pigeon controller

Well done , result .

Good bags from the wheat, not seen much our way yet. Dave, re the throat Alan said that they been trying to shut you up for years and at last they had found a way!!!!!!!

Well done, you went out and stuck at it and got the required result. We call it "Tin Can" shooting people think it's easy to drp them it a hole in the crop but it ain't . Well done again.

After a day of rain we headed out to the two laid barley fields we looked at last week. As we approached the first one we could see that the birds were all flying around spookly, we then watched the field for ten minutes and realised that it was being shot but the birds could not decoy only by going over the hedge and turning back. Then we realised they had a flapping magnet ,floaters and flocked plastics all laid out at the side of the field of laid barley with the wind in their face. the birds were having to turn over their heads to get into the decoys. We then passed the gate to the field and there were two "Pretty Landie's" i.e all the kit, no dings or dents and not a splash of mud anywhere. DB was heared to mutter "All the Gear and no Idea". We then drove to the other field and as we looked there were very little bird activity we talked to the Farmer and he had just come back from holiday and informed us that his shooter had been on it every day last week and was coming back today. So we drove around and found four other barley fields but no birds.We decided the go back to the first field and see if we could shoot the birds as they left the barley. We spoke to the Farmer and he informed us that the shooters had been there the previous day and had shot it in the rain, we asked if we could go on the other fields and he said OK but do not drive on the grass. We watched the guys shooting and the spooked birds were going to some trees on the edge of the ajoining grass field so we hauled the gear across the field and set up. As we were setting up spooked birds were coming over our pattern so we thought we were in the right place. We tried various methods of presentation Magnet on /off, just stand ups, floaters, etc but they would not decoy after being spooked and we ended up shooting them as they came over high. We picked up one hundred and fifteen in the picture and found another one under a tree by the car which could have been ours or theirs.

Well done, it pays to keep your eye's open and you will get loads of shooting . If you impress the farmer's they call you back.

Well done Tom, your freezer's will be working overtime to freeze that lot.

" He Who Dare's Rodney!!!" Over 22 years of shooting I've had those days. I can remember being on a Rape field from dawn to dusk for nine birds. I then realised that find the fligthline and you can shoot all day. Find what they are feeding on and you can shoot them. I met a dairy farmer at a family function once and he invited me down to shoot on his farm. He had no crops, no sheep the keep the grass down and the clover up and I ended the day with one passing crow, when I went back to the farm he said when are you comming back and I said when you've got a problem. never heared from him.

First the hide needs to conceal you from them, put some form of lid on it so you can pull back and be hidden, use the wind so that they glide past you to the pattern, they will be looking at the birds more than you. Start with two or three plastics and replace them with real birds as you shoot them.buy a crow call and plactice a slow call( I'm here and there's food) Fast Calls ( Frenzy, Fight) and short bite the call for a jackdaw sqeak. The more decoys the more confident they will be. Control your shooting they appear not to be moving when you shoot, just pause with your bead on them and see which direction/ speed they are going before you follow through and shoot. There are a lot of young birds around at present and they will not be wise. Good Luck

Pigeons see movement more than anything, hide discipline is important. I was taught the following "MOVE, MOUNT AND SHOOT" . Talking about Archie Coates sports jacket these were traditionally based on tweed which were the original ghillie suits and blend into the background.

My Pension Fund and the Wife!!!!

A good weekend lads, nice to hear that your amongst them again.

Well done, a just reward for your efforts .

I had a text at 08.00 this morning from a farmer who said that he was having a problem with corvids round the farm buildings, so I text him back that I would be shooting this morning. I managed the microwave four frozen crow decoys before the wife found out and set off. When I arrived at 10.00 it was tipping it down so I walked the field at the back of the farm to spook the blakies off. Set up the hide and put out my four decoys in the rain, used my crow call and pulled two straight in to the killing area. I could see the sun was out down the valley and when the rain stopped all the dry birds were taken in and put under canvas bags the keep them dry, these were then used after the rain showers so that I could keep decoying with dry birds. Nearly all the birds had to be called as they were nervous of the farm buildings I suspect that some one else had been shooting previously. I ended the day at 17.00 picking up one hundred and twenty six corvids mainly jackdaws I text the farmer and sent him a picture when I got home and he told me that there was a dead crow in the road so it was 127

I've seen a few over the years.

I use extending rod rests and carry barge mooring spike and a short handle hammer with a blade end which I use to level the ground in the hide.

That's your first Ton out of the way, remember what you did and here's to the next. Well done.

Very good shooting, nice afternoons work.

Great Fish on the fly, they use flies shaped like chum mixers round the midlands and do get a few as the presentation is very delicate. Well done.

We had a phone call on Thursday night( I'ts great when they phone you) saying that there were a few birds on the downed barley so Friday morning we were up and ready. When we arrived at the field we watched it for twenty minutes and six birds came in so we decided the give it a try this was at 10.00 and by 12.00 we had had fifteen birds. Then as if we had rung the dinner bell they kept coming in. We packed up at 17.00 and picked up one hundred and twenty four. The only problem with this type of shooting which we call "tin can shooting" is that you have to shoot over the holes in the barley and not at the high passing shots this is so you do not do more damage to the crop picking up than the pigeons are doing. This is not a moan it is still a cracking day. Saturday saw us at another farm who had left a message at home that he had a problem but he had also tried to contact his regular shooter. When we arrived he had a gas gun going off every thirty seconds which made us think the other shooter was all ready on the ground. As we watched the field the other shooter arrived and raced passed us to get down on the farm. So we gave him the benefit of shooting and moved on. We spent another hour or so driving round and foumd nothing so we decided the to talk to the farmer who had left the message. We were informed that he had gone away without his mobile but would phone back each night to check on the farm. We then decide to view the field again and see how the regular shooter was getting on. This showed us that he had driven to the top end of the field and switched the gas gun off and was not shooting many at all as he was pushing the birds down wind into the bottom edge of a forty acre field also there were birds coming to the field from a different direction at the bottom edge. So we went and gained permission on the next farm to shoot over his grass which was too tall the decoy but we set them up anyway. The other problem was that we had to carry all our gear over two very wet field approx 1,500 yards as he would not let us drive over the fields. We were about 50 yards off the actual flightline but ended the day with seventy nine birds in the bag we had also sent a good number of birds up to the other shooter in the process.

Well done . Result.

Something that seems to work for me with normal flies is to take a handfull of elderberry leaves and rub them over your hat and jacket shoulders. This would appear to keep them away. I was told this by a fishing mate years ago and he said that they used to rub it on the pit ponies when they went out to graze.

Well done Tony. If you don't ask you don't get. If I see birds feeding I ask thats the best time to get permission , then you have to perform and show you can do the business, you then get aked back!!!

Well done good shooting, I've got 25 acres of peas but never see a bird on them to date, but one day?

Well done Tom, I've not seen any on Rape yet but that was good shooting with a happy farmer

During my annual holiday drive down to Greece this year I would look out for pigeons. So from Brum down the M40, M25, and the M20 down to the tunnel there were birds all over the place crossing the motorway and down the fields. From the other end of the Tunnel and all the daylight hours down the Greece I counted eight wood pigeons, loads of dear in France on the edge of the woods. On my return as I popped out of the tunnel at Ashford all the way home woodies all the way. I'me glad I shoot pigeons in England not in the rest of Europe.