pigeon pete Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 hi all iam new to the forum,,,and must say its a good one ive been shooting for 30 years now ,from airrifle ,shottys and FAC rifles a friend and i have been a bit puzzled of late ,we have shot on a 2000 acre farm for 5 years now and its rape barley and pea ,wheat ,weve always see big flocks of pigeons 200/300 at a time ,we shoot all year and any weather ,the farmer always rings us to say hes seen 70 trillion,billion pigeons on his crop ,lol we average bags of 80 birds ,not the big bags of 150/200 ,but its been regular ,then for some reason they have gone over night just at the start of this year ,the flight lines have gone !!!! last Friday the farmer cut 2 of his barley fields only due to the rain ,these were the only 2 to be cut for miles ,so we planed to go back to them on Sunday ,van full of lead,all the deeks and magnet,watching vids on you-tube and reading all the post on pigeon watch ,we were well buzzed up for a good shoot ,got to the farm hoping to see the field grey like it used to be !? well lets say after 1 hour of watching for flights we didn't even get the guns out seeing just 4 pigeons flying past and they weren't even dropping into the stubble ,we were heading home ! has anyone else had this problem ,the farmer said its because we have had a mild winter and the pigeons have been eating from the ivy and other tree buds ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo33 Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 Its the same for me down here. I really thought there would be huge bags shot this laid/harvest. After the mild winter with so much food for them..rape/acorns by the ton, so much so they barely left the woods, breeding early and the weather keeping a lot of us away, I really thought we were on for a bumper time. I have been out about 10 times since the start of the laid. I have only set up on 5 occasions with a 25, shared 40 ,13, and a twenty something. The rest of the visits I spent a few hours drinking coffee waiting for them to come out and play to no avail...... I did a 4 hour round trip to wiltshire last saturday. Passed everything standing rape,rape and barley stubble,etc ect. I shouldn't think I saw 20 birds for the whole trip let alone enough for a shoot..........its weird :hmm: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 Its the same for me down here. I really thought there would be huge bags shot this laid/harvest. After the mild winter with so much food for them..rape/acorns by the ton, so much so they barely left the woods, breeding early and the weather keeping a lot of us away, I really thought we were on for a bumper time. I have been out about 10 times since the start of the laid. I have only set up on 5 occasions with a 25, shared 40 ,13, and a twenty something. The rest of the visits I spent a few hours drinking coffee waiting for them to come out and play to no avail...... I did a 4 hour round trip to wiltshire last saturday. Passed everything standing rape,rape and barley stubble,etc ect. I shouldn't think I saw 20 birds for the whole trip let alone enough for a shoot..........its weird :hmm: cheers m8 i ent the only one who like a picnic in the country side then :good: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted August 8, 2012 Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 Fill in your profile, as far as we know you could be posting from the planet Mars..?? Nobody can offer you any advice if they don't know where you are located. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2012 Fill in your profile, as far as we know you could be posting from the planet Mars..?? Nobody can offer you any advice if they don't know where you are located. Cat. sorry i will have to kill you if i give you that info lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Topgunners Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 perhaps that spaceship has frightened them all off.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dave K Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 Your farmer is obviously not a pigeon watcher telling you that they have been eating Ivy berries and buds because that is what they always do between November and May. There must be another reason. If you are lucky you may find that when all of the young birds are on the wing next month you may get an influx from other areas particularly if your piece of land is lighly shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Full Pelt Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 Local villages stiff with pigeons nesting and many young birds still to fly, good sport to be had right now with just an air rifle and a tin of pellets Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 Your farmer is obviously not a pigeon watcher telling you that they have been eating Ivy berries and buds because that is what they always do between November and May. There must be another reason. If you are lucky you may find that when all of the young birds are on the wing next month you may get an influx from other areas particularly if your piece of land is lighly shot. its not just the farmer its a few shooters as well ,i think we need a good hard winter to bring them back out to feed ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenntiger Posted August 9, 2012 Report Share Posted August 9, 2012 we have been having a good do on the pigeons up to yet. i think they all must be lancashire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garden gun Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 I do not believe that pigeon have disappeared into thin air. Small flocks hitting the standing wheat visible from the roads in my neck of the woods. As I posted on another thread drove past a newly harvested field some 15 miles away last W/E and it was rammed with birds. Just a matter of are you in the right place to actually see birds. We have a regular half dozen or so in an around the garden - not doing any damage so outside of the general licence conditions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 well we drive around and also on the way home we don't see much its weird ,my m8 is going up there 2morw to look around again ,fingers crossed and i hope there back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hutchie the white hunter Posted August 10, 2012 Report Share Posted August 10, 2012 Hundreds up here in Scotland i think that the problem could be better feeding else where ,remember they will travel miles for food and if there pal's are going to one field in particular then they will just buypass any other feeding stations and go with them following each other like sheep ,just a thought tho may be well off the mark ? as ive never had that problem where im at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 Just because you can't see pigeons, it doesn't mean they're not there. Birds are hard to spot on certain crops. I've struggled to see a single pigeon on rape stubble before - even through binoculars. Get close to the field and drive across and the field erupts with birds. Very careful reconnaisance is required at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 Just because you can't see