old'un Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Hi I am a new member to PW and have found it quite interesting to here some of the comments on this forum. I am curious and have a question for those of you who are below the age of 40, what is looked on as a good bag for a days shooting on winter rape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tis1979 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Hi I am a new member to PW and have found it quite interesting to here some of the comments on this forum. I am curious and have a question for those of you who are below the age of 40, what is looked on as a good bag for a days shooting on winter rape? Hey mate, why under 40's? Don't bother me just wondering Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispti Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Me personally, A good bag is not necessarily a big number, nice weather, good company, hot flask and me shooting well, is just as good as a 100+ day. I would guess a decent bag over winter rape would be somewhere between 30 and 50 birds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tis1979 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Me personally, A good bag is not necessarily a big number, nice weather, good company, hot flask and me shooting well, is just as good as a 100+ day. I would guess a decent bag over winter rape would be somewhere between 30 and 50 birds. I concur, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Reckon you're lucky to hit double figures on winter rape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 i would say anything from 20 birds onwards due to it being so difficult at times to make any kind of bag on winter rape Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootnfish Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I concur, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Why under 40? Well I am in my 60s and was just curious as to how things have changed with pigeon shooting over the last 20 years, hope that answer your question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispti Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Why under 40? Well I am in my 60s and was just curious as to how things have changed with pigeon shooting over the last 20 years, hope that answer your question What would be considered a good bag over winter rape 20 years ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big lad Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Hi I am a new member to PW and have found it quite interesting to here some of the comments on this forum. I am curious and have a question for those of you who are below the age of 40, what is looked on as a good bag for a days shooting on winter rape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big lad Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 bin out 2day for 3 houers and got nothing in my bag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tis1979 Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 LOL, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I wondered when that question might come, I know that it’s not about numbers at the end of the day, but how much enjoyment you get from it, but if you have a good bag it makes it so much more enjoyable. The figures are my own and are for shooting over winter rape over the last 40+ years Late 60s if you could find a field of winter rape, average bag 100+ 70s average bag 150 Late 70s early 80s average bag 250 Late 80s early 90s average bag 200 Late 90s average bag 100 2000-2011 average bag 50 Must admit I have not chased them much this last ten years so it’s not much of a guide, that’s partly why I asked my original question of what was being shot by shooters in their 20s and 30s who would not of known what it was like 30 or 40 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispti Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I wondered when that question might come, I know that it’s not about numbers at the end of the day, but how much enjoyment you get from it, but if you have a good bag it makes it so much more enjoyable. The figures are my own and are for shooting over winter rape over the last 40+ years Late 60s if you could find a field of winter rape, average bag 100+ 70s average bag 150 Late 70s early 80s average bag 250 Late 80s early 90s average bag 200 Late 90s average bag 100 2000-2011 average bag 50 Must admit I have not chased them much this last ten years so it’s not much of a guide, that’s partly why I asked my original question of what was being shot by shooters in their 20s and 30s who would not of known what it was like 30 or 40 years ago. I guess the birds are spoilt for choice nowadays. Big bags are more enjoyable, it means all the time and effort put into the reconnaissance has paid off, your decoys and any other accessories used where spot on, your field craft and hide were also on the ball As the saying goes, ''You only get out what you put in'' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 I wondered when that question might come, I know that it’s not about numbers at the end of the day, but how much enjoyment you get from it, but if you have a good bag it makes it so much more enjoyable. The figures are my own and are for shooting over winter rape over the last 40+ years Late 60s if you could find a field of winter rape, average bag 100+ 70s average bag 150 Late 70s early 80s average bag 250 Late 80s early 90s average bag 200 Late 90s average bag 100 2000-2011 average bag 50 Must admit I have not chased them much this last ten years so it’s not much of a guide, that’s partly why I asked my original question of what was being shot by shooters in their 20s and 30s who would not of known what it was like 30 or 40 years ago. As