pigeon controller

You’ve got it spot on

Thanks for all your comments.

I had a call on Tuesday , hundreds on the barley, agreed to attend on Wednesday after therapy in the morning. Arrived ay 13.00 and scanned the farm no birds, as the farmer came out and informed me that they were on the far edge of the farm so loaded my trolley and pressed the button. This farm will not let me drive the land as he has obstacles to prevent visitors borrowing his equipment. So eventually I reach the field and see where the birds have been in the downed patches but nothing visible. I put a couple of shots up in each direction about 6 birds lifted out of the trees and that’s all. I watched for an hour nothing so trekked back and left the farm I did check the barley and it was stone hard so they must have found some wheat. I decided to have a drive around checking other farms, as I drove up to the last one on the way home the farmer met me and said they were on his wheat so I went and had a look. It was true they were on the wheat but it had no holes in it . It had approx 150 birds just flying over and dropping in the tram track or lying wings outstretched on the top and this was happening all over three fields. It was well past 16.00 so I decided to shoot it on Friday due to other commitments. I arrived and it had a smaller amount of birds still evident all over the wheat, the one thing we had was a wind and the birds were flighting along a bank of trees. Now this farmer has OCD and will not let you walk in the crop or even damage fences or hedges . I know of other shooters who have been banned for this. So the plan was to replicate the feeding birds on the wheat and put decoys on cradled all in the tram lines. Then to shoot birds above me or to the side to drop them off the crop on the grass. Luckily the badgers have been using this corner of the field as a latrine and I could position my flyers off the tram lines without damage caused by me. It was a long day and you had to hold off shooting just to get them to drop in the right place I did loose approx ten birds. One positive was that I have a good number of Fiocchi 32Gram 5s which tend to stick in my Beretta and DBs Browning so I took my Mossberg Pump out with me and all went well other than forgot to pump occasionally. They work in DBs and Bunny_Bashers Auto. I finished the day at 18.00 and picked up 61 birds.

Interesting subject, with respect to laid barley. I have talked to a few farmers and they are using shorter plants and less fertiliser and also growth restrictions to prevent this. I have one farmer who direct drills in a very close pattern as his theory is that if the plants are close they support themselves. Will the spraying effect the taste of the seed for the pigeons or affect them??

Well done, I told you it would b the first of many, great result.

Well done for your PB, the first of many. Just keep looking and remember what works. This time of year is perfect to concentrate the birds but you need to respect the crops. Good luck in your future endeavours.

We are having a few young birds.

It was a large flat section between two tramlines and I walked to it via the tram lines. I did not shoot many but dropped them all in the hole. No dogs were used in this exercise.

I had to shoot only when I could pick up, would have been a 200 bird day if I could just shoot and not pick up.

Well done

Just a bit of fun with my set up for barley shooting with Desert Camo

Life has been a bit hectic at present so I will have to do a few quick catch up reports. Saturday 24th June, we went out looking for barley to shoot and covered all our normal farms with no luck. Some of the barley seemed to be about four feet high with large heads but nothing laid at all. We decide to split and look further afield, still with no luck when DB had a call from Topgunners as they had some barley which had just been whole cropped and it was covered with birds. It was now 13.00 and I made way to the motorway to get there as soon as I could only to be confronted with a massive roadblock as the traffic signals at one of the lower junctions had failed. I reached the field at 14.00 and we were set up in DB’s gear for 14.30. We had three in the hide and had set it up on a middle hedge so you could shoot at decoys both sides. We were very disciplined with one shooting and two commenting!!. It was very hot and we had to pick up the birds after every ten shot and these were put in carp sacks attached to the hide to allow the wind the pass through. The picture shows one hundred in the sack with another on the other side of the hide. We packed up at 19.30 and the total for the day was 146 it was too hot to lay them out for the traditional bragging shot. Friday 30th June , I had a call to try and reduce the number of corvids around the lamb feeders , I arrived at 10.30 to find the field black all over and as I drove in they all lifted off to the adjoining farm ( I think they recognise the Disco)I had no decoys so just set up within range of the feeders. It was slow at the beginning but once I had a few down they came in well, I just shot badly. I had two guns in the hide one with lead shot and the other with steel shot for the pigeons. With two different velocities ( that’s my excuse ) I packed up at 16.00 and picked up 49 Corvids and 5 pigeon. Saturday 1st July, DB was away so I was flying solo, I had seen some birds on Wednesday on barley so went straight to that field only to find it totally devoid of birds. So started to drive about and look. I was getting to end of our permissions when I found a field barley which had holes all round it with birds feeding hard in the extreme heat. There was a strong wind from the west and so I set up under a large ash tree with the wind off my back and a large hole in front of me. The idea was to drop the birds as they rose to clear the tree and drop them in the hole. I call this “ Tin Can Shooting , as its the same shot over and over, you have to be disciplined to only shoot at the precise moment. I shot for five hours and picked up 81 birds and lost six. Again no picture due to the heat. Saturday 8th July I had a call to shoot some barley which I had looked at in the past weeks, the information was it was covered so I committed to shoot it. When I arrived it had about twenty birds down in a hole, well out in the field. I spooked them out and they returned to the field and straight back to the hole. The feeding spell on this farm is always towards the afternoon so I was confident that they would return in numbers. So I set up my hide in the tram tracks close to this hole and put out six thawed birds on cradles. It then poured down with rain for twenty minutes and this was the pattern for the day. I packed up at 16.00 and tried to get away before thunder storm hit but got soaked in the end. I only managed 23 birds. I will put a picture of the hide in the equipment section.

