new to the flock Posted February 11, 2003 Report Share Posted February 11, 2003 I have shot pigeons in the past , but what we shoot over here are small flocks of barn pigeons. I have only ever seen one large feeding flock of over 200 birds and of course that was inside a no shooting zone. What I would like to know is there a mail order site that I could order decoys from as there is no place over here to buy any. If anyone has ever shot this type of pigeon over decoys I would appriciate any advice on setup and use, aswell I am open to all suggestions on how to shoot these flocks through the different seasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave15 Posted February 13, 2003 Report Share Posted February 13, 2003 Welcome Iv heard alot about Canada I want to live there when Im older well there of the states well you see my main goal in life is to shoot a moose I dont whow why I think I have been playing to many computer games. Were abouts in canada do you live The rocky Mountains in British Columbia look nice have you ever been there, So many questions sorry :*) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted February 13, 2003 Report Share Posted February 13, 2003 What are "barn pigeons", is this their nickname ? I can,t find any reference to them on any search engines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highdowns hunter Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 I would have assumed that Barn pigeons were either feral pigeons or doves. either way a bit of corn placed in the right position would bring them in, and as William suggests use real dead birds as decoys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted February 14, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 William, Cranfield, and Highdowns Hunter; Thanks for the info, I'm sure it will be a great help. Most people over here don't target pigeons but I find it a lot of fun and very tasteful at the end of the day. Barn pigeons look like a homer just slightly smaller. You will however get red and brown (rust) coloration as they quite often cross with rollers, tumblers, and fancys. It is not unusual to see a group of barn pigeons rolling and tumbling. And your right they are not to clued into being shot at, however a flock will wise up very quickly. In the past I have used the dead pigeons as decoys and this has produced for me, however I like to work my labs on the shot birds as well, using these shoots as a warmup to duck season. The decoying info is great and sure makes sence. I had not thought about it before, but we use differant patterns on ducks and geese all of the time. I saw the pattern layouts on the pigeon watch main menu, and I will try these for sure. I will check out the web sites you sent and if they won't ship to Canada, a very good friends father works in the hunt service in England so I'm hoping he might pick some up and send them over for me. Big Dave14 The Rocky Mountains of British Columbia and Alberta are beutiful, and yes I have been there. The moose are some what smaller in size than the moose we have in Ontario, but they are still an impressive animal. I didn't hunt moose this past fall but 2001 season I shot a 4 year old bull about 1100 lbs. with a 48 inch spead on the rack. That was a good year I also shot 2 wild turkeys, 2 whitetail deer, a black bear, a wild boar, 20 Canada geese,40 ducks, plus a few rabbits, squirrels, pigeons, and crows. And since I work as a professional dog trainer for a private club with 32 flushing and pointing dogs 340 pheasants, 215 chucker and 60 huns. I had just started with this club and their dogs needed a lot of work before season started. This season was a lot quieter with just a whitetail deer, 2 wild turkeys, some ducks,geese,woodcock, grouse, pheasants, and chuckers. I also have 3 labradors, 2 English setters, a Gordon setter and a Springer spaniel of my own that I hunt. I live in Ontario just north of Lake Erie (1 of the 5 great lakes) along the Grand River. Lake Erie's Long Point Bay is one of the top duck hunting areas in the world. If you have any questions about Canada I'll do my best to answer them so please feel free to ask. To All; Next dumb Canadian question: what is the rotor used for, how is it set up, and how does it work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 NTTF, I assume you have seen a picture of a rotary device. A dead pigeon, or a decoy with spread wings, is place on a cradle at the end of each arm. The cradle has two "arms" that extend either side, the pigeons wings are fixed to these. The rotary is powered by an electric battery, with an off/on switch. When its turned on, the device rotates. This gives the appearance of two pigeons circling, prior to landing and joining the other pigeon (decoys) on the ground. Its probably the biggest advance in pigeon decoying for many years. You do realise that you are now personally responsible, for Big Dave 14 (who is actually 15), leaving home and stowing away on a boat to Canada. You couldn,t adopt him, could you ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernyha Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 NTTF,welcome to the flock and let me