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Showing results for tags 'learning curve'.
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I went out yesterday for a day on my own, it is a long time since I have done that. Went to an area that has seen a lot of pigeons over the past week, and in fairness has possibly been over shot. After 5 hours and only a handful of pigeons to show for it I packed up and headed home. The hours sitting in the hedgerow were not wasted, I spotted a very strong flight line, and the pigeons were busy all day dropping onto an area to feed and then off back to the safety of the trees. Having packed up, I went and sat at a vantage point and watched for another 30 odd minutes, these birds were totally committed, to the feeding area, flight line and tree cover. I returned to the area today with a new shooting friend, I arrived an hour or so before he, set up two hides, and whilst doing this the birds did not seem bothered by my movements at all. I went and sat in my hide, and within the first hour I had 20 pigeons for 44 shots. My friend arrived and away we went, banging away for the rest of the afternoon. My friend was using a 20g with full and 1/2 chokes, 28g 6's, and was bringing birds down left right and centre, and also at some distance out. It did not seem to bother the Pigeons that he stood up and waited for them, they were totally committed to landing in the trees. By the way I forgot to mention we did not use any decoys, we were shooting over a field of Wheat bordering a field of Barley. The birds were feeding about 500 yards out in the field, and there was no where to set up near the feeding area. We/I set up under the trees they were flighting to, over a bridleway backing onto a field that was not part of the permission. The sad thing in todays shoot was not being able to pick up the greater part of what we shot (and only yesterday I complained about the smell of rotting pigeons at the other area), this would have done more damage to the crop than the pigeons, as most were dropping in front of us. The total at the end of the day was a little in excess of 125, my partner was not the best counter, although a far superior shot, his hit rate was well into 1 for 2, very little got away, mine sadly slipped away, especially after I changed for what I thought would be a better position, only to be proved wrong. I am pleased to say that this was my mates best ever bag, and also mine when not using decoys. I will be going back to the spot in a day or two, I will let you know how I get on, keep your fingers crossed.