, Total weight 11lbs n with the two Floaters I sometimes take that goes up to 13lbs, so near a stone in weight. but they never fail to go in the ground and the wind can blow as hard as it wants, they stay PUT!

Out of interest, how much on average do people get for their birds? Here we get on average 25p per bird, that will go down to 20p come Christmas. Thats at the local Game Dealers. If you use Eley Grand Prix even at the top price you loose 1p every kill. I mainly shoot for sport but at these prices theres not much else to shoot for!!

Couldn't agree more, when I starting decoying seriously in 1985 on they decoyed much easier then than they do today. People say its because more people shoot them today but in my part of the world and in my lifetime less people shoot full stop! Several of the shooters I knew are dead! Some have given up recently due to the high Cartridge prices and some gave up years ago. Of the Twenty or so Shooters I knew as a kid, only Three are still at it and one of them is in his mid Seventies!!

I will weigh them, don't feel heavy to me, but I'm 6ft 4 n 17 stone so…….

Will take some pictures and put up soon. £20 for the set two at 5ft 6inch and two at 6ft.

Back in 1985 I was given a first edition signed copy of Archie Coats Pigeon Shooting book for Christmas. I read it over and over and it got me into Shooting Pigeons. I was 15 years old at the time and had been shooting since I was 8 with my Father and Uncle. I always wanted a set of Hide poles made to Archies specifications and finally after all these years my Cousin made me a set and they are fantastic and I use them all the time, I did have a set of ally ones but they got broke many years ago!

I bought 1000 "FOB Proper Cartridges" in 12 Gauge, from a local gun shop costing £180 and for a 30 gram load of 6 shot that seemed a good deal, as my favourite old cartridge Eley Grand Prix now cost a staggering £260 per 1000 I thought I would give these a try. I must say that the Proper Cartridges shoot great and I really rate them. I also bought 250 of the same make but a 28 gram load of 7.5 shot and over decoys they knock em down good and they were £160 per 1000. So next shopping trip I'm off to that shop and get some more of both.

Had a few this afternoon on Acorns and another 42 last Monday about 200 yards further along the Hedgerow, I do like em when they get stuck into Acorns! Started both shoots with just two dead uns on floaters!

Now that one has a lot more detail feather wise than the ones I made!