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Laid barley


motty
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I cover a fair few miles, checking numerous farms for pigeon activity. I get rewarded by a decent amount of good bags. Yesterday, no reconnaissance was required.

At 10am yesterday i was off out to check on a few pea fields and decide which one to shoot. I was dropping off one of my boys at football training when i got a call from my dad. He told me a farmer had phoned him and said a thousand pigeons were going on his barley that has been laid this week. I headed straight there.I don't think i've ever shot on laid barley before.

When i arrived i fired a shot across the big field. This isn't something i'd normally do, but i wanted to clear any birds off the field and see where they were feeding mostly. A couple of hundred lifted. I watched a flightline coming down the length of the line of pylons. I checked the wind and after a few minutes decided to set up underneath one of the pylons. This was ideal. I had a big laid patch right in front with the wind at my back. The overgrown rubbish at the base of the pylon sheltered the hide from the wind.

I only put out a magnet ( 15 yards straight in front) and 8 flocked shells to start. I soon wished i had my flapper on an extended pole with me, as this would help the flighting birds see the layout better when flying low - which many did. This didn't matter too much, though, because when the pigeons spotted the magnet, in they came. I did add a couple of 'glider' cradles when i'd shot a few, just to add something that stood up a bit.

It was mostly 5s and 6s at a time, giving me a difficult choice of which birds to take as they came swirling in. It was steady sport and i dropped plenty of left and rights. I missed a couple of third barrel attempts at triples which i was annoyed about. I got yet another 2 with 1 shot ( unintentional this time), which was nice.

The pigeons increasingly dropped on the other barley field across the road. I could have done with someone else on there.

I carried on shooting until 5pm by which time the sport had died off. I shot 102.

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Excellent bag there Motty.

 

Without trying to teachi you how to suck eggs, if you had a bouncer with you, the turbo flappers fit straight on.

If you adjust the bouncer just right you get a nice bounce each time it flaps, even on a day with no wind.

 

Cos

Edited by Cosd
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Not trying to critisise an obviously very good day, but did you feel comfortable right under a big pylon ?

 

I was told by some electrical contractors working in a field on pylons ( i was just about to set up like yourself, because where the tractor had left long crop around the base would have been good for a hide ), waving metal objects - hide poles etc., under high voltage in damp conditions can cause silly things - arcing to occur over great distances.

 

Like i said not knocking you but something to think about.

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Not trying to critisise an obviously very good day, but did you feel comfortable right under a big pylon ?

 

I was told by some electrical contractors working in a field on pylons ( i was just about to set up like yourself, because where the tractor had left long crop around the base would have been good for a hide ), waving metal objects - hide poles etc., under high voltage in damp conditions can cause silly things - arcing to occur over great distances.

 

Like i said not knocking you but something to think about.

think they were telling you porkys mate :lol: cant see arcing over that distance happening in a million years waving a hide pole about :unsure: what about people who live under them, they would be in constant danger if that were the case, dont think the electricity people would be able to put the pylons over houses if there was even a remote chance of it happening. under over head 25,000v lines on the railway your safe up to 9 feet away in any weather, think about how high pylon cables are :hmm:

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Excellent bag there Motty.

 

Without trying to teachi you how to suck eggs, if you had a bouncer with you, the turbo flappers fit straight on.

If you adjust the bouncer just right you get a nice bounce each time it flaps, even on a day with no wind.

 

Cos

That sounds like a good idea, never thought of that. I very rarely use a bouncer (yet own two)and yesterday was probably the only real circumstance that i would use one.

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