Stealth Stalker Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 On Saturday Pin , Pigeonmagnet & myself met up at the shoot Pm works on, he'd been watching the birds building up on a crunched maize cover crop all week. We dropped Pin off on one side of the estate & put up a good 500 plus birds that were digesting there breakfast in the trees. I gave him a handfull of still frozen birds & a few handmade floaters to help in his decoy pattern & left him to it . We made our way to the other side of the estate, & found no woodies but the crop was black with crows, Pin obviously had the birds his side The field we were going to shoot wasn't the best in terms of cover for the hide & the wind direction was gonna make this a difficult exercise. This was Pigeonmagnets first time decoying so the plan was for me to show him the ropes, with decoy patterns, hide building ect... Given the wind direction & the expected flightline the best place for the hide was along a fenceline in the middle of the field, not ideal I know but we had little choice if we were going to shoot any birds. Pic of hide taken from where the birds were flighting First we built the hide giving it a nice high back, then set the deeks in a quartering U shape with 2 floaters at the back of the pattern to hopefully guide em in. We were to share the hide with strict rules about swinging past the center of the hide, I've shot alot of clays with Pm & he's an excellent shot, with safety in mind. The first birds to show an interest were the crows & Pm was first to shoot.....ahead of his intended victim Too much lead, but this was soon corrected & in the space of 20 mins we'd shot about 10 blackies, then the first woody showed an interest & he was dropped behind the hide, it was noticeable that the woodys were not committing to the deeks so after the next bird was shot I decided to get the magnet out. I don't always use the magnet but I like to have it for occasions when the birds don't want to play ball, so with the whirly set up at the to the right of the front deeks, we sat back in the hide to await our first customer, & it didn't take long. Straight down the runway heading for his rapidly spinning mates, only to find Pm intercept him with 32grms of lead I then get a call from Pin who is not having quite as much fun as us, he'd only fired one cartridge at a passing crow in an hour :( I tell him we were finding things real slow till I put the magnet out & to add insult to injury all the while I was on the phone to him Pm was banging away like a goodun Unfortunatly Pin was not convinced by the use of a whirly & has till now abstained from putting his hand in his pocket & getting himself one I think that he's seen the light now & I think a nice healthy order will be going in to our site sponsors We continued the day with a constant stream of birds coming in to the pattern, & when I had to nip back to the Landy to tighten the stock on my gun Pm had a purple patch where he dropped another 10 birds We ended the day at 4pm with 84 on the clicker & 15 crows not clicked, so 1 short of the 100 & as we were stood out the hide packing up a lone woody came hurtling in to the rotary oblivious to us, & Pm missed with both barrels Pic of the final bag We picked a very despondant looking Pin up, he'd fired 8 cartridges all day, he said there were 100s of birds about but they just wouldn't commit to the deeks GET A MAGNET Cheers Stealth Stalker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Good shooting, and a great post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul in North Lincs. Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 good job....... ...............I thought the hide position would have put them off a bit..................clearly not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 That sems like great craic. Top lads. Frank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Very good report and nice pictures. There must have been a great sense of satisfaction in setting out to show someone how to make a hide, lay out decoys etc., and then have it all come together so well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Geordie Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Makes a good read that! Thanks! Shame you were 1 single short of a century I am suprised nobody had tried to design a Solar powered rotary with light weight deeks it should be perfectly feasible No battery to carry about a lighter system all together. There is one for PIN to design then he don't have to pay for one LG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazza Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pin Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Yep, well done SS and PM. I'd like to think I contributed in some way putting birds up and over your way, even if they wouldn't come within range for me I moved the hide 3 times, reset the deeks countless times to no avail, plenty of birds about showing an interest in the deeks but nothing would come close enough I know I need a magnet for winter shooting now, doh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry d Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Well learned :blink: I found out how good they CAN be a few years ago, so get yer hand in them deep pockets :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pin Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 In summer I have seen them scare far more than they attract, I am one of those who needs to see something with his own eyes before I buy the required toys - can't get much more graphic than this illustration :blink: What you on about deep pockets anyway :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 So that's where all of my birds were over the weekend, scoffing your maize..!! Well done boys, and Pin, invest in a rotary, they really do pull 'em in. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al4x Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 For a change we've got bucket loads arround us near Hitchin, there was banging all weekend on the rape near us (so to speak) Sadly not a bit I've got permission on but they've been hitting it hard for a couple of weeks now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Stalker Posted February 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Thanks for the replys guys Just to highlight further the importance of the magnet this day, my small 17amp battery died half way through the day & the lack of interest from the pigeon was immediate, Pm went & got a spare car battery I keep in the Landy, we connected it back up & before I could get back into the hide they were coming in to the deeks again :blink: I think I can say we've got another convert to the magic of decoying our little grey friends, Pigeonmagnet had a great day & he pulled off some great shots I didn't do too bad either with a couple of nice doubles I had a count up of the carts fired & there was 238 spent shells gathered at the end of the day :blink: SS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmer Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Good to see someones having sport, I've noticed a couple of patched of brashed Game cover with loads of rooks/jackdaws and pigeons on :blink: but I haven't got permission on the shoot and aint got a clue who's it is Thats the trouble being sat in a lorry all day and covering miles of road you get to see places that would be great shooting but can hardly just "Pull Up" on the side of the road with a 32 tonne 8 wheeler tipper can you :blink: Well done Lads Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pin Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 I had a count up of the carts fired & there was 238 spent shells gathered at the end of the day :blink: Although my fault for not having a magnet, they were my carts too What a day I had listening to them two banging away :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poacher Posted February 26, 2007 Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Top read their SS :blink: Howcome you didn't put the rotary out straight away :blink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stealth Stalker Posted February 26, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2007 Top read their SS :blink: Howcome you didn't put the rotary out straight away The 12 woodies I took out of the freezer the day before were still somewhat stiff :blink: Although saying that I still like to give them a chance to come in without the rotary going. On winter rape though its a must SS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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