mrikirkby Posted April 20, 2011 Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 I have come to the conclusion that all pigeons in norfolk have packed there bags and moved elsewhere ! I have been covering quite a few miles back and forth across norfolk the last few days and have not seen one pigeon an a crop field feeding ! Only seen the odd one on grass/clover and a few in and out of trees but thats it, and i have been to virtually every end of norfolk in the last couple of days between 7.30am and 18.00pm ! Any body else experiencing a lack of pigeons in norfolk or are they feeding first light and sunset only ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorfolkPoacher Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Yep, same with me buddy nothin to report just a handful here and there. A chap down the road (20 miles away) had some big probs. Sounds like he has them all!! Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 There are plenty of pigeons around my way. I must say i'm a bit disappointed to have only shot one 100+ bag so far this year, though. Saying that, i've had a few 50's, 70's and 80's. I have seen some big lots of pigeons recently when shooting over peas and maize. I'm anticipating a decent next few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 nice you shot 100+,some dont shoot that in a life time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retromlc Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Firstly I'm not a RSPB fan and I enjoy pigeon shooting but this is a subject I thought about posting,there will be people saying "plenty where I am" comments but I live in kent and there are a few of us that are in contact.We have a very large area around Maidstone ,Ashford,and Tonbridge we have all come to the conclusion that there is a lack of pigeons, Pigeon shooting is over popular based on the fact that every piece of land we ask to shoot over is already catered for several times over.I have 2500 acres to shoot over personally,in addition I walk my dogs in various places both woodland and country lanes at various times and there are no pigeons flighting anywhere. With people shooting as many as they can,e.g a recent picture in a shooting mag a person shot over 500 in a day,rare I admit but this amounts to Genocide for the local pigeon population,coupled with two harsh Winters and egg theft from corvids perhaps etc you have to ask yourself can they recover. A bird population cannot recover if it is shot relentlesly and on this site although birds are breeding people comment on how many Squabs they have shot, a high percentage per bag,how can a species survive when they are shot in high numbers and there future breeding stock wiped out too? A local field to me looked like it was going to be a good bag,one of the only bean fields around,the locals(about 5 decoyers )were getting angry with each other as they all wanted the "big Bag Day".fact is no one has shot it as the most I've seen on it is about 20,hardly a huge problem. Are we seeing the decilne of the Pigeon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proTOM1 Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Firstly I'm not a RSPB fan and I enjoy pigeon shooting but this is a subject I thought about posting,there will be people saying "plenty where I am" comments but I live in kent and there are a few of us that are in contact.We have a very large area around Maidstone ,Ashford,and Tonbridge we have all come to the conclusion that there is a lack of pigeons, Pigeon shooting is over popular based on the fact that every piece of land we ask to shoot over is already catered for several times over.I have 2500 acres to shoot over personally,in addition I walk my dogs in various places both woodland and country lanes at various times and there are no pigeons flighting anywhere. With people shooting as many as they can,e.g a recent picture in a shooting mag a person shot over 500 in a day,rare I admit but this amounts to Genocide for the local pigeon population,coupled with two harsh Winters and egg theft from corvids perhaps etc you have to ask yourself can they recover. A bird population cannot recover if it is shot relentlesly and on this site although birds are breeding people comment on how many Squabs they have shot, a high percentage per bag,how can a species survive when they are shot in high numbers and there future breeding stock wiped out too? A local field to me looked like it was going to be a good bag,one of the only bean fields around,the locals(about 5 decoyers )were getting angry with each other as they all wanted the "big Bag Day".fact is no one has shot it as the most I've seen on it is about 20,hardly a huge problem. Are we seeing the decilne of the Pigeon? What you have to remember there are plenty of places where pigeons dont get shot like country parks ,towns ,villages and so on so they breed well there im sure which will in turn help to re populate the areas around such untouched places . A nother thing is that over the last 2 to 3years ive noticed the amount of young birds that im seeing in late winter such as december where as 3 years ago you would only see them in the summer months this will make a big difference to there numbers as im sure they will soon be breeding all through the year . Personally i do think the numbers of birds are down from what they were say 10 plus years ago but only by a small amount . do i think there in decline maybe a bit but i think they will come back strong with them moving to breeding all through the year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retromlc Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Lets hope your're right PROTOM1,I've only been doing this for 3 years and I think that there are a lot less about this year,it's not the fact that they aren't on the fields it's that we just don't seen to see them anywhere.My m8 drove around the Tonbridge area the other day for hours,just looking for fields that he might be able to approach the farmer for shooting rights,but nothing on any of the fields.A PEE