pigeon controller

Following my return from my annual drive down to Greece for a holiday I alwasy try to return for the start of the barley shooting but this year I'm about three weeks early on my shoots. Anyway picked up DB and started to look at our barley fields but we only found one that was ripe but not laid. This field is always at least two weeks earlier that the rest due to it being covered by thick woods that protect it from the cold winds and form a sun trap. We did about fifty miles and found no birds on the barley at all. So we decided the drive till we found a flight line and follow that which we did and it lead us to a clover field which had been heavily grazed by sheep and had about fifty birds down and others joining. We informed the farmer that we were going to give it a try and set up, this was at 14.00. We set up as normal but the birds would vere of as they approached the pattern so we removed the rotary and they came in ok. We suspect that they had been shot at locally with a rotary in the pattern and this caused them the shy off. We ended the day at 18.00 and picked up eighty pigeons and four crows. It's nice to get back at after seven weeks.

Yes as I said the grass has clover in it but it is very tall, both fields are full of clover.

Last week was very frustrating with the weather but we did find some birds and they were feeding in the rain so I set up and DB went after bunnies with the dog at the request of the farmer. The birds were coming at a fair rate and I was having some good sport when it all went wrong. In the distance I could hear a weird thumping sound, the next thing that happend was a whole swaithe of birds came over me and disapeared in the distance this was followed by a miltary chopper so low that it had to climb to go over the high tension cables in front of me I stayed in the hide til DB returned over an hour and a half later with zero birds returning so we packed up with a total of twenty nine pigeon and went and watched a guy fishing till dark. Went out yesterday as they had promised a better day and set up on some clover we had been watching for over four weeks but the farmer would not let us shoot due the the lambs. The grass was to long to decoy as it was wet and the birds do not like to soak themselves when feeding, you can get away with it when its dry. We had pigeons decoys in front and two thawed crows behind on the next field. We ended the day with fifty pigeon and thirty four crows and jackdaws . We at least stayed dry. Ignore the date on the photo my camera it has gone mad for some reason.

Last week was very frustrating with the weather but we did find some birds and they were feeding in the rain so I set up and DB went after bunnies with the dog at the request of the farmer. The birds were coming at a fair rate and I was having some good sport when it all went wrong. In the distance I could hear a weird thumping sound, the next thing that happend was a whole swaithe of birds came over me and disapeared in the distance this was followed by a miltary chopper so low that it had to climb to go over the high tension cables in front of me I stayed in the hide til DB returned over an hour and a half later with zero birds returning so we packed up with a total of twenty nine pigeon and went and watched a guy fishing till dark. Went out yesterday as they had promised a better day and set up on some clover we had been watching for over four weeks but the farmer would not let us shoot due the the lambs. The grass was to long the realy to decoy as it was wet and the birds do not like to soak themselves when feeding, you can get away with it when its dry. We had pigeons decoys in front and two thawed crows behind on the next field. We ended the day with fifty pigeon and thirty four crows and jackdaws . We at least stayed dry. Ignore the date on the photo my camera it has gone mad for some reason.

EXCELLENT!!!!!!

Well done, the problem with big bags like that is keeping them cool for the freezer, but it's nice to get them.

Well done , it's good that you were able to get out and do the business !!

Well done, good result.

I saw a carp caught at South Cerney gravel pits ten years ago on sprats intended for the pike. this was in september and the same day the guy caught two chub on sprats also.

Well done, good result.

Well done, is that your belated birthday present??

Hi Pixie, If you look at my latest post Clover Round the Rape I've managed to smile or is it wind???

I keep my decoy pigeons and crows in nylon wine bottle holders this holds six in perfect condition for when you go out and you can carry them to and from the field. when I get home they go straight into the freezer.

Picked up DB at 09.00 and started looking, we found two flocks worth shooting but were prevented by young lambs and spooky horses. Continued driving around and found a small flock on the edge of a rape field which we haven't shot this year due to the amount of rape in the area. Basically you could not pin down the birds as they would flit from one rape field to another and as there was a canal in between this caused quite a lengthy drive around. We phoned the farmer and he said carry on but he did tell us that he had seen a few birds on the conservation strip round his rape at the farm this morning. So we decided to look at that first. When we arrived there were about sixty birds all dropping onto a strip about three meters wide all on the edge into wind. So we set up and gave it a try. The first birds back just backed off and would not decoy so we stopped the magnet and they then came in confidently, so we left the magnet static. We finished the day by picking up fifty eight birds sorry the dog picked up the birds as most of them dropped in the edge of the rape.

Went out Friday morning 08.00 with DB and covered lots of miles and found a flocks of about ten on bits of rape and clover we enventually found some on a farm with three large rape fields. Due to the farmer locking the gates for security we had to walk with all the gear, we set up and the wind was blowing in three directions so some birds came to the side and some over our heads which made for interesting shooting. We then noticed that the birds were going in at the top of a bank so we were on the move again. We ended the day with exactly fifty. Saturday morning 08.30 with DB out on the road again after about one hour we found about two hundred pigeons on seeded beans and peas we contacted the farmer who had given us permission in the past and he informed us that he had let the shooting to a Pigeon Club and as we were not members he could not let us shoot. We carried on and after about seventy miles we stopped and DB took the dog for a run along a rape field just to give him a break. As I was waiting " Bunny Basher" pulled up and we chewed the fat. He had just refuelled so he could keep looking and had covered about the same mileage as us to no avail. Just small groups of birds scattered about. We carried on and kept looking and at about 15.00 we saw a group of birds in some trees on the edge of a rape field and they were dropping in feeding so we drove round the field and about fifty came up out of the rape so we set up. They were dropping into a patch about the size of three car park spaces with a public path running through it. It was slow starting but did pick up but then we had a wierd thirty minutes as birds just kept pilling in and we could see in the distance a heavy rain shower they were just coming one after another . We picked up Sixty Two. For some reason the pictures are blured but you can get the idea.

I wonder why all the trees in my garden have ivy growing on them???

It's good to be Adaptable , well done.

Respect to worthy quarry. Good picture.

Well done, good bag.

Well done, roost shooting can give you some cracking and memorable shots.

Well done for finding the spot. It pays to watch and wait to see where they eventually feed. Even when the rape is high they still feed on it, so find the spot.

Well done, good result.

Good result, well done. Good result, well done.

Well done Ben, good result.

We shot these birds on saturday