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Hi all, I’ve got a large permission at the moment with several very large rape fields that the farmer has asked me to shoot Pigeons on as the fields are getting hammered. I’ve shot over rape many times but only ever from the margins - these fields are each so big that once the pigeons get spooked they just move to the other end and the shooting dries up. I’m looking for tips/guidance on how to set up a hide in the middle of a rape field So I can cover more ground. Any considerations as I imagine you stick out like a sore thumb?? Thanks! T

One for Sunday 30/12/18 . i've got one field of 150 acres of rape lots of pigeons on it 87 shot yesterday.. Meet up at 7am shot untill 1pm you need the normal insurnce and own gear. Dave😀

1 Gun for Saturday 11/03/2017 Must have insurance own gear meet for 7ish shoot untill 1pm for later if day goes ok. Dave

After an excellent roost session last night during which i managed some real testing birds, i was up for a spot of decoying today. I had been invited to help shoot some pigeons on a rape field which as had some damaging attention off the woodies. As always at this time of year the pigeons have proved very tricky here and despite good numbers being present most days, others that have shot the field had only managed a few birds. After a breif reccy of the field it was clear the pigeon were hitting a patch of the field that required a 200 metre walk fully laden with kit over wet sticky ground. We set up a net hide around a telegraph pole and set up a magnet with dead birds, a floater and 4 dead birds on cradles. The wind was roughly 15mph at our back and coming from the north east, which can be painfully bitter round this part of yorkshire. Before too long the first pigeon decoyed perfectly. I left my gun in the slip and let the lad i was out with have some shooting as it was a while since he had shot real birds! It showed and after two barrels the first pigeon departed the decoys in pefect health!! It took a while for him to get to grips, but eventually he did and we started to build a bag. Some large buches of birds approached but we didn't shoot at these to prevent spooking them and tried to focus on the one's and two's. This seemed to work ok and we managed a bag of 32 pigeons in 4 hours before eventually the birds stopped coming. We endured some fairly heavy snow showers {you can see the snow on the birds in first picture} and the slog back with all the kit and the dead birds was knackering for a pair of fat lads of 40 years old!! The farmer was chuffed at our efforts and we both enjoyed the afternoon as did Tom my labrador, he has had a busy weekend on the pigeons. Not a huge bag but as good as i can manage at the minute.

Guys Just had a run in with a farmer on one my perms about driving over a crop.To get to this field you drive down a track 1/4 mile and can't turn round then into a very long osr field where I drove straight down the wheelings. Unloaded then turned round and drove 3/4 of the way back,leaving my car in the field as deterrent. When I had finished I reversed back ,loaded up and away forward and home. This all happened last week but met farmer today who was moaning about lampers/dog men driving over his field,so he was going to barricade the track.He said that it wouldn't affect me ( I nearly choked)I explained what I do when shooting this field and he was not Happy to the point I must not drive down there again.I reiterated that I only drive on the wheelings but no joy,so I told him that I am no longer going to shoot that field.After our chat I went and had a look and there are no other tracks only mine,so no lampers only me. Now this might end up with me losing this perm but so be it.Most of my other Osr fields at the moment are by roads /track so this isn't a problem. So my question is do you drive over fields if possible or just park up and carry? Thanks Fielddweller

I was asked by a farmer to have a look at some pigeons on the winter rape yesterday. I had of course already been watching the field and numbers were starting to build nicely. I would have liked to have left the field a bit longer, but the farmer is eager to get the gas guns out! The field in question is thirty acres and tricky to shoot with a footpath at the top end and a horse yard to the left. After assessing the situation we walked around 80-100 pigeons off the field and sorted the kit. With the good wind blowing today i decided along with my shooting buddy tan to set up a net hide on some telegragh poles 150 yds into the field. The position was ideal as we could shoot from all angles, but this part of the field has a lot Charlock the yellow flowering weed often seen growing in rape at this stage. Although the charlock was thin and it was easy to pick shot birds, setting out our decoy pattern was tricky so the magnet, a floater and a few dead birds on cradles was the order of the day. From the off the pigeons decoyed perfectly, we both shot well and enjoyed some good left and rights. We took in turn to shoot and shred some good banter and had i nice morning out. Unfortunatley the pigeons stopped at 1pm as i imagined they had found another food source. The odd passing bird decoyed straight to us but at 2pm we decided to pack up. The final pick up resulted in 47 woodies all of which were in tip top condition. one or two others made it accross the field but we shot well and picked up 67 empties. Although short and sweet the session suprised me as i thought the birds would simply cleared the field after a couple of shots! The farmer is happy and there's a few more pigeons in my freezer. Merry christmas and a happy new year to all you pigeon watchers!

I have done a bit of decoying before but only ever with static decoys. Now the opportunity has come up that i will be able to do some more especially over winter on oil seed rape etc. I am looking to buy either a flapper or a rotary decoy as with so much 'food' around for the pigeon, I expect I will need movement to bring them in. Could you please help me with this decision. Giving reasons for each and where you can buy good ones that don't cost an arm and a leg....... Any other advice on shooting pigeons over oil seed rape in winter would also be very helpful!!! Many thanks