G.I. countrysports U.K. GARY Posted November 21, 2003 Report Share Posted November 21, 2003 I WROTE THIS MAGAZINE ARTICLE SEVERAL YEARS AGO, HAVING RE-READ IT TODAY, EVERYTHING I WROTE THEN STILL BEARS TRUE. I THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD BE A GREAT HELP TO THOSE OF YOU THAT STRUGGLE TO MAKE A DECENT BAG IN WHAT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT TIME OF YEAR.... GOOD SHOOTING TO YOU ALL... GARY... . 'The Woodpigeon shooting specialists' SHOOTING A DECENT BAG OF WOODPIGEON OVER WINTER RAPE By Gary Wilson, Professional Woodpigeon Shooting Guide How many times have you heard the story -? 'There were thousands on the field when I got there, I got set up, shot 2 and never saw another Woodie all day', or "Hello, is that the Woodpigeon shooter? This is Farmer Brown. My Rape field on Back Lane is blue over with pigeons. Can you get down there and sort them out?" Before rushing onto the field and it turning out like scenario number 1, let us weigh the job up first before setting foot on the field. Remember, any time spent conducting reconnaissance is never wasted, and this forms the basis of all pigeon shooting. Other factors will govern the success of a days shoot over Winter Rape. 1. Wind It is a fact that a windy day shooting over any crop will be more productive than a still day. The reason behind this is Woodpigeon are far more likely to be on the wing on a windy day. A windy day gives the pigeon more positive flight lines that can be easily identified. It also has the tendency to break up large flocks of Woodies that occur during the winter months, enabling the shooter to take shots at smaller bunches coming into the decoys. 2. Time of Day Two schools of thought arise from this factor. Firstly to be set up on the field at first light waiting for the pigeon to arrive. Secondly, walking the pigeon off the field after they have had their first feed, setting up and waiting for them to flight back to feed again. I much prefer the second option for reasons I will explain. During the short daylight hours of winter, the Woodpigeon are on the move at first light. A trip to you local roost wood at dawn will certainly confirm this for you. If you had found the pigeon feeding on a Rape field the day before, and set up the next day at sunrise, you will no doubt have hundreds of pigeon arrive at your field all at the same time. These would drop straight into the decoys, a few shots at these large flocks will send them scattering far and wide, and more often than not over the boundary to alight on another Rape field where you haven't got permission to shoot! This however can change on a windy day. Wind does break the flocks up and it can extend the flight from the roost woods during the morning. Far better to turn up at the field about 9:00am during the winter, walk the pigeon off and set up as close as possible to the flight line where it enters the field. Because the pigeon have already had a feed, they will fly off to rest and digest the contents of their stomachs before flighting back to feed again. This in effect extends the length of the flight, allowing the decoy shooter more shots at smaller feeding parties. To look at the 'Time of Day' factor more closely, during the winter months the pigeon have approximately 7 hours of feeding time. Take off an hour or so of flighting to and from the roost woods, and that leaves us about 6 hours of shooting in which to put together a decent bag. Pigeon feed then rest three times a day during winter. Rape is highly digestible and literally goes straight through the birds. It takes approximately half an hour for a pigeon to fill up on Rape, and then it will sit and digest for about an hour before feeding again. Let us look at a typical day, taking into account the daylight feeding hours: - 08:30 Pigeon arrive at the Rape field and start to feed. 09:00 Pigeon fly off (or sit on the field) to rest and digest. 10:00 Pigeon flights back to the field and start feed number 2. 10:30 Rest and digest. 11:30 Pigeon flight back to field and commence feed number 3. Now, feed number 3 takes much longer, as the Woodpigeon crams its crop full of Rape to last it through the night. This feed takes up to 1 hour. The time is now 12:30, and our pigeon has fed for the day. He is quite content to sit around, resting and digesting, and maybe having another feed before flying off for the roost woods at approximately 3:00pm. Bearing all that in mind, the peak time for Rape shooting is during mid-morning, up to 12:00 noon. By 2:00pm, pigeons on rape have finished feeding for the day. Shooting large bags over Rape is not common, it does happen now and again but is definitely not the norm. The clever pigeon shooter will be highly mobile, with light portable gear. During the morning before setting up on his chosen field, he will have walked another field also. He sets up on field number 1, and shoots the flight from about 09:30 to 11:30, and with luck will kill 20 to 30 birds. As soon as the flight dries up, he will move quickly to field number 2, walk the pigeons off again, set up and shoot another flight from about 11:30 to 1:30, killing another 20 to 30 Woodies. For his efforts, he will have made a very good bag of between 40 and 60 Woodpigeon, which for shooting over Rape is a Red Letter Day. He will have left the house at 8:30am, and be back indoors by 2:30pm. More hours spent than this will in general have been non productive. Try to stick to these times during your next outing on Winter Rape, and try the two-field option and be highly mobile. Other factors govern pigeon behaviour, especially during the winter. We will look at these more closely next time. 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Buzzer Posted November 21, 2003 Report Share Posted November 21, 2003 Makes perfect sense to me Gary.....well writen chap!.....Although... I have shot pigeon on rape untill 4.00pm, and have had many a good day's bag.....around the 70 mark seems to be a good bag during the winter months. All the best Buzz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sniper Posted November 21, 2003 Report Share Posted November 21, 2003 Thanks very much Gary....very helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted November 21, 2003 Report Share Posted November 21, 2003 Thanks Gary, an excellent contribution, as usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermin Dropper Posted November 22, 2003 Report Share Posted November 22, 2003 Makes perfect sence, Thanks again for the very informative input Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest charlie Posted December 4, 2003 Report Share Posted December 4, 2003 thanks for making me think about my shooting :yp: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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