Are pigeons more clever than theyused to be .?

[Harnser]

This winter has been the worst winter rape shooting that I remember over many years of pigeon shooting . I have a theroy that natural selection has been speeded up with woodpigeons .

Pigeons in my opinion are definately more difficult to shoot than they were 30 ,40 ,or 50, years ago . They are deffinately more warry about coming into the coys than I can ever remember .

 

My therory is that ,over the years natural selection has been speeded up by the continuous shooting of the woodies . I think that the less clever birds are shoot first and the more clever birds manage to avoid being shot and go on to breed and pass on their clever gene . I dont think that we are at the super pigeon stage just yet but I think that serious pigeon shooters will have noticed how harder it is to shoot big bags . What do you think ?

 

Harnser .

[magman]

Allot more crops sown these days so Mr Woodie has more choices

 

How many dairy farmers are there these days ?

[retromlc]

This winter has been the worst winter rape shooting that I remember over many years of pigeon shooting . I have a theroy that natural selection has been speeded up with woodpigeons .

Pigeons in my opinion are definately more difficult to shoot than they were 30 ,40 ,or 50, years ago . They are deffinately more warry about coming into the coys than I can ever remember .

 

My therory is that ,over the years natural selection has been speeded up by the continuous shooting of the woodies . I think that the less clever birds are shoot first and the more clever birds manage to avoid being shot and go on to breed and pass on their clever gene . I dont think that we are at the super pigeon stage just yet but I think that serious pigeon shooters will have noticed how harder it is to shoot big bags . What do you think ?

 

Harnser .

I was talking to my friend in the field about this this morning as the pigoens were very clued up and the first one i shot was very small,i commented that there are getting smarter and it won't be long before they starty shooting back,and then wondered if they would start to decoy us,lure us in with remote controlled pigoens ,then shoot us as we popped our heads up out of the hide,discus

[unapalomablanca]

This winter has been the worst winter rape shooting that I remember over many years of pigeon shooting . I have a theroy that natural selection has been speeded up with woodpigeons .

Pigeons in my opinion are definately more difficult to shoot than they were 30 ,40 ,or 50, years ago . They are deffinately more warry about coming into the coys than I can ever remember .

 

My therory is that ,over the years natural selection has been speeded up by the continuous shooting of the woodies . I think that the less clever birds are shoot first and the more clever birds manage to avoid being shot and go on to breed and pass on their clever gene . I dont think that we are at the super pigeon stage just yet but I think that serious pigeon shooters will have noticed how harder it is to shoot big bags . What do you think ?

 

Harnser .

I have been pigeon shooting for a year now and i think its very hard to outwit pigeons. I read of these huge bags people get and wonder if im on a different planet. I think there is truth in what you say about birds getting clever. I think they know what decoys are and this is the area im gonna work on. Im gonna try just dead birds from now on and forget the man made. I reckon more thought setting up dead decoys using at least 12 in different poses could get better results. Then every time you shoot one put it straight out in the pattern and prop it up. Its worth a go as im sure they avoid my magnet on purpose.

[retromlc]

I have been pigeon shooting for a year now and i think its very hard to outwit pigeons. I read of these huge bags people get and wonder if im on a different planet. I think there is truth in what you say about birds getting clever. I think they know what decoys are and this is the area im gonna work on. Im gonna try just dead birds from now on and forget the man made. I reckon more thought setting up dead decoys using at least 12 in different poses could get better results. Then every time you shoot one put it straight out in the pattern and prop it up. Its worth a go as im sure they avoid my magnet on purpose.

I've been shooting the same amount of time and I think we just need more experience,read the signs to make small changes that will just alter the view and they will come in,,In the last 3 weeks i've set up on the same place and with wind ,decoy patern etc appears to be the same,one day I couldn't reload fast enough,they were even coming into the zone while i was out of the hide trying to tidy up the pattern a bit,whereas today they were spooked,wouldn't commit,and I got 3 in 3 hours.but over the far side of the field they were all over it,but it was to late for me to relocate,and they probably would have cleared off,a more experienced shooter may have made a better set up decision and bagged a 100,I'm just trying to remember what I did last time and correct if I think a previous day was slightly different

[magman]

