fenboy Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 After being ill all week I felt a little better today so have been for a drive around the various bits of land I shoot hoping to find enough pigeon for a go over the weekend. Once again the trip proved fruitless , with nothing about at all , despite the odd field having been drilled over the last week. If my memory serves me right it was September when I last shot a decent amount of pigeon and that was on the back of my worst ever season. Since then , I doubt that I have had a bag of over 20 and I am finding it ever more difficult to motivate myself to drive around looking . I have been pigeon shooting over 30 years now and have never gone through a period as poor and as long as this and I see no immediate end to the drought . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveyg Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 keep at it Fenboy,Pigeon shooting is the most frustrating and difficult sport there is.....still the best though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
super sharp shooter Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I had my biggest bag of this year on Thursday with a total of 7. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I had my biggest bag of this year on Thursday with a total of 7. Leave some for the rest of us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
super sharp shooter Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Don't want to take them all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 excactly the same situation here......but at least i am at last starting to see birds flighting again in one's and two's ................not enough to set up for, and unless the situation really improves i will leave them to get on with nesting and then have a go at them before harvest..... i am running out of things to do in the garden............i know what is going to happen.....i finally get hold of a scrap 200 seris defender engine, start re-building it to put in my landy....................then ...youve guessed it........there will be birds everywhere !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krwigan Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I went out this morning..... Had 1 pigeon after about 2 hrs came home after another fruitless 45mins. When will things start to pick up? And why the lack of birds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Mat Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 excactly the same situation here......but at least i am at last starting to see birds flighting again in one's and two's ................not enough to set up for, and unless the situation really improves i will leave them to get on with nesting and then have a go at them before harvest..... i am running out of things to do in the garden............i know what is going to happen.....i finally get hold of a scrap 200 seris defender engine, start re-building it to put in my landy....................then ...youve guessed it........there will be birds everywhere !! you'll be seeing pigeons before you find one of those engines for sale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 As a young farmworker in Essex I remember and even shot a few pigeon so I can relate to the old days, has anyone got any theories about the lack of birds now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted March 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I do not for one minute think there is a lack of birds on a national level or even on a local one , numbers are suppose to be increasing if you can believe the various surveys . I am suffering from a lack of suitable crops to attract them to the land I shoot , the weather has been great for drilling and there is barely a seed on top hence no pigeon , if there was a good amount of seed left I would guarantee birds would find it and I would find them ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 As a young farmworker in Essex I remember and even shot a few pigeon so I can relate to the old days, has anyone got any theories about the lack of birds now? there was a thread running a couple of mths ago...about migration and such like.....have a read of that.....fenboy is right...numbers are on the increase.....just 15 miles away from me there are bloody great flocks of them...and the crops we have here are no different to where the birds are now......it just seems that for some reason after many years of being in this area they have deceided to be somewhere else...as in other parts of this county and the rest of the country.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin lad Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 there is plenty of pigeon round here but just not on the fields you are shooting in and if they are there you shoot one or two and they all clear off, we have just drilled some spring barley in an area where there are plenty of crows so should be some of them to go at in a week or two colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krwigan Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 H everyone been struggled this year or has a few people been on a few? Not many crops in my area at all, it's 99% grass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozzy518 Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Went out today to some fields that were drilled with peas almost a week ago. Huge flocks of many hundreds . I set up anticipating a good day. I found them almost impossible to decoy, one bang and they all went to far end of field. After a really frustrating day sat in a wind blown hide for a total of 6 pigeons I packed up . Bottom field was still Blue with em, but wide open , no cover and no way to get the kit there other than a very long walk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I'm wondering about mild weather or perhaps much more arable land and diverse crops, i used to shoot a field of clover that always had birds on during the winter, if your not getting them to decoys what about roost shooting, i also remember a theory about birds migrating from europe or even