I have the land, I have the 12g, Now where are those pigeons ??

[andywiles]

Hi All.

 

I hope you may be able to answer a question or two for me.

 

I have recently been granted permission to shoot 800 acres of farmland. It is currently drilled winter rape i think, and a few weeks back was wheat stubble. There are also areas of lush grass that are grown for hay. There is a huge wood at one end of the permission and many hedgelines that separate off the individual fields.

 

Now having read about pigeons until my evening routine is now counting pigeons jumping fences rather than sheep, I know i need to find the flightlines.

 

What i am thinking is the correct way to do things, is to first go out a good few times nice and light and do a lot of watching at first light and last light to map out where the birds come out of the wood in the morning, and where they go back into the wood in the evening.

I have several maps printed out so that i can map out these lines.

 

Is this generally the best way to find the birds when you get a new permission ??

 

I have said to the farmer to let me know if a certain area is getting hammered to speed things up, but if not,, is my dawn and dust plan anywhere close to being correct ?

 

cheers all

 

Andy

 

[fenboy]

That will be a good start , you are unlikely to get birds feeding on the drilled rape though just yet so chances are you will be watching them fly out of your wood to someone elses farm.

Once the stubbles are all gone and the weather is cooler they will start paying attention to the rape .

 

Once they are on the rape they will require more than one crop full so will often flight back to a wood late morning -mid afternoon to digest it before heading out again.

[andywiles]

Thanks for the reply, So based on that, Would it be a waste fo time to try to decoy them down until it gets a little colder ?? and instead just try to intercept them on their line ?

[filzee]

You may well find it a waste of time trying to decoy them right now on it.

Keep your eye on the fields though because you never know.

They can be strange creatures and don't always do what people think they will.

 

Good luck with it.

[andywiles]

Brilliant, So travel light, expect the unexpected and have the decoying kit in the car so that its there if needs be.

 

Now something i haven't thought about,, Camo,,, but not for me,,,

I am all geared up and ready to go, So i'll blend into the hedges no worries,

 

Will the birds spook off the 2 yellow labs i will have with me ?

[JDog]

Don't take your gun for the first few outings, just watch.

[caeser]

why don't you ask if someone experienced would come with you for a day, you could learn a lot from just one day. There's a lot of good guys from this forum that'll be only too willing to help. With a couple of different well experienced guys on a couple of different days, you could pick up plenty of tips.

You don't even have to shoot much, just talking for the day will help immensely.

Edited September 12, 2013 by caeser

[andywiles]

Love the idea and agree completely, But having only just secured the permission, Its too early to start adding people onto it to be honest with you.

[neil3728]

Where abouts are you, there could be someone very local who knows the area. Who could come around and offwer advice from the sidelines.

 

I too have just got my first permission, winter rape just planed so waiting till it grows, farmer saying Oct at earliest befor eht epigeons return.

As there is nothing I have still pop around even if its for a hr walk in the fresh air. I always take my shotgun as you never know what might crop up. Farmer knows i'm keen so can't hurt,

[andywiles]

The good thing is, I have a team of gundogs that i train on the land, So i am there all the time, Even if not shooting, I am working the dogs, so should be able to notice when the birds start changing what they are up to.

 

I am in Bedfordshire, 8 miles or so north of Luton.

[lakeside1000]

Start by finding the best flight lines and just sit in the hedge bottom under the best line, they will come to you, can get busy at certain times of the day, as for the dogs, I used to train springers and the pigeons never seemed to be bothered by them, I would train them to sit quiet in the hide and just act as my lookouts, they had much better eyesight than me and would always warn me of incoming birds, but dont let them run about too much as it could draw the birds attention towards you, and that will spook them, especially if you wave your gun at them, best tip, sit or stand very still, dont move the gun until the bird is as near as you want him, biggest mistake for most newbies is getting excited and lifting the gun while the bird is still 100 yards out, they will soon spot you, even more important when shooting corvids, best of luck, hope the shoot works well for you,

[andywiles]

All,

 

Thanks for the advise so far, I have had 2 trips to the farm so far. The first an evening wander with the gun to see if i could spot flight lines as they head back for the woods. Well to be honest they seemed to be a bit random, There are woods on 3 sides of the farm and i could see no real patterns.

 

Then on weekend gone i had a look for them early to see if i could get them coming out of the woods. I set up on a field of wheat stubble which has been recently drilled with rape. Behind me a hedge and a massive field of maise behind that. Well in a nutshell, I decoyed 2 mukjaq all the way into my pattern before they realised somethign was up and turned and ran. The wind was blowing from me straight to them, So i am surprised they didn't spook before. I ended up only doing the morning and didn't shoot any, But i am pleased to say that i did get 4 or 5 come into the pattern, I was just not expecting it and was too slow to get on them.

 

So moral of the story, A lot to learn i know, But its a start.

 

There are loads of partridge running around in the maise, so am wondering if the numbers just weren't there as they were perhaps in the maise ?

I had a U shape pattern out with a flapper and also bouncers. I dont think a magnet would have made any difference as the birds just simple weren;t there.

 

Location wise i dont think i was far off, Given the spend cartridges that were on the deck where i sat up (bad shooters, I took them home)

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Keep getting out there, it will all fall in to place soon.

 

Well done on clearing up after the other numpties!

[la bala]

get out there with the binos and just watch.