I've been shooting the same amount of time and I think we just need more experience,read the signs to make small changes that will just alter the view and they will come in,,In the last 3 weeks i've set up on the same place and with wind ,decoy patern etc appears to be the same,one day I couldn't reload fast enough,they were even coming into the zone while i was out of the hide trying to tidy up the pattern a bit,whereas today they were spooked,wouldn't commit,and I got 3 in 3 hours.but over the far side of the field they were all over it,but it was to late for me to relocate,and they probably would have cleared off,a more experienced shooter may have made a better set up decision and bagged a 100,I'm just trying to remember what I did last time and correct if I think a previous day was slightly different

 

If you don't mind me saying this is your biggest mistake never shoot the same field from the same place

[retromlc]

If you don't mind me saying this is your biggest mistake never shoot the same field from the same place

thanks,there was about 3 weeks between visits and it seems like it's part of a flight line,but as a question,what about people who set up permanent hides in fields and shoot them,is there a period of time between visits?

[Cookiemonsterandmerlin.]

I think the hard truth is there is a awful lot of cowboys shooting at pigeons thats what has made them wary .

 

Read M Robsons Post ref in sporting picture somewhere only 180ish birds for some 600ish shots now that sort of cartridge to kill ratio is going to spook the hell out of the birds shot at and not killed.

 

Then read another post do you think pigeons guides are greeby and the birds on that day where unwilling to play it no wonder if they have endured that sort of shooting.

 

Kind Regards OTTH

[Ozzy Fudd]

its not just pigeons, its rabbits too. i was asked to clear out a place last year (april/may) and, if im honest, it was like shooting fish in a barrel, we hit one corner of a field 3 or 4 times in an afternoon with shotguns, getting rabbits every time. so far this year ive noticed theyre far smarter, last year i could have walked up within 80 yards of them, lay down, got settled with the 10/22 and started taking them down. but i was out with the .17hmr a couple of weeks back and they were scarpering if they saw me within 200 yards (and im not ready for long range shooting with it yet).

 

i suppose it makes sense, the ones who stay out of range survive, and pass their genes onto the young

[magman]

thanks,there was about 3 weeks between visits and it seems like it's part of a flight line,but as a question,what about people who set up permanent hides in fields and shoot them,is there a period of time between visits?

 

I would only shoot from the same hide twice in one year

[benelli montefeltro]

I think the hard truth is there is a awful lot of cowboys shooting at pigeons thats what has made them wary .

 

Read M Robsons Post ref in sporting picture somewhere only 180ish birds for some 600ish shots now that sort of cartridge to kill ratio is going to spook the hell out of the birds shot at and not killed.

 

Then read another post do you think pigeons guides are greeby and the birds on that day where unwilling to play it no wonder if they have endured that sort of shooting.

 

Kind Regards OTTH

i hate to keep banging on about this oth, but i really cannot see how you could accuse anybody of being greedy in regards to pigeon shooting, when you are proud to keep telling us of your record bag of 561 pigeons. just a little bit of greed involved there if you ask me

[Cranfield]

I don't think the birds are getting cleverer, just that conditions are changing.

 

The birds have a lot more choice of all year round food than they had in the past.

This means you rarely get the suicidal commitment to coming into a field that you use to get.

Apart from a few days of a light snow covering in my area, they had access to acres of rape, old stubbles, wood and hedgerow berries, acorn, beechmast, etc., all Winter.

 

I shot a couple this week walking along a treeline by a rape field, they were full of clover (no rape) and the peas will be chitting soon, still spoilt for choice.

 

There is also the question of disturbance, its no coincidence that the people who post large bags on here are covering a lot of ground and putting the time in on reconnaissance.

They can "rest" ground and keep up to date where the birds are.

 

I know its difficult if you are working all week to put the time in, but just turning up on your favourite field on Saturday morning and hoping to get a big bag is long shot (excuse the pun ).

[cocker3]

i dont think there getting smarter as before the just have so much choice and hard winters are few and far between theres more rape than ever round our way. think of when your decoying how many times have birds shifted to a quiet field and you chase them round in circles there going where there not being disturbed. and they dont have to look very hard for food when there snow on the ground the decoy better cause there hungry and want to feed to keep warm . i was out shooting to day and they just wouldnt comit in the morning but late after noon the came easy to the decoys cause they wanted food before the go to roost as for hides iv used the same hide 4 weeks running and had good day every time (remember birds dont look for hides they look for unnatural movement they here a bang and fly off they cant go back to there mate and tell them thats not the field you want to be in they us flightlines if 100 birds use it 10 that have been shot at will still fly with the flock on that flight line and if some of those birds come in i think the shot at bird will still come in with them but thats my view and some may disagree feild craft is the main thing you have to get right ( hides, flight line ,decoy pattern ,wind ,weather)

[Wesman]

What powers will these super pigeons have?

