Never Goes To Plan

[pigeon controller]

On Wednesday I had a call to go and shoot some crows on a sparsely drilled barley field , I told the farmer that I would look at it on Friday. So we set out yesterday at 10.30 and drove to the field but the farm next door had cut some silage and all the crovids were on his fields so we left only to meet the farmer in the lane who asked us to shoot it Saturday which we agreed. We continued on our travels looking for downed barley and not finding any we drove to the farm who put us off shooting his clover last week. It had zero birds on the clover but had a good flightline to the top of a hill on his barley. We could not see the downed area from the farm so we walked up to the top of the bank and spooked at least eighty birds out of a hole ten yards by twenty yards right on the edge of the field So we set up in the hedge approx thirty yards away from the hole which was in the shadow of an Oak tree. The plan was to shoot them as they came over the hole or to the tree. the first birds in came straight to the magnet in the hole , it was 14.00 and the frustration was that you would pick up on a bird but had to wait till it was in the kill zone so we could pick it up. Most of the birds coming in would have been shot two or three times before they entered the kill zone. We shot till 18.00 and picked up sixty one birds and lost approx five birds that we could not find.

 

I had a call in the morning from DB saying that we had a rush order that they had phoned him for last night and they offered to pay a premium if he could get them processed today. So he agreed to work and that I would set up and he would join me later on. As I drove down to the barley field the corvids were all down one end, So I set up with two decoys we had shot the day before as we left the field . The first two in were shot this had the effect to lift the whole flock and move them out of the field, thirty minutes later one returned. Now when I go crow shooting I leave all my pigeon equipment at home as the temptation is to do both badly. While I was waiting for the crows to return I had a pigeon flightline start over wood directly in front of me so I shot two birds and put them to the right of the hide with the corvids to the left. So I had no magnet , flying frames only spikes . So the pigeons had to be put out on spikes and that was it .

I also had a request for 150 birds in the week so that was putting me under pressure. I shot till 18.30 and picked up fiftyfive pigeon and twentyeight corvids. DB popped down for approx two hours with his new dog to try him out and he managed his first retrieve but he is only nine months old so it was just to get him use to the hide and the gun.

 

Edited July 10, 2016 by pigeon controller

[yickdaz]

2 good sessions and looks like the birds are on the barley round your way now, we are out tomorrow on barley good flightlines going into a few fields so we will see how we get on

Edited July 9, 2016 by yickdaz

[motty]

Never goes to plan? What would happen if you ever got it right?

[ditchman]

well done PC...............that barley certainly has gone down......we have got any areas like that yet...just small pockets,,,,,,,

[aga man]

Well done PC, the barley in the second photo looks almost ready for harvest.

[pigeon controller]

Well done PC, the barley in the second photo looks almost ready for harvest.

Yes , I always taste the crop and it's pretty hard and we did see birds dropping on the wheat .

[stugarford]

Another decent couple of bags P C

[Wilts#Dave]

Not a bad plan if you ask me, great couple of days out!!

[kippylawkid]

Yes when you've put a bit of time in and learn the game, your plans might come together!

Another 2 days that most of us on here would take in a heartbeat.