number 1 Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 well the rain has brought some of the corn and the pigeons have benn hitting it hard . is that the same in your area and have you had any good bags also the rape will be cut in 3 weeks so the rape stubble will be good to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernyha Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 We went out yesterday afternoon onto a field of laid barley (laid by crows not the weather according to the farmer). Got to it at 3-30 in hot sunshine and I wasnt expecting much action especially as there was only a slight breeze. We stopped in the grassy field on the way to it to have a look and what we saw made 2 old codgers act like a pair of kids turned loose in a sweet shop. The pigeons were swarming all over the field and as we drew nearer we put up at least 200, plus many more from the surrounding trees. We set up in the nearest patch which had been stripped of all grain by the birds but we enticed them in with the rotor and decoys. As we had not expected too much sport, the cartridges ran out and by 7-30 we had accounted for at least 150 when we packed up. A great evenings sport made better by the fact that it was totally unexpected. Only drawback was the fact that we couldn,t pick up more than 50 due to the places they fell in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.223 Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 Only drawback was the fact that we couldn,t pick up more than 50 due to the places they fell in. same here went and shot some laid barley saturday picked 67 but there must have been about another 20 that couldent be picked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 That is some very serious action. Its many years since I last ran out of cartridges. There doesn,t seem to be much laid cereal crops around here at all. I can feel a "crop circle" coming on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeon Pieman Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 Pieman's tip of the day for shooting over barley. To boost bag size........ Get a dog!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeon Pieman Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 Hey, Mr Cranfield, Perhaps you could get some of the many immigrants to make your circles - then you could plead innocence and not lie when you say they were made by aliens!!! LOL :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.223 Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 Get a dog!! they can do ever more damage tearing around looking for 20+ dead birds coming in and out jumping up and down to see were there headed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernyha Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 Get a dog!! they can do ever more damage tearing around looking for 20+ dead birds coming in and out jumping up and down to see were there headed Plus the fact that the barley ears can do a lot of damage to the dogs feet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeon Pieman Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 Barley can hurt their feet - but no more than thickets and brambles do when dogs are flushing game. A good scent dog should find things by smell and not need to keep jumping up to see where it is heading! My search pup would find a tennis ball in a field of long grass or cover crop without any problem. Perhaps the dog type and training plays a part in their ability to find stuff without too many problems I'd be happy to work a dog with 'boots' on to protect its feet if necessary. Makes the dog look a bit silly but they are very effective Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Beasley Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 Pieman's tip of the day for shooting over barley. To boost bag size........ Get a dog!! I'd have to agree with what others have said. Running a dog in barley may get you more pigeons retrieved but also possibly a big vets bill too. Once they get barley stuck in the tender flesh in between the pads it goes one way.......inwards. And I dont care how "well trained" yer dog is.........its still very exhausting for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeon Pieman Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 Hmm, OK boys I think you all missed the point....... The original comment was supposed to be amusing not start some huge doggy debate :*) As I just said Will, doggy boots will protect their feet - if it works at an earthquake it'll work in barley! And most gundog injuries are from thorns and eye stab injuries from pushing through thick cover. It's kinda what a dog does and a risk every time the dog works! Or should we start a campaign to stop working dogs from working?! Incidentally, I don't use a dog for barley work. And, did you know that running a dog in flowering rape can cause permanent damage to its olifacory sensing organs? Well, now there's something that 'not a lot of people know' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 My wife owns an English Setter. There is no point taking it shooting, as its gun shy and couldn,t find the barley field , let alone the pigeons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeon Pieman Posted June 30, 2003 Report Share Posted June 30, 2003 :( :( B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sniper Posted July 1, 2003 Report Share Posted July 1, 2003 Loads of laid barley round here , thanks to the rain, but it hasn't stopped bloody raining round here yet. Still coming down in buckets . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippylawkid Posted July 4, 2003 Report Share Posted July 4, 2003 Sorry to be a spoilsport but do you not think that if you showed a bit of restraint and used your fieldcraft/decoying skills, you could channel the birds over flat areas where you can shoot them and pick up without losing them. It's simple, if you can't drop it over the flat patch, don't fire. I know it is not always possible to do this and lost birds are unavoidable but to lose so many birds seems terrible to me. Instances like this would only provoke any Anti :blink: to write to the national press and spout their usual tripe that we are murderers and only shoot for the sake of killing. We should not provide ammunition for them! I hope this makes us all think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernyha Posted July 6, 2003 Report Share Posted July 6, 2003 I hope this makes us all think. As i think this post was aimed mostly in my direction , yes i have thought about it and feel i must reply. First the barley as i said was beaten down by crows and was not fully laid but only the top 9/10 inches was laid. This resulted in a carpet which the majority of the shot birds fell through and were almost impossible to find. Secondly the farmer called us because almost a third of the crop had been destroyed by the