first time out with decoys

[biakalblaster]

my brother and I tried decoys yesterday afternoon,

we had 1 pigeon come in within 1 minute of returning to hide, and werent ready, it landed amongst decoys, but we missed hitting it. over the next 2 1/2 hrs, we had a group of 6 come in an another single and a group of 4 - missed them all!!!, but got 3 crows flying over.

 

think we had the decoy setup wrong.

we had 5 shells and 2 crows in horseshoe formation, crows at front, horseshoe into wind. And 3 pigeon carcases - 2 with wings out - at back of horeshoe,

 

but we were sat with backs to fence, facing into wind, towards open part of horseshoe.

and middle of decoys 35 yrds away..

 

so:

 

1) i think we had decoys too far away, making pigeons hard to hit?

, and 2) we should have had our backs to the wind? and facing pigeons as they came in, not seeing theire ar"s's !

 

we were on stubble field,

not many pigeons around, but were chuffed that 90% that flew nearby came into decoys.

 

Also, when do you shoot at them?. only 1 landed, others seem to abort, just 1m above deocoys, but we werent sure, as they may have been circling around, but we let loose with 12-bores!

 

so i think we will try it again, as we thought nothing would come into the decoys!

good to get the 3 crows,

[pin]

There is no right and wrong, is the answer!

 

You probably would have done better with the wind at your back, they like to fly into wind and land into wind for sure.

 

You probably want some more shells, or use dead birds from last time which is better. That said I have had decent bags with few decoys. I do put crows out if I get them, but not at the head of the pattern. Pigges like to have a good open space in which to get in, tending to land towards the head of the pattern having "come into it" at the open end. Thats why its best to have the head of the pattern facing generally into wind.

 

Ideal situation is hide backing onto a hedge, with the wind at your side, pace out about 25 paces for the distance.

 

If I am not looking sometimes they land, but in general I don't let them land before shooting. Not a lot of sport shooting a bird on the ground, but I am there for crop protection so if it happens it happens. If they come in but fuss about a metre off the ground and look like they are struggling to find somewhere to land you might need to space things out a bit more.

 

Not a lot about at the moment mate so you didn't do bad at all for a first crack at it! Keep it up!

[Cranfield]

35 yards is getting a bit too far.

I place my decoys usually, so that the birds are trying to land between 20 and 30 yards from my hide.

 

I was told when I first started decoying to always pace out my decoys, so I knew how far out they were. Also to place sticks at 30 paces from the hide at 12 o'clock, 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock, which helped judge the range of the pigeons.

If they were inside the stick area, they were good to shoot.

 

I never use crow/rook decoys when I am pigeon shooting.

My friend does and always places them away from the pigeon decoys, not among them.

 

Shooting with the wind at your back, or having it from the left or right side , is better than with the wind in your face.

 

Once the pigeons are in range and committing to the decoys, I shoot them.

If one lands and others are coming in, I take a bird in the air first and the one off the ground second (thats the theory anyway )

 

It sounds as though you worked most of the snags out yourself.