pigeon controller

I paid a state pension for 41 years to qualify and retired at 56 and lived on redundancy and works pension until 65 when they both kicked in. I can understand that they have not sufficient funds as noe you only have to have 31 years to qualify.

I’ve now been outed!!!!! Thanks for your thoughts

That’s the only way!!!! I’m still 18 in my head !!!!!

That’s very kind , I’m determined to beat this one way or another, thanks.

As I have previously stated in some replies to other members posts it has not been a good start to the year. So the purpose of this post is to set the record straight as to my absence from the forum. Following a long holiday in Greece I returned to UK to find the birds feeding on natural foods so I concentrated my efforts on catching some Zander from the local canals which have been in existence for over two hundred years and hold some quality fishing if you know where to go. During these night time manoeuvres I noticed I was getting breathless carrying my gear, I put this down to being an old **** at 75. I only managed to catch fish up to 3 pounds much to the amazement of the hoard of lure anglers I met during my travels who seemed not to catch much at all. On the 6th of December I collapsed at home with no warning with a temperature of 41 degrees and blue lighted to our local university hospital, I was diagnosed with pneumonia and anaemia and stayed in hospital for ten days . During which I had various scans, my breathlessness was put down as the oxygen level in my blood was so low that the muscles required oxygenated blood so the lungs had to work harder. The scans confirmed that I had a problem with my blood and bone marrow for which I’m undergoing daily tablets and weekly hospital sessions for the next nine months. All is fine and I feel fine in myself but the effects of the steroids and the chemo do affect my shooting. My wife decided to buy me a belated Christmas present in the form of an electric Carp trolley to allow me to carry my gear around the fields. I’ve used it once so far to good effect. Bunny_Blaster has taken me on his permission three times now with the results being 9 and 16 respectively. This is a farm with concrete roads allowing good access. So yesterdays report, BB sent me a video of the field in the week with a good number of birds flighting on the rape, so I set up at 09.00 after putting a rope banger on a local farm but it was very windy and I think the hole string will be burnt out in a couple of hours. BB arrived at 09.30 and as we talked about our plans for the day I had two in the decoys , luckily I dropped them. BB was on his quad so he decided to set up in the very large field to my rear/right the day was very hit or miss with long periods with no birds then one would appear from over the hedge behind me. BB packed up at 16.00 with 24 birds , I think I was taking his birds as they came over the field. He had a couple of birds in my hide sharing the gun. As he left it started to rain and I had a downpour but finally packed up at 17.30 and picked up 48 birds . I thank BB for accessing his land and allowing me to take his birds. DB and Topgunners have been out during my layoff but have had one good day but not much more. Well that’s it , my consultant is happy with my progress and very positive attitude. My reason for posting is to make people aware that if you have a condition that suddenly appears get it checked out . If I had not collapsed I would have got worse without my knowledge, I feel a fraud as I feel basically OK , my attitude is that I will carry on doing what I want to do until I cant . The picture shows my birds laid out by order of " The Peaky Blinders" and BBs laid out "Norfolk Style" at my feet.

Well done for making the effort and reporting, I bet you enjoyed that high shooting much better than decoy shots. Again well done.

Well done and thanks for reporting, I had a quick drive about yesterday and only found groups of about twenty with none flighting.

It’s a long story but I’ve had two invites from Bunny_Blaster to help him cover large areas of rape with my totals being 9 and 16 respectively. So it would appear that I’m the perfect Worzel Gummage as a scarecrow.

Well done B_B great result after a lot of effort, terrible presentation!! You keep managing to find a few to shoot keep it up.

Well done B_B , you will improve the more you use it. Great result from a difficult situation you did well , happy Farmer.

You shot all the birds last year?? That’s why we have none this year?? only jealous!!

89 is not a bad result in the current situation. The main thing ins that you able to find them in trees etc not interested in feeding but we all know that they have to feed at some point, it’s just when. When I phoned you on Friday about the field close to me I returned two hours later and it was still devoid of birds, they had just lifted and left. So you were lucky that yours returned. The buds situation is starting break so that will throw another spanner in the works!!!

Nice report, well done. Thanks for posting.

Great report of an inventive day, they never go where you want them to do. You stuck at it , well done.

That’s the way to do it!!!! Well done , well deserved. Thanks for reporting and making us all jealous.

What a report, brilliant, it’s not about numbers it’s about enjoyment of the situation and you certainly captured that. Well done for letting us enjoy your sessions, more to come in the future we hope.

Well said.

Totally agree.

Well done Ben, ten out of ten for effort, I bet you would like a pound for every time your told it’s covered with pigeons!! Keep at it and you will get your day, thanks for posting and good luck in the future.

At least you found some to shoot at, the most I’ve found is groups of fifteen to twenty and they were on rape under oak trees Good luck with you quest.

With respect to heavy loads, it’s a personal thing but if I’m roost shooting I will use them also in winter with more plumage. It’s a quirk of mine that I will always carry them in the Disco and if I’m hitting birds and not dropping them I will change as I believe they impart more energy.

Well done for an honest report of a roost session. Both myself and BB are advocates of lighter loads and small shot yet I still shoot 32gram 4 and 5 under certain conditions. I’m yet to find a field worth shooting this year, BB has seen large flocks but they do not commit to decoys or are on fields that are difficult to shoot and not safe. On a recent investigation on some felled trees the dreaded buds we’re starting to break.

Looking at the recent weather it has been dry and normally the wet weather rots the acorns in a few days. Inspecting yesterday the acorns were firm and fresh the ivy is green and black. This is a strange years so far and is not over !!!

BB has been seeing large flocks on various rape fields over the past few weeks but they are very quick to move on. I’m seeing lots of flighting birds in my locality which is on the very edge of the urban sprawl of the city, these tend to be feeding on the ivy along the canal and railway banks. On the late afternoon dog walk I see large numbers very high returning to the city. The closest rape is five miles out along the flightline and upon inspection is devoid of birds after checking at various times of the day. DB has been checking our normal farms and not finding birds , Oldun reports the flock moved off his shooting field which is a problem when you have a concentration of rape fields in a small area. Rope bangers can keep them on the move but at £70 a box can be expensive the other option is the flag off fields or include other guns. We are informed by Mr Pwackam that the Wood Pigeon is increasing in numbers following the bird survey they carry out each year so it may be that they are becoming more urban thanks to the amount of food that Oldun and my wife feed in the garden?????

Well done BB , 48 is a good number in the current situation, it proves that if you put the miles in you can find a days sport. I had the situation on Sunday that I had a bird in the garden driving the dog mad sitting on the shed roof , it looked drunk and I nearly caught it with a landing net which made me think of Avian Flu?? We have not received reports of dead birds. I predict that the birds will appear in numbers in time when they are focused on the food supply.In the mean time BB keep scanning the fields and reporting your numbers to keep us interested. Well done and keep reporting.