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deny essex
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Had a reccy of one of my small local farms after blanking at a cpl of hours fishing today.

The farm has 5 fields of rape, I have shot a cpl of the fields recently with very little to show for it but one field in particular is getting hammer'd in the middle of it and has to be the most awkward of them all to shoot , a strip field of 200 feet wide running alongside a road with a bungalow at one end, obviously I cannot shoot towards the road or from the roadside edge. The bungalow is no major problem to avoid

My options are a mid field hide facing into the farm fields facing away from the road at a legal distance from the road with a short decoy area, or setting up in an adjacent wheat field and try to draw them to dec's, rotary etc .The opposite end of the field is well away from the pigeons chosen area of feeding.

The farmer has been asking me but not pushing me to shoot it but I have been reluctant to do so but feel I had best give it a go , my thoughts are with the field setup,

I have set up in the middle of fields before with respectable success but hate feeling in an uncomfortable position and have the feeling this might be the case.

Old enough and ugly enough to have been shooting many years but asking for a little feedback from PW collective.

But then as well all know they will probably move to the next county after the 1st shot .

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I would have no issue with shooting the middle of the area getting all the attention.

Why can you not shoot the road side ?

Because it would be an illegal distance for discharge, the road , one small hedgerow and then field.

Hide would need to be near the centre of the field ,

OK 2 for the middle :)

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With regards to the suggested bale hide - best bird scarer there is. On one of my farms, the farmer very kindly put out a bale hide, exactly where I wanted it and where the birds wanted to be. Trouble is, now the birds won't go anywhere near it. I do sympathize with how impossible some fields tend to be as I have one of these and of course, these are always the fields favoured by the birds

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No worries about the hide, shot from the middle of fields many times , just the location near the road, limited decoy area and angle of shot.

As most of us like if we can preference is to shoot as far as possible from roads , houses, building , footpaths and people! but where the birds want to be.

This one is not a comfort zone area to shoot so looking for opinions, but in the end if I dont like it break sticks and move :)

 

Cheers

Denny

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With regards to the suggested bale hide - best bird scarer there is. On one of my farms, the farmer very kindly put out a bale hide, exactly where I wanted it and where the birds wanted to be. Trouble is, now the birds won't go anywhere near it. I do sympathize with how impossible some fields tend to be as I have one of these and of course, these are always the fields favoured by the birds

Fully agree, in fact any hide in the mddle of a field doesn't work on my Essex perms, but Essex is a big county. Any hide that a person can see, the birds can see better and avoid - except on the very rare days when suicide seems to be their flavour of the day (about once in my lifetime!!)

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Fully agree, in fact any hide in the mddle of a field doesn't work on my Essex perms, but Essex is a big county. Any hide that a person can see, the birds can see better and avoid - except on the very rare days when suicide seems to be their flavour of the day (about once in my lifetime!!)

 

Perhaps the pigeon in your part of Essex are super intelligent and just dumb in the rest of the country .

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Perhaps the pigeon in your part of Essex are super intelligent and just dumb in the rest of the country .

Over-shot I think, even a "dumb" pigeon can learn eventually. I was a little late getting to my intended field today and found 2 guys already setting up. The only cover in this field is a line of powerpoles and they set up under one of them. But, they made a nice comfortable 2-man hide!! Lots of netting to be seen. Although they were in the right place on a busy field, when I checked back 2 hours later, they were packing up without having fired a shot, the birds from the wood down the field were flock-stringing elsewhere, singing "Saw You!!".

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With regards to the suggested bale hide - best bird scarer there is. On one of my farms, the farmer very kindly put out a bale hide, exactly where I wanted it and where the birds wanted to be. Trouble is, now the birds won't go anywhere near it. I do sympathize with how impossible some fields tend to be as I have one of these and of course, these are always the fields favoured by the birds

Do you think the pigeons know why bales are put out in a field?

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no they don't is my answer

Watch http://www.theshootingshow.tv/ to see the type of hide you need to build in Essex. He does a great job of concealment, which WE have to do. Now all I need to do is get control of farming practise (cutting of maize cover etc) and maybe I'll get pigeons to return like he does. Two shots for me and they are gone elsewhere.

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ive been invited to shoot with a mate tomorrow farmers put a hide out and its surounded with pigeons allday aparently gas gun going dont bother them either

 

With regards to the suggested bale hide - best bird scarer there is. On one of my farms, the farmer very kindly put out a bale hide, exactly where I wanted it and where the birds wanted to be. Trouble is, now the birds won't go anywhere near it. I do sympathize with how impossible some fields tend to be as I have one of these and of course, these are always the fields favoured by the birds

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Watch http://www.theshootingshow.tv/ to see the type of hide you need to build in Essex. He does a great job of concealment, which WE have to do. Now all I need to do is get control of farming practise (cutting of maize cover etc) and maybe I'll get pigeons to return like he does. Two shots for me and they are gone elsewhere.

You don't need a hide anything like that in Essex.

I'm sure that Mr Garrod would have shot just as many that day with just a basic net set up against that hedge.

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And I also agree with him , I just do not buy into this super intelligent pigeon theory , a pigeon is a pigeon is a pigeon where ever it may be.

You will get plenty of opportunity's in even the most basic of hides if you are in the right place at the right time , if you are not in the right place at the right time even the most invisible of hides will be of no use.

 

Pigeon have a brain the size of a pea , ours is bigger and we just need to use it to outwit them !

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And I also agree with him , I just do not buy into this super intelligent pigeon theory , a pigeon is a pigeon is a pigeon where ever it may be.

You will get plenty of opportunity's in even the most basic of hides if you are in the right place at the right time , if you are not in the right place at the right time even the most invisible of hides will be of no use.

 

Pigeon have a brain the size of a pea , ours is bigger and we just need to use it to outwit them !

Yes, small individual brains but in flocks of 500 or more they seem to add up!! (Maybe it's the eyes but the result is the same - exit stage left!!)

Of course I agree that being in the wrong place won't work but when they have dozens of places to feed how do you guess which is right? It seems to be decided by a random initial choice, if it works (no one gets shot at), all pile in.

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Yes, small individual brains but in flocks of 500 or more they seem to add up!! (Maybe it's the eyes but the result is the same - exit stage left!!)

Of course I agree that being in the wrong place won't work but when they have dozens of places to feed how do you guess which is right? It seems to be decided by a random initial choice, if it works (no one gets shot at), all pile in.

 

Pigeons are difficult to shoot this time of year ( unless your PC ) they are flocked up and there is a abundance of rape for them to feed on , once they are disturbed then the chances are3 they are all going to depart in a flock to a field where they are left alone , while I say they are a dumb bird they are not that dumb that they will tolerate being shiot at if they can feed somewhere else and avoid it .

But for instance on things like brussels in heavy snow they become the only food source and then it is quite possible to shoot pigeon with no hide and following birds will still come in as their mates are dropping dead , because they have to be there , they have no choice, if they were so super intelligent they would learn to feed at night !

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