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Devon Decoying


Pykie
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Devon is not reknowned for its pigeon shooting, so when we get a few its a day worth remembering. Heres two days shot with my dad recently, both over freshly cut stubble.

 

The first day was a thursday evening, i had a day off work and dad phoned me to say the farmer had seen a few pigeons milling around one of his fields. He finished work at 12 and by 1 we were sat in the gateway, watching a steady trickle of birds moving over a small wood and two stubble fields. I set up under a huge oak tree, unfortunately with the wind in my face so the birds would be coming from behind, and dad set up in the other field under a small belt of trees. I put out a horseshoe pattern, plus a magnet on my right, and a few crow decoys feeding off to the left. I always try and keep the magnet and crows as far away from each other because corvids often shy away from the spinning device.

 

The shooting was steady, but the birds were not too keen on decoying but i had some long crossing and going away shots, and often a bird pitched in the tree i was under, so i had to clap my hands and hope it would offer a parting shot as it clattered away. I was using my usual Webley and Scott auto, fed with ounce load of 7s which i think give a lovely pattern on decoyed pigeons and crows. As the eveing went on, the birds became braver (or more foolish) and i had several close range kills, and a number of corvids which i called in. In all, dad and I had 54 pigeons and 9 corvids with a ratio of 2-1 by 7pm.

 

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Our next good day was the following saturday, again on a stubble field. I set up under a big oak that stood by itself in the middle of the field, dad was 40 yards to my right, with a net hide agaisnt some bales. We have shot this field a number of times and its on a natural flightline, offering good sport. It started off slow, only 8 crows and a pigeon by lunch and we thought it would be a poor day. Dad had to go check on the pheasants and as he sat in his L200 chatting to me, with me leant against the door, a crow decoyed without hesitation, dispite us both being in plain view. I shot it with a single shot, and just reloaded to drop two pigeons that also swooped in, totally oblivious to the vehicle or me. Dad quickly did the pheasants then came back to join me in some good steady shooting, resulting in 64 pigeons and 12 corvids, again with a 2-1 ratio. Dad used his 20 bore Beretta, i used the Webley auto.

 

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