Where are these flight lines then?

[WoodyPopper]

From everything I've read, pigeon shooting should be easy. You identify the pigeons' flight lines, then you hide yourself below and shoot at them, or set out decoys to tempt them down to you. So, identifying the flight lines is the key. Somewhere I read something like "spend half an hour or so with binoculars on the land where you shoot and you'll quickly notice that pigeons follow specific flight lines. Pigeon flight lines are like our roadways etc etc."

Well, I'm lucky enough to live within walking distance of my permission and I've spent several half hours, at different times of day, trying to figure out what's going on. But my pigeons don't seem to have read the same books as me - there's no pattern, as far as I can see, to where they're going or what route they take to get there. They are beginning to annoy me.

Is it just that, at this time of year, they're not feeding on anything specific?

[semiautolee]

what crop types is your permission???

[pigeonstool]

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It is confusing for a beginner - you may find it useful to understand how leylines affect the geomagnetic navigation of the pigeons -- you could also ask for someone 'local' to you to show you .... it's not rocket science ....

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[semiautolee]

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It is confusing for a beginner - you may find it useful to understand how leylines affect the geomagnetic navigation of the pigeons -- you could also ask for someone 'local' to you to show you .... it's not rocket science ....

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pigeonstool where did you get that map from?? is it real flight lines in your area or over your permission or is it just an example???

Edited March 13, 2011 by semiautolee

[sitsinhedges]

You don't tend to get flightlines so much at this time of year when pigeons are in flocks.

 

Look later on in the summer or autumn when they are in singles and pairs and you will see them

[Blackpowder]

Well just back from having a spy around the farms. The wood where two of us were on Wednesday night and saw little and shot one is packed. The birds are swooping down from the firs, the wood stands in the middle of a grass field, flying at almost ground level into the adjacent rape. No cover and a bare wire fence , with the only ambush point a small paddock which unfortunately contains horses. Dis see a dozen or so on the head rig of another farm feeding on something newly drilled. Roll on seed time proper.

 

Blackpowder

[FalconFN]

Flightlines can vary quite a lot, some are short distance to and from nearby trees (they feed in a field then digest in favorite trees and then eat again etc), and some can be longer distances from roosts or from other favorite feeding areas. Watch where they go after lifting from a field (the direction they fly after lifting and not the direction they take off) and if they return from the same direction it will probably be a strong flightline.

[Rifleman01]

A downloaded Satellite view of the area you are shooting over can be taken off Google Earth, then enlarge it to A4 Size. Then spend a couple of days or more just walking around your permission and draw in, using a pencil the places you see Pigeons flying and the paths they follow.

 

You will eventually end up with quite a good idea of the 'flight lines' on the farm you are shooting over.

 

I first did this some 40 years ago using an Ordnance Survey map but a satellite picture is far better as it shows all the field boundaries and your marking will be more accurate. Strangely I found some of these flight lines to be used by several generations and even thirty years later some were still in use. A Pigeons version of 'Ley Lines' I suppose.

 

Shooting over a farm and getting to know the flight lines is no difference to fishing a salmon river and getting to know where the 'pools or lies' are. In both cases once you know the lie of the land from the Pigeons or Salmons point of view, the better your chances are of success.

 

Harry

[pigeonstool]

Well WoodyPopper -- Harry is spot on - I hope my little joke was taken seriously ?? It shows an old map with lines on it >> Pigeons have flown along the same "flight lines" for 10 > 50 > 100 > 200 YEARS ! ! (joke = historic leylines - sorry if it was too subtle someone got it )

Get someone near you to go out on their patch, or yours , and show you 'typical' flight paths .. they can almost be predicted after a while .. Keep a note of direction , wind direction and month as you plot their lines over the coming year (or two) and keep a note of which trees you see them in .. and keep asking questions ....... enjoy

Edited March 13, 2011 by pigeonstool

[PhilR]

A downloaded Satellite view of the area you are shooting over can be taken off Google Earth, then enlarge it to A4 Size. Then spend a couple of days or more just walking around your permission and draw in, using a pencil the places you see Pigeons flying and the paths they follow.

 

You will eventually end up with quite a good idea of the 'flight lines' on the farm you are shooting over.

 

I first did this some 40 years ago using an Ordnance Survey map but a satellite picture is far better as it shows all the field boundaries and your marking will be more accurate. Strangely I found some of these flight lines to be used by several generations and even thirty years later some were still in use. A Pigeons version of 'Ley Lines' I suppose.

 

Shooting over a farm and getting to know the flight lines is no difference to fishing a salmon river and getting to know where the 'pools or lies' are. In both cases once you know the lie of the land from the Pigeons or Salmons point of view, the better your chances are of success.

 

Harry

 

Top tip Harry.

Much better idea than my free-hand not to scale drawings of the fields, easy enough then to collate them put them in a clear pocket and keep them in a ring binder as a reference point.

Phil

Edited March 14, 2011 by philr

[WoodyPopper]

Thanks all for your replies. I particularly liked the idea of using ley lines. But this raises more questions. For example, what's the best way to carry my dowsing rods whilst out shooting? Can you buy some sort of holster for them? And what's the best way to arrange my crystals? Does moonstone only attract pigeons before the Summer Solstice?

But most importantly, I visited a psychic fayre recently and several people told me that I had a very striking aura. I ended up buying not one but two "aura resonators" from a very nice man in a hat. But now I'm worried that this will put me at a disadvantage. Does anyone know if there is a portable aura suppressor available for use in the field? Obviously, no amount of camouflage clothing will hide an aura like mine?

[henry d]

..... Does anyone know if there is a portable aura suppressor available for use in the field?

 

Yes, smother yourself in cow dung, it always works.

 

Back to this planet for 5 minutes. As said, get a large scale map and find out where, both on and off your permission, the roosting woods are and which fields are being fed on. you will then have a general idea of where birds will flight to and from. This is just half the picture as they will try to be as safe as possible between the two and avoid ambush areas (shooting and raptor wise). Wind will determine where they will go as well as push flightlines slightly.

Finally, a lot of woodpigeons will, at this time of year, be found feeding in woods or grass parks and this will change with the drilling starting, so factor that in.

[THAIBOXER]

my house on that map ;-)