From rape stubble to wheat stubble, birds everywhere.

[lakeside1000]

First a very big thank you to my friend John, better known as marsh man for another brilliant day out on the pigeons.

We set up on rape stubble in the morning, all the signs were right , birds all over the fields and coming in to the decoys well, I started slow, missing some high birds and struggling to find the range, but steadily began to hit and after an hour or so I had a dozen in the bag, but I knew it wouldn't last, a huge caterpillar tractor testing a new plough turned into the field and began ripping up and down, birds were scattering in all directions,

A quick crisis meeting and we decided to move half a mile up the lane to some freshly cut wheat stubble next to a small wood, so half an hour later I settle back into my hide with a good mix of dead birds and shells, plus 2 flappers and the magnet out,

Birds started coming in from the very first moment and apart from a few quiet spells they came steadily all afternoon, My hit rate had improved and in the next few hours I managed to raise my score to 31 wood pigeons, 6 feral pigeons and 1 magpie who sadly for him decided to fly across my decoy pattern,

7 pm with the sun dropping out of the sky we packed away, I don't have a dog so picking up is pretty tiring especially as I have a short memory , so if I don't pick up every 2 or 3 birds I cant remember where they fell,but I only lost 2 wood pigeons and 3 ferals in a flooded dyke behind my hide, managing to pick all the rest, which are now in the freezer,( not the ferals )

Out again tomorrow on the local skeet range with another beginner,he works on a farm ,tractor driving on about 10,000 acres but has never fired a shotgun before, so its back to basics, perhaps he will be a natural , a champion in the making, who knows.