Quick Mooch this afternoon

[pete1dart]

Going to have a quick mooch around the farm this afternoon. Havnt taken the gun out for ages as there has been nothing around for weeks. Will be checking the peas and have a look at the maize drill. Im not expecting alot but it will be nice to get out

 

pete

[pete1dart]

after my dads unexpected bag on some old cover crop a few weeks back we decided to have a look at the same cover crop that produced so well. with it being drilled again with next seasons cover we didnt expect too much.

 

As i have given my key to the bottom gates on a shoot day in late January to get the beaters wagon in and out to the bosses son, we had to drive in through the paddock and past the bosses house. This being all good and well you may think, especially when the boss comes running out and says that he is glad to see us.

 

He had just come back from putting the bangers on on one of the pea fields that we had looked at 5 minutes before. He said that he had just pushed of 60-70 pigeons and would it be ok if we went and shot this field . Of coarse me and dad were more than happy too.

 

After putting the world to rights for a good 45 minutes we went back to field but to the other end where he said all the pigeons had been hitting. There were maybe 20 or so right in the top hand corner. This is a hard field to shoot as it has roads on 3 sides and only an old straw barn and a fence line with only a few bushes on it for cover.

 

Dad went in a old hide next to the barn and i went on the long trek to the fence line. While i was setting up i could hear dad have a shot with 1 pigeon down. Good start i thought, and carried on setting up. Another shot rung out with a nice high bird falling. A good afternoon could be on here. I had finally got eveything looking good, hide was perfect, decoys looking good and so on. All i needed now were some pigeons. After 5 mins one came in straight over my left shoulder and into the pattern. Got him with the second shot after knocking out some feathers with the first. Hmm I thought this could be a very good afternoon.

 

2 Hours later, im cold, wet and out of fags,(if it was on the solway i wouldnt have minded so much) no other pigeon seen and no more shots. I should know by now not to get my hopes up. Dad had also had enough and was packing up so i decided to join him in doing the same.

 

Back at the car we chatted and went our seperate ways. Still 3 between us and that is 3 less to munch on the farmers peas. I decided to have a look at the maize dill on the cover crop. This is right on the other side of the farm so off i went. Driving down the track i noticed a couple of pigeons dropping into the trees and thought nothing of it. It was only once i had got down to the bottom of the track that i had realised we were in the wrong place. The strip is around 1 acre and it was blue with em. A swear word for every pigeon on the field must have come from my mouth (around 250)!

 

All the pigeons got off and went to a small wood no more than 1/4 mile away so i decided to sit in the car and see if any came back. Within 20 minutes i had counted 56. All were coming in 4s and 5s. The time was getting on a bit so i decided to leave them for the old man on Monday. Unfortunatley iv got to work so might pop down after and try and get on some.

 

Im not sure we made the right decision but still, you cant get told one thing by the boss and do another.

 

Sorry this is a bit long winded, and thanks for reading. i will post the results of tomorrows shoot.

 

 

Pete