martinj

Pretty good but without the charisma of Freddie

Delilah is non PC these days

This is a tricky one, most adhesives don't stick well to plastic, silicon contamination adds to the problem You might be able to make patches using PVC weld adhesive. Conditions are harsh with expansion/contraction/water/sunshine/ice etc.

I do like a lot of bands but Can't think of any better front man than Freddie BTW I also saw the recent BBC Pulp concert, amazingly I'd never seen them before and I thought they were really good Thumbs up for Jarvis cocker (I met a lady who's spaniel was called Jarvis which I thought amusing)

But seriously, this time of year we all need to check our dogs for grass seeds after a walk in the country, checking between the toes is most important. This stuff (Brome) is particularly nasty, it grows everywhere. If it punctures a dog's skin it travels in the dogs body, it can only go forwards (pointy end first.) If your pet gets it (or part of it) in the foot it can travel up the legs and to who knows where. If you are "lucky" it enters the web between the toes and erupts from the top part of the web.

I have had two Berettas with the same problem (Silver Pig and a 692) I used white Lithium grease for a while (a bit messy) and then a tub of red grease I have in my garage. Both have the required effect. It is annoying but it is a simple solution, I just replace the grease when I clean the gun and add a smear of grease to the spare chokes which are kept clean and grit free in a choke box.

I have tried chocolate Nutella but it didn't work as well as good old "mousetrap" cheddar, it works pretty well despite the detractors, you can leave it until it has gone old and gnarly so no need to refresh it too often. I have caught plenty in my garage over the years. I don't really mind meece but they like to eat their way into my shooting/fishing clothes to make their nests so they have to go. RIP!

Grey painted milk bottles

'Ello, Miss?Owner : What do you mean "miss"?I'm sorry, I have a cold. I wish to make a complaint!O: We're closin' for lunch.Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this Pigeon what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.O: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

And the batteries can be used to drive your pigeon magnet

I had a holiday on the isle of Harris/Lewis, returned on 5th May. I was hoping to spot an eagle or two but, despite visiting some hotspots they eluded us, however, while sightseeing with the family I did spot a Stonechat sitting on a fence 6 feet away, Rafts of Scoters, Eider duck and Merganser off shore and . . . Great Northern Divers swimming 40 metres off the beach. Oh! and Puffins seen from the ferry. All firsts for me except the Stonechat, I was well pleased with the Great Northern Divers, I was hoping to spot divers of any variety. Even more pleased that they were in identifiable plumage

I bought a "tall" bucket seat which wasn't tall enough so I extended the lid by 4 inches using insulating foam and re-covered it with camo cloth, it's not pretty but is better for my arthritic knees. Yes I prefer to sit while on the alert and stand for the shot although I'll take the odd sitting shot if one sneaks up on me

The answer is . . . Yes you should encourage him

By The way, re pigeons seeing in the UV spectrum, I recall a thread on here a few years ago when a company was trying to flog UV paint for decoys. I bought a UV torch which shone only Ultraviolet light, I turned the lights off and shone the torch on some pigeons in my garage to see if anything showed up that wasn't visible to the naked eye or if they looked much different to my decoys and the answer was . . . . no appreciable difference, at least to my eyes.

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That's a bit dodgy to my eyes, no offence GS but it's a bit blue for my taste, They say 1 in 4 blokes are colour blind, is it you or me? it's a very neat job though. I use white, grey, black and red primer. I start with a dead pigeon on the bench in my garage for reference then make small mixes of paint in yogurt pots and paint areas on my decoys matching the dead bird. I'll do another mix for different areas and keep on until they are done. I use a mix of pale grey with a bit of red primer for the breasts. I'll do all decoys as soon as I order them because I'm sure the people who paint them have never seen a woodpigeon, also different manufacturers products look very different to each other. I'll also work through the whole lot when they are looking a bit tired, after a season perhaps or when the flock/paint is getting badly damaged from being jumbled in a sack.

Swallows were here in Hampshire on Saturday, does that mean it's summer?

regarding quantity of ammo, I was shooting at a rifle club and they allowed the purchase of 5000 .22LR rounds and storage of up to 6000 on my certificate. The reason was that they allow for people batch testing ammunition. Typically members of the club would go to the Eley factory and test ammo from different batches, some being better suited than others for your rifle. Once a batch was identified as giving the best groups a purchase was made from that batch. I also had a sporting rifle so was allowed to buy a quantity of hollow-point ammunition

No but I did use a pigeon floater at the weekend but I don't usually bother with that

mixture of shell and full body plastiques plus the birds I shot. I picked up as I went along positioning the dead birds head up with a stick through the chin. I don't have a freezer large enough to store more than 2 dead birds for the whirly - well, the freezer IS large enough for 12 birds or more but Mrs. J would have something to say about that! No carrying heavy kit for me in this spot, I can drive round the field. I drop my kit off then hide the car under some trees. a 2 pigeon magnet setup is jokingly called a "Chinook setup" round these parts (near RAF Odiham,) they fly around here frequently. Not that I've ever done that. BTW I touch up my decoys with a mixture of Primer paints 1. to make them resemble pigeons, 2. to make them look all the same. I have come to the conclusion that the people who make decoys have never seen a pigeon in their lives and one batch of decoys looks quite different to those of another manufacturer. When doing this I keep a dead pigeon on my bench and use that as inspiration for colour matching. Probably waay too anal but it keeps me occupied and gives me confidence I agree a lot of the time they know where they are going and it'd difficult to tempt them in with anything (except maybe 60 decoys, who knows?) For info as we have a common interest, I was walking the dogs 2 weekends ago, passing a large field of fresh barley drilling (not on my permission) there were about 160 pigeons feeding on the far side and I saw a large flock heading in to join them. As I watched, the incoming flock just extended back into the distance until there were about 600 birds with their wings folded, trying to land among the feeding birds. Eventually those on the ground panicked because of the size of the influx and there were pigeons everywhere, swirling round and flying off to find somewhere less crowded.

Yes, I'd have done the same thing and have done in the past. You have got a year on me so you are the most experienced 😁

Also 55 yrs of pigeon shooting and never too old to learn 🙂 👍

I do not disagree Old'un, I was just telling my story and the tactics I used, it worked for me and might help someone else out if they are struggling at this time of year. What is there to lose?

better move that photo of you and the Mrs. to the front!

Anschutz and Sako, I've had both and both were impressively accurate rifles, can't speak for CZ