Winter rape...frustrating

[The Sniper]

Over the past 4-5 weeks I have been out pigeonning once or twice a week.

 

With the exception of one day on beet ,that had to be ploughed in ,I have had very marginal success on the only other crop that pigeons seem to be feeding on , and that is winter rape.

 

It appears to be that round my area you find the field they are feeding on. You watch them and they are piling onto it. So you work out the flighline and then get set up. But then it is a case of three or four shots and they ****** off for the day !.

 

Yesterday was a prime example . All I appeared to do was chase them from one rape field to another. When I tried to work out the ratio of winter rape fields to ploughed/ winter cereal crops in my area I would say that one third is winter rape. What I am saying is that there is so much choice for them to go at .

 

Anybody else experiencing the same and if so any tips on how to successfully decoy them ?.

 

Or is it just a case of wait till the weather gets a bit harder or wait for the spring drillings ?

[Cranfield]

It is a very frustrating situation and I would think every pigeon shooter has suffered.

 

I shoot midweek and so there aren,t any/many other pigeon shooters out, to keep the birds on the move.

 

Solutions I have tried;

1) Placing bangers, or fertilizer sacks tied to stakes, on adjoining fields.

2) Travel very light and spend an hour or so, in each field.

When I do this, I only take a rotary and a small net.

3) Find a part of the field thats in the lea, sheltered from the wind (only works on very windy days), they will prefer it as being more comfortable.

4) Set up in the "best" spot, stay until about 11, then leave and return about 2pm.

This reduces the frustration.

I can leave my hide (with the decoys in it), I appreciate not everyone can.

5) Go fishing.

 

Really hard weather can get them to focus on just a few preferred spots, which makes things easier.

[Yorkshire Pudding]

Sniper

 

I have a bit of advice for you ...You need some more mates out shooting on other fields . I have always found this to be very easily done with the use of the telephone , and the knowlage that some folks have a week off coming up

 

all the best yis yp

[londonfoxshot]

WELL CHAPS ALL I CAN SAY IS YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY HAVING BETTER LUCK UP NORTH THAN I AM NEAR CONCRETE CITY. OUT OF THE COMBINED SEVERAL THOUSAND ACRES AROUND N. LONDON / HERTFORDSHIRE. NOT ONE FIELD OF RAPE HAS BEEN PLANTED THIS YEAR DUE OF COURSE TO THE NONE EXISTANT MOISTURE IN THE AUTUMN.

I'D LOVE TO KNOW WHAT THE'RE FEEDING ON OR WHERE BUT IT CERTAINLY AINT AROUND HERE?

[The Sniper]

Cranfield...thanks for the advice.....I will keep preservering.

 

YP......nudge nudge , wink wink . I will be doing an ET on you.

 

Londonfox shot.......they must be feeding somewhere.....or have they all come up here to indulge in our clean Yorkshire air ?

[The Sniper]

Cranfield.......perservering................this bloody rum is good stuff.

[old rooster]

Interesting to hear your mixed reports on pigeon activity on rape this "winter". We've started to get some reasonable action on the rape, one of the best fields being rape that has grown through from last year on a field left unplanted. The farm is a large one and has recently been sold, we are negotiating with the new owner but it looks likely that they may stop all shooting, which will please the lads who run the pheasant syndicate :-(((.

 

Had a good afternoon recently when we shot 50 between us (my lad is just starting his apprenticeship using a single barrel 20 bore which I used when my Father taught me). Little varmint looks like turning into a pretty fair shot. We'd both put out a few naturals in our shell decoy pattern (shooting around 80 yards apart in the same hedge) when a hawk came low across the field and landed on his nearest pigeon. He clapped his hands and waved his arms but it wasn't shifting, had to get out of the hide and "walk it off", it was less than 20 yards away at the time !!. It got up and flew in a wide semi-circle out in the field only to come in my direction and land on one of my pigeons. Same job to get it to move off and it just kept coming back. In the end I had to pick a battered pigeon and take it across the other side of the field, gave it a good chuck and the hawk was on it before it hit the ground. I've seen them hit decoys before but never seen them show this level of tenacity.

