motty Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 I was shooting on barley stubble on Friday and shot a small bag of 31. Almost 50% of the dead birds were squabs. I normally start to see more youngsters when shooting the rape stubbles in July/August. After a trip to the marsh this morning i went for a drive and saw a hell of a lot of young feeding. This should mean (for me hopefully) that there could be some big scores shot on the stubbles that remain in the next month or two. Who else is seeing a massive amount of young pigeons at the moment? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 From my bag yesterday 20% were young birds. Last week it was nearer to 40%. I believe that these are late second broods. In a normal year (without the cold April) pigeons in the Cotswolds would have a third brood flying about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 We are seeing a great number this year. With the weather being as it is each breeding pair could have three pairs of offspring and with the acorn crop that is maturing in the trees they will be " Wood Pigeons" . So the rape will be safe till January then the fun will start as they migrate to the big rape and sprout areas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 we have also had a good few young birds over the last couple of months, but have also found they can be found anytime of year round here as we also shot some in february with snow on the ground. i believe the birds are having at least three broods a year in most areas. thankfully they make good eating and the gamedealer is still happy to take them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 I was shooting on barley stubble on Friday and shot a small bag of 31. Almost 50% of the dead birds were squabs. I normally start to see more youngsters when shooting the rape stubbles in July/August. After a trip to the marsh this morning i went for a drive and saw a hell of a lot of young feeding. This should mean (for me hopefully) that there could be some big scores shot on the stubbles that remain in the next month or two. Who else is seeing a massive amount of young pigeons at the moment? motty ...do you rekon its because the birds are late doing their 3rd brood, or they have slipped an extra one in ?......im still seeing pigeons in my garden "flapping about " over each other...mind you ..they do a lot of that anyway got no squabs about here...but have seen broken eggshells late into the year.. your thoughts ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr D Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 Same here. Last week didnt see many at all. This week lots of young birds about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted September 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 motty ...do you rekon its because the birds are late doing their 3rd brood, or they have slipped an extra one in ?......im still seeing pigeons in my garden "flapping about " over each other...mind you ..they do a lot of that anyway got no squabs about here...but have seen broken eggshells late into the year.. your thoughts ? I'm not sure. I haven't had such a good year on the pigeons, but in an average year, i'd often be shooting a young pigeon here or there from May onwards with the bulk of the young birds being seen about now. This year i have hardly seen any around July and August but the numbers i'm seeing right now seem to be way above the norm. That's a good thing in my book - even if the adult birds aren't decoying too well, the young birds committing brings them to the pattern at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matone Posted September 15, 2013 Report Share Posted September 15, 2013 (edited) Like everything in the countryside, they`ll be about 3 weeks later than normal ! It`s been an unusual year. Edited September 15, 2013 by matone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted September 19, 2013 Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 there are a few down here,but not over the top with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted September 19, 2013 Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 I had 73 one afternoon a couple of weeks or so ago and I would say 40-50 % were young birds , that would also explain why the magnet was particularly effective that day as the young one are real suckers for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted September 19, 2013 Report Share Posted September 19, 2013 Out of 38 shot yesterday 25 were young birds. I have always preferred young birds to old ones! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M ROBSON Posted September 22, 2013 Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 About 50% of the birds we shot yesterday were young birds, good to see them doing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remmyman Posted September 22, 2013 Report Share Posted September 22, 2013 (edited) Hi Motty, out of 94 shot on wheat stubble last week I didn't see a SNGLE young bird, had'nt even thought about it being a bit odd untill you mentioned it ! I MUST BE GETTING OLD !! Regards Remmyman Edited September 22, 2013 by remmyman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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