pigeon controller

My Shooting pal has invested in an Berreta auto three shot. We shoot mainly fron a hide and he likes to take shots at 360 degrees. The one problem is that at the end of the day we have 150 to 200 empties to pick up and they are all over the place. Is there a method of deflecting them down to your feet inside the hide, I already shoot on his right to prevent being clouted in the head with empties and the noise of the exhaust gasses. I've seen on ther internet USA catchers that that catch a single shell at a time. I don't want to catch them just deflect them?? Pigeon controller

My first gun was a Diana model 15 I think and for my 16th birthday my dad bought me a webley bolt action garden gun. with which I terrorised the local rat population along with the grey squirels and magpies. I did a local paperound to buy 50 catridges. O happy days Pigeon controller

Good shooting and nice picture, we have seen more Jays and Magpies around this year but less rabbits? Pigeon Controller

At 7.30 friday morning I had the phone call from a farmer informing me that his newly sown rape was blue over with pigeons so making our way out at approx 12.00 we headed to the fields to find three black backed gulls!!! We drove around for about thirty minutes to find approx fifty birds on an old stubble field and decided to get what we get setting up the rotary and other kit birds started to decoy all round us. we shot for two hours and then it went dead. I decided to drive around to see if I could put some birds up. I met the farmer on my travels and he said there were birds up by his duck ponds so I went to look and disturbed three hundred off a wheat stubble field. We ended the afternoon with a pick up of 78. ( first photo) Saturday we headed out to where I'd seen the the birds the previous day and set up one hour later we had three birds. So we went in search of the flock ninety miles later we found them on two week old drilling which the rain had washed the red coating off the seed and set up on a flight line on the edge of the field with decoys on the seed and the rotary on the clover next to it. As we shot further into the afternoon we noticed small flocks returning to roost early these were very high shots but when we opened the crops they were rammed with wheat so they were feeding on other fields we had failed to check out but we ended the day with a pick up ninety one birds. The moral being don't go for the first field check the others around. We also had loads of birds with acorns in them also but no RAPE... Pigeon Controller

I made one myself with a pair of old sunglasses, took the lenses out and sewed scrim round the sockets and drapped the rest of the scrim over my head. i will look them out and take a picture. Pigeon controller

It's always good when a plan comes together, and a nice clear photo the back it up. Good shooting Pigeon Controller

Well done Dave we had a black and white crow on Saturday Pigeon controller

Went out with DB at 13.00 Friday and the conversation was all about where had we seen beans planted over the past year as we thought that most of the stubble had been ploughed in aroud us and beans has always been a good option at the back end of summer. We drove around for about ten miles and found thirty acres which had just been combined. We spoke to the farmer and he told us that he had his shooters comming out on Saturday, so we drew a blank. The next question was where was the last wheat to be harvested and we drove back to that field to find approx one hundred birds on it, so straight to the farm only to find the Farmer rigging up his plough. He told us to help ourselves but he would be ploughing it in about two hours we asked if we could shoot the last stubble field which was on the otherside of the road as not to disrupt his ploughing but he refused due to the pheasant pens. We sit up on the edge of a spinney with the wind comming over the top from the back at approx 15.00 and shot till 18.00 trying not to hit the tractor as it went up and down in front of us and picked up 134 pigeons. sorry no pictures as I forgot my camara and I do not have a download lead for my new phone. Saturday morning picked DB up at 09.00 and tried to decide what to do as it was forcast to be wet and windy. As we left to get out of the town we noticed a few birds going left to right across the road so we followed and headed down a few lanes a came to a gate at the side of the lane to scan the fields only to find that we had approx fifty birds flying low in the valley out of the strong wind all going to a ploughed field. we decided to go for it and get what we get. We sorted out the farmer but he said we must contact the tenent farmer who had leased the field for next year which we did after a lengthy conversation with his wife over what we do with all the pigeons we shoot. We set up on a grass field next to the plough and built the hide around the fishing brolly to keep us dry and warm. When we first started shooting they all left in one flock and we thought we had blown it but after about thirty minutes they started to return and we ended up in the pouring rain with 112. Remember a bad days shooting is better than four hours in Ikea!!!!

I had one of those rare phone calls on Friday morning from a farmer informing me that the pigeons were back on the barley stubble. So I picked DB up from work at 13.00 and we headed to the farm to find the field covered with crows, geese and pigeons. The only problem was a public footpath runs round two edges of the field so we had to set up with the wind side on and build a hide with a high front to shade us from the sun. we shot till 16.00 when the bailer turned up to process the straw. We picked up 151 pigeons, on checking the crops they had acorns, barley, elderberries and blackberries. Has anybody ever seen them picking blackberries???