[cocker3]

What powers will these super pigeons have?

wings of steel the ones round us already have the flack jackets and tin hats :o

[Wesman]

I hear some have developed lazer eyesight and one has healing ability and a nasty habit of metal claws popping out.

[Maltese Falcon]

What powers will these super pigeons have?

 

 

They will be able to launch a full on nuclear strike on us all. :o

[Sinistercr0c]

The ones round our way have developed the power of speech....every time they fly near my hide, I hear 'em laugh and say 'look at that daft ****....you can see him a mile off. lets fly just out of range to wind him up'.......

[Stretch]

I only started pigeon shooting last year so have no comparison to previous years, but i think they well clued up.................... either that or i am absolutely useless!!! lol

[turbo33]

I have never understood the rape/winter shooting in the south. Sure there are some massive flocks, and we all know how they move off with one gunshot, sometimes never to return. It doesn't explain why (without the jokes!) there are large bags on rape for some and nothing for others. I used to shoot on a massive estate 30 years ago, and they were so sharp, no matter what I tried, and many others..they would not decoy. Its fair to say that in the summer there are a lot of young birds around that are less street wise, but for some reason the pigeon brain seems to lose all sense of fear in summer and suspect everything in the winter. Kept me baffled for years. :o

[motty]

I would only shoot from the same hide twice in one year

 

That's a bit extreme. I've shot from the same hide four weeks running and killed over a hundred each time.

 

Cleverer pigeons? I don't think so. I think that a lot more people go pigeon shooting these days and therefore pigeons get shot at more, and therefore more wary. The good bags i've shot this year ( 194 and 106) were both shot on fields that i know haven't had too much disturbance.

There's a farm i shoot on, that is virtually impossible to get a good bag on rape. The pest controller rides around most of the day keeping birds off. I have trouble making a bag over 10, whereas on other farms with little disturbance i've been killing a few. The same goes for people going out 2 or 3 times a week on rape and only shooting for a couple of hours and getting very little. Better to leave the field for a couple of weeks and have a proper go at them.

[shoughton]

I'm fairly new to pigeon shooting and find it very hard. I have lots of land to shoot over - but struggle to identify where the pigeons are most of the time.

 

Just when I convince myself that my shoot isn't much good for pigeons and that I would have to be there all daylight hours watching them, 7 days a week - my mate who knows what he is doing takes a day off work and bags 120 or more in a few hours.

 

I have SO much to learn! I have a had one great day last year over peas when they just kept coming - but I struggled to hit them :look: but I haven't managed to repeat such a busy day yet. The peas are drilled now - but I haven't really seen the pigeons on them in any numbers yet.

 

Whilst I'm sitting here at work I bet somebody else is there sitting in the hide having a great day.

 

Must buy a lottery ticket this week.

[deny essex]

I'm fairly new to pigeon shooting and find it very hard. I have lots of land to shoot over - but struggle to identify where the pigeons are most of the time.

 

Just when I convince myself that my shoot isn't much good for pigeons and that I would have to be there all daylight hours watching them, 7 days a week - my mate who knows what he is doing takes a day off work and bags 120 or more in a few hours.

 

I have SO much to learn! I have a had one great day last year over peas when they just kept coming - but I struggled to hit them but I haven't managed to repeat such a busy day yet. The peas are drilled now - but I haven't really seen the pigeons on them in any numbers yet.

 

Whilst I'm sitting here at work I bet somebody else is there sitting in the hide having a great day.

 

Must buy a lottery ticket this week.

Looked at a cpl of my small shoots near Maldon, very very quiet there and surrounding areas with plenty of drill around so not just mayland

[Cookiemonsterandmerlin.]

i hate to keep banging on about this oth, but i really cannot see how you could accuse anybody of being greedy in regards to pigeon shooting, when you are proud to keep telling us of your record bag of 561 pigeons. just a little bit of greed involved there if you ask me

 

 

I see that the mods have had enough of your childish poor informed posting and very unpolite PMs to pigeon watch members me included.

 

Thank you Mods

 

Kind regards OTH

[cocker3]

I see that the mods have had enough of your childish poor informed posting and very unpolite PMs to pigeon watch members me included.

 

Thank you Mods

 

Kind regards OTH

hi oth a would be proud to shoot 561 and a dont care what any one says you just cant please some folk m8