pbs

[cocknee]

I think nearly all my big days have been on bean stubble apart from a 225 on standing peas and a 217 on rape stubble.

[muncher]

302 with my brother and 201 on my own I have shared several bags 250 plus with my brother he keeps a diary but I do not bother as I'm too lazy.

[marsh man]

Would I be wrong in thinking that most of the big bags above were made well in the past rather than over the last few years .

 

Both me and my brother have had 200+ bags and one weekend three of us shot over 500 on Beans that had been planted with a broadcast spreader and I would have thought there were more Beans laying on the surface than what was put in below ground .

 

We also had big bags on spring drillings , Lucerne laid Wheat , Barley and Rye , Pea and Bean stubble and Rape when it first came down our way , now looking back it all seems light years ago , could we ( or I ) get those sort of bags again ? , I very much doubt it , I don't think I am physically fit enough to shoot big numbers then have a fair way to get them back to the motor , also I now only go for the afternoon and find the days when I get between 30 and 50 I have had more than enough sport and I am not really interested in spending all day just to shoot a big bag and with the amount of Rape grown at the moment pigeons have a lot more fields to go on rather than the odd field we had in there area , another reason is no seed left after the drill have done its job , shorter stem Wheat and Barley and farming in general being more efficient , the list goes on and on.

 

I am not saying it cant be done and I am sure there will be members saying they got there big bags within the last year or two or even the last few days but what I am saying is , I don't think us older shooters will ever see big bags shot on the crops and drillings like we have done in the past .

[JDog]

I am not bothered about shooting big bags. Twenty or thirty in a good wind would do me nicely. Of late I have taken out yet more novices and their company has been almost all I needed.

[ditchman]

I am not bothered about shooting big bags. Twenty or thirty in a good wind would do me nicely. Of late I have taken out yet more novices and their company has been almost all I needed.

 

 

dont make me laaarf

[widgeon man]

220 on my own. 366 shared, but it's not the numbers, 100 crackers beats 300 floppers!

[fenboy]

220 on my own. 366 shared, but it's not the numbers, 100 crackers beats 300 floppers!

 

222 shots ?

[cocknee]

220 on my own. 366 shared, but it's not the numbers, 100 crackers beats 300 floppers!

Totally agree and I think the last bag I had of over 200 was about 6 years ago and I haven't seen enough birds in this area since then to make that sort of bag.

[motty]

There are plenty of older shooters out there still shooting big bags of pigeons. Peter Theobald for one. I admit that quantity isn't everything. What makes my 340 day stand out for me is that around half of the birds didn't decoy. Numbers are quite important to me, though. I'm always on the lookout for that next 100 bird bag.

Would I be wrong in thinking that most of the big bags above were made well in the past rather than over the last few years .

 

Both me and my brother have had 200+ bags and one weekend three of us shot over 500 on Beans that had been planted with a broadcast spreader and I would have thought there were more Beans laying on the surface than what was put in below ground .

 

We also had big bags on spring drillings , Lucerne laid Wheat , Barley and Rye , Pea and Bean stubble and Rape when it first came down our way , now looking back it all seems light years ago , could we ( or I ) get those sort of bags again ? , I very much doubt it , I don't think I am physically fit enough to shoot big numbers then have a fair way to get them back to the motor , also I now only go for the afternoon and find the days when I get between 30 and 50 I have had more than enough sport and I am not really interested in spending all day just to shoot a big bag and with the amount of Rape grown at the moment pigeons have a lot more fields to go on rather than the odd field we had in there area , another reason is no seed left after the drill have done its job , shorter stem Wheat and Barley and farming in general being more efficient , the list goes on and on.

 

I am not saying it cant be done and I am sure there will be members saying they got there big bags within the last year or two or even the last few days but what I am saying is , I don't think us older shooters will ever see big bags shot on the crops and drillings like we have done in the past .

[marsh man]

There are plenty of older shooters out there still shooting big bags of pigeons. Peter Theobald for one. I admit that quantity isn't everything. What makes my 340 day stand out for me is that around half of the birds didn't decoy. Numbers are quite important to me, though. I'm always on the lookout for that next 100 bird bag

When I first started in the 60s my ambition was one day I will get the elusive 100 , my bags over a period of time got bigger and bigger then on a day out of the Blue on Peas I finally got the magic 100 ( or so I thought at the time ) then it was on 150 , which I got on laid barley , then after many years I got my first 200 on Pea stubble , at the time I daresay I enjoyed it .

 

Moving on several years , the last 100+ bag I got was on Wheat stubble and did I enjoy it ? the answer is NO I didn't and I knew the lust for shooting big bags was over and since then I have still shot a lot of pigeons but mainly smaller bags using a magnet which I think create more sport than static decoys . maybe one day you will think numbers are not that important .

