Jump to content

pigeon controller

Members
  • Posts

    6,118
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by pigeon controller

  1. 33 minutes ago, stockybasher said:

    How do you manage to pick up in a field like that ??  I'm not a dog-owner, but friends who are seem very wary of picking up in standing wheat / barley, for the dog's health !!  I don't think I would feel good about tramping around to find birds, unless you are only dropping them precisely in the flat channels 😇 

    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.

  2. 1 hour ago, marsh man said:

    We were beginning to worry where one of the main men had got to as we are coming up to the peak of the Pigeon decoying ( season ) and the reports had been a bit thin on the ground , but we needn't had worried as he have to cover a lot of ground and can't be everywhere at once .

    Great report as per norm , one thing I noticed was you picking up 81 with only six lost , that is good going even if you have got a dog , Well done on all accounts :good:

    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.

  3. 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.

    IMG_2284.jpg

    IMG_2285small.jpg

  4. 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.

    100_3661.JPG

  5. 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.

  6. 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 !!!!

  7. 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

    100_3660.JPG

    IMG_2279.jpg

  8. 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.

  9. Following  Bunny_Blasters return to the UK his farmer contacted him regarding my previous visit asking could he shoot on Tuesday as the birds were still on his seeded pasture. As he was at work he asked if I could step up and attend on his behalf, not one to refuse an excuse to shoot I agreed before the words came down the phone. His only stipulation was that he had a request for ten to fifteen carrion crows.

    I arrived at the field at approx 09.00 and it had a nucleus of approx 100 corvids all bunched in the centre of the field, the wind was a cold north-easterly so I set up at the far end of the field with the wind coming over my right shoulder. As we had a few pigeons flighting the field but no alighting I put out six thawed birds on spikes and twelve corvids to my right into the wind and waited. The corvids came back quiet quickly and I lost a good number to the field behind me which was tall meadow grass but not my permission with a footpath running behind my hide.

    The pigeon frequency increased but they would not decoy but followed the tree line down the edges of the field. As this is Bens shoot I did not target the birds but concentrated on the corvids.

    Ben popped in to see me after work and collected the requested carrions , I’d managed to get the 15 his customer had requested. At this point the amount of pigeons increased flying over the field and he went off to investigate the local area ,I settled back in the hide but the number of birds reduced just as if they had been lifted off one field and they had now returned. I packed up at 17.00 with the total for the day being seventyfive corvids ( including the 15 BB took) six woodpigeons. Thanks to Ben for another interesting days shooting.

    100_3656.JPG

×
×
  • Create New...