marsh man Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 After yet more heavy rain this morning and not wanting to get soaked on the barley I decided to give shooting a miss today , well just after dinner it started to dry out a bit so having nothing else to do I thought I would go and have a look at some wheat fields I go on . Driving down the lane I could see several spread out along the telegraph wires with some joining and some leaving every few minutes , getting my bins out I couldn't see any laid but somehow or other they were landing on the heads of the wheat and while flapping were eating the grain at the same time. Looking at the barley on the way home there were next to nothing on there now the heads are leaning over and cant be that far off from being combined. Areas might be different , but I would say wheat will soon be the number one choice for grain now the grain on the barley is getting ripe. so next week I will put the extending arms on the magnet , get some canes to put the shell decoys on and see if I can get the first ones on this year wheat ............ weather permitting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 I had a phone call at lunchtime today from a Farmer, he told of telephone lines over a standing wheat field covered with pigeons, all dropping into the tractor tracks. I don't normally shoot weekends, but I got there about 1.30 and just sat in a hedge catching them as they went into the field. He called me at about 3 and said its a good job I had given the field a miss, as there hadn't been any birds on the wires all afternoon. I had to tell him I was on the field and had shot 23 and I was the reason there was no birds on the wires. He couldn't see my truck and as I was using the 20ga Hushie, he hadn't heard any shots, but he was a very happy Farmer. I finished up around 5 with 41 pigeons and a couple of rooks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 Well done cranfield a happy farmer and a respectable bag over a standing crop. Good luck marsh man, your crops are slightly ahead of ours, pigeons are only just starting to leave the peas and head for milky barley. Always amazes me how pigeons can hover and feed in standing wheat, almost resting on the crop! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dbw1shrops Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 Yep here in Shropshire was driving to my local curry house (bridgnorth) seen a lot of pigeons on one field in Sutton Maddock dropping into the tram lines on standing wheat right next to an A road.I think the barley harvest will start here anytime in the next week or so weather permitting and birds are definitely focusing there attention on the wheat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkfanz Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 hello mm i have the same problem on oats the pigeon are all over it just lying on top with the occasional flap the ones ive shot are stuffed with oats,i know some on here say they dont do any good on oats but this field it dont matter whats in it,oats barley or wheat it still gets a pasting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 I do like that kind of shooting . Sitting in the hedge row and snap shooting them as they drop into the field . Well done ,sounds as if you had a good outing . Harnser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belly47 Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 We witnessed the same thing on wheat last weekend. Managed to bag a few using only the magnet. Most that were shot headed for the magnet then flared off along the edge of the cover crops and tree line where we we were positioned making them easy to retrieve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted July 9, 2016 Report Share Posted July 9, 2016 Pigeons seem more interested in wheat than barley in my area just now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted July 10, 2016 Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 I am seeing numbers starting to build on barley at the back of my house , unfortunately there are no laid areas big enough to shoot at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted July 10, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 After all the heavy rain we have had just lately the wheat is standing up to it pretty well , so is laid wheat a thing of the past ? , when I was younger and more nimble I could kneel in the tramlines that were still standing and shoot over laid areas as flat as concrete , then moving on a bit, some fields got laid, but more got knocked about rather than laid flat , now yesterday I looked at 100s of acres of wheat and never saw any sizeable patches flat , I know that most of the variety we grow around here is the shorter and thicker stem strain , whereas in some areas they might still be growing the longer stem one so seeing some large patches to shoot over might still be possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FalconFN Posted July 10, 2016 Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 Nothing touching barley on my permissions, even though there are some bare and laid patches. I spent a couple of hours on Friday with little sucess, but then on the way back I saw hundreds in trees next to some apparently green wheat. I had a look at the bottom end of the field and the wheat was much further on and had large laid areas. I had no time but sat under the trees (no decoys) and picked off a handful as they returned. I know where I'll set up next week now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted July 10, 2016 Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 After all the heavy rain we have had just lately the wheat is standing up to it pretty well , so is laid wheat a thing of the past ? , when I was younger and more nimble I could kneel in the tramlines that were still standing and shoot over laid areas as flat as concrete , then moving on a bit, some fields got laid, but more got knocked about rather than laid flat , now yesterday I looked at 100s of acres of wheat and never saw any sizeable patches flat , I know that most of the variety we grow around here is the shorter and thicker stem strain , whereas in some areas they might still be growing the longer stem one so seeing some large patches to shoot over might still be possible. Depends if they can get onto the field to spray and how much growth inhibiter they spray it with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenholland Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 my guy said barley is just two weeks away saw a load on some rough grass after the seed heads and a few along the spud rows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootnfish Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 Been seeing them dropping into wheat fields the last couple of weeks. Not laid wheat either they just land on it let their weight take it down so they can eat it. Me and my mate shot 84 in a couple of hours a few years ago on standing wheat. We just put the magnet out and nothing else it was easy shooting as nearly all of them were shot fluttering or more or less hovering over or very near the magnet so it was easy to pick them up. Another field I shot a good amount on that was quite short but pretty dense the pigeons had managed to make little areas to sit and feed on like they do peas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numpty Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 Dropped of some home smoked trout to my farmers tonight and one said to ensure I was going to be about in a couple of weeks time as they will be swathing their OSR. Birds around here on the wheat but not in any numbers, but a chum of mine shot 66 on laid wheat Sat just gone so worth keeping the eyes open. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyska Posted July 11, 2016 Report Share Posted July 11, 2016 Pigeons seem more interested in wheat than barley in my area just now. Always here, but no interest in beans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yod dropper Posted July 12, 2016 Report Share Posted July 12, 2016 I just hope they've still got the appetite for rape seed, I could do with a little sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted July 15, 2016 Report Share Posted July 15, 2016 I just hope they've still got the appetite for rape seed, I could do with a little sport. Not long now Ian . Andrew will be spraying off the rape any time now . Harvest should follow weather permitting about 10 days after . Harnser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 I've seen more activity on wheat in the past couple of days.So will be looking at the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted July 16, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 I've seen more activity on wheat in the past couple of days.So will be looking at the weekend. Good luck for the weekend P C , and will be looking forward to the report that normally follow your days pigeon shooting . After the thunderstorms we had earlier in the week we have now got huge areas of Spring barley that have gone down , so with the Peas due to come off Monday and the Wheat and Spring barley showing promising we are not short of places to go but finding enough to go for is the hard bit , although we cant moan as there are a lot of pigeon shooters worse off than us . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted July 16, 2016 Report Share Posted July 16, 2016 i have a lot of barley and wheat gone down, but in the day time no pigeons, in the evening loads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilts#Dave Posted July 17, 2016 Report Share Posted July 17, 2016 Still lots on barley here, more so than wheat at the moment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pull2007 Posted July 23, 2016 Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 couple of barley fields cut and bailed lot of laid patches on other areas had a couple of outings this week not much about odd 3 and 4 here and there dont seem interested in barley bring on the wheat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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