pigeon controller Posted March 8, 2014 Report Share Posted March 8, 2014 I had a phone call Thursday saying that the rape was covered with birds, so I said I would be there Friday. Friday morning and its raining but they say it will be over by 09.00 so we head out to the rape , when we get to the field it has about two hundred down but as we drive down they lift off very spooky. We watch a few start to return and cross the field so we picked the spot to shoot from and set up. When we have all the gear set up and drinking our coffee the first bird come to the pattern and turns away, so we check the set up again and take the magnet down, the second one in comes and sets to land and pays the price . We put a few " angels " coming from different directions and they start to come in confidently. After about two hours it starts to dry up , so I go down to the end of the field to retrive a hit bird that went to a tree and fell out stoned. As I'm walking the hedge I find some fresh feathers,also two wounded birds in the hedge bottom and when I get to the bird I hit I notice feather patterns in the field and footsteps in the rape back to the hedge where I find the hide position . So it was shot yesterday, thats what has made the birds spooky. Any way we continued to shoot and ended the day with a total pck up of one hundred and thirty three. As we were leaving the field I had a call from another farmer who wants us to shoot the rape on Saturday. Saturday saw us headind to the other farmers rape , when we arrived it had about twenty birds in the tree and none on the rape . The farmer came over to us and said it had more on it yesterday we saked if it had been shot and he replied no, we set up just to please him with the intention to give it an hour and see what happens. In the hour we had four birds return, so we packed up and moved on . We checked out five other farms with rape none had any birds at all, we returned to the first farm to check if they had returned and saw a white pick up scanning the field so we drove up next to them and they informed us that they had walked the field yesterday afternoon and had ten birds as they say it had at least three hundred birds on it. We headed back to our rape close to home and saw about fifty in the one corner of the field . it was now getting on and we were set up for 14.30 in one hour we had six birds so we decided to pack up and go to the roost woods. We ended the day with sixty three pigeons and shot the roost till dark, so I took the picture at home on the drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 8, 2014 Report Share Posted March 8, 2014 (edited) Some more good bags. Well done. It does make me wonder why you have the luck of the birds behaving in your region. Round here there is no shortage of birds, but they are still really flocked up. The only chance of a 100+ round here at the moment would probably be on a different crop than rape. Are there huge blocks of rape in your area, PC, or do you have the luxury of small pieces of rape well spread out? Edited March 8, 2014 by motty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2014 Some more good bags. Well done. It does make me wonder why you have the luck of the birds behaving in your region. Round here there is no shortage of birds, but they are still really flocked up. The only chance of a 100+ round here at the moment would probably be on a different crop than rape. Are there huge blocks of rape in your area, PC, or do you have the luxury of small pieces of rape well spread out? Hi Motty , we have some huge areas of rape , the one farm has circa four hundred acres all in one block , what we have to do is sort out the flightline across the fields and and use the wind to channel them down one hedge or another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted March 8, 2014 Report Share Posted March 8, 2014 Some more good bags. Well done. It does make me wonder why you have the luck of the birds behaving in your region. Round here there is no shortage of birds, but they are still really flocked up. The only chance of a 100+ round here at the moment would probably be on a different crop than rape. Are there huge blocks of rape in your area, PC, or do you have the luxury of small pieces of rape well spread out? business as usual pc great stuff again we have that luxury motty with just the odd field or 2 with no rape for miles but its still hard work on it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Your first report does not say much for the shooter who was there the previous day. As you say in those circumstances do not get mad get even. I would say thay you ended up more than even. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Nice bags PC. you seem to be getting on ok with that new gun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Nice bags PC. you seem to be getting on ok with that new gun. Thanks Aga man , it's great but it's auto safety which I've never had before and the switch is very stiff and has lost me a couple of birds as I think I've pushed it on and I haven't but it does come up nicely . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Hi Motty , we have some huge areas of rape , the one farm has circa four hundred acres all in one block , what we have to do is sort out the flightline across the fields and and use the wind to channel them down one hedge or another. No chance of that round here at the moment. The flocks are still pretty much moving as one, apart from the odd few that are moving independently. I think a couple more weeks of this warmer weather will split the birds more, and the bag sizes will increase dramatically for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caeser Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Impressive bags again PC. Around my area I just cannot get amongst them. There are about 6 not too big sized rape fields, and I guarantee that when I arrive, there will be a flock on each one. Probably between one and two hundred on each field. watch them for while and try to find a regular flight path, then set up on the chosen field, and hey presto they disappear. Drive around again, set up where you find them, and they're gone again. So frustating. So plenty of birds about, but still in big flocks. Even the roost shooting is frustrating. Stand in the woods waiting, then about 300-400 birds all come at once, and thats it. Only consolation is the thought of some decent shooting when the flocks break up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 (edited) Impressive bags again PC. Around my area I just cannot get amongst them. There are about 6 not too big sized rape fields, and I guarantee that when I arrive, there will be a flock on each one. Probably between one and two hundred on each field. watch them for while and try to find a regular flight path, then set up on the chosen field, and hey presto they disappear. Drive around again, set up where you find them, and they're gone again. So frustating. So plenty of birds about, but still in big flocks. Even the roost shooting is frustrating. Stand in the woods waiting, then about 300-400 birds all come at once, and thats it. Only consolation is the thought of some decent shooting when the flocks break up. Perhaps you need six mates ???? Or are you a Billy No Mates??? Edited March 9, 2014 by pigeon controller Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caeser Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Perhaps you need six mates ? ??? Or are you a Billy No Mates? ?? I've thought about that, but my problem is, the land I shoot over where the rape is, is owned by one person. Now I know that person very well and she lets me shoot whenever I want, no problem. I can take another person with me, no problem. But beyond that, she doesn't want to know. She doesn't want anyone else shooting on her land basically. She does have quite a bit land too. I do have another couple of thousand acres that I shoot over, but there's not much there at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 I've thought about that, but my problem is, the land I shoot over where the rape is, is owned by one person. Now I know that person very well and she lets me shoot whenever I want, no problem. I can take another person with me, no problem. But beyond that, she doesn't want to know. She doesn't want anyone else shooting on her land basically. She does have quite a bit land too. I do have another couple of thousand acres that I shoot over, but there's not much there at the moment. No problems just keep at it and you will have your day, well done for getting the confidence of the owner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 Thanks Aga man , it's great but it's auto safety which I've never had before and the switch is very stiff and has lost me a couple of birds as I think I've pushed it on and I haven't but it does come up nicely . Surely it would only take your gunsmith 25 minutes to sort that out for you P.C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveyg Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 quality couple of Days P.C.....slightly better than my four day...well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEADLY PLUMBER Posted March 10, 2014 Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 Once again great bags. How are the guts this week. I had a personal best bag of 51 on Sunday morn on the Rape. I could of had more but I used an o & u for the first time. Heavier and bigger than my s x s took a bit of getting used too. I also got 2 with one shot. That was another first. Southerly breeze made things awkward too. Rape now starting to grow up now. I recon I've got 1 or 2 weeks left on it before it gets to tall. Can't wait for Saturday morn to hopefully fill my boots again. ATB. DP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2014 Once again great bags. How are the guts this week. I had a personal best bag of 51 on Sunday morn on the Rape. I could of had more but I used an o & u for the first time. Heavier and bigger than my s x s took a bit of getting used too. I also got 2 with one shot. That was another first. Southerly breeze made things awkward too. Rape now starting to grow up now. I recon I've got 1 or 2 weeks left on it before it gets to tall. Can't wait for Saturday morn to hopefully fill my boots again. ATB. DP Thanks DP, my system is fine now and back to normal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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