Where am i going wrong?

[Daveo26]

Iv been asked to reduce the pigeon numbers on a long thin field that contains beans.

A decent piece of the crop has been destroyed by woodies

Along one side of the field runs a road but its blocked from view by trees,

on the other a golf course and at the bottom of the field is a house,

so i have shoot up the field

When i arrived there were a number of pigeons at the bottom of the field feeding and others in the trees

I placed 6 deeks out where they had been and built a nice hide basically under a bush.

I put the deeks in a horseshoe shape facing the wind Thinking the birds would circle round and land in the open space inside the horseshoe.

Im confident the birds couldnt see me because loads flew over and did'nt veer off like they had.

The problem was the birds were very weary of the deeks

They would fly over spot them and change course then often land much further up the field and once one touched down it was joined by upto 5 others.

I watched them and decided that id do away with the horseshoe and try and put them oput more naturally

They were more interested and i even managed to shoot one!!!

Have i done anything obvious wrong? Can anyone offer any advice?

Would a magnet be of any use do you think?

Cheers Dave

Edited June 23, 2010 by Daveo26

[vampire]

The only thing i can see that you are doing wrong is typing on here instead of shooting the pigeons as asked :blink:

[Daveo26]

Ok vampire cheers for that, Thats really useful.

Im a novice pigeon shooting just looking for a bit of advice after spending 4 frustrating hours of watching pigeons ignore my deeks.

Cheers pal

[Tis1979]

Hay Dave, I would per server, sometimes you have days when the birds won't commit very well and you need to try a different tactic but as you are only using 6 decoys your limited to what you can try, If i were you i would invest in at least 6 more decoys & a floater. Stick the one you shot today on the floater this will add some movement and hopefully you will get some better action, Also i wouldn't expect big numbers on the beans till Harvest.

Hope this helps a little

 

Kind regards Tristram

[Daveo26]

Thank you, iv got more deeks but wife needed car and i had to travel light.

I would use the one i shot today but iv just BBQed it!!!

Do you think a magnet might help?

[Markio]

I'm not expert but if you find the birds are initially showing interest but then veering (look out for them spooking or chinking) away then they can either see you or just don't like your decoy setup. I've had success using the horseshoe pattern but it's easy to make it too tight, try opening up the outer edges a little more like a V shape instead). I also like to place a few extra ones at the bottom of the 'U'/'V' if you get my gist.

 

Maybe also buy a few more decoys too, just another 6 maybe.

 

Just something to try. Hopefully someone with much more experience will be along soon.

 

EDIT: I was typing to slow, sorry to repeat any of the above.

Edited June 23, 2010 by Markio

[Tis1979]

Thank you, iv got more deeks but wife needed car and i had to travel light.

I would use the one i shot today but iv just BBQed it!!!

Do you think a magnet might help?

Yeah a magnet probably would help but to be honest you should be able to pull them in without, And if you just buy a magnet to stick out you might learn to rely on it i would stick with a few more decoys and a floater or two and see how it goes.

[Daveo26]

Thanks fellas, This is the sort of stuff im after..

[pigeonblasterian]

Real pigeons are the best decoys.So put out your shot ones to build up a pattern.Just keep as still as you can while waiting for the pigeons to come to your decoys.Wait till they are commited to your decoys before you hopefully shoot them.

[COACH]

If you can get some put a couple of real birds on the magnet and just keep at it.

[UKPoacher]

I don't want to sound negative fellah, but I can't see the point in buying a magnet for the bit of land you've got. If you've got more - fine, but to be honest another couple of months and you might find that you have no viable shooting on the piece you mention.

 

Find where the pigeons favour within your available area, put your deeks there and take what you can. Half a dozen is enough if they are looking to feed. Another option is to flag off the areas you can't shoot to make the area you can shoot more attractive to them.

[Daveo26]

Iv got plenty to go at mate.

This is just a small part of one of the places i have permission.

I was just abit baffled why the birds were disliking the deeks so much.

[Daveo26]

Also i already have access to a magnet, But as stated above i was car-less so i had to travel light.

[stubby]

Also i already have access to a magnet, But as stated above i was car-less so i had to travel light.

 

a good tip when car-less, take someone with you, and let them carry the magnet

[Daveo26]

What is it with you southerners and your useful advice?

