Flashing in the sun.

[JDog]

Just an observation to report.

 

I shot a few last week with a buddy who builds his hide fairly small with a flat rather than a pointed front. This means that he does not have enough space in the hide to keep his gun down and out of sight but he has it at a 45 degree angle and the top part of his barrels are over the top of the netting. When we were in the sun last week his barrels flashed in the sun all afternoon and it was quite noticeable how many more birds flared from his hide than from mine.

 

I build an obvious point in the front of my hide which means that I can keep the gun down and bring it upwards through the pointed space when I am ready to take a shot.

 

I have also been known to take down the rotary when the flashing arms were putting birds off.

[kitchrat]

Just an observation to report.

 

I shot a few last week with a buddy who builds his hide fairly small with a flat rather than a pointed front. This means that he does not have enough space in the hide to keep his gun down and out of sight but he has it at a 45 degree angle and the top part of his barrels are over the top of the netting. When we were in the sun last week his barrels flashed in the sun all afternoon and it was quite noticeable how many more birds flared from his hide than from mine.

 

I build an obvious point in the front of my hide which means that I can keep the gun down and bring it upwards through the pointed space when I am ready to take a shot.

 

I have also been known to take down the rotary when the flashing arms were putting birds off.

I've tried wrapping the barrels in matt camo stretchy-bandage stuff, didn't seem to make much difference but I agree that anything that helps them spot you is bad. My magnet arms have matt camo duct tape, I bury the motor and battery in the crop, etc etc. even tie grass to the arms to break them up.

A big pointed hide can be conspicuous, a tiny hidden one is better if you can feed the gun out towards the target without any lateral movement

Movement is bad of course!

However, their eyesight is so good. Last week I had a micro hide, really well hidden, I'm only looking thru' the net (of course!) NO movement! They were landing on wires 100 yards away, looking around, making the hide and getting away in a hurry. I pulled the magnet in - no change.

These birds are SHARP!!

 

Yet, after not seeing a bird for 30 minutes, they will come in and land in the decoys when you are out of the hide picking up!!!!!!!!! Do they do it to make me mad or upset me (It works!!)

[mudpatten]

I`m not entirely sure about the logic of using a hide so small that it cramps one`s ability to shoot comfortably.

 

After all, the whole point of a hide is that it should blend seamlessly into the background. That being so,it`s size is largely irrelevent.

 

I always make sure I have plenty of room in the hide and, provided it is properly concealed i`ve never felt the need to shrink it down to make it less noticeable.

 

Shooting with another in the past on the corner of a small copse over which were two distinct but variable flightlines, we simply erected all our netting in a linear hide with a frontage of over 30 feet and moved between the flight lines as required.

[kitchrat]

I`m not entirely sure about the logic of using a hide so small that it cramps one`s ability to shoot comfortably.

 

After all, the whole point of a hide is that it should blend seamlessly into the background. That being so,it`s size is largely irrelevent.

 

I always make sure I have plenty of room in the hide and, provided it is properly concealed i`ve never felt the need to shrink it down to make it less noticeable.

 

Shooting with another in the past on the corner of a small copse over which were two distinct but variable flightlines, we simply erected all our netting in a linear hide with a frontage of over 30 feet and moved between the flight lines as required.

I would rather have difficult, hampered shots than no shots at all. It's great if you have deep hedges etc to hide your hide, sometimes I have to use a powerline pole. Make a big comfortable hide round that and you will have a quiet day!!

[motty]

I would rather have difficult, hampered shots than no shots at all. It's great if you have deep hedges etc to hide your hide, sometimes I have to use a powerline pole. Make a big comfortable hide round that and you will have a quiet day!!

Why do you need to hide a hide?

[VINCED 686]

I agree with motty ......you just need to hide your movement

[mudpatten]

I`m sorry to have to disagree with you Kitchrat.

 

Like you, I often have to use a power/phone pole as the basis for a hide. I frequently have to erect a net hide in the middle of a field. with no background whatsoever.

 

I`ve shot some excellent bags from a large hide which sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

Respectfully, the pigeons can see the hide no matter how large or small it is but they have no idea what a "hide" actually is. They can`t distinguish it from the vegetation that often grows around the base of poles, or an isolated bush in the middle of a field.Things that they see every day. With correctly placed decoys, a hide that offers good concealment and good hide discipline I would expect to be able to set up anywhere and successfully decoy pigeons.

[Cosd]

My hides are largely the same every time I set up against a back drop, 1m out and 2m across every time. That uses up all 4m of my usual nets and gives me loads of room inside and can even take a second person in there. I usually do this with just the Stealth net but will add a clearview one over it if my back drop is a little thin.

 

When you are shooting for hours comfort plays a big part as far as I am concerned, and it allows you to concentrate on the birds instead of needing half a mind on your hide and being careful not to catch your gun etc.