Birds now magnet shy..??

[wabbitbosher]

I was out last week with my new magnet also from the site sponsor, birds really didnt want to come too close, when i was out in the field the other side of the deeks i could see the arms glinting in the sun, I mixed some mud with my bottle of water and smeared it all over the arms, the pigeons started to come straight in to the pattern again, Ive since bought a reel of cloth cammo tape and covered all the moving parts to stop the glare

 

mikee

 

Mine too (not from the site sponsor) but i've put cloth cammo tape on the arms , i still find it hasnt worked as good as it did in the first two years

 

wb

[Fisherman Mike]

Magnets are like an exercise bike or a vibrating massge belt....ONLY WORKs AS PART OF A CALORY CONTROLLED DIET...

 

If there are Pigeons feeding on the decoy field and still food there for them and they have found it they will come in to feed at least twice a day. Normally early morning and late afternoon. The rest of the time they will just sit up somewhere digesting. This varies slightly around stubble time when the birds are at their peak breeding stage when they will feed sporadically at all times during the day.

 

Pigeons will be drawn to the stubble and feed fields by movement from other birds who have found it first. This initial "find" is when the magnet is most effective. When Ive used one on an established feed field it has had the complete opposite effect so if I am shooting over a field which has already been found by the birds in good numbers then I leave it at home.

 

Claims that a magnet will pull birds off a flightline from miles around are total ******** in my considered opinion. When you see a bird on flight line he is doing one of two things 1. Either he is heading for a feeding field somewhere or 2. He is heading back to nest or roost.

 

Find where the birds are feeding, use the most realistic decoys you can afford to bring them into gun range, return to the hide and wait.

 

If you have no pigeons feeding on your newly sprouting rape or freshly cut wheat its generally because they havent found it or are pre occupied elsewhere. This is when a magnet might possibly be beneficial in attracting "scouting birds"

 

Pigeons are very intelligent and will feed for several seasons ( if they live!) on particular fields or in particular areas, each year introducing a new crop of young to the table and so on and so on. This way they establish feeding areas and flightlines between established roosts. This is why some areas of the country are never touched. in the 10,000 acres or so I have been fortunate enough to have shot over in the last few years I know generally where the birds will be at any given month and these are the fileds which are regularly cultivated with alternating rape, wheat and barley crops. October and November they will be in the Beech and Oak woods and if I were to put a magnet in any of the adjacent fields it would be a complete waste of time.

 

Are magnets effective ? the jury is out for most of us, but in my opinion its another fashionable panacea which more often than not is best left in the garage and is certainly no substitute for good old fashioned field craft.

 

In answer to your original question are pigeons becoming wary of it...the answer is no! they are already wary of something unusual. I have found that birds which come to the magnet do so with more confidence when the decoys look right and will often land amongst the pattern. If they soar over the magnet to check out the deeks and the plastic ones are shining or the deeks just dont look right the magnet will send them packing. Remember a pigeons eyesight is probably 10 times more acute than ours and I am sure if we can recognise plastic deeks from 30 meters they could easily pick out their real brethren from 300m and more.

 

To summarise I have found in the last 10 years that a single or perhaps two real pigeons on a low mounted electronic flapper is much more effective than a magnet. If you can get some of the old fashioned line operated flapping cradles for mounting shot birds these are still very very effective.

 

Happy shooting all.

 

Mike.

 

PS. The official BTO breeding bird survey trends for 2009 show a drop in pigeon numbers nationally by 7% between 2008 and 2009. Which is quite a significant drop when considering the trends over the recording period 1995 - 2009. It will be interesting to see what this years survey results bring.

[left & right]

I have had that before when its really sunny. sounded like you still had a good day anyway