field near me I've been watching for 2 weeks again at various times,but not a bird in the air, let aalone feeding. I think it's worrying,if they are being decimated and if it becomes obvious there could be restrictions and seasons introduced,then there will be long term implications to the control of this "pest" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proTOM1 Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Lets hope your're right PROTOM1,I've only been doing this for 3 years and I think that there are a lot less about this year,it's not the fact that they aren't on the fields it's that we just don't seen to see them anywhere.My m8 drove around the Tonbridge area the other day for hours,just looking for fields that he might be able to approach the farmer for shooting rights,but nothing on any of the fields.A PEE field near me I've been watching for 2 weeks again at various times,but not a bird in the air, let aalone feeding. I think it's worrying,if they are being decimated and if it becomes obvious there could be restrictions and seasons introduced,then there will be long term implications to the control of this "pest" Another thing is this time of year there is food everywhere from peas to rape (winter and spring) clover chickweed and mostly fresh buds on trees and hedges ,just the other day i shot a bird full of hawthorn buds .This time of year is also a tricky time to be watching the birds as with the long days they feed first light and for me late afternoon till near dark . We will see what this summer brings breeding wise but ive been seeing young bird through the winter (small numbers ) but im now seeing more young birds than normal for this time of the main breeding season Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 I have shot pigeons on or off for over 25 years now and always there has been some good years and some indifferent ones I think some years there is a abundance of natural food and they dont leave the woods for the crops so much. All the official figures point towards a increasing breeding poulation of pigeon so I doubt there is a actual shortage they just are not where your looking / shooting. Yes there are far more shooters than there used to be and the bigger bags are harder to have due to this alot of the farmers are happy to have someone sat on their field seven days a week. I doubt shooting squabs has much of a impact, how can you worry about that yet happily shoot a adult knowing that it may leave a nest with young in to starve ? dont believe that rubbish that the other one of the pair will look after them,it has to leave the nest to feed and will most likely get shot at some point if the area is heavily decoyed. At the end of the day though they offer great sport its pest control and if they are not being shot for such then its being done ilegally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 Terrible on my farms ,hardly a bird any where . Dont get despondant they will turn up on the laid cereals and will be about in force at harvest time . Need to keep an eye on young suger beet soon . Pigeons will hit the young growth for a few weeks . Harnser . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highlander Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 It's not just Norfolk, I've spoken with guys around the country (many shoot pigeons for a living) and they all say the same. This spring there haven't been the numbers about that we've seen in previous years. I think I might have posted around this time last year that we were shooting a high percentage of young birds (i.e. under 6 months old) as early as February but this year we've hardly had a young bird in the bag. The cause? Who knows, could it have something to do with the bad weather we had this winter? Could it just be a natural cycle? Could it be we're overshooting pigeons? It's all a guessing game but one we need to take note of just in case it's something to do with the later. Of interest, in France they take Woodcock shooting very seriously, much research etc. They normally have a bag limit of 3 birds per hunter per week and it's strictly controlled with tagging each bird shot and bag return tickets etc. If you are found with a Woodcock without a tag there's a fine of 280 Euros. Last season the French monitors were seeing no young birds in the early season bags, so a new limit of 1 bird per week was introduced for the season. Imagine if that were to happen with something like our Woody!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikee Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 I dont think shooting has a great effect on pigeon numbers, and as for 2 cold winters, cant see that either, 50 years ago nearly every winter was harder than we see now, and there were far more pigeon shooters about then and pigeon numbers were huge, at this time of year all the big flocks have broken up and your average woody is only concerned with making more pigeons, they will be in the hedges and woods picking at the new tree bud growth, we have such a narrow range of crops in this country now that the birds move greater distances to area where there is a better food supply, I bet some PW members are up to their necks in pigeons, dont worry mate they will be back in the autumn in just as bigger numbers as ever mikee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
activeviii Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 half the birds you would normally see are on their nests. now near all the spring sowings are in the birds will move back into the parks and gardens for the next couple of months so its the quite time of year for pigeon shooting. you might find the odd group on hard hit rape, late sowings or pea's. having said that all our pea's are 4" high and never had it so good as there is so few birds about. could be something to do with the 150+ birds i have been shooting every week through the winter. so the winter efforts have paid off. Phil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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