I remember it 25 or so years ago things weren't much different and I can remember sitting in a bale hide all day over rape for very little return many times. There was certainly plenty of it about back then from what I can recall. What we didn't have was the internet so we had to try and work it all out for ourselves with basic equipment compared to today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Why under 40? Well I am in my 60s and was just curious as to how things have changed with pigeon shooting over the last 20 years, hope that answer your question Im 52.. When I started pigeon shooting seriously in this area in 75.. drillings and stubble with the occasional pea field were the main decoy crops. On the drillings with less efficient drills leaving much surface spillage 100 plus birds in a afternoon session was quite frequent When rape was available in winter the bags were'nt that brilliant as pigeons just didnt know what it was. Best rape shooting I experienced was in the mid 80,s rape was more common and the birds knew what it was.. we would expect to get a least a ton of birds when we shot over it but it must be appreciated that I only shot the same field 2 or three times a month so the birds were not gun shy at all. You can still get big bags of 150 + on selected stubble fields around here but on rape 25 -30 would be a achievment. Besides the amount of rape about the biggest impedement to big bags is the frequency of shooting with many wanting to shoot the same rape field once sometimes twice a week from October to March...This is why the big bags have disappeared because Pigeons being incredibly intelligent ( some believe more so than Humans relatively speaking )Have moved on to quieter areas where there isnt a big whirly thing spinning round with a couple of bits of painted plastic on it! and incescent banging noises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookiemonsterandmerlin. Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) Our farm grew OSR for first time in the late 80s a 100 field on the downs product regular bags of 100 arce plus ever sat for four months. I still shot the ground and area and from that time on ever farm from the boundaries took on growing OSR year after year and the bags as we all well know have steadly got smaller on average with a increase in bird numbers on average. Cheers OTH Edited January 30, 2011 by Over the hill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Sarakun Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 30 or so years ago, wow, that's when pretty girls wanted my seed, but I was too full of Tolly bitter to comply. In those days the main crop round here was beans, and shooting Pigeons over it was a bit like the Rape is today, 20+ if your lucky. Get on a bean field round here now, if you can find one, and they are suicidal, bit like they were on the Rape all those years ago. How things go full circle, amazing. Tolly have gone though, and the pretty girls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzrat Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 interesting topic, I started about 20 odd years ago and thought a good day on anything was double figures but I was 12 and shooting a single barrel baikal .410 and didnt really know squat apart from stay still and put the deeks heads into the wind. kit has got far more advanced, more lifelike decoys on the market and gizmos like magnets and power flappers, peckers etc. but bags have stayed around the same if not dropped. Would tend to show pigeons are actually wising up. Just goes to show it doesnt matter how much gear you have, they are fickle little blighters and sometimes they will dive in other days not a sausage. thats what makes it interesting and thats why we keep at it. Fuzrat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 I agree with most of the comments from “Fisherman Mike” but I like “Over the Hill” have shot over winter rape on the same field for over two months with the average bag being 100+ the only difference with today is the next rape field was over three miles away. As regards pigeons being more intelligent than humans well here is my take on winter rape and why pigeons are more difficult to decoy. Most animals learn by association, like wild animals in Africa drinking at a water hole, there could be a predator hiding behind a tree stump or rock, the older animals in the group have seen their mates taken by lion or crocodiles when drinking this makes them very jumpy and easily spooked. So lets look at pigeons, you have your obligatory magnet setup and your 20+ plastic decoys laid out according to the manual, the pigeons start to arrive (with luck), you get a group of five or ten birds coming in nicely, your up and you take two birds out, now the rest of the birds have seen this decoy pattern and fly off, some new birds arrive and the same happens again, if this goes on for the rest of the day you have a large number of pigeons that will start to become very wary of this layout during the winter months, Think of how many pigeon shooters are out on the weekends with the same setup. I say winter months because it seems you can get away with it during the summer months. With regards the number of birds on any one rape field, its all down to numbers if you had ten thousand pigeons in say a ten mile radius and only one rape field then you would have a lot of pigeons coming to that field, now multiply the number of fields by 20, this gives them plenty of bolt holes to feed on and trees to sit-in on the other 19 fields. These are my own experiences over the last 40+ years and may not be the same for every shooter in different parts of the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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