Saturday 20th September: Picked DB up at 09:00 and went round our normal circle of farms (approx 60 miles) - not a bird in the sky!! Came back to the first farm and found the birds flitting between a stubble field and a field of standing wheat, which was sprouting from the ears. Setup at 15:00 and shot until 18:00 and picked up 102 birds - see first picture. On checking the birds crops we found barley, wheat and acorns. Has anybody else found any acorns in birds around?? as there seems to be a bumper crop!! Sunday 21st September: After completing approx 120 miles and viewing 3 pea fields which had been full of birds and now empty, ended back on our first farm again and shot the flightline between two fields. We picked up 159 birds - These were the only birds that we found in all that mileage!!

I've been shooting pigeons for the last 19 years most weekends and now in the week. Over that period they have have become more wary of hides,movement and decoy patterns. I've found that you have to keep changing the pattern use real birds as decoys as soon as you have them, use flappers, magnets to see if it makes any difference. The main thing to remember is if they spook on the decoys then somthing is not right walk out into the field and look back at the hide and decoy pattern, you may have a plastic bag in the hedge or a bottle shining in the sun. The main thing is not to sit in the hide moaning keep trying don't give up!!! Pigeon Controller

I'm not sure if this is the right section to put this in but here we go. I had a phone call this morning from one of my Farmers who is having problems with badgers trying to get at the maze cobs. We are aware that they are protected and you can not shoot them but the only suggestions I could give was to erect an electric fence or tie rags soaked in diesel or Jeyes fluid to try and prevent them coming back. has anybody got a magic solution to this other that an injection of lead at the speed of sound!! Pigeon Controller

I took the dog for a walk along the canal the other day and found two live 12 bore cartridges in the grass, i,ts things like this that give us a bad name. My other gripe is that I share a cupple of shoots and the other shooters leave empty cartridges all over the place, I end up picking them up and taking them home for the bin. When I challenged them the one reply was that I shoot an auto and it throws them all over the place!!. My shooting buddies also have auto's but we manage to pick up the empties. Pigeon controller

I tend to shoot with a mate in the same hide and the the problem we have is the follow on shot after the first person has shot which is usually a very long shot which nocks up the average. You may remember on of my previous posts when I was asked to shoot a hole in the barley and had 112 for 125 shells that was effective shooting for the Farmer but very repetative i.e. let one land in the hole then shoot the next one hovering and the one leaving the hole. I shoot to enjoy it not to kill sitters in the decoys. Every time you go out you remember the good shots and to me thats what it all about.

On some days I do not set up till 16.00 and shoot to 20.00 and pick up 100 plus birds. If you start at first light you will find the feeding frenzey stops while they digest the food and then they will start again in the afternoon.

Picked up DB from work on Friday at 13:00. Set out to look for pigeon. After approx 30 minutes and three farms found 100+ on a field of cut rape. Decided to set up after seeing the farmer. We both shot from the same hide and packed up at 18:00 and picked up 240 birds. See photo below. Picked up DB Saturday at 09.00. We drove for approx 100 miles looking again for pigeon. Not one in the air!! Approx 13:00 stopped for a bacon sandwich and saw 2 birds crossing. In 10 minutes a further 16 crossed and we followed them. This led us to a small field of cut rape with approx 200 birds on it. Just at that moment the farmer arrived to continue combining the adjoining field. Asked for permission and was told to help ourselves. We set up with the wind off our backs in the bottom of a valley. Then the frustration started:- the birds would not decoy. We moved the rotary out of the pattern and even 100 yards up the field, took the rotary out, put two flappers in still would not decoy with any conviction. Walked out onto the field and realised that it was very hot and the wind dropped as you walked down to our hide position, so the birds were going from a strong wind to zero. When the wind dropped they decoyed perfectly and we picked up 109 by 18:00. The moral is not to give up - just keep going!!

I received my first fix in 1989 with ten plastic decoys and dawn till dusk for ten pigeon. Since that day all my thoughts are about shooting, work was how I funded it, also all objects encountered in normal life were analised with the option could it be used for shooting. All journeys were taken on the basis it alloweed me to cover more ground to look for pigeon. It is one of the best drugs for anti depression on the market being out in the country doing it!!! Not on a computer playing at it. You have now got the bug, enjoy every moment , it will not let you down. If you do have a bad day the next one can only get better. Just remember the good days and copy them. Good hunting in the future.

Just returned from two weeks in Greece and went out with two mates (DB & AM). We set up on a cut barley field all in the same hide with a total for the day of 515 pickup. Typical - you leave your camera at home and try to obtain a picture from the hide with a phone. The second picture (taken at home) shows approx 200 on the floor with a layer of 100 each per chest freezer.

Shot some laid barley last week. It was on the far side of a large field, so had to go lightweight (Gun, Flask, 3 Hide poles, Small Hide, 125 Shells, 6 fresh birds as decoys) Picked up 112 birds from 125 shells - photo not the best but gives some idea.

HI DAVE K , BRUMMIE DAVE HAS NOT STOPPED TALKING ABOUT IT ALL WEEK