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First proper session in the hide...


thepasty
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With it getting warmer (no really.. it is... honest.. :)) the farmers are planting corn and today I got a call from a farmer mate who was having bird problems... I call my bro and off we head to our first afternoon of crop protection in the hide.

 

So far this year we've spent our time walking the hedges taking the odd shot now and then but often we'd return without a single shot fired...

 

Today that all changed, we got to the field to see pigeons wheeling around and crows on the deck tucking in, up goes the hide and we sit while not sure what to expect... within minutes we had feral pigeons swinging in, crows showing great interest in our decoys and the odd woody coming in hard and fast... bar a 30min lull it was like this all afternoon... now you're prolly thinking "they must have bagged a fair few!"... well... no :)

 

The excitement of all the quarry and having to go from sitting to standing to mounting the gun and shooting was all a bit too much for us, we should have had a at least 20 crows, 10 ferals and a good few woodys but the grand total of all our blasting came to 2 crow and 1 feral :whistling:

 

We've analysed the afternoon and come to the conclusion that we were rushing our shots rather than calmly taking our time and picking the right shot.

 

All in all we had a great afternoon, learnt A LOT and our farmer mate had his corn protected for a few hours... everyone's happy :D

 

We're heading back tomorrow with fresh minds and hopefully the excitement wont get the better of us!

 

 

 

Me in anti crow mode...

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My bro struggling with lunch...

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My new Primos Power Caller certainly works...

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Home for the afternoon...

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Edited by thepasty
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Get a different net. It looks as though the birds may well be able to see you in the hide.

The ghost netting is good but if the sun comes out and shines on you the birds do see you.

I would have some army cammo netting 3/4 of the way up the hide with the ghost netting just a foot or so to look threw.

 

good read well done. :good:

Edited by Actionpigeons
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Something to try next time .......

Lower the front of your hide and shoot from the sitting position. The less movement in the hide the less chance of spooking any birds.

 

 

DaveL

 

Or the other way, make the hide taller and shoot from a standing position. I normally build the hide to about 6 inches below my eye line and then wear a face veil and have found that i am hitting a lot more birds.

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Or the other way, make the hide taller and shoot from a standing position. I normally build the hide to about 6 inches below my eye line and then wear a face veil and have found that i am hitting a lot more birds.

 

Fair enough if you are happy to stand all day ...... I'm old enough to need a bit of comfort :whistling:

Be interesting to know who else sits or stands? I'd bet most of us oldies sit ....... ?? Might start a poll :good:

 

DaveL

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I use netting and the ghost net, combining the 2 gives you lots of options, I also prefer to sit but shoot much better standing, so I bought a shooting stick seat with adjustable hieght so it easy to stand up from the sitting position as i have the seat set up at its highest, works for me, make sure the hide is big enough for you to stand, mount the gun and move with the birds without getting caught in the hide net, practice your mount onto targets so its a smooth action , the less you move about the easier the birds will move over the decoys and not turn away in panic as you stand up, once it all comes together you seem to have so much time to mount and aim, which results in many more birds down. best of luck and good shooting. :good:

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thanks for your thoughts guys, we went out again this afternoon and what a contrast... nothing on the wing and the odd bird that did show itself seemed to be preoccupied... it was colder, heavier cloud cover and more wind.. something to do with it?

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thanks for your thoughts guys, we went out again this afternoon and what a contrast... nothing on the wing and the odd bird that did show itself seemed to be preoccupied... it was colder, heavier cloud cover and more wind.. something to do with it?

 

that's pigeon shooting for you mate, especially at this time of year.

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i used ghost net for first time last summer great,found when all the leafs fell off the hedges could see through it.farmer said he could see me from half way cross field, put some more netting on 2/3 of way up bird started comin in again worth a try

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