Setting up close to a wood

[white fox]

Both farms where I shoot have a number of small to medium size woods, many of the fields I shoot are next to them. I have noticed if I set up my hide next to the wood under a flight path with deeks out 20 yards or so, the pigeon often ignore the layout and continue on their flight path as if the deeks were not there. If I set up on a field boundry away from the wood, I seem to have more chance of them committing to the decoy pattern.

 

Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me.

 

WF

[aubs]

Hi

 

It seems like the pigeons are probably roosting in the wood and are feeding else where.

 

Personally If the wood is not for game shooting I would throw up a couple of lofters in the trees and shoot them on the roost ..much more challenging birds.

 

Q what sort of time in the day are you shooting these fields.

 

Cheers

 

 

Aubs

[white fox]

The days the birds are feeding in the fields there is no problem, yes they do roost in the woods and we do hold game in the woods. I have been shooting these fields for years and at all times of the day, and I know and watch the various flight lines to set up in the right place. My above observation is just a general one, if I set up on the other side of the same fields I can bring more in. I was just wondering if others have noticed the same.

WF

[Cranfield]

I have had some of my best days shooting with my back to woods.

 

Depending on wind direction, try placing your decoys well out in the field, or to the right, or left of the hide, say 50 yards+.

This is to tempt the birds to land between you and the decoys.

 

If the decoys are too close to the woods, birds flying from behind you, may not see them.

Depending on disturbance levels (roads, houses, traffic, footpaths etc), birds can be reluctant to land close to woods, preferring to be more out in the open for security reasons.

[Piebob]

I've noticed this from varying my hide positions. Funnily enough, I was reading about it just last night in the John Humphreys book (or it could have been a magazine come to think of it) which had a neat diagram on exactly this.

 

As Cranners has said it's probably more to do with security. Escape routes are limited if pigeons see a "wall" of trees. If, on the other hand, your hide is at a point in the open, sticking out into the field, or perhaps under a sitty tree then pigeons coming in feel more confident as they have various escape routes.

 

My last outing had pigeons flying over my pattern exactly as you describe and I was backed against a thick wood, but the other side of the field (much more open) was better.

 

Piebob

[Fisherman Mike]

Only last friday I went shooting on new fields ( seeded rape and wheat stubble ) which are both 40 plus acre fields which slope down to a dense mixed woodland.

 

The pigeons use the wood to roost and work the woodland harvest in autumn and winter. There is a drystone wall between the two and in an area where the wall runs into the wood the canopy is naturally about 20 or so feet lower than the average 60 to 70 feet.

 

I have been watching these fields for the last 5 years and never managed to track down the owner who lives abroad. The farmer was uneasy about giving me permission without the owners consent but just recently I managed to make contact and secure the shooting over 700 acres.

 

This gap tends to funnel the pigeons returning from stubble fields 2 or 3 mile away so I thought if I set up my decoys on a line above the flight some 40 to 50 yards out I would have a field day such is the volume of pigeons around.

 

When I got to the field and set up my hide I found that i had forgotten both decoys and motorised flapper and couldnt be bothered to go back for them.

 

I settled into the hide and shot a returning bird at about 40m high which came low across the fields like a bullet before climbing quickly on the wind over the canopy.

 

I didnt bother to put it out and within an hour I had shot 6 more and probably missed another 10.

 

After some scoff at 12 I put the birds out on props cut from the hedge and it didnt make a blind bit of difference. To be honest I didnt think it would as I have always found that if birds are roosting or nesting in one area and feeding heavily in another they are not easily dragged off the flight line on the trip home.

 

All the birds I shot 22 in total were returning stuffed with barley grain, which although cut some 3 to 4 weeks ago is still laid unsprouted due to the warm weather. There are still fields of wheat stubble being worked by large numbers of birds in this area.

 

I also shot 3 squirrels raiding a pheasant feed bin and 4 jackdaws.

 

FM

[invector]

I try to stay away from the edges of woods because I think that once birds are committed to landing in the trees they will rarely drop into decoys. The exception to this rule is when the wind is from the right or left and birds are skirting the wood before they drop in. Of course any birds that are leaving the wood from behind will have their eyes set on distant fields and will miss any decoys close to the wood.

 

If the woods are being used as a background, after feeding, you can often make something from nothing by setting up and catching them as they return from fields you don`t have permission on. Once again set up away from the woods and tempt them as they return to digest and rest.

[lurcherboy]

I experience this regulary White Fox. They are on a mission and that is to roost. Don't expect them to come into the pattern. It's different matter though when winter is upon us, they drop in in small flocks, 5 + and I wish the Bennelli took more than 4 carts :<

 

 

LB

[white fox]

Cheers guys, seems you have worked out the same as me.

Good to share.

WF :o

[Cranfield]

Just on a point of clarification.

 

I set up against woods in the morning and stop shooting mid, to late afternoon.

Its my experience that birds are quite happy to feed near their roosts, if possible.

 

It was not my intention to suggest you could decoy birds down to feed, when they are coming in to roost.

However, lofted decoys will often make them come and have a look.

[ROB REYNOLDS UK]

it all depends on what time you shoot near a wood ,if its there roosting wood and they are comeing in to roost it will be hard to pull them to the ground iv found just shoot them as they fly over but most will be high up ,iv shot near woods loads of times on there flight path in the day time and all ways had a good day as long as theres birds about you should pull them in i use a flapper to pull them in or should i say catch there eye so they see the deaks on the ground ,i was banging away saturday most of the birds did not see my deaks as it was in like what i call a cul de sack 100yrds wide 400yrds long and then off again to ,1000yrds a bit like a L shape but what birds did see my deaks came back some time later only shot about 15 but not bad for for a few hours and to just try it out but its a main flight path for the crows so it was not wasted few hours as i will be going back with the big owl and some crow deaks to see if i can not draw them in for a bit of sport ,by just sitting in a field you will learn more about the birds and what they are doing as to there comeings and goings and to were to set up next time

Edited September 28, 2005 by ROB REYNOLDS UK

[RAMMER BURT]

sound's like you have got a nice bit of roost shooting coming up after the pheasent shooting is over

[mossy835]

its best not to set up by woods because pigeons will go to woods than decoys.

[RAMMER BURT]

shot 86 pigeons next to a wood 18months ago,on a pigeon shoot day with my pigeon club and one 250 clear pigeon cart's, they decoyed from 10am until 3pm not a bad days shooting

[invector]

Pigeons DO feed near to woods, but if you try to think like a pigeon, some may still be anchored to nests at this time of year and are intent on getting to squabs or their mates. If you had a full crop would you drop into decoys when all you wanted to do was digest and rest?

 

Decoying under flightlines, and not where birds are actually feeding, is a hit and miss affair at the best of times. Some people can only shoot at weekends and will go to any old field on the chance of a shot when there are no pigeons feeding in that area. I`m lucky enough to be able to shoot all week and I spend as much time with binos scanning the fields as I do shooting.

 

At weekends when there are more people shooting pigeons they are more transient and may be dropping in for a very short while before returning to their favoured field. Weekday shooting is a lot more settled and steady, with pigeons quietly feeding in small numbers and much easier to tempt down. Things are of course different in early December when they flock up!!

[jim38curl]

Set up hide and spent around 4 hours in sat in a field today and shot 2. decided to stop being lazy and carry a few deeks another 400m to the border of some woods. Didnt bother with nets just sat in the hedge and shot another 5 in 45mins to an hour, gutted that i'd left it so long to move, especially when it hammered it down shortly after and i had to pack up. Could have been a really good day.

[invector]

If they don`t come back in less than an hour I`m on the move!!