rangey Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 went out yesterday to shoot a pea field that was drilled last week and is just starting to chit through.loads of birds on it.set up with 10 dead birds and a flapper and added shot birds to the pattern till about 30 out there.ended up with 71 birds.well pleased with result and got suntan aswell,scorching hot and no wind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 30, 2012 Report Share Posted March 30, 2012 went out yesterday to shoot a pea field that was drilled last week and is just starting to chit through.loads of birds on it.set up with 10 dead birds and a flapper and added shot birds to the pattern till about 30 out there.ended up with 71 birds.well pleased with result and got suntan aswell,scorching hot and no wind. Nice bag. I will shortly be looking out for pigeons on several pea fields. They will be where i shoot most of my pigeons until the first rape fields are harvested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 In our area, when I started pigeon shooting back in the 70's peas were an absolute "must have" for the pigeons from the day they were drilled until after they were cut. It was a poor day indeed if we went out and shot less than a ton, (and the magnet hadn't been invented then, all we had were flexicoys and a string operated WAGBI flapper):blink: That's not the case nowadays, far fewer peas are grown, and those that are just don't seem to attract the birds like they used to. I reckon in Motty's area they're probably a different strain of pea, (I would guess for freezing..?), in our area none are frozen, they're all Marrowfat peas for canning that are sprayed off and harvested when they're as hard as ball-bearings..!! Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 I agree with Cat, the peas in my area are not the draw they use to be and it could be a change in variety. Last year after drilling one field had loose peas everywhere and they were ignored, the same thing happened after harvest, the birds were just not interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 (edited) In our area, when I started pigeon shooting back in the 70's peas were an absolute "must have" for the pigeons from the day they were drilled until after they were cut. It was a poor day indeed if we went out and shot less than a ton, (and the magnet hadn't been invented then, all we had were flexicoys and a string operated WAGBI flapper):blink: That's not the case nowadays, far fewer peas are grown, and those that are just don't seem to attract the birds like they used to. I reckon in Motty's area they're probably a different strain of pea, (I would guess for freezing..?), in our area none are frozen, they're all Marrowfat peas for canning that are sprayed off and harvested when they're as hard as ball-bearings..!! Cat. Thats very true....I actually shot a late sown pea field in 76 with 5 others that the Birds were flighting to all day until it went dark at about 9:45 in the Evening... over three days 6 of us wasted about 3000 cartridges for 1300 birds which all went by train from Swindon via Paddington to a game dealer in London. I dont even think we had that many decoys out initially. I think every Pigeon in the South west must have been on the four pea feilds that weekend...some of the birds were so full of peas they had difficulty taking to the air ..and thats the gods honest truth.... If you have seen those films of Pigeons in the Olive groves in Portugal and Spain it was a bit like that... I remember I had a slightly ill fitting AYA No. 3 non ejector at the time and at the end of the weekend my middle finger on the trigger hand was so badly bruised and blisterd and swollen I couldnt pick anything up for almost a week. I didnt want to go Pigeon shooting for Months after that.. Edited March 31, 2012 by Fisherman Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 31, 2012 Report Share Posted March 31, 2012 (edited) In our area, when I started pigeon shooting back in the 70's peas were an absolute "must have" for the pigeons from the day they were drilled until after they were cut. It was a poor day indeed if we went out and shot less than a ton, (and the magnet hadn't been invented then, all we had were flexicoys and a string operated WAGBI flapper):blink: That's not the case nowadays, far fewer peas are grown, and those that are just don't seem to attract the birds like they used to. I reckon in Motty's area they're probably a different strain of pea, (I would guess for freezing..?), in our area none are frozen, they're all Marrowfat peas for canning that are sprayed off and harvested when they're as hard as ball-bearings..!! Cat. Most of the peas i shoot over are vining peas. The plants rarely get above a foot tall, so they're good for decoying on. Pigeons tend generally to hit the peas round here when all the rape has completely grown away (late April). I have shot good bags on fields that have been pretty much ignored through the whole 'growing' stage, only to go crazy for the stubbles. Edited March 31, 2012 by motty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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