scandinavia they were considered smaller and darker any sign of them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bala Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Fenboy you must be getting aweful thin on that pigeon diet, it maybe soon time for a food parcel. . I had an awesome stir fry rabbit last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Glad your feeling a bit better Fenboy, just being out in the fresh air and during what you like will make a difference to how your feeling , as far as the pigeon situation is we have got some down here in Norfolk but in small numbers, with tractors working on every other field there is a few about one day and gone the next day. I did shoot about 30 Wednesday and i had a ride round today and didn't hardly see a pigeon ,might go and putt some decoys outside a wood where I go as I haven't been in there for a month and did see about 150 in there the other night when I took my dog out, any how look after yourself and I hope your luck improve . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted March 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Fenboy you must be getting aweful thin on that pigeon diet, it maybe soon time for a food parcel. . I had an awesome stir fry rabbit last night. Wasting away I am got to be down to 15 stone . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Went out today to some fields that were drilled with peas almost a week ago. Huge flocks of many hundreds . I set up anticipating a good day. I found them almost impossible to decoy, one bang and they all went to far end of field. After a really frustrating day sat in a wind blown hide for a total of 6 pigeons I packed up . Bottom field was still Blue with em, but wide open , no cover and no way to get the kit there other than a very long walk. You don't need any cover to shoot pigeons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I'm struggling for a good bag, too. Only half decent bags have been 27 and 46 this year. I'd normally have shot a ton from somewhere. I can't see where my next 100+ bag is coming from, but I hope it won't be too far away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted March 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I am on the verge of chucking it in and taking up knitting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Although i am no expert on the subject, i would imagine the the op hasn't had many if any winters like this one, even though he has been shooting stoggies for 30 years. Normally by the time spring drillings go in the pigeons have only had greens an perhaps a bit of left over maize or corn from pheasant feeders, this is not the case this year with an abundence of acorns,beech ivy berrys etc etc right through the winter. Also as anyone walking through our town parks with kids or grand children will see the woodies are doing very well in the towns. I am sure the good bags will come it just seems the pigeon feeding calender has changed. i have shot a few young birds since christmas so the birds are breeding year round and there not getting hammered so numbers must be growing. keep looking fenboy they will appear soon enough[hopefully] aga man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 I'm struggling for a good bag, too. Only half decent bags have been 27 and 46 this year. I'd normally have shot a ton from somewhere. I can't see where my next 100+ bag is coming from, but I hope it won't be too far away. very similar here motty 23 and 40 best bags but some drilling gone in and birds on them so see what happens over next few weeks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo33 Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 Dire down here in the south. It never actually started last year. As spring turned to summer, I was expecting them to appear in huge numbers, but it didn't happen. My best bag for the last 6 months was 20, next best 10. I looked over 3000 acres of land yesterday, not a pigeon or indeed crow to be seen. The remainder of the day, I did a drive round, must have been close on 80 miles throughout Hampshire and it was the same story everywhere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted March 21, 2014 Report Share Posted March 21, 2014 As their numbers have increased over the last 50 years I'm sure wood pigeons are evolving to recognise that man is perhaps its main predator these days and this evolving knowledge is being passed on to new generations. We don't really know how birds communicate its likely that since they have evolved over millions of years before man they may have sophisticated communication techniques we can only imagine. Nature is a incredibly complex thing and every year more and more scientific biological revelations are made.Case in point...one area I have shot over since about 76 held and still holds large numbers of birds through the winter months, little rape is grown so the staple is ivy, mast and chickweed..decoying was productive each year on the drilling and stubble. The only significant change has been the frequency the area has been shot has increased, the overall numbers of birds has remained constant but they wont decoy and are definitely put off by humans even gun-less ones. They have obviously learned to avoid those areas being decoyed and must be communicating this knowledge somehow.How is this ? a human without a gun is no threat to a wood pigeon and yet when you have one they seem to know, almost a sixth sense. They must have learned somehow that a human represents danger and even on the ground they are a risk. AS numbers increase year on year I think the birds will become more and more difficult to decoy effectively.Conversely when the farmer has planted rape and used gas guns they seem to be immune to them yet put out some decoys and let off a couple of shots and they are gone for the rest of the day...I find it fascinating and there is still much we don't and probably will never know until one of us perhaps is reincarnated from a bird to a human. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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