Difficult to decoy? Tell me about it.

[JDog]

The rape stubble was a week old and two days of watching revealed a single flight line in. Lots of birds. What could be easier?

 

I was set up by 1:30 and the first bird decoyed perfectly from the flight line, into the pattern and bang. A good start. However that was just about the only bird which decoyed. The line was strong but they would not pull off it into the pattern. Lots of bird had a look at 60 - 80m but kept on going into the distance. I imagine that maybe 200 birds flew along the line. If a high percentage had decoyed I would have had a reasonable afternoon.

 

As it was I struggled to make a bag, taking long range birds on which I am not entirely confortable with. I hit several which flew on. Naturally this made me pretty frustrated and unhappy.The wind was strange too making the pigeons flight quite erratic at times. I would mount onto a bird which would suddenly dip below the line. How exciting but difficult can pigeon shooting be?

 

The final tally was 32 pigeons. I cannot help but think that I wasted a perfectly good flight line today.

[chesterse]

Sounds like they could see you or as has been discussed before sometimes the arms of a whirly can flash in the sun(assuming you we're using one)

Also sometimes unless you are right under a flight line they will not even pull 50 yards off it.

Another possibility is that they were on their way to another field/ crop which they preferred and were not actually feeding on your field.

Anyway 32 does not sound like a too bad day to me, I know if things had gone right you could have shot more but there is always another day!

[fenboy]

It could have been much worse JDog .

I have been doing a 12 hour shift today while you have been struggling for those pigeons , I know what I would rather be doing !

[steveyg]

The rape stubble was a week old and two days of watching revealed a single flight line in. Lots of birds. What could be easier?

 

I was set up by 1:30 and the first bird decoyed perfectly from the flight line, into the pattern and bang. A good start. However that was just about the only bird which decoyed. The line was strong but they would not pull off it into the pattern. Lots of bird had a look at 60 - 80m but kept on going into the distance. I imagine that maybe 200 birds flew along the line. If a high percentage had decoyed I would have had a reasonable afternoon.

 

As it was I struggled to make a bag, taking long range birds on which I am not entirely confortable with. I hit several which flew on. Naturally this made me pretty frustrated and unhappy.The wind was strange too making the pigeons flight quite erratic at times. I would mount onto a bird which would suddenly dip below the line. How exciting but difficult can pigeon shooting be?

 

The final tally was 32 pigeons. I cannot help but think that I wasted a perfectly good flight line today.

Exciting and difficult sums it up quite nicely..

[-Mongrel-]

Had exactly the same problem this afternoon. I decoyed a well used confluence of two flight lines on 3 day old stubble which I saw a good few birds on yesterday.

 

Most of the shots I took were crossing birds that came within range, rather than decoyed. I think maybe a dozen decoyed in 3 hours. Bangers on the adjacent large field, tried rotary , no rotary, as well as 3 positions,flapper, no flapper. Changed the pattern 4 times, added floaters, still no joy.

 

I was wondering if pigeons get 'full'. Theres been a lot of cutting this week and it got me thinking that there may be so much seed available that they just don't want any more?

[fruity]

Had a very similar situation this morning they just would not decoy , the 12 or so we did shoot was full of food, which make mogrels 'full' comment very plausible.

Set up in a different place (same farm) in the afternoon without the rotary and bingo, they started to.decoy lovely .

So frustrating when they won't come in though start to doubt yourself and setup

[timmytree]

You SG boys may laugh but I decoy pigeons to an air rifle, I have to get them to ground or sitty tree so what I've learned is to target the times they are feeding.

Once you have the feeding pattern you can maximise the number of shots without spending all day in the field.

I rarely shoot in the morning but in the afternoon right now, 5pm to 7pm is the busiest period. In 3 trips I've had 17, 8 and 10 all in late afternoon.

Before that they wouldn't commit so I think they were just flighting between roosts or still too interested in mating. I had a male bird yesterday land and mount a female I'd just shot(I presume it was female!) I released before he did!