[decoying mad]

plenty of deeks a good rotary with dead birds on preferably and a good v shaped pattern should do the job.

or adjust pattern to suit if jinking away something is spooking them

 

and good luck

 

dm

[unclestuffy]

Had problems with pigeons jinking off a pattern and I think it was partially related to bright overhead sun and shinny decoys. Rubbed them with a bit of mud and it seemed to work better.

 

Was there anything else the sun could have been glinting off as it was bright yesterday

[Highlander]

I’m trying to decipher your story to get a picture of what exactly you were doing.

 

Firstly ‘beans’ at this time of year? I don’t know about Yorkshire but round here all our beans have been in the ground a long time and are now well grown, no pigeons will be on them now until they ripen and are harvested. Unless yours have recently been planted then I’m sceptical about them being the food source. Also are you sure they were woodies and not blue rocks/stock doves or ferals?

 

Secondly it sounds as though you were facing the wind (correct me if I’m wrong) and trying to get the birds to drop into your pattern from over your head. The common mistake here is to put your decoys too close and not leave enough room for the birds to a) see your decoys as they approach and veer off once they realise the landing/kill zone is too limited. Sounds as though you sorted that a bit towards the end by ‘spreading’ your decoys. It always pays to watch the birds before you set up then you’ll have a better idea of their flight lines and also the way they look once on the ground. Horseshoe patterns are all very well but basic and you’ll rarely see a bunch of woodies behaving quite like that.

 

Thirdly you don’t say what type of decoys you were using. Again at this time of year it’s likely to be bright and sunny (with little wind) and pretty well all decoys will ‘shine’ which is why flocked or matt finished decoys are best unless you’ve got the real McCoy. The numbers not so important. A magnet might have helped and certainly I’d try some floaters/bouncers...the old adage ‘do nothing, nothing happens’ is often true where pigeon shooting is concerned. If the birds are flying to the trees then it never hurts to emulate that with a few ‘flyers’.

[Daveo26]

Sorry it was a field of winter cabbage not beans i dont know where that came from!

The wind was blowing from behind me as i was looking up the field.

The Deeks are full bodied and flocked.

Ill try and draw a picture of the layout.

[swiss.tony]

some time s mate they just wont play ball shot 50 on friday went same feild same place same wind shot 2 packed up moved 1/2 mile same feild shot 32 its hard sum days swiss

[here iam]

Sorry it was a field of winter cabbage not beans i dont know where that came from!

The wind was blowing from behind me as i was looking up the field.

The Deeks are full bodied and flocked.

Ill try and draw a picture of the layout.

Hi Dave i have been using flocked shells just a lately about 8 or 9 in two small groups set random one group to the left and one to the right with a good 20 yards in the middle for the kill zone start filling this in with ones you shoot also had more luck with a flapper than a magnet if birds are weary the magnet scares them off unless you can get some real birds on it.any way whope you are well

[alpherneil]

Iv been asked to reduce the pigeon numbers on a long thin field that contains beans.

A decent piece of the crop has been destroyed by woodies

Along one side of the field runs a road but its blocked from view by trees,

on the other a golf course and at the bottom of the field is a house,

so i have shoot up the field

When i arrived there were a number of pigeons at the bottom of the field feeding and others in the trees

I placed 6 deeks out where they had been and built a nice hide basically under a bush.

I put the deeks in a horseshoe shape facing the wind Thinking the birds would circle round and land in the open space inside the horseshoe.

Im confident the birds couldnt see me because loads flew over and did'nt veer off like they had.

The problem was the birds were very weary of the deeks

They would fly over spot them and change course then often land much further up the field and once one touched down it was joined by upto 5 others.

I watched them and decided that id do away with the horseshoe and try and put them oput more naturally

They were more interested and i even managed to shoot one!!!

Have i done anything obvious wrong? Can anyone offer any advice?

Would a magnet be of any use do you think?

Cheers Dave

hi dave i wont worry about a magnet mate get 3 bouncers instead and load up abit on your decoys to about 18 use the horse shoe leave a big space a killin zone for them to land put a bouncer either side of the horse shoe and 1 at the front and wait it out i was once on a pea field and only shot 9 in a morning and by the end of the day i had 114 forr 134 shots pigeons are like woman hard to understand mate

[henry d]

It could be that you set up in an area that was too thick for them to land and feed comfortably and/or your deeks were taking up the available space.

Bouncers/floaters etc. are useful in these instances IF there is a wind.