JDog Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 I've just seen the forecast for the next month. Cold and dry they tell us. At least there should be some more spring drillings going in! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin lad Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 were hoping to get drillings in in 2 weeks if weather stays dry colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE MEK Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 I heard slightly warmer but then wetter than normal in may Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Be good to see some drilling for the farmers sake or they could be a few fold , not been a good year for them . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caeser Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 This seems like the longest winter that I can remember, and the forecast still isn't good. It feels like a lifetime ago that I was in a hide wishing it wasn't so hot. I remember last year, walking along the edge of a field, in long wet grass. My socks got soaked. I took my shoes and socks off, in the hide and hung the socks over the net to dry in the heat when the sun was out. A couple of hours later they were dry, as were my shoes. A warm hide, just a distant memory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sx3 clay breaker Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 Hopefully a friend I help out with still got hedges muck spreading lambing chain harrowing ploughing and seeding to do because of this **** weather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 definatley a strange bout of weather, but its been a strange winter for me full stop not had one bag of pigeons on rape all winter best was 3 for an hour in the hide over , normally would have had at least 4 days on drilling by now had 1, just hope it gets better in the coming months up to and after harvest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeside1000 Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 I was out on OSR in january, had one decent day with 22, since then its gone from bad to downright cronnic, last week 4 hours for 1 bird, so today the sun was shining and the local farm had just drilled some barley, sat for 4 hours and had 7 pigeons, 2 jackdaws a carrion crow and a nice fat rabbit, lets hope things start to pick up from here on in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 someone pointed out to me the other day. the last time it snowed at easter a very hot summer followed. can't remember what year it was but that is what they reckon. so given that the prefered spring drilled crops will be barley due to late germination,cost of seed etc. there could be a silver lining to this cloud. many very good bags of pigeons are shot on ripening barley as many of you seasoned shooters know. barley ripens very well in the sun . in reality crops this year are way behind and we are in the lap of the gods with weather. hope all the pigeons don't emigrate to warmer/better growing climates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 someone pointed out to me the other day. the last time it snowed at easter a very hot summer followed. can't remember what year it was but that is what they reckon. so given that the prefered spring drilled crops will be barley due to late germination,cost of seed etc. there could be a silver lining to this cloud. many very good bags of pigeons are shot on ripening barley as many of you seasoned shooters know. barley ripens very well in the sun . in reality crops this year are way behind and we are in the lap of the gods with weather. hope all the pigeons don't emigrate to warmer/better growing climates. Just to show my age I can remember the winter of 62/63 the canal was frozen for weeks we were riding our bikes on it . I would go out at night with my catty and marbles and shot the woodys out of roost. I ran out of marbles and ended up raiding my Dads shed and pinching whitworth nuts. I stopped when they were frozen to the branches and died overnight. The following summer was manic with all the local ponds drying out and grass fires all over the place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 (edited) Just to show my age I can remember the winter of 62/63 the canal was frozen for weeks we were riding our bikes on it . I would go out at night with my catty and marbles and shot the woodys out of roost. I ran out of marbles and ended up raiding my Dads shed and pinching whitworth nuts. I stopped when they were frozen to the branches and died overnight. The following summer was manic with all the local ponds drying out and grass fires all over the place. nice one PC. if you were using your catty in 62/63 then respect to you mate you know when it really is cold . i bet you have used them whitworth nuts as ledgers for fishing before today and even spark plugs and bits of lead sheet. my grand dad used to talk of picking dead woodies off the hedge that were frozen. i believe him now. Edited March 28, 2013 by aga man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
team tractor Posted March 28, 2013 Report Share Posted March 28, 2013 We were fitting Windows in the brecon beacons a few years back in -20 oc . It was the coldest week of my life plus it took over 5 hrs to get there from tamworth . We came back to -10 and it felt warm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted March 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 I shot quite a lot of pigeons in the winter of 1962/63 until it became obvious that they were struggling to survive when I packed it in. Even as a youngster I knew that it just wasn't right. The local population took a very steep nose dive after that and was just about recovering when the Dieldrin scandal hit them hard again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caeser Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 I shot quite a lot of pigeons in the winter of 1962/63 until it became obvious that they were struggling to survive when I packed it in. Even as a youngster I knew that it just wasn't right. The local population took a very steep nose dive after that and was just about recovering when the Dieldrin scandal hit them hard again. I've never heard of the dieldrin scandal.I know what deildrin is, so I can imagine it must have been bad for all wildlife. What year would that have been ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted March 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 (edited) I've never heard of the dieldrin scandal.I know what deildrin is, so I can imagine it must have been bad for all wildlife. What year would that have been ? I think about 1965-68, something like that. Being so old my memeory is a little hazy. Wheat and barley seeds were coated with a dieldrin derivative to be effective as an insecticide which proved to be very poisonous. The effects went right up the food chain, small birds, pigeons, corvids, all of which ate the seeds, sparrow hawks, foxes, barn owls which ate the birds and mice etc. I found hundreds of birds and mammals dead in those years until the product was banned. Edited March 29, 2013 by JDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 29, 2013 Report Share Posted March 29, 2013 I'm not sure a forecast for a whole month is going to be particularly accurate, but who knows? One thing i do know is that this has been the worst March for pigeons in the bag for me, since i started taking the sport seriously. I've normally had a few good bags on rape by now and a good bag or two on drillings. I'm pretty sure that it is almost 2 years to the day when i got sunburnt in the hide whilst shooting a 50 bag on growing peas! This has been a disastrous start to the year, with less than 200 killed so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted April 1, 2013 Report Share Posted April 1, 2013 I would not hold much store in any weather forcast beyond a couple of days. Remember this time last year they were forcasting a drought and within weeks the whole country soaking in persistant rain followed by floods.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dawntredder Posted April 2, 2013 Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 i was out sunday on short rape...was 6c on the tempreture and felt like 15c having had all freezing weather must been shock to me system...the way of things to come in future me thinks....pigeons decoyed great aswell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wattsowatts Posted April 2, 2013 Report Share Posted April 2, 2013 Finally got one of my farmers drilling this afternoon, come on the weekend, lets hope there are some birds about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted April 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2013 Finally got one of my farmers drilling this afternoon, come on the weekend, lets hope there are some birds about. Yes we are all in the same boat. Lets hope for drilling early this week and a fine dry weekend with decent winds making the perfect conditions for decoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted April 3, 2013 Report Share Posted April 3, 2013 Yes we are all in the same boat. Lets hope for drilling early this week and a fine dry weekend with decent winds making the perfect conditions for decoying. Unfortunately I'm not, I have to be at work this weekend just as the barley will be breaking the surface of the ground! I will however be out on Thursday, Monday, Tuesday and the following weekend. let's hope the weather continues to improve and we can get out and have some decent bags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old rooster Posted April 4, 2013 Report Share Posted April 4, 2013 Just to show my age I can remember the winter of 62/63 the canal was frozen for weeks we were riding our bikes on it . I would go out at night with my catty and marbles and shot the woodys out of roost. I ran out of marbles and ended up raiding my Dads shed and pinching whitworth nuts. I stopped when they were frozen to the branches and died overnight. The following summer was manic with all the local ponds drying out and grass fires all over the place. During that cold winter my mate and I used to go to the local woods to collect the frozen pigeons. He used to take them indoors and some that actually looked dead came round. Not sure how they fared when released as it was a pretty horrendous time. There wasn't much on them due to the long cold spell when they couldn't feed, I've never liked shooting them when they are having a hard time with finding food, almost seems like cheating. Only ever shoot them in the bad weather if a farmer phones in a bit of a panic. People just don't believe it could happen but it did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.