Standing Wheat

[kaiser1977]

I went to have a look round a part of my permission I rarely go to for what reason I don't know this was 4pm. There is 2 fields of beans followed by another 5 of wheat the largest is about 70 acres the smallest of about 15 . Obviously nothing at the beans but when I came to the first field of wheat, my god there must have been 300 pigeons feeding on the standing crop these quickly flew off in the direction of one of the smaller fields so I drove up to it when I got there I can honestly say I have never seen so many pigeons in one place , as I pulled up birds lifted off that field enmass the air was thick with them if I had gun in hand the one shot could have brought down about ten of them . I sat and watched in amazement as they just continued to buzz round this field after about 5 mins birds were still lifting off the standing crop , now the big problem with this field is it is only 100 yards wide with a field full of cattle behind it then over to the right is where the land owners daughter lives and can't take the chance of lead landing on her car or roof so I decided to carry on driving to the other wheat fields behind a wood to the right of this field as I drive round I believe my eyes but this field is just about the same. I sat and watched the field to suss out the flight lines but the pigeons were coming from every direction, which made this extremely difficult after about 40 mins I decided that the largest amount of birds where entering the field via a hedgerow to the far right along the tree line then crossing the field to a patch of standing wheat beneath a oak tree so I gave it a go drove round to the oak tree set up the hide the set the decoys where the birds had been landing this patch was 30 yds in the damage was unbelieveable they had flattened a huge area nearly down to the ground.

The wind was behind me which was ideal but was hot and bright not so ideal . set up 2 dead bird bouncers about 60 yds out pointing in to the killing area the shell decoys laid on the wheat in a u shape with a flapper in the middle, the first couple of pigeons came in for a look but flared off this happen another few times so I went back and changed the pattern to two groups of six shells with the flapper in the middle this worked a lot better the first two were down missed a couple I got to six then the pigeons didn't take much notice just carried along the tree line so out came the magnet put to the left of the pattern one came in, down he went then, they started to flare off again so moved it over to the right and took off the hypa flaps and put on dead birds another one came in down again missed a string of shots then they followed along the tree line again ignoring the pattern . So moved the magnet again this time over to the field behind me this brought in another couple, then started flaring off again, so took a walk out to the field and look back the arms of the magnet were glinting like flashing mirror in the bright sun but as soon as a cloud passed these were few and far between it didn't so in came the rotary , didn't flare but didn't take notice just seemed to avoid .played around again with the layout and managed to bag a another couple bringing the total to 12 and after seeing all those pigeons i was expecting a red letter day but just could not bring them in probably saw the next field was teeming with them and decided to go there , how annoying if i have flagged it maybe that might have changed things !!

[Jim Sarakun]

What a day. I'm sure you were becoming well and truly frustrated. I'm convinced those Pigeons are becoming wiser to our methods as the years pass.

 

Good to see you stuck it out though, where a lesser man would have jacked it in and gone home.

[yickdaz]

What a day. I'm sure you were becoming well and truly frustrated. I'm convinced those Pigeons are becoming wiser to our methods as the years pass.

 

Good to see you stuck it out though, where a lesser man would have jacked it in and gone home.

same thoughts had days like that meself no matter what you do it dosn;t work but i bet it will when fields are harvested because you can get to any part of the fields as long as you have cover. keep us posted

[mossy835]

i had a nice day yesterday on standing wheat,i have barley fields being cut today.

[Cranfield]

It was a good idea to have a look at your layout from a distance and spot the flashing rotary.

I painted all of mine with matt paint in browns and greens when I first got it to solve that problem.

 

If the birds keep flaring off at all layouts, then have a look at your concealment, perhaps you are not as hidden as you think.

Another thing to check is whether you have left them enough room to land near the decoys.

With small areas of flattened wheat its tempting to fill the gap with decoys, but incoming pigeons will flare off if they see they can't land.

In these areas, sometimes "less is more".

[kaiser1977]

What a day. I'm sure you were becoming well and truly frustrated. I'm convinced those Pigeons are becoming wiser to our methods as the years pass.

 

Good to see you stuck it out though, where a lesser man would have jacked it in and gone home.

I had not been out for nearly two weeks so was keen to make the most of it, don't get me wrong there was a hell of a lot of swearing going on, the magnet nearly got chucked out a few times so frustrated is a mild word for it, I suppose the heat didn't help as it was 29 !!

[Jim Sarakun]

You did well to keep your cool. So stay cool, be methodical and patient, and you will be rewarded. Don't trash your kit from frustration whatever you do.

[kaiser1977]

I'm going to take cranfields advice and paint the magnet in matt green and brown, because thinking back the last few times I had used the magnet the weather had been bright so the birds flaring away was most probably because of the shining arms .

I'm going to give those fields another go hopefully tomorrow afternoon as I had a drive over to them today and they are still there in huge numbers this time I'm going to flag the field near the cattle and house , that should hopefully send them my direction as the flight lines have not changed at all, still coming from every where but mostly via the hedgerow.

Today would have been perfect good breeze blowing and and mostly overcast , but the landowner does not permit shooting on a Sunday typical !!

[anser2]

I have used camo tape on my magnet arms. It stops the shine and lasts longer than paint.

Edited July 11, 2010 by anser2

[Highlander]

I paint my magnet depending upon the time of year, sometimes brown/green, sometimes sand/green etc etc. A quick spray over to suit the crop/ground I’m shooting. Matt it up as much as possible because any surface will shine at this time of year.

 

From your post it sounds as though the magnet wasn’t necessary on this occasion. If there were so many birds wanting to get into that area a few decoys, possibly on movers, with a well placed bouncer/floater would have done the job. Replace any decoys with shot birds after a while and keep still/unseen. I think you’d have found a steady trickle of birds would have developed if you hadn’t been so impatient. Sometimes, especially with such a large number of birds in the area wanting to feed in one particular spot you’re almost better off NOT setting too much of a pattern and YES maybe you should have put flags/bangers on the other field/s.