motty Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 I had been eagerly awaiting the start of harvest around here. It was only a matter of time before I had some stubbles to shoot on. A week ago I had a look at the first barley stubble that I have access to. It didn't warrant shooting, but a close eye needed to be kept on it. I know a chap that lives close by would probably be watching it, and while I had to beat him to it (if he had indeed spotted the opportunity) there was no point in me jumping the gun before decent numbers had built up. So, after already cancelling a few days leave due to the lack of good looking situations, I could wait no longer. The numbers using this particular field had risen to decent proportions, and I thought it was worth a go. I was sure where the main flight would come from, as I know the area quite well. My mate Sam was given the first refusal on an invite - he has hardly fired a gun all year. He was eager to have a shot, too, and so we were to meet up on Thursday morning. It was a bright and breezy day, and on arrival (9.30 am) there were a few birds around. I took a good 15-20 minutes to decide where to site the hide, given the wind direction, the likely lines of flight and the proximity of houses. The hide consisted of two round bales rolled together and some desert net in front. I had forgotten the dead birds for the magnet and this proved a problem early on. The birds weren't too intent on checking out my pattern of flocked full bodies and shell decoys. Most of the birds seemed to want to settle in the trees on the other side of the field. The first birds shot were a rook and a crow. I had contemplated standing under the trees to shoot our first two pigeons, but just before i was going to go, a couple of birds came in one after the other. The magnet was duly deployed, but still the birds went to those trees. No sooner had I made the trek over to the trees, than the pigeons started to fly over the road and head to the decoys. Sam had shot 5 before i decided to go back to the hide, with just 1 for my efforts. A second magnet was then put out. From then on, a regular steady trickle of birds visited. We experienced a few lulls, followed by a hectic five minutes. I was off form again, and i was annoyed at some of the birds i missed. Sam, however, shot pretty well. We got packed up by around 5.15 with 101 pigeons, 4 jackdaws, 3 crows and a rook in the bag. A video of the day will follow at some point. I didn't have a field lined up for today, but i knew where some more barley stubbles were which may result in some sport. What I'm really waiting for is some rape stubble to shoot. I reckon that all mine will be ready at roughly the same time, unfortunately. Back to today. I had a slab of the new Eley pigeon cartridges to pick up from my dad's house. His mate bought them for me as a thank you for taking him shooting earlier in the year. I asked my old man if he wanted to join me for a shot if i found anywhere worthwhile. He said he might. I quickly got to where the stubbles were and then i had to choose which one would give the best chance. I think i got it right. I managed to get set up and had already shot 3 pigeons before my dad turned up. The hide was in a shallow ditch in between two fields. The magnet was used from the start, today, and it was helping to bring them in well, just like on Thursday. I added dead birds as usual, but i also added a flapper and an angel, later. I shot far better today and the old chap enjoyed some good sport. There was a good mixture of easy decoying birds and testing overhead and crossing shots. I think we just about did ourselves justice. This session lasted about 4 hours and we shot 64 pigeons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 nice write up motty cheers boy ditch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 Good boy. A decent start to harvest time shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted July 25, 2015 Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 As you say two nice sessions on the stubbles , do your dad show you how to do it, or do you show your dad how it is done ? they didn't start cutting down here till Monday and then there were combines out every day up until Thursday and on most of them they baled up behind the combine , I had a day planned on mine with one of the members on Friday, and with heavy rain forecast from mid morning we had to cancel it ,as it turned out the rain arrived around dinner time and didn't stop till dinner time today and the farm where I went this afternoon recorded over 50mil. It was the first time the pigeons had been shot at for ages on this farm, as the crops were all standing this year with hardly no laid bits. One of the members was saying pigeons are getting shy of magnets well I put mine out dead in front with seven decoys on cradles either side and from the word go pigeons came in to it with no signs of being nervous , in fact the keeper came on his quad bike to see how I was doing and I shot three pigeons while I was having a yarn with him , we were nigh on in full view and they didn't look at us, only interested in the decoys . I had a nice bit of sport and picked up 52 , I had to walk them back to my car as the ground for my motor was to wet to drive on . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted July 25, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2015 As you say two nice sessions on the stubbles , do your dad show you how to do it, or do you show your dad how it is done ? they didn't start cutting down here till Monday and then there were combines out every day up until Thursday and on most of them they baled up behind the combine , I had a day planned on mine with one of the members on Friday, and with heavy rain forecast from mid morning we had to cancel it ,as it turned out the rain arrived around dinner time and didn't stop till dinner time today and the farm where I went this afternoon recorded over 50mil. It was the first time the pigeons had been shot at for ages on this farm, as the crops were all standing this year with hardly no laid bits. One of the members was saying pigeons are getting shy of magnets well I put mine out dead in front with seven decoys on cradles either side and from the word go pigeons came in to it with no signs of being nervous , in fact the keeper came on his quad bike to see how I was doing and I shot three pigeons while I was having a yarn with him , we were nigh on in full view and they didn't look at us, only interested in the decoys . I had a nice bit of sport and picked up 52 , I had to walk them back to my car as the ground for my motor was to wet to drive on . I have said it many times that I don't believe pigeons have 'got wise' to pigeon magnets. Sounds like you did well. The fields I drove on today were very wet and 4 wheel drive was used on a couple of occasions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty* Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Well done mate a nice couple of days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Great report and great result. You informed us of the frustration of forgetting the real birds but you adapted and solved the situation, well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 A good start to the harvest motty . Unfortunately my first foray onto the stubble courtesy of Muncher ended up with us getting thrashed by the weather , which was a shame as signs were promising of a few birds and from what few shots we had we both appeared to be shooting well. What did you think to the new Eley cartridges , a mate brought some and did not like them . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead eye alan Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Surprised at the school boy error of no dead birds for magnet, but ended up a good session. You cannot beat days out with dad the memories last forever and the banter is usually first class. Well done mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippylawkid Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 2 excellent trips. Not gimmee turn up and shoot jobs. I always gain more satisfaction from having to think and work for the bag. Still some time off harvesting on my perms in Northumberland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 A nice start and a great read, well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muncher Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Well done mate .😃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted July 26, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 A good start to the harvest motty . Unfortunately my first foray onto the stubble courtesy of Muncher ended up with us getting thrashed by the weather , which was a shame as signs were promising of a few birds and from what few shots we had we both appeared to be shooting well. What did you think to the new Eley cartridges , a mate brought some and did not like them . I gave them a fair trial and I thought they performed well. I crumpled up some good range birds. This was through the Xtrema and IM choke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 I gave them a fair trial and I thought they performed well. I crumpled up some good range birds. This was through the Xtrema and IM choke. I will perhaps try some but think I will mainly be shooting steel now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 A good start to the harvest motty . Unfortunately my first foray onto the stubble courtesy of Muncher ended up with us getting thrashed by the weather , which was a shame as signs were promising of a few birds and from what few shots we had we both appeared to be shooting well. What did you think to the new Eley cartridges , a mate brought some and did not like them . Did Muncher make you wear the hessian sack? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted July 26, 2015 Report Share Posted July 26, 2015 Did Muncher make you wear the hessian sack? No clearly he finds me more attractive than motty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 A nice report and some good shooting W. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 very nice sessions and a good vid in sporting videos, should start to get amongst them ourselves soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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