first say that the most memorable time in my life was the 4 months i spent working in Edmonton and Calgary Alberta. The most hospitable and pro-British people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. The rotor is basically a windscreen wiper motor mounted on a short stand with 2 arms outstretched and 2 dead pigeons mounted on them. Connect to a 12volt battery and they spin around. This can attract the pigeons from miles around. They are sold commercially but a lot of people are now making their own and if you look in the photo section you will see an excellent example made by Sean. Happy shooting for the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave15 Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 Well Im not shure its the pigeons I would be after if I lived out there having just heard the things you Have baged! Still I think pigeons are one of the best things to shoot around, well apart from pheasants Im gessing there just wild upland birds or are they captive bred. Iv had a go at some wild ones once on a shoot that hadent been shot over for 20 Years lets just say there alot brainer than ther captive bred friends. I look foward to hearing about canada, We have had a bad time over here trying to stop the goverment from bringing half of shooting in this country down well it certianly seems that way. How about you, how tight are Gun And Hunting laws in canada? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
columbus Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 Hi NTTF im intrested in you choise of dogs, you say that you train hpr's yet you dont use one your self im intrieged as to why. Ive just accuired a gwp and even though hes still a pup im very impressed at the level of obidiance i have got him to (more the dog than me )in a short time. Whats your opinion of the breed and what sort of pitfalls should i look out for.In the past ive trained spaniels and labs but nothing has been as bidable as this dog. Im just wondering is it a false dawn, are we going to have fireworks later on, or are they mostly easy to train. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everygoodnamewastaken Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 http://www.pigeonmagnet.co.uk/ The video on the site don't do it justice. Where i am the pi9geons havent been shot at or exposed to a magnet and they almost dive bomb it. Just have to watch out for stry shot hitting it. I want to go to Canada in the future. It almost hapened when my ice hockey team tried to arrange a few games but it never happened . Sorry for taking you as the steriotypical Canadian but do you play? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted February 14, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 Big Dave We've just gone through national gun registration of all long guns, with some of them being deemed restricted or illegal. We also have anti-hunting groups that errode away at our hunting , fishing, and trapping rights, as a matter of fact it has only been two years since we lost our spring bear hunt. Just remember it is all sportsmans responsibility to stand together in a united front to ensure that the next generation has the right to enjoy the outdoors as we do. Don't be affraid to voice your opinion to your parliment, but do it in a polite well thought out, and respectful manner. If you have issues you would like to have addressed write to your local sporting magazines, remember they have large readerships and can raise awarness on a large scale. It may seem that you can't do much to change things but when hundreds of sportsman join together some times the issues do go to your way of thinking. A lot of our large game animals you must enter into a draw to get a tag to hunt, and you only get one about every 2 to 3 years. On top of that you must have a non-residence licience for each province you hunt in but dont live in these run about $150.00 to $200.00 each. Each tag costs as well so it does get rather expensive when you add in travel costs as well. I'm pretty lucky with the exception of a few spieces I can hunt most of our large game in my own province. As for upland hunting we have most of the canadian species to hunt as well in some degree. Other provinces may have higher populations or better flights, but licencing for birds both upland and waterfowl is alot cheaper than large game. Cranfield, ernyha; Thanks for the info I'm going to the photo section to check out Sean's rotor. If you can think of anything else I should know about please don't hesitate to post it. I'm trying to bring my pigeon hunting up to speed so the oldest of my 3 boys can have some fun shooting flock birds without getting up at 4am for ducks in the big marsh. All three of them come jump shooting on the creek, but even thats a lot of walking considering Quinns 8, teigs 6 and Kerians 2. They do all love to hunt and fish though. Everygoodnamewastaken; I used to play hockey, for a number of years, However between working and my kids activities there just isn't enough time for everything . Besides my wife likes to see me occasionally to, or at least I think she does. P.S. Big Dave; Just shot a brace of rabbits over the springer this morning, should make for a fine pie tommorrow evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everygoodnamewastaken Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 Do you eat bears? