DoubleTap Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Harvest finally started on the farm after what seemed like an eternity, and the first thing we did was obviously set up for the pigeons. We'd seen quite a lot of pigeons in groups of up to 500 hammering the laid Barley, and had shot a couple of times as well however we gave up on that due to the damage that we were causing to the crops and the amount of birds that we were loosing due to not being able to work the dogs in the Barley. We waited for Harvest Other farmers first started cutting in the area a good 2 or 3 weeks before our permission was cut which was very frustrating at times. Despite this, the farmer eventually got into gear and cut his Winter Barley. Atlast! We'd driven up to the field the day he'd cut and the pigeons were already feeding hard so we decided we'd have to shoot them as soon as possible to avoid them moving on to another field and missing out on a good day. Plus, with the weather set to change for the worst it looked very promising. We planned to get to the field around six-ish, set up for 7-ish and shoot til it got dark however we failed to keep to those timings and rolled up on the field at 8. Like predicted, the pigeons were already feeding, about 100 of them so far, not the big number that we had been seeing. A flight line was in full swing as well so we decided to set up near that in order to get maximum pigeon activity. The field had been baled already so it seemed right to use two bales to conceal the hide a little. The pattern looked good as well with three bouncers/floaters included in it and around 10 normal decoys (shells and dead birds mix). We were fully set up by 9-ish and Dad went to move the truck out of sight. As he was moving the truck out of the way, I put a few bits of straw in the netting and before I knew it, three pigeons dropped straight in, hovered over the decoys, saw me, and just flew off! It was looking very promising and gave me the impression that we'd shoot a very good bag. I was wrong... Dad walked back up the field and we got into the hide. We waited and waited before the first pigeon came in... then a feral came in... and theat was about it for about 2 hours. Dad and I decided that we'd give it 15 minutes and then pack up as nothing was happening. The pigeons from the morning had gone else where and the flight line had completely stopped. It was only until about 11:30 when we started seeing pigeons again. There was a very small trickle of pigeons 100 to 200yds down the hedge from us, some were seeing the decoys and not showing much interest, but most of them were flying straight past us and not even looking at the decoys. We put the rotary out in an attempt to get the pigeons attention and hopefully draw them closer. We've never had a days pigeon decoying when the rotary has worked for us, weather it is the placement of the rotary, or over-usage of them I don't know, but they never seem to work for us. Today was no exception either. It was rubbish as per usual The birds actually started flaring from the pattern it was so bad. So instantly we brought it in. The sun came out and for some reason, the pigeons started coming from all directions. It was like someone had turned a switch on. Anywhere we'd look, there'd be a pigeon in the sky. The flight line had started up again and birds were dropping in from everywhere Both mine and Dads shooting was off to start with however after a few misses and a few choice words, we got our eyes in By about 14:30 we'd shot around 40-50 pigeons. Things were going really well. The pigeons were decoying lovely, some dropping from height as well, which proved for some testing shooting. We kept adding dead birds to the pattern and had now increased our pattern to about 30 decoys, which we never usually do, however a big pattern was working excellently today. It was only my Dad and I shooting today, but normally my brother, Cameron, accompanies us, only today he'd blown us out for a girl Despite this, Dad and I carried on shooting and enjoyed his share of the shooting that he'd usually get Dad got a call from Cameron saying 'so and so couldn't meet up with me today so can I come shooting?' The best of both worlds hey?! Obviously Dad said yes and Cameron was with us within the hour, with some more water and food! Anyway, we shot through till about 17:00 when we decided to have a count up of what we'd shot so far. We counted 90 exactly. With me eager to shoot 100 we carried on. By this time the pigeons had slowed up to a steady trickle of birds on the flight line. Shooting was limited and my hopes had started to fall away. But slowly and steadily, the bag started growing one by one until we reached 96. Just four more to go. There was a footpath on the field about 150yds in front of us. There'd only been 2 people on it all day so it was not a problem at all. 2 more people came across it and they both stopped and stared as a lunatic springer went crashing across the field after a winged pigeon. The two walkers just stood there watching us for what seemed like ages. They would walk 20yds and then look at us again, and they kept doing this all the way up the field. It doesn't seem so bad however we only needed 4 for pigeons to reach are targeted 100. 4 pigeons came straight into the decoys but because the stupid walkers were stood directly in front of us, we could do nothing about it. 3 more pigeons came in after that, again, we couldn't do anything about it due to the walkers being in line of the shot. I'm sure pigeons know when its safe for them to feed! 3 more came in shortly after. this was getting ridiculous, the walkers still hadn't got off the field. At long last!the walkers did eventually get off the field and we shot our four and called it a day. 100 birds picked, or so we thought. We packed the decoys and the hide away, and started to lay the birds out to count them. It turned out we'd miss counted when we thought we were on 90 and instead it turned out we must've been on 88, so that left us on 98 as a total! Dad went to get the truck to collect all the gear and me and Cameron stood behind the hedge on the off chance that a pigeon may come floating through. Surprisingly quite a few did come through however they were at silly height and were not worth a shot, until one did come through reasonably low. I dropped that to make it 99. We continued to stand there for a minute or to and waited for dad to come back. He came back and that was that. We didn't get our 100 but never mind. We'd clicked 116 anyway so we had shot over a hundred, just not picked 100 Also, two other blokes had been set up the other end of the farm and they managed 29, so we did well. Will probably be shooting the field (or a different one) again next weekend. Sorry for the massive thread and me going slightly off topic half way through but anyway, cheers. DoubleTap Just a quick picture of the bag... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted August 14, 2012 Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 nice bag of pigeons there fella's well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleTap Posted August 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2012 Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YORKIBOY Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 great write up mate enjoyed reading it and a nice bag keep up the good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandmartin Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Good report and a satisfying bag as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleTap Posted August 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Cheers lads! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
everycal Posted August 15, 2012 Report Share Posted August 15, 2012 Awesome write up. I was wishing for the ton for you as I read it! Great bag still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleTap Posted August 16, 2012 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2012 Awesome write up. I was wishing for the ton for you as I read it! Great bag still. Ahaa cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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