pigeons, it doesn't mean they're not there. Birds are hard to spot on certain crops. I've struggled to see a single pigeon on rape stubble before - even through binoculars. Get close to the field and drive across and the field erupts with birds. Very careful reconnaisance is required at times. we have ,we drove around the hole farm and the farmer and his farm works look out for us ,when i next go i got a bag list in his van and will upload it to show how its been dropping ,it wasn't like this last year ? hope to pop over tomorrow sunday 12th,we have had the same flights for 4 years and even they haven't shown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 we have ,we drove around the hole farm and the farmer and his farm works look out for us ,when i next go i got a bag list in his van and will upload it to show how its been dropping ,it wasn't like this last year ? hope to pop over tomorrow sunday 12th,we have had the same flights for 4 years and even they haven't shown we are having the same this summer a few places you can normally set your watch by them in summer, and we have flightlines on there that we have shot for 12 straight years and shoot 100s in summer over 3 or 4 shoots this year we have made bags of 10 and 15 on those same flightlines, overall bag total for july this year was around 500 birds down compared to a few years ago in july, they are on our land and we are still shooting bags but in the 20s,30,40s, the odd 50, but nowhere near the usual numbers around and to top it they are harder to decoy this summer than i have ever seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 we are having the same this summer a few places you can normally set your watch by them in summer, and we have flightlines on there that we have shot for 12 straight years and shoot 100s in summer over 3 or 4 shoots this year we have made bags of 10 and 15 on those same flightlines, overall bag total for july this year was around 500 birds down compared to a few years ago in july, they are on our land and we are still shooting bags but in the 20s,30,40s, the odd 50, but nowhere near the usual numbers around and to top it they are harder to decoy this summer than i have ever seen. glad iam not the only one ,thanks for the reply ,we were buying shells by the 1000s and now 0s even the crows have gone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted August 11, 2012 Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 (edited) glad iam not the only one ,thanks for the reply ,we were buying shells by the 1000s and now 0s even the crows have gone the birds will come back on your land at some point they always do but at the moment they more than likely feeding on other land and other shooters will be getting good bags on the birds that are normally on your perms Edited August 11, 2012 by yickdaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2012 the birds will come back on your land at some point they always do but at the moment they more than likely are feeding on other land and other shooters will be getting good bags on the birds that are normally on your perms the birds will come back on your land at some point they always do but at the moment they more than likely feeding on other land and other shooters will be getting good bags on the birds that are normally on your perms hope your right m8 going tomorrow to have a look Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 well just rang my m8 and were on for this afternoon ,were going to spend the rest of the afternoon watching flight lines and roosts till dark ,it would be good to put a photo up tonight with a bag of pigeons even if its enough for a pie ,fingers crossed ,if not looks like iam up the chip shop for my tea lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2012 (edited) well spent a few hours looking around the farm and nothing flying around the barley ,,but 3 more fields of rape have been cut ,we watched for about 30min and seen half a dozen pigeon fling around and only 2 landed ,so we set up the magnet up and 10 shells in front of them ,we sat with out a hide but tucked into a overgrown gateway ,in 2 hours we had about 15 birds fly in ,we were like kids in a candy shop ,we only had 7 of them but enough for a pie ,checked there crops and only rape and clover but no barley ? we also found a new flight line but they are using a old favorite sitty tree a over the other side of us ,so on the weekend we will be back ,good to see something over there ,here is how are bags have been going this year ! this is why we wrote down this bag list 31/7/11 80 pigeon 7/8/11 20 pigeon 14/8/11 24 pigeon 15/8/11 12 pigeon 20/8/11 5 pigeon 26/8/11 6 pigeon 29/8/11 27 pigeon 17/9/11 7 pigeon 8/10/11 15 pigeon 27/10/11 1 pigeon 4 tree rats 29/10/11 15 pigeon 10/12/11 1 magpie 10 tree rats 31/12/11 BLANK !!!!! 28/1/12 2 tree rats 2/2/12 10 pigeon 2 crow next door farm 7/2/12 10 pigeon 1 crow next door farm 7/3/12 24 pigeon 11/6/12 23 pigeon 3/8/12 1 pigeon 12/8/12 7 pigeon this with 2 of us shooting and on 5 of them 3 of us shooting ,but year before we started we were having bags of around 40 to 80 a time ? Edited August 12, 2012 by pigeon pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 (edited) PigeonPete, it doesn't look like you've been out shooting too much.Only 7 visits this year? Edited August 13, 2012 by motty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootnfish Posted August 13, 2012 Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 speaking to my local game dealer the other day ,he said the winter just gone was the worst he has ever known. he said he usually takes 12000 pigeons a week as he also takes pigeons from dealers from other areas as well as local shooters, butwas only averaging about 2000 a week if he was lucky. he also said he is well down on numbers now for this time of year and that it was a bit worrying about the lack of young pigeons he was getting for the time of year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 PigeonPete, it doesn't look like you've been out shooting too much.Only 7 visits this year? i know a lot of the time iam on call but there is times we have not set up but been up there and the farmer and his lads ring as soon as they see any movement ,even the farmer has said its strange ,it ether there gone or we have done are job right ,but a 2000 acre farm and we got the farm next door which is part of a large estate i dont thick we shot them all in 5 years lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon pete Posted August 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2012 speaking to my local game dealer the other day ,he said the winter just gone was the worst he has ever known. he said he usually takes 12000 pigeons a week as he also takes pigeons from dealers from other areas as well as local shooters, butwas only averaging about 2000 a week if he was lucky. he also said he is well down on numbers now for this time of year and that it was a bit worrying about the lack of young pigeons he was getting for the time of year. thanks for this reply just goes to show iam not loseing my mind cheers bud Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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