WelshLamb Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 This is probably a stupid question, but I picked up 12 shell pigeon decoys and two flocked crows at the Midland Game Fair today, and tomorrow I was going to have a go at decoying under the flight line onto my field. At the moment I dont have any permissions over crops, its all grazing land. Will they take any notice? Or is this a waste of time!! Thanks in advance lads and ladies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crosshair Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 If there is clover in the field you have a good chance, pigeons do feed regularly on clover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo33 Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Tin hat, popcorn and await Fisherman mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshLamb Posted September 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Tin hat, popcorn and await Fisherman mike Pardon? :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stubby Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 one of my permissions is only grazing, but under a flight line, dont worry if theres no clover, dung heaps attract them in too, have had some good bags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 The easy answer is a question, "have you ever seen any pigeons on the fields ?". If the answer is "yes", then you should be OK, if the answer is "no", then its unlikely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norrie Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 (edited) If there is clover in the field you have a good chance, pigeons do feed regularly on clover. I've cleaned pigeons with crops absolutely stuffed with Clover....mibbes a handful of the stuff......all shot on a grazing field with the help of decoys... Edited September 17, 2011 by Norrie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12borejimbo Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 Cranfield hit the nail there, if you have seen them on there, game on. On of my permissions there is a wood at the back of the field, pr park as we call it as it is huge!! I regularly see a few hundred pigeons on there at about 3-4pm most days, and been thinking of it myself. Whats the worst that can happen, get out and have a go, put it down to practice, im sure you will have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrispti Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 Sometimes the decoys will slow passing birds and on occasion they might come a bit closer to have a look, but if they are not feeding in the field I doubt they will decoy. That said, the young birds may be fooled and come into the pattern. It wouldn't hurt to have a go and see what happens, best way to learn Personally, I wouldn't bother with decoys, Id just get under the flight line and shoot them (called flighting) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 This is probably a stupid question, but I picked up 12 shell pigeon decoys and two flocked crows at the Midland Game Fair today, and tomorrow I was going to have a go at decoying under the flight line onto my field. At the moment I dont have any permissions over crops, its all grazing land. Will they take any notice? Or is this a waste of time!! Thanks in advance lads and ladies Definitely not a waste of time. Over 10 years ago, before i had anywhere else to shoot, a mate said we could shoot on a ploughed up piece of land that was at the end of his in law's garden. It was roughly 8 acres and pigeons were not feeding on it. It wasn't anything serious, but we used to put out a few shells and get them coming in. We shot there several times and got a dozen or so pigeons on a few occasions. Pigeons, being gregarious and curious birds, will often drop in to decoys, regardless of the situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshLamb Posted September 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 Well i gave it a go... set out some decoys as per the PW 'pinned' guide, camo'd myself up and sat there for an hour. Did not see a single bird, absolutely nothing, NOT EVEN ONE!!! NOT EVEN A MAGPIE/CROW/ANYTHING!!!! Arghhhh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo33 Posted September 18, 2011 Report Share Posted September 18, 2011 Well i gave it a go... set out some decoys as per the PW 'pinned' guide, camo'd myself up and sat there for an hour. Did not see a single bird, absolutely nothing, NOT EVEN ONE!!! NOT EVEN A MAGPIE/CROW/ANYTHING!!!! Don't worry some of us sit it out all day in the hope that things will improve. Sometimes they don't but sometimes they do An hour really isn't enough, especially if its the wrong time of day. A few months ago I shot 94 in 7 hours, yesterday two of us shot 9 for 9 hours!!! Get to your land as often as you can at varying times of the day and watch. What time did you set up? Early morning and after about 2.30 at he moment seems to be right round here. Inbetween that theres not a lot of movement. The more you can do this the better idea you will have of when and if pigeon flight across the land. Clover is an excellent crop to shoot over, but there is a lot of food elsewhere at the moment. Are there any woods surrounding your land? As Chrispti has said, get under a flightline if possible and don't bother with the decoys until you see them feeding in a specific place. Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Many years ago a mate and I were shooting in winter when we came across some rape fields attracting steady numbers of pigeon and loads of traffic generally, the only problem being it was an extremely difficult place to shoot owing to the steepness of the land and lack of cover. In the end we decided to set up bang next door on a grass field! We had a fairly decent time of it and quite a few actually decoyed but a good few were shot just flighting or skirting the pattern. I have also decoyed pigeon onto the ground amongst grass and acorns right in the middle of very tall trees, again this happened to be next to rape fields which were not showing signs of attack at the time. This particular place now has a dual carriageway running through it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 It is definately possible that you could decoy them from the flight line onto grass ,i have shot some pretty decent bags decoying on just ploughed fields, the key is to have the traffic in the first place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody801 Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 It might be worth a try when it rains after a dry(ish) spell. We get birds on grazing fields picking off the worms, bugs ect that the rain kick into gear. This works better for crows rather than pigeons but still a decent angle of attack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonwolf444 Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 i have done it once or twice in the summer last year, the pigeons flights to the left of my permission so i set up my decoys in a V shape with a long leg streching to the left and a short leg streching to the right with my homemade crow decoys, crows seem to hover about and come in and some have landed when ive not been concentrating but very quickly jump up and away, but it brings the pigeons straight past then they circle and come right over me, you play the waiting game a bit more but you dont really get any decent number Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
set wings Posted January 5, 2012 Report Share Posted January 5, 2012 Yes Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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