Clodhopper

The sport we had was second to none, as the birds banked round from behind on the wind. It was getting dark when we reluctantly packed up with some birds still coming in. The last time we did this JDog had to slum it in a local restaurant as it was getting late for his butler to start the evening banquet.😉

That was a great hour of superb sport. Pigeons from every direction on a blustery wind. The old dog is willing but unable. He is now slumped in his bed dreaming of the retrieves he did manage. The birds were carefully arranged Norfolk fashion for the photo.

Well done chaps, great to get out and share a bit of sport in good company. roke is a new one on me. We seem to be getting a lot of those at the moment with these north/ easterly winds.

This sage advice. I have been shooting mainly in the evenings because this is when I have seen them most keen to feed. This may not be the case where you are so get out with a pair of Bino’s at different times of day and see what is happening and when. Best of luck and hope you find a few.

What a nice report of a great afternoon out in pursuit of pigeons, great stuff 👍

Is that a new hide, it looks a bit heavy to carry?

What great way to spend the day when you cannot find any pigeons. Did any of the high hovering crows succumb to the double discharge beast?

My only experience with ringing the police to inform them of shooting was a bad one. We were lamping rabbits on a golf course on the outskirts of a town. We rang the police, gave details and obtained a log number number. On arrival at the course we spoke to the owner who was still in the clubhouse. After a couple of hours we spotted lights shining in our vehicle in the car park. We walked over and found 2 PC’s who then shone bright lights in our faces and demanded we put our guns down on the floor. My reply of “ Not bloody likely” got them a little excited. I was stood in a large puddle at the time. They came up with some cock and bull story about the owner ringing them about suspicious activity at the course. After a radio call to the HQ and a phone call to the owner they disappeared a little red faced.

Nice read Aga man. You have certainly had some sport over the last week or 2 on the peas, those in the picture look like they will provide a bit more yet.

I watched a few dropping into tramlines on Saturday evening here in Lincolnshire. This afternoon I saw a field with a small laid patch. There was a lot of grain in the heads but no birds there, it may have been a little early in the afternoon though.

A couple of photos of the evening.

PC I believe the staff have now been put on half rations for the week, to sharpen them up. MM, my wife has an equal passion for horses so we take it in turns to get out. Fortunately I also work shifts which allows me to get out regularly.

Yesterday, the field of peas that JDog and I had first visited the other day but declined to shoot was the setting for our next adventure. As normal we met in a shady gateway on a quiet country lane and exchanged a few words through wound down windows before getting out for a firm hand shake. My companion had been at the field for around half an hour trying to spot likely flightlines, of which there were few. It was about 4pm and birds were just milling around the area but not going anywhere with any urgency, it did not look too promising. We knew that the birds may very well feed late so we sat for a while chatting, putting the world to rights and glassing the field. There was a blustery Northerly wind which was not ideal for this field but it did cool us down in the hot afternoon sunshine. The field itself is around 15 acres and had a belt of young Ash trees on the Southern edge. It was there that we first noticed a few birds dropping in, not coming from the direction we had hoped but coming in none the less. The downside was that it was the far end of the field which would involve a 350 yard slog with kit in the balmy late afternoon sun, thank god for that wind. We were undecided for a while but thought we would give it a go as it was a pleasant evening and a few birds were now showing an interest. As we reached our chosen spot we put around 100 pigeons out of the peas which were around 1 foot high. We set up on the edge of the Ash belt with the wind in our faces as this is where the birds seemed to want to be and it afforded some shade from the sun. It was not ideal but it was what it was. The set up was 1 magnet about 40 yards out and 8 plastics on sticks to get them up a bit. We wanted to give the birds enough room to swing round into the pattern. In the first hour we managed 5 pigeons, not too good. Then a steady trickle of birds began to come to the pattern. Some from in front which would turn sharply on the wind to get in and others appeared from behind and over our heads to drop down to the decoys. It was getting exciting. Then disaster struck. JDog's semi auto began to malfunction, only firing the first shot. 3 shots later it gave up the Ghost all together. Being the true gent he is he turned down my offer to pack up and instead acting as picker up for the remaining hour we were there. He also again offered advice like "This is a doddler" or " You cannot miss this" just as I was mounting on a bird, this helped immensely as you can expect. Any way the birds came nicely for a while and I managed to get a few down. We packed up at around 8pm, the dogs working well to find a few extra birds hidden in the pea crop. The final count up was 38 picked with a further 1 missing which dropped down in a wood over the boundary. With the initial premise of giving it a go, we were pleased to put this many in the bag and we had some lovely sporting shooting to boot. I have no doubt that had we not encountered the aforementioned technical difficulties we would have had over 50 in the bag but that is the way it goes. After the grief JDog gave me about a cheap Hatsan that broke down in the field I refrained from making any remark about his posh Beretta, promise!!! Thanks for reading.

Far welter’d - A Lincolnshire phrase for a sheep cast on its back. Often used to describe someone stuck in an awkward position.

Nice read, good on you for getting out. The thought of a shot or 2 does seem to make the night shifts a little more bearable.