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Hi all, I wonder if I might ask for a little help with a few decoying issues which I'm having. I'm an experienced shooter but most of my pigeon shooting has always been roost shooting or flight lining and decoying is fairly new to me. I've been shooting pigeons on two fields, one of newly drilled game crop seeds and one of drilled barley. At first the old strip of game crop still ran along the middle of the field and made building a hide near the feeding area easy and I had some good shooting. This has now been ploughed up and the pigeons are still feeding on the seed but there is nowhere nearby to build a hide where it won't stick out like a sore thumb. Does this matter? I remember reading that Archie Coates said it wasn't good to have a hide in open ground but other people seem to say it doesn't matter? The second issue which I'm having is when shooting over the drilled barley. There are always lots of birds on the ground when I arrive, but once I've built my hide and set out the decoys the birds will not come back into the field. It's not that they're seeing the pattern and shying away as if there is something wrong with it, they are just flying over without showing the least sign of interest in the pattern whatsoever. There is conifer wood across the road behind the area where I have to set up and I get occasional shots as they make their way into that, but they will not come back into the field. I only have shell decoys at the moment, which I couple with some dead birds. Would a flapper or a rotary make a big difference in pulling the birds off of their flightpath or might I be doing something fundamentally wrong? Thanks very much for your patience with a beginner! Williegunn88

Hi, Quite new to Decoying and have read the books watched videos and read lots of posts on here. Been out half a dozen times this year, best bag 16, and a couple of single figures. Anyway my questions is I watch for flight lines etc, set up and then the sky goes totally cold turkey, no pigeons what so ever! Am i missing a trick would love to have a day of over 50, I have a magnet good hide skills etc, just dont see lots of movement. Ideas please??