[kitchrat]

The rape stubble was a week old and two days of watching revealed a single flight line in. Lots of birds. What could be easier?

 

I was set up by 1:30 and the first bird decoyed perfectly from the flight line, into the pattern and bang. A good start. However that was just about the only bird which decoyed. The line was strong but they would not pull off it into the pattern. Lots of bird had a look at 60 - 80m but kept on going into the distance. I imagine that maybe 200 birds flew along the line. If a high percentage had decoyed I would have had a reasonable afternoon.

 

As it was I struggled to make a bag, taking long range birds on which I am not entirely confortable with. I hit several which flew on. Naturally this made me pretty frustrated and unhappy.The wind was strange too making the pigeons flight quite erratic at times. I would mount onto a bird which would suddenly dip below the line. How exciting but difficult can pigeon shooting be?

 

The final tally was 32 pigeons. I cannot help but think that I wasted a perfectly good flight line today.

"Lots of bird had a look at 60 - 80m" - could these be my scouts many of you ridiculed?!!!!

Still, 32 ain't bad.

[pigeon controller]

I think they are seeing too many patterns and magnets. While I'm talking about magnets and flashing I covered the square section arms on mine with green garden string and painted the spring arms with mud to stop the flash. As I've posted before lately I've had to keep changing the pattern and taking in the magnet and even put the whole pattern as stand ups on spikes the get them to decoy. This is part of the fieldcraft that you have to learn and is not written in books. You have to think like a pigeon ie when I flew over that magnet and dead birds last time I was scared by this figure in the hedge and a loud bang and a shock wave that came past me and made me lose a few feathers.

[yickdaz]

I think they are seeing too many patterns and magnets. While I'm talking about magnets and flashing I covered the square section arms on mine with green garden string and painted the spring arms with mud to stop the flash. As I've posted before lately I've had to keep changing the pattern and taking in the magnet and even put the whole pattern as stand ups on spikes the get them to decoy. This is part of the fieldcraft that you have to learn and is not written in books. You have to think like a pigeon ie when I flew over that magnet and dead birds last time I was scared by this figure in the hedge and a loud bang and a shock wave that came past me and made me lose a few feathers.

totally agree also you have move further down a hedge or treeline or to the otherside of the field shoot the flightline etc etc its not all set in stone what works one day won,t another as you will know JDOG but scout pigeons (if theres such a thing) and I know that's on another thread isn't something that spoils a day

Edited August 23, 2013 by yickdaz

[pickerup]

I think they are seeing too many patterns and magnets. While I'm talking about magnets and flashing I covered the square section arms on mine with green garden string and painted the spring arms with mud to stop the flash. As I've posted before lately I've had to keep changing the pattern and taking in the magnet and even put the whole pattern as stand ups on spikes the get them to decoy. This is part of the fieldcraft that you have to learn and is not written in books. You have to think like a pigeon ie when I flew over that magnet and dead birds last time I was scared by this figure in the hedge and a loud bang and a shock wave that came past me and made me lose a few feathers.

Buy a roll of camo tape and bind the arms and magnet it stops all the flashing and lasts for years. (the cloth stuff)

[kitchrat]

I think they are seeing too many patterns and magnets. While I'm talking about magnets and flashing I covered the square section arms on mine with green garden string and painted the spring arms with mud to stop the flash. As I've posted before lately I've had to keep changing the pattern and taking in the magnet and even put the whole pattern as stand ups on spikes the get them to decoy. This is part of the fieldcraft that you have to learn and is not written in books. You have to think like a pigeon ie when I flew over that magnet and dead birds last time I was scared by this figure in the hedge and a loud bang and a shock wave that came past me and made me lose a few feathers.

Totally agree. My magnet has matt camo duct tape on every part and I build stalks up around the base and motor. Sometimes they still pull away. However, I feel you still need one to attract attention from a distance. I tried to make mine stop on a remote controller, so when I saw a bird turn in I could stop it, but the momentum of the 2 dead birds was too much. In my area there are few or no set flight paths, so I have to pull "passing trade"!