decoys and real pigeons ???

[semiauto1984]

good evening,a couple of quick question?

i have about 30 shell decoys and 1 battery operated flapper,is this enough or do i need more?

also when adding dead pigeons to the pattern what way do you lay them out,wings spread or perched up with wings tucked in?

how often do you clean up your pattern when shooting?

[Catweazle]

I put out 12 wobbly decoys yesterday and they worked well once I'd spread them a bit further apart. I put the first three birds in home made floaters and set the rest with wings folded and beak jammed into the ground as if feeding. I'm going to take some sticks to keep the heads up next time.

[deny essex]

Thats enough decoys to start with and the flapper will offer some movement in the pattern , in summer less is usualy needed in winter 30 should do the trick , add real birds as shot to the pattern, i normaly replace the plastics at the back of the pattern 1st with real, as the bag builds up exchange the plastics for real.

Place the birds some head up some head down as though feeding wings closed (kebab sticks are cheap and handy as neck props), dont place them too regimental into the wind (bino some real birds to get an idea of what your pattern needs to look like )

Unless your pattern begins to look untidy with dropped birds or you have a belly up bird try to stay off the field as much as possible.

Edited February 17, 2011 by deny essex

[mrpip]

cheap sticks for head props, cut the spokes from an old bike wheel

[deny essex]

cheap sticks for head props, cut the spokes from an old bike wheel

 

 

Yep they are cheap, but make sure you dont lose any on the field , a left piece of metalwork that gets into farm machinery or worse as i once read stuck in a machine operators neck ( not a neck prop but a small piece of fenceing wire)will not get you any brownie points from the farmer.

[henry d]

A hedge and a knife are all you need to make props for the birds

[Cosd]

Like Deny I use kebab sticks, cheap, light to carry, and like Deny says, if you lose one it isn't going to damage any machinery or even worse hurt livestock or farm hands.

 

Regarding equipment, I think you have more than enough shells, the flapper is good, and I'd say a bouncer or two are good investments which won't break the bank and are quite effective; They also add good movement to the pattern and are visible from a greater distance than the decoys and possibly the flapper too.

[semiauto1984]

Like Deny I use kebab sticks, cheap, light to carry, and like Deny says, if you lose one it isn't going to damage any machinery or even worse hurt livestock or farm hands.

 

Regarding equipment, I think you have more than enough shells, the flapper is good, and I'd say a bouncer or two are good investments which won't break the bank and are quite effective; They also add good movement to the pattern and are visible from a greater distance than the decoys and possibly the flapper too.

 

Im actually going shopping for a few bouncers at the weekend,cant wait to try them out

[Mikey686]

hi rob

 

i find around 12 decoys is enough to start with but getting dead birds down to me is a must i pull in 4 plastics for every dead bird and find nothing works better than a dead bird decoy patteren!! tuck there wings in and have some with heads up and down. Once you have around 10-15 dead birds down you will pull them in all day. I have shot pigeons with my grandad since i was 8 im now 29 and this is his advice passed on to me and even though i often hate it when he is right lol i carnt fault him on this! it works.

Mike

[ozzy518]

Some days nothing will work. Yesterday I was on a rape field that the day prior had 1000 plus birds hitting it. I used a dozen dead woodies, flapper, floater, and magnet. There werent anywhere near the same number of birds about but those that were totally ignored my decoys, continuing straight over. I changed the pattern 3 times, took in magnet / flapper etc , moved to where they were dropping in, under the flightline, nothing worked. Somedays you can do right for doing wrong.