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I had been eagerly awaiting the start of harvest around here. It was only a matter of time before I had some stubbles to shoot on. A week ago I had a look at the first barley stubble that I have access to. It didn't warrant shooting, but a close eye needed to be kept on it. I know a chap that lives close by would probably be watching it, and while I had to beat him to it (if he had indeed spotted the opportunity) there was no point in me jumping the gun before decent numbers had built up. So, after already cancelling a few days leave due to the lack of good looking situations, I could wait no longer. The numbers using this particular field had risen to decent proportions, and I thought it was worth a go. I was sure where the main flight would come from, as I know the area quite well. My mate Sam was given the first refusal on an invite - he has hardly fired a gun all year. He was eager to have a shot, too, and so we were to meet up on Thursday morning. It was a bright and breezy day, and on arrival (9.30 am) there were a few birds around. I took a good 15-20 minutes to decide where to site the hide, given the wind direction, the likely lines of flight and the proximity of houses. The hide consisted of two round bales rolled together and some desert net in front. I had forgotten the dead birds for the magnet and this proved a problem early on. The birds weren't too intent on checking out my pattern of flocked full bodies and shell decoys. Most of the birds seemed to want to settle in the trees on the other side of the field. The first birds shot were a rook and a crow. I had contemplated standing under the trees to shoot our first two pigeons, but just before i was going to go, a couple of birds came in one after the other. The magnet was duly deployed, but still the birds went to those trees. No sooner had I made the trek over to the trees, than the pigeons started to fly over the road and head to the decoys. Sam had shot 5 before i decided to go back to the hide, with just 1 for my efforts. A second magnet was then put out. From then on, a regular steady trickle of birds visited. We experienced a few lulls, followed by a hectic five minutes. I was off form again, and i was annoyed at some of the birds i missed. Sam, however, shot pretty well. We got packed up by around 5.15 with 101 pigeons, 4 jackdaws, 3 crows and a rook in the bag. A video of the day will follow at some point. I didn't have a field lined up for today, but i knew where some more barley stubbles were which may result in some sport. What I'm really waiting for is some rape stubble to shoot. I reckon that all mine will be ready at roughly the same time, unfortunately. Back to today. I had a slab of the new Eley pigeon cartridges to pick up from my dad's house. His mate bought them for me as a thank you for taking him shooting earlier in the year. I asked my old man if he wanted to join me for a shot if i found anywhere worthwhile. He said he might. I quickly got to where the stubbles were and then i had to choose which one would give the best chance. I think i got it right. I managed to get set up and had already shot 3 pigeons before my dad turned up. The hide was in a shallow ditch in between two fields. The magnet was used from the start, today, and it was helping to bring them in well, just like on Thursday. I added dead birds as usual, but i also added a flapper and an angel, later. I shot far better today and the old chap enjoyed some good sport. There was a good mixture of easy decoying birds and testing overhead and crossing shots. I think we just about did ourselves justice. This session lasted about 4 hours and we shot 64 pigeons.