PhilR Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 I haven't had much chance recently to get out on the crows or pigeons but my last two outings have both been red letter days for me. I was asked to go to a farm in a friend's village to thin out the crows that had been hammering a small crop of chicory. The farm (manor)house is adjacent to the village church and the trees surrounding them are full of rookeries and crows and jackdaws were dropping down continually from the trees onto the cultivated part of the field which is only about 75m x 25m. My friend's parting words were don't tell the farmer how many you've shot - halve the number, she's superstitious. I had a great morning with birds dropping into the decoys left, right and centre. During the morning a cow got out of a byre and started wandering onto the chicory, I shoo'ed it off several times and then went to find someone, who turned out to be the farmer's father who was pleased I'd bothered to tell someone. I rang the farmer when I'd finished to let her know I was leaving and she said hang on I'll pop up to see you. Unfortunately she saw the 59 birds all laid out below and was very upset that I'd shot so many, I suppose it was lucky I couldn't find the other six that had fallen into thick scrub. She told me she only wanted a half dozen shot so she could leave the bodies out on the field to warn off other crows etc. Evidently she thinks the more crows you kill, the shorter your life - it's some old wives tale I believe. It's probably the first time a farmer has complained about too many birds being killed and I didn't get an invite back I had a phone call from Bakerboy on Tuesday evening, to say that pigeons were hammering two of his permissions and could I go and help out, I'd only just got back from Italy that afternoon, but managed to wangle a day pass for yesterday. The farm I went to has Lucerne as a crop and it's recently been cut and pigeons were definitely showing an interest. This was the first opportunity I'd had to shoot pigeons since I attended the BASC pigeon shoot course early last month and I was keen to put what I'd learnt to the test. I was set up by 11.00 and settled down to steady shooting until 3.30 when I packed up with 58 pigeons picked and three lost over the boundary into a wheat field. Happy days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Well done Phil, good to see you've had some good days, especially on the woodies!! Nice write up and pictures. Cos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilR Posted June 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Well done Phil, good to see you've had some good days, especially on the woodies!! Nice write up and pictures. Cos Cheers Cos. Terry said you'd been over to the other farm, how did you get on? I think if I'd got to WB early in the morning I'd had the opportunity for a far bigger bag, it definitely tailed off in the afternoon. Edited June 21, 2012 by PhilR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Cheers Cos. Terry said you'd been over to the other farm, how did you get on? I think if I'd got to WB early in the morning I'd had the opportunity for a far bigger bag, it definitely tailed off in the afternoon. Not as good as you mate. We set up in three hides, it was dry barring a bit of spitting from time to time, but the wind was fierce for must the day. We set up quite early, but according to one of the guys that regularly shoots the farm, he said the birds were hitting in the afternoon from around lunch time. They never did with us unfortunately. I got 9 woodies and 7 blacks, Ben got around 22 (mixed bag, and Dave who was still there when Ben and I packed up at 5, was on just a few less than me but I don't know how he got on later after we'd gone. Again according to that guy that shoots the farm as well, he said we were unlucky because they have been hitting the Barley hard. Cos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bakerboy Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 I haven't had much chance recently to get out on the crows or pigeons but my last two outings have both been red letter days for me. I was asked to go to a farm in a friend's village to thin out the crows that had been hammering a small crop of chicory. The farm (manor)house is adjacent to the village church and the trees surrounding them are full of rookeries and crows and jackdaws were dropping down continually from the trees onto the cultivated part of the field which is only about 75m x 25m. My friend's parting words were don't tell the farmer how many you've shot - halve the number, she's superstitious. I had a great morning with birds dropping into the decoys left, right and centre. During the morning a cow got out of a byre and started wandering onto the chicory, I shoo'ed it off several times and then went to find someone, who turned out to be the farmer's father who was pleased I'd bothered to tell someone. I rang the farmer when I'd finished to let her know I was leaving and she said hang on I'll pop up to see you. Unfortunately she saw the 59 birds all laid out below and was very upset that I'd shot so many, I suppose it was lucky I couldn't find the other six that had fallen into thick scrub. She told me she only wanted a half dozen shot so she could leave the bodies out on the field to warn off other crows etc. Evidently she thinks the more crows you kill, the shorter your life - it's some old wives tale I believe. It's probably the first time a farmer has complained about too many birds being killed and I didn't get an invite back I had a phone call from Bakerboy on Tuesday evening, to say that pigeons were hammering two of his permissions and could I go and help out, I'd only just got back from Italy that afternoon, but managed to wangle a day pass for yesterday. The farm I went to has Lucerne as a crop and it's recently been cut and pigeons were definitely showing an interest. This was the first opportunity I'd had to shoot pigeons since I attended the BASC pigeon shoot course early last month and I was keen to put what I'd learnt to the test. I was set up by 11.00 and settled down to steady shooting until 3.30 when I packed up with 58 pigeons picked and three lost over the boundary into a wheat field. Happy days! Well done, a couple of good days for you. It is good to know that I can safely leave my permissions in good hands when I am away, plus of course it offers the Farmer an improved service. Thanks for covering (pigeons). Cheers Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pigeon_snIPer Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Evidently she thinks the more crows you kill, the shorter your life Happy days! Good shooting mate - and yes you have successfully shortened her lifespan :-) /S/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Well done, a couple of good days for you. It is good to know that I can safely leave my permissions in good hands when I am away, plus of course it offers the Farmer an improved service. Thanks for covering (pigeons). Cheers Terry He tells me he is being wind swept today, but all for a good cause off course Crows were the order of the morning when he messaged me last..... Cos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimfireboy Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Nice shooting, it's a good bag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesse James Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 As already said Good bag there buddy, great shooting. Lee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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