[motty]

Don't get me wrong. I shot 34 yesterday and it was immensely enjoyable. I just wish the sport lasted a bit longer. I liken it to having a plate of your favourite food in front of you, only for you to have to leave half way through it.

When I first started in the 60s my ambition was one day I will get the elusive 100 , my bags over a period of time got bigger and bigger then on a day out of the Blue on Peas I finally got the magic 100 ( or so I thought at the time ) then it was on 150 , which I got on laid barley , then after many years I got my first 200 on Pea stubble , at the time I daresay I enjoyed it .

 

Moving on several years , the last 100+ bag I got was on Wheat stubble and did I enjoy it ? the answer is NO I didn't and I knew the lust for shooting big bags was over and since then I have still shot a lot of pigeons but mainly smaller bags using a magnet which I think create more sport than static decoys . maybe one day you will think numbers are not that important .

[Dr D]

When I first started in the 60s my ambition was one day I will get the elusive 100 , my bags over a period of time got bigger and bigger then on a day out of the Blue on Peas I finally got the magic 100 ( or so I thought at the time ) then it was on 150 , which I got on laid barley , then after many years I got my first 200 on Pea stubble , at the time I daresay I enjoyed it .

 

Moving on several years , the last 100+ bag I got was on Wheat stubble and did I enjoy it ? the answer is NO I didn't and I knew the lust for shooting big bags was over and since then I have still shot a lot of pigeons but mainly smaller bags using a magnet which I think create more sport than static decoys . maybe one day you will think numbers are not that important .

I really liked that post. I don't care much for the size of the bag. Give me a strong return flight line, wild wind and a high cartridge to kill ratio any day.

[JDog]

I really liked that post. I don't care much for the size of the bag. Give me a strong return flight line, wild wind and a high cartridge to kill ratio any day.

The perfect scenario, rarely encountered.

[pigeon controller]

I find that I'm split into two camps on this subject as I'm a big fan of memorable shots but over the years I've obtained lot of shoots through recommendation and that's based on the basis of " doing the business " i.e. Large bags. Which you will see decline over the next few months due to breeding , amount of food etc. If you want to go out and shoot thirty birds that's fine , if the farmer wants you there 24/7 that's fine also but you will not shoot your PB . My PB was a day they kept coming and we had to stop as we could not chill/freeze any more to put into the food chain safely . In angling a PB is an unknown as you can not see your quarry but you know it lurks in the water. Shooting PB is determined by your fieldcraft and the quantity of birds available and when you stop shooting.

[welshgun]

54 is my personal best to date but not bad though for a novice but yet to hit the big 100 bag wouldnt mind a crack at it though open to offers of any fellow pw members lol.

[old'un]

When I first started in the 60s my ambition was one day I will get the elusive 100 , my bags over a period of time got bigger and bigger then on a day out of the Blue on Peas I finally got the magic 100 ( or so I thought at the time ) then it was on 150 , which I got on laid barley , then after many years I got my first 200 on Pea stubble , at the time I daresay I enjoyed it .

 

Moving on several years , the last 100+ bag I got was on Wheat stubble and did I enjoy it ? the answer is NO I didn't and I knew the lust for shooting big bags was over and since then I have still shot a lot of pigeons but mainly smaller bags using a magnet which I think create more sport than static decoys . maybe one day you will think numbers are not that important .

Your shooting history rings very true, I also started shooting in the 60s, and have shot some very big bags over the years but once you hit your late 50s early 60s you have been there and done the big bags on pigeons and killed countless other animals you start to lose the desire to kill more than you need, apart from the fact it knackers you out shooting all day, mind you I did give the crows and rooks a bashing on some maze stubble back in Nov 2015 shot 123.

[kenholland]

107 on peas on my first day on new perm farmer was well chuffed .

[mel b3]

my biggest shared bag was 450 ish a few years ago , my best personal bag was 200 ish , i had a few 150 days last year with the best being 152 iirc.

 

one day that sticks in my mind was on the stubbles last year , after around two hours of shooting , i was on around 90 birds for 80 carts lol , it was a situation that id never found myself in before .

[JDog]

my biggest shared bag was 450 ish a few years ago , my best personal bag was 200 ish , i had a few 150 days last year with the best being 152 iirc.

 

one day that sticks in my mind was on the stubbles last year , after around two hours of shooting , i was on around 90 birds for 80 carts lol , it was a situation that id never found myself in before .

That would take some doing.

[widgeon man]

Fenboy my pb was 220 on peas to my own gun. Carts I don't know! I remember it well though as it was an invite and I had never shot near a 100 before! Last year I had a lot of fun sharing a hide with two friends for just over the 100, but banter, laughing and eye wiping made it!