crows and pigeons and he wanted the birds removed from the field by whatever means. I do not believe in waste of any kind and i try my best to retrieve any pigeons that i shoot but if it results in doing as much damage to the crop as the birds then there is not much point trampling through it looking for them.. The reason that Britain is granted an open licence to shoot pigeons all year round is because of the millions of pounds worth of damage that they do and if they happen to be likely to fall in a place where they are irretrievable that is no excuse not to shoot them. We would all like to retrieve every bird we shoot but it is not always possible especially at this time of year when they are doing most damage on tall crops. One last point, when you approach farmers for permission to shoot pigeons dressed in your collar and tie, do you tell them that you will only be shooting the birds that you are certain of picking up? I think not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buzzer Posted July 6, 2003 Report Share Posted July 6, 2003 Hear Hear ! I have to agree with ya there Ern! Like ern said we are there to do a job!....Crop protection. when i'm asked by the farm manager and the keepers to shoot pigeon, I know that they have a pigeon problem so its down to me to sort it, wich I wil do and have done for 23 years now! I to dont like to leave stuff laying about, but it cant be helped this time of year.....roll on the stubbles ! All the best Buzzer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted July 6, 2003 Report Share Posted July 6, 2003 Ern Your never coming to shoot over my land if you don't pick all your kills up. I think its dreadfull , that you don't even respect the quarry enough to gather it in.... i would have you sooner "hacking" down 20 acres of the crop in the field to retrieve them pigeons than have you leave em in the field. :blink: all the best yis yp :ph34r: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted July 6, 2003 Report Share Posted July 6, 2003 Its a difficult balance. We see what we are doing as a "sport", with "crop protection" in mind. I agree that Farmers would be less than impresssed if we didn,t shoot pigeons, because we couldn,t collect them. They certainly don,t want us, or our dogs, causing more damage than the pigeons. We do have a responsibility to ensure that we don,t leave wounded pigeons un collected, but beyond that our resposibility is to the Farmer. We must never forget that pigeons are an agricultural pest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M ROBSON Posted July 6, 2003 Report Share Posted July 6, 2003 I think this is a difficult one, similar to shooting over swathed rape. Alot of farmers don't let us use dogs over rape as they defineately will cause a lot of damage, regardless of how well trained they are. You dont have a "patch" to aim for when shooting the birds either. So when you've got a field of swathed rape with 500 pigeons on it with the farmer phoning you up to shoot it but cant take a dog, what do you do? :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supergame Posted July 6, 2003 Report Share Posted July 6, 2003 Shot on laid oats yesterday evening. Managed to shoot 40 from 50 shots over my magnet. Out of the 40 shot 10 were lost in the crop, but better left where they are to prevent more damge to an already badly damaged field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elma Fud Posted July 6, 2003 Report Share Posted July 6, 2003 I received a phone call from the farmer who informed me that rooks were doing the damage to his laid barley. On inspection I found out that it was pigeons doing the damage. As I had taken my rook decoys and not my pigeon gear I decided to place a hide in a hedge 30 yards infront of two large oak sitty trees. I started shooting at 2pm and shot flighting birds. I ran out of cartridges at 6 pm and shot 91 birds. Rather anoying as I've never shot 100 pigeons on an outing by myself. I came back to the same field three days later accompanied by a friend using one of those Flap, Flap Glide magnets. We started shooting at 2pm and finished at 6pm and accounted for 125 birds 200+ birds over two afternoons :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippylawkid Posted July 7, 2003 Report Share Posted July 7, 2003 Ooooops! Looks like I've struck a nerve ernhya. I am well aware of our responsibilities to farmers to provide crop protection. They hold all the aces and as you and I know, if they want a field cleared, you have to do the job or else you will lose your privileges on that farm pretty quickly. If you read my comment I stated that if you use your fieldcraft, hide building and decoying skills properly, you can draw all the birds into your killing area to enable a good percentage pick-up at the end of the day. If shooters don't have these skills then they will just have to keep on "crop protecting". Obviously we need to strike a balance between doing more damage than the pigeons are doing in the first place and trying to pick up all slain, and I know unpicked birds are unavoidable on crops at this time of year. Regarding gaining permission and being reasonably dressed, I have had no complaints from the farmers I provide a service for. I'm sure you must see where I am coming from on this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ernyha Posted July 7, 2003 Report Share Posted July 7, 2003 Ooooops! Looks like I've struck a nerve ernhya. :blink: You did strike a nerve at the time Dave because you gave me the impession that i was acting irresponsibly and shooting here there and everywhere and only picking up birds that fell at my feet As you see from my reply that this was not the case and i do my level best to retrieve every bird i shoot. I agree that a smart appearance creates a better impression than rolling up to the farm house dressed like a commando and for my comment about collar and tie , i offer my apologies. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippylawkid Posted July 8, 2003 Report Share Posted July 8, 2003 Respect Ernyha. We are all on the same side and shouldn't be bickering amongst ourselves. The main reason I am a bit touchy on picking up as many birds as possible is that a couple of years ago I went to shoot a rape stubble field on one of the farms on my patch and found that some "Gentleman" had shot the field the day before. This is all well and good, and will always happen. BUT they had obviously made no real effort to pick up around themselves and my dog and I picked up 20+ birds without much effort from the field and immediate grass pasture next door. The birds had been fly blown and were usuless. The farmer had seen this and thought it was me! So that is why I am wary of picking up. Straight powder and good luck on the stubbles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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