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted February 14, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 Columbus; I'm sorry i'm not familiar with your term hpr's. However if your gwp stands for German Wirehair pointer than you are in for a real treat. Ive owned 2 of them in the past and they were a dream to train and hunt. Just remember to go slow with your training and you should have no problems. Everygoodnamewastaken; Yes we do eat bear meat. It is very similar to pork. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDave15 Posted February 14, 2003 Report Share Posted February 14, 2003 They taste like pork! now I know why there called Boars and Sow's! Its pretty much the same over here there are anti hunting and anti shooting groups , they are more keen to ban fox hunting with hounds in a pack, but the worst thing is are current goverment are very anti Hunting making gun and hunting laws tighter all the time. Still most gun crime in England is illeagle guns usally from other countrys still the goverment tightens laws on leagly held guns, So thats proberly why most people who shoot disagree with the new gun laws shurely we should tighten the illagle gun laws oh well I gess in the long run It mkes England safer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
columbus Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 NTTF hpr hunt point retrieve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted February 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 Columbus; I must not have been clear. What I meant to say was that at the club I have a total of 32 dogs. 19 labradors, 2 springers, 2 english pointers, 3 brittanys, 4 english setters, 2 german shorthairs. Sorry for the miss comunnication. Once again I am not familiar with hunt point retriever. Would this be what we term as a pointing labrador? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 H P R H-hunt P-point R-retrieve such as GWP GSP and i think your Brittanys would come in under the HPR "tag" all the best Y.I.S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
columbus Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 NTTF how do you find the britteny's never seen them working, but ive been told that they are slow to start and not that keen on cover. As a pro trainer would you say this is the case.C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sutty Posted February 15, 2003 Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 Hello NTTF Just another small tip on the pigeon decoy subject. If and when you do get some decoys organised and you find they are a different colour and markings to the birds you are currently shooting ,try cutting the wings off dead birds and either glue them to the decoy (after slow drying them in an oven ) or attatch them with an elastic band. The latter being the best wife friendly option. Some lads i know freeze a couple of dozen shot birds to use on the next outing, but tend to be a bit bulky if you have to carry them any distance, not to mention the problems caused convincing the mrs its a good idea to use the freezer!!!!!!! regards sutty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new to the flock Posted February 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2003 Ok I've got this HPR figured out finally,( I know daft Canadian), this is what we call a versitile hunting dog, and usually falls into one of the continental breeds. We hold trials for them over here, not what you think, the dog is judged against a set standard and either passes or fails. The standard is set by the North American Versitile Hunting Dog Assossiation www.navhda.org and are judge on natural ability, tracking, response to handler and more. Test scores are published as well as kept on record both for individual dogs and for litters. Its a great way to improve your breeding program, by using dogs that really can do what their bred for. Columbus I can finally answer your question as to why I don't use a hpr myself. In the past few years I've lost Kelsey gsp 11, Misty gsp 11, Prince gsp 10, Becky wimeranier 12, Sam eng. pointer 9, and Jill eng. pointer 10. Its just that I had other dogs of other breeds coming up. Who knows what the future holds,most of my dogs are up there again; Buddy eng. setter 11, Clinton gordon setter 10 (hunted 43 days this season) Baron lab 11, Stomer lab 10. Then my young guys Keria lab 2, Toad eng. setter 2, Joey springer 4. All the old boys still managed some short hunts this year. As for brittanys I'm not overly fond of them myself. I find they take about 2x as long to start and are very independent in the feild. I can't say that I've had a problem with them working cover though. Sutty; thanks for the tip. I have to tell you my wife is very good about my dead birds, hides, and critters in the freezer. You see she has one for her things and I have one for mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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