[marsh man]

Your shooting history rings very true, I also started shooting in the 60s, and have shot some very big bags over the years but once you hit your late 50s early 60s you have been there and done the big bags on pigeons and killed countless other animals you start to lose the desire to kill more than you need, apart from the fact it knackers you out shooting all day, mind you I did give the crows and rooks a bashing on some maze stubble back in Nov 2015 shot 123.

Weather we like it or not Pigeon shooting tend to be a numbers game and for some reason being successful and how good you are can stem from how bigger bags you post , up to a point that might be correct , but surely how many pigeons you have got in your area must make a difference.

 

Take for example Norfolk in general , it might not be the best county for pigeon shooting but it certainly isn't the worse and at times we are blessed we large amounts of pigeons but like most counties, some years are better than others .

 

Now take a area that don't hold many pigeons , it must take just as much skill , if not more to go out and get a small bag of pigeons than it do with me ( or others ) to go get a big bag on stubble that is alive with pigeons.

 

When I got a 200+ day on pea stubble in the 80s the biggest problem I had was the gun barrels getting hot and I mean HOT , I got there around mid day and the tractor had been pulling it up in the morning and normally he would work till about 4pm on a Saturday but on this day he was packing up at dinner time . whilst having a little yarn with him pigeons were piling in from just about every angle , we said our good byes and off I went , in those days I never had a magnet , no magic decoy pattern just a dozen dead birds tipped out and chucked in different directions and where they landed that was where they were set up . pigeons started to come in as the gun was taken out of the sleeve and within minutes the first ones were in the bag , this carried on more or less non stop and I was getting through over 2 boxes a hour , I had been there for 4 hours when I had to stop for an hour to go and fill a diesel pump up with diesel that we had on the river to pump a flooded marsh we had at the time.

 

By then I had got through around 200 shells and would you believe when I got back about 6.30 the field had more pigeons on it then than when I had first started and to see them all you wouldn't have thought I had been shooting. I gave it another hour and then called it a day as I had a lot of picking up and had to go back to the farm to lay them out on the tractor shed floor as my shed at the time wasn't big enough to lay them out .

 

I dare say if somebody who could shoot and started early and shot all day would have doubled what I shot and might have topped the 500 , that is something we will never know .

 

Would I ever want to do again ? not so likely , if I could split them up so I had five 40+ days then that would be ideal .

[mel b3]

That would take some doing.

it was one of the busiest days shooting that ive ever had , they were almost all young birds and were just dropping in from every direction , quite a lot of birds were dropping in as i was reloading ,( ill happily shoot them on the deck) , several times i would shoot a bird on the deck and hit two or three hence the unusual kill to cart ratio.

hitting more than one bird isnt really that uncommon , doing it so many times in the space of a few hours was very unusual (to me) .

[fenboy]

Fenboy my pb was 220 on peas to my own gun. Carts I don't know! I remember it well though as it was an invite and I had never shot near a 100 before! Last year I had a lot of fun sharing a hide with two friends for just over the 100, but banter, laughing and eye wiping made it!

 

My PB is the same as yours Brad 220 shot on rape stubble almost 30 years ago now !

I would have shot more but had to lend a mate some cartridges who was shooting the opposite end of the same field , he shot 130 odd IIRC

 

I was using a local dealers own branded cartridges 30 gram 7s

 

Though I have had quite a few 100+ bags both before and since then I have never again come close to 200

 

By far my most enjoyable bag was 97 which I shot in 90 minutes ! it was one of those days when I shot like a demon and the birds came in as if on rails .

 

Like you though I enjoy a nice bad shared with a load of in hide banter and **** taking !

[stuy]

My best shared day was 401, and best alone was 250,270, in a space of a week the big 401 day I shot alone for the first our hour and shot easily over a 100 in that hour , and called a mate over to join me amazing day but tiring lugging birds back

[Wilts#Dave]

Biggest bag on my own in a hide, 194 on bean stubble. Oddly enough a friend had been pestering me to take him out for a day just to watch really so he must have been my lucky charm as I haven't had a day like it since...would have broke the 200 mark but I let him have a dozen shots or so and he missed every one!

Seem to get 100 plus bags at some point every year and have had quite a few days around the 150 mark but just never seem to have enough birds come long enough to make the 2/300 plus bags a lot seem to get.

As most probably have, the best days/opportunities seem to come when you can't get access to a particular field or someone else has got in first....that's pigeon shooting I guess.

Most satisfying day was last summer over barley stubble where I managed to shoot 97 with our mossberg hushpower .410 .