another "first day on the stubble" post

[mike-b]

il set the scene it was last wednesday i had just finished a very hot days work and on the short drive from my house with my windows down to the farm where i store my firewood (also where i do 99% of my pigeon shoting) and i smell a familliar smell!!! freshly harvested barley!!!!!!! my adrenalin started pumping as i got closer to the farm the smell grew as did my smile till i got 50yrds away and i saw the dust cloud!!!! jackpot!!!!!!!!! the first stubble was in sight and it happend to be between a rape field and wheet field that was still weeks away from being ready!! in fact the only cut field in a mile radius! bigger jackpot! and wait for it .............................. there is a strong flightline that goes over it i couldnt believe my luck my excitement grew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i immiediately text my shooting buddy who was like a child on christmas eve and didnt sleep a wink of sleep the nights leading up to the trip! so i headed up to my wood pile and started spliting some wood but couldnt consentrate and after the third near miss i decided to stop and go home and get my gear ready and loaded up in the hilux ready to go at a seconds notice!! after not much sleep i went to work where my mind wasnt on the job but i muddled through the day! and that night went up the farm expecting the field to be done and to my horror it wasnt the combine was still going im guessing the moisture only got low enough by the late afternoon therefore only giving him a few hours each day to cut? so disheartend i went home and on the friday went back up and still not 100% complete and no farmer to be seen, i never like to pester the farmer during harvest after a section i readin a pigeon book once! so left it saterday came as did a torrent of calls and texts asking if we can go by my pigeon buddy! but i was 8 mile offshore fishing and had no idea if it had been cut??? so i return from my trip empty handed and find my self rushing up the farm and finding there was still standing barley. i find the farmer in the workshop working on the combine so i split my wood and when im done walk over and have a chat he seems in good sprits! he then tells me that the standing barley isnt ready yet and wont be cut for 4-5 days! my smile grew so i suggested we strike while the irons hot agaist the winged invaders!!!! he agreed and with that i made the call, attack starts ad 1200 hrs tomorow (sunday) and with that we retired! well actually thats a lie we were to excited!!!!

sunday came and after getting the jobs done that morning lee arrived and we geared up and trundled off in the hilux triying to hold the smiles back! the wind was a healthy 19mph and it was overcast with sunny intervals! we arrive and work out a game plan hide locations, flightlines identified etc we both got set up and waited before my hide was even up lee took a shot "first one down" came over the radio no sooner as i had displayed the decoys in a inviting horseshoe shape i had my first bird and soon enough i had enough dead bird to set up both flappers and a bouncer and replace my plastic shells with dead birds, that was it from miles arround they were curling round to come and get some grub after a few left and rights i had a pair of magpies land in the center of the pattern, i hadnt seen them land as i was grabbing a drink and the electricity pole that was holding my hide up left me a blind spot in which they landed! then i heard the calling i jumped up and got the first and couldnt see the second it had flown into my blind spot and got away! all this time lee was blasting away i could see the pigeons getting dusted from where i was and sme cracking high bird tumbling down, the wind muffled the shots and they kept coming! at the end we didnt have a huge total but a great day was had a total of 58 pigeons and a maggie picked up and another 15 lost in neighbouring rape fields, gardens or in the standing barley not a red letter day but a great few hours! and heres a little pic showing the layout of us!

 

 

 

its a bit of an outdated pic but you get the idea!!! the dark and light brown fild is one large barley field this year and the harvested is a rape field!

[Lg1]

Lol very extensive right up!!!! At a guess I'd say your nuts on pigeon shooting haha

 

 

Good on ya

[deny essex]

Sounds like a memorable and enjoyable day whether it be a red letter day or not, nice write up and well done

[kitchrat]

So I have the only 3 fields of barley stubble (3 days old) for 20 miles around near my house, lots of pigeons about, nice woods to breed/rest in, but ZERO pigeons on the stubble. Stubbles don't seem to work like they used to. WHY?

My guesses:

a)Chaff cutters cover most lost grain (not the case in above fields, they are baled and carted) - pigeons can't/won't scratch the stuff off - hence, a badly cultivated stubble seems to work better.

b), short straw crops don't have the laid crop that leads to lost grain

c) combines lose less grain, they are better machines and the short straw doesn't choke them up - try looking for spilt grain....

d) the lack of laid crop allows the combine to cut higher. leaving longer stubble. Pigeons then can't land without getting a bit of stubble up their ********s! Just watch them, they prefer to land where the combine wheels have flattened the stubble.

So, all in all, is it more attractive than "helicoptering" down into the wheel marks of standing wheat?? They can do that anywhere and the grain right now is softer for their chicks.

Anyone got any thoughts?