At Last A Dry Day

[marsh man]

This past week must have been one of the few weeks I haven't took my gun out since the end of last season , we have had the odd dry day this week but the day I planed to go it was either dull or raining and to be on the marsh shooting pigeons in the rain is something I no longer care for .

 

Today got better as the morning wore on and by dinner time it was game on for a afternoon decoying , one drawback was the track I normally drive down was water logged so I had to cut my gear down to a minimum and walk ,

 

I took two dead pigeons , magnet and small battery , poles , fold up seat see through net , 10 shell pigeon decoys , 2-1/2 boxes of cartridges and my flask ( didn't take the dog any water as there was plenty in the tram lines ) , I had three fields in a line and by going on the last one I could keep them on the move by having the wind on my back and gunfire will do the rest .

 

Setting up didn't take long , although I felt a bit exposed sitting behind a see through net but after putting a few reeds in the mesh I was all ready for the first pigeon which as it turned out came nicely in within a minute of sitting down and after the first shot that is where it stayed , dead on the stubble , for the next ten minutes or so pigeons were all over the place and the half box of shells didn't last long and the next box was used just after a hour of being there .

 

Unlike Mr JDogs pigeons if there is such a thing as easy pigeons then these were it , when I was on my last box I started to get a bit choosey as there were a lot of young one coming in and enough old ones to let the youngsters live another day , then after being there for just over 2-1/2hrs I fired my last cartridge , and before you say school boy error, I look at it if you fire 60 odd shells in a afternoon you have had more than enough sport ,

 

Packing up and collecting the pigeons ( picked up 48 ) there was no way I could lug that amount back in one go , so I put 25 in a sack and took most of my gear back home with the old dog , had a cup of tea and then took my young dog back to pick the rest up , back home about a hour later , laid the pigeons out to cool off , fed the dogs and then sat ( or dropped ) down for my tea .

[fenboy]

Sounds like a good afternoon to me marsh man , I am pleased the wildfowling season is here as I have not shot any pigeon for a while , they still seem to be spread thinly over a lot of different fields and no field in particular looks inviting enough to set up.

[JDog]

A great afternoon.

 

Your picture painting is wonderful.

[aga man]

Sounds like the perfect afternoon, nice write up marsh man.

[marsh man]

Sounds like a good afternoon to me marsh man , I am pleased the wildfowling season is here as I have not shot any pigeon for a while , they still seem to be spread thinly over a lot of different fields and no field in particular looks inviting enough to set up.

I had the same problem fenboy , a lot of wheat and rape stubbles all about at the same time , but having said that there were enough pigeons to set up on certain fields as you know, you always get some that shoot better than others

 

The wheat stubble I was on today was one of a block of six fields , they started cutting about a week to ten days ago , after the first field was cut the tractors moved on to prepare it for next years rape , time they had cut the six fields , three had been ploughed , flattened out , drilled with rape and rolled.

 

At the moment all the farm boys where I go are taking spuds up, so the three wheat stubbles are being left alone for the time being but when there gone that will more or less be it as far as pigeons go, and it will then be the time to change from pigeon mode to wildfowling

 

Thanks Mr JDog and aga man

[pigeon controller]

What great report of a measured days shooting , light gear , enough cartridges to give you a good return and a relaxed walk in the country .

[Penelope]

A nice read J. Well done on what was a good afternoon.