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One of the very best flight lines I have seen.


JDog
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I had a ten o' clock meeting this morning which I could not get out of so I asked my shooting companion for the day to watch five fields of barley drillings for flight lines. When I got there at 11:30 he told me that he had seen a bit of movement but not much. As I jumped out of the car I saw 100 pigeons heading our way and these must have been the advance party of the flight line for the day.

 

We rapidly disagreed as to where we should go but as I was the host and have the broadest shoulders it was my decision to shoot a particular field which brought forward howls of derision from my companion. We set up 40m apart in a tiny spinney from which we could see a large part of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire and more importantly we could see birds on the move. It was very windy and I needed extra hide poles to keep my netting intact. The rotary struggled and we eventually took it down. We each built a pattern opposite our own hides with a hole inbetween as the killing ground. This worked well and we fired about the same number of shots during the session.

 

The first hour was quiet and so was my companion as he was convinced I had got it wrong yet again and I must say I agreed with him for a while. When the flight line did start it was an object of great wonder to us both. Birds were coming up from the valley bottom, along a conifer belt, along a beech belt, up some tall beech trees and this is the amazing thing, more than 2/3 of the birds we saw on the line peeled off over a road one field away and we never saw them again to our knowledge. The other 1/3 did decoy either on the outbound or the return lines.

 

It just shows how many birds were using the line as we picked 165 pigeons around our hides and another two in an adjacent field which we had seen fall down dead for a total of 167.

 

 

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I had a ten o' clock meeting this morning which I could not get out of so I asked my shooting companion for the day to watch five fields of barley drillings for flight lines. When I got there at 11:30 he told me that he had seen a bit of movement but not much. As I jumped out of the car I saw 100 pigeons heading our way and these must have been the advance party of the flight line for the day.

 

We rapidly disagreed as to where we should go but as I was the host and have the broadest shoulders it was my decision to shoot a particular field which brought forward howls of derision from my companion. We set up 40m apart in a tiny spinney from which we could see a large part of Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire and more importantly we could see birds on the move. It was very windy and I needed extra hide poles to keep my netting intact. The rotary struggled and we eventually took it down. We each built a pattern opposite our own hides with a hole inbetween as the killing ground. This worked well and we fired about the same number of shots during the session.

 

The first hour was quiet and so was my companion as he was convinced I had got it wrong yet again and I must say I agreed with him for a while. When the flight line did start it was an object of great wonder to us both. Birds were coming up from the valley bottom, along a conifer belt, along a beech belt, up some tall beech trees and this is the amazing thing, more than 2/3 of the birds we saw on the line peeled off over a road one field away and we never saw them again to our knowledge. The other 1/3 did decoy either on the outbound or the return lines.

 

It just shows how many birds were using the line as we picked 165 pigeons around our hides and another two in an adjacent field which we had seen fall down dead for a total of 167.

 

 

 

Good call.....takes large dangle's to stick it out....Nice write up

 

Waiting for a big day myself, only chipping away at them....

 

TEH

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Excellent result JDog. Once again illustrates why this marvelous bird never fails to suprise us. I for one can appreciate the sight of a strong flightline when seemingly every bird in the county joins and travels to the feeding grounds, quite a spectacular sight.

 

as a side note i feel certain areas are holding good pigeon numbers at the moment and i feel there will be some very good bags reported on pigeon watch in the coming months.

 

Having said that i have had a drink and am probably talking ****. :)

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