marsh man Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Today I went on one of our last rape stubbles that hadn't been cultivated , the field had been cut for five days and in that time a nice lot of pigeons had found it . With the nights pulling in now you would be lucky to get much shooting now after 6pm , so today I went just after one pm ,when I got there I suppose there were 2 to 250 on the wires and scattered around the stubble. I didn't bother to put any decoys on cradles as the stalks were strong enough to put my full body flexi coys on top and with a magnet 25yds in front and a bouncer well out to catch what little wind was about I was ready for any action to come my way. Lately I have been shooting well to start off with and then as the day wear on I begin to loose a bit of concentration and then go back to normal , today I got the first 8 or 9 that came in and then missed a easy one , but there you go , you cant hit them all. I was getting around 15 a hour but I was letting a lot of young ones live to fit another day as some of them were very young and by leaving them until there bigger and wiser they might come and give me a look on another day . I tried to lay them out nice and neat and as you can see that isn't one of my strong points and how P C lay his big bags out without a feather out of place I will never know. Around five o clock it started to rain so I gave it another half a hour and then called it a day as I had a few to pick up behind me . I picked up 61 and if I had shot all the young uns I could have added another 10 or a dozen on to the bag. Another good afternoon and look like a good year for the amount of young pigeons I saw today . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Nice bag marsh man There could be something in what you say about a bumper year! We seem to have a decent number of young birds about at the minute, and still birds mating and carrying nest material about. No doubt a good few birds sat broody too. September/october could see some big bags i reckon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 A nice result. I would have shot the youngsters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted August 11, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Nice bag marsh man There could be something in what you say about a bumper year! We seem to have a decent number of young birds about at the minute, and still birds mating and carrying nest material about. No doubt a good few birds sat broody too. September/october could see some big bags i reckon. I did see a pigeon this morning taking a small twig up to a tree , but I think its been proven they nest all the year round , although I do get the odd young one from late May onwards , it always seem I get the most on rape stubbles around the last week of July to the end of August . A nice result. I would have shot the youngsters. No law against shooting young ones and if your happy shooting them , you carry on shooting em , If they present themselves with a sporting shot then I will have a go, but as you well know a lot of the very small ones are not really street wise and not worth the powder and shot . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 An interesting post as normal and a good afternoon out. With the rape stubble that long your dog may have cut itself on it's belly. I would check this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Lots of young pigeon around here. They have had a good summer. One cock bird in my garden coos his head off, randy little..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Well done marsh man , a good report of a decent days sport . I really dont know why so many farmers leave the rape stalks so high these days , no dout there is a reason though . We shot a handful of young birds yesterday but I expect to start seeing many more in the next couple of months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted August 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 An interesting post as normal and a good afternoon out. With the rape stubble that long your dog may have cut itself on it's belly. I would check this morning. Thanks for the advice , most of the stubble was level with his back and I have just checked and he has got away with it unscathed Well done marsh man , a good report of a decent days sport . I really dont know why so many farmers leave the rape stalks so high these days , no dout there is a reason though . We shot a handful of young birds yesterday but I expect to start seeing many more in the next couple of months. Thanks fenboy , ... Maybe if they just cut the tops where the pods on they can combine that much quicker as there are less stalks going though the combine. Only a guess though , maybe one of our farming friends will give us the answer . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neilwoody Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 I shot a bag of 66 in Widnes Cheshire saturday and I found that the first dozen or so were this years young and as the day went on it seemed that the more mature birds then started to decoy nicely.its the first time really that I've noticed how many young are about so it's looking like its a bumper breed this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveyg Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Nice write up and some good sport..nice one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woody walloper Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 was told that the stalks wears the metal out on the combine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Foolishly, last Monday I wore shorts and cut my legs up in rape stubble, looked like I'd received a thousand lashes from the knees down. An interesting post as normal and a good afternoon out.With the rape stubble that long your dog may have cut itself on it's belly. I would check this morning. A nice write up J. Good see George still hard at it. How is the pup? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Foolishly, last Monday I wore shorts and cut my legs up in rape stubble, looked like I'd received a thousand lashes from the knees down. Yes I have done that before , only the once though ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Yean it'll be my first and last time. Yes I have done that before , only the once though ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted August 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 was told that the stalks wears the metal out on the combine. You might well be right W W , I also wonder if it is anything to do with satellite programing to cut it as efficient as possible , just another guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 You might well be right W W , I also wonder if it is anything to do with satellite programing to cut it as efficient as possible , just another guess. It is mostly to do with the speed of the combine. The header needs to take in as little stalk as possible so that it can achieve maximum speed and therefore maximum efficiency. If the combine had to deal with all of those long stalks and mash them up properly it's forward speed would be reduced. Much better to harvest the rape seed efficiently and bring in a tractor and a mower to cut the stalks down afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted August 12, 2015 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Foolishly, last Monday I wore shorts and cut my legs up in rape stubble, looked like I'd received a thousand lashes from the knees down. A nice write up J. Good see George still hard at it. How is the pup? Just put it down to learning by your mistakes Paul , did your g f rub some baby oil over the painful bits , if so it was a mistake worth making Yes the pup is coming on nicely , he is now just over four months old , and apart from when I take my gun he spend the rest of the time with me , hes seen enough pigeons in the shed and hopefully this time next year he will be bringing some back to put in there . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Penelope Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Sadly, no. She just laughed. Just put it down to learning by your mistakes Paul , did your g f rub some baby oil over the painful bits , if so it was a mistake worth making Yes the pup is coming on nicely , he is now just over four months old , and apart from when I take my gun he spend the rest of the time with me , hes seen enough pigeons in the shed and hopefully this time next year he will be bringing some back to put in there . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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