 

Hope to get back out this Friday when we are promised some high winds, it's turned damp and calm here so we'll spend a few days catching up on the ferreting.

 

Had a good day yesterday at an informal local shoot, got invited as we do the ferreting on the farmers land, shot 4 well presented pheasants and a cracking Mallard.

 

Good luck to you all.

 

Rooster

[Guest flightline]

It is a very frustrating situation and I would think every pigeon shooter has suffered.

 

I shoot midweek and so there aren,t any/many other pigeon shooters out, to keep the birds on the move.

 

Solutions I have tried;

1) Placing bangers, or fertilizer sacks tied to stakes, on adjoining fields.

2) Travel very light and spend an hour or so, in each field.

When I do this, I only take a rotary and a small net.

3) Find a part of the field thats in the lea, sheltered from the wind (only works on very windy days), they will prefer it as being more comfortable.

4) Set up in the "best" spot, stay until about 11, then leave and return about 2pm.

This reduces the frustration.

I can leave my hide (with the decoys in it), I appreciate not everyone can.

5) Go fishing.

 

Really hard weather can get them to focus on just a few preferred spots, which makes things easier.

Cranfield-We are always told in the books to move if things don`t happen but if you take loads of gear it`s a real pain to move. It`s only paid off just the once for me in the two years I`ve been shooting. So your idea of the net plus rotary so you may move quickly is a good one. How often does this pay off? Presumably you use dead birds as decoys as you shoot them and if you don`t you move? :yp:

[Cranfield]

If the birds aren,t coming to "your" field, a move will often work.

Even if it doesn,t, the activity involved beats the mind numbing boredom, of just sitting there looking at an empty sky. :yp:

 

When I travel light, I only use the rotary with two decoys on it.

Not setting out any dead birds shot, doesn,t seem to make a difference.

If its a day for moving about, then a large bag is not on the cards, so any pigeons shot are a bonus.

[Jester]

My shoot covers 5 farms with rape fields galore and plenty of woodland roost sites

With only 2 people allowed to shoot it , keeping the birds moving was a hard task.

Once settled on a spot they refuse to leave until disturbed , then move off to another field to feed.

We arrived yesterday morning to find birds galore on the perfect site , once we disturbed them with setting up , they flew, never to return leaving us a little dumbfounded.

So as metioned we traveled light and 'chased' the birds to get any results and prevent boredom.

 

So armed with a dozen decoys and full 'camo' we moved from field to field using the natural cover .

 

Our day wasnt as productive as we would have liked BUT , was very enjoyable employing the 'back to basics' approach, and made a change from carrying the heavy bags :yp:

[Teal]

On days like these after a particularily slack period making sure there are no pigeons in sight, firing a single shot should get them on the move a little, keep out of sight and reload fast. With a single shot the pigeons can't work out the direction of it and some may well present a shot for you soon after this. If theres nothing moving after this I'll move :yp:

[Fisherman Mike]

I sometimes add one or two crow decoys and a magpie to my pigeon deeks as it appears to give the birds a little more confidence. I kept pigeons both ornamental and racing as lad and they are among the most intelligent of birds and very wary. I must admit I have never had much success with rotaries when conditions are as you describe and sometimes I even leave my 16 g at home and take the pneumatic air rifle. You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the amount of rape grown and it pays sometimes to bear in mind that it tastes pretty disgusting even to a pigeon so if there is something else on the menu locally you can bet they will be on it (I recently observed 50 -60 birds in the hedge adjacent my shoot gorging on Ivy Berries) If the pigeons dont come in you may have the chance of the odd crow or maggie to stem the boredom. I dont move about too much because I have never found it to be any better chasing wary birds from field to field but when it has been really cold the same birds come to the deeks like little kamikaze pilots. Take a portable radio, earpiece and copy of shooting times!