Well done, we have found birds returning to old haunts. Thanks for posting.

One of our farmers contacted me to say he had seen lots of birds on his peas , now I had looked at these last week and fifty percent were doves. My normal shooting pal DB had also been watching it so we decided to have a go at the weekend. As this crop cover seven fields it was decided to split and keep the birds on the move. So Saturday came and we were all set up to have a go when the farmer contacted me to say that his nephew had contacted him to shoot the peas with his mate!!.Fair Play to the farmer he had contacted me as he did not want this additional shooting to affect our plans. We had arranged to meet at midday and decide our plans. DB contacted me to say that work had asked him to come in as they had a concern and could he sort it, he would be an hour late so he told me to set up and he would find the birds when he came. I set up using my trolley und a an oak tree in the field with the wind from my back , so it was cool in the heat. I used twelve real birds that have been in and out of the freezer for four sessions. I put these out in the peas with spikes and waited. I watched at least a dozen birds cross the field not taking any interest in my decoys so I walked back to the Disco and picked up my frames. This put the decoys above the peas and straight away I had customers. I’d set up at 13.00 and the first two hours I had multiple groups of birds come to the decoys only being able to shoot two at best. DB arrived at 16.00 not happy, he roamed the other fields and found no groups to set up for. I think the other shooter had spooked all the birds my way. I offered to share the hide but he had a couple of shots and agreed to set up on the closest field to mine and give it an hour , in that time he had one bird. As it got towards 17.00 I would have a few birds come in then ten minutes of nothing . I continued shooting until 20.30. I packed all away and loaded my trolley and proceeded back to the Disco I had picked up 87 birds, some of which had clover and barley in them so I must keep looking.

Just found this post. This year so far I have caught 11 rats over two month, last year I saw and caught two. I live backing onto the none tow path side of a midland canal. All day people feed the ducks etc and we see rats on the tow path, walking the dog he spooks rats under house boundary hedges, the scrub around the park. I trap with multiple catch traps and have relived my youth by drawing my “ Webley Senior” into service. I’m just amazed how many are about. It just as bad as when I started my shooting career shooting rats with a Webley mark 3 air rifle in the late 1950’s this was because after the war people had chickens at the bottom ot the gardens, the posh ones had a pig. I then progressed to shooting rats in the barns of the farm across the road.

Absolutely brilliant, well done. That makes up for all the winter miles looking and freezing well deserved.Great write up and thanks for reporting.

Well done, great result. Ambidextrous Shooter!!

The Canal and River Trust are happy to electro fish for Zander which they sell in Bishopgate fish market as they are the same species as Bass. This is a total money earner, mention Crayfish or Mitten crabs which burrow into the banks in winter and they have no program. This info came from a trust employee who was walking the canal bank as I walked the dog. They can fish the canals as they are narrow the river Severn and Warwickshire Avon , no. It would appear that now they are a charity and not Government run they can do what they like. The lure Anglers who pay to fish for Zander still have the occasional electro fish after assurance that they will not do it, but when funds grow low after fleecing boaters and fishermen who care’s. They should perhaps sell permits for the mad cyclists who insist on racing along the tow path. When I was a lad only horses and walkers were allowed on the tow path at 4 MPH, if cyclists want to race go on the road or are they frit !!!!

A great report of a difficult day but eventful with a good result and interesting distractions. Well done and thanks for posting.

A well deserved day of excellent shooting, that will be a definite day to remember along with the picture. We still have limited numbers dispersed around the midlands . Thanks for sharing your day with us again well done.

Happy Birthday, great report of a good afternoons shooting often that a casual approach bears good results, well done and thanks for posting.

Bunny_Blaster and I decided to both shoot the same farm in pursuit of the corvids being asked by the farmer to have another go. Now this is two days after I had shot it but he assured us that they were back in numbers. I arrived at my field at 09.00 and the field had a good hundred corvids feeding on the exposed peas. I knew it was going to be hot so decided to site my hide under the shade of some large Oak trees. I had six pigeon and six carrion crows as decoys and set them out in front of the hide. The first corvid in was very confident and landed among the decoys he was then despatched. I then had a regular supply of birds , including a few pigeons but the top end of the field had a flightline of pigeons crossing which due to two dwelling houses and a road I was unable to get on but they did cross the field that B_B was going to shoot. Ben was set up just after midday and I could hear his shots and he was busy. My action slowed a bit but I was still seeing pigeons and corvids. The sun had now moved and even though I put a lid on the hide it was very hot. We decided to shoot till 18.00 and I packed up my total for the day was 46 corvids and 23 pigeons. I then drove to Bens field and he was just packing up he had 76 Pigeons and a similar number of corvids which he had spread over the field at the Farmers request. So it was a good result at the end of the day

Well done brilliant result, worthy of the effort involved. It’s nice to know that there are numbers of birds in certain areas, we seem or Bunny_Basher finds isolated flocks to have a go at then they move on. Thanks for reporting.

Well done Daz, I thought that Lancashire had drifted off into the Irish Sea , breaking all communications?? Well done for going out and reporting it helps to keep us interested.

B_B had one in his bag yesterday, report to follow when time permits.