Decoying gear waste of money?

[Davyo]

Decoying gear is it worth it or are we just getting sucked in by those that sell it.After all when you watching that field initially with 100's of birds feeding there is no rotary,fapper or bouncer.Does buying all this tat just lead to nothing but frustration.Plenty of the top pigeon men dont use anything other than a few dead birds.

[bluesj]

I do think that a lot of the decoying equipment is designed to attract pigeon shooters more than pigeons.

I was given a pigeon magnet a few years ago, it helps a lot, I just put it in different field to where I'm shooting and it stops the birds going there!

[Walker570]

I use a plastic pigeon flapper(rotary) I made myself. Some days they will land alongside it and others swerve away, but I don't know if they just didn't like the whole set up. I use real birds and set them on some home made high tensile wire frames which rock nicely in a gentle wind. I tend not to buy stuff now, just make it myself. The flapper certainly works not so good these days with a magnet but twenty years ago pigeons committed suicide at them. Certainly can't beat real birds and I keep a dozen in a plastic tray in my freezer, use them a couple of times then change for some new ones. Problem this year has been finding the birds on the ground I shoot. But, it's better than working :-)

Edited September 4, 2016 by Walker570

[mossy835]

i just put shell decoys out with the uv sillosocks on them,they bring in the pigeons if there about,some times i put the magnet out and it works a lot of the time it dont,the magnet is in the van more times then its out,

[kyska]

fapper.

So true, I've found ******* in the middle of the field just puts them off

[motty]

I would say that many of the most well known pigeon shooters use some kind of decoying 'aid'. These are not always necessary, but sometimes they will help you get a bag where you may not otherwise have done.

[Fenny]

Well said motty

[shootingmachine]

its all on the day some days they will decoy with no whirly etc other days the magnet flapper etc makes a huge difference

[marsh man]

The only time I now use a magnet are on tall and laid crops and if its a big area I am shooting over , on the wheat stubbles I have relied on the dead ones I have started with and added to the pattern dead pigeons as they are shot .

 

What we try and do is to make the pattern look as realistic as possible to pigeons coming on that field to feed and I don't think pigeons going round in circles with the sun glinting off the arms and all the other contraptions used today is really necessary , but like Motty says , sometimes they will help you get a bag by using the aids and I would say , sometimes they stop you getting a bag by using them , we all know they attract the attention of passing pigeons but how many times do they come in now and take evasive action before they get in range

[masmiffy]

Yes the people who sell it see shooters coming.

Cant sat that any of the devices you can buy make results a cert, only certantity is need a truck and summat to carry all the weight (mostly batteries)!

 

I tend to use old stackable cardboard decoys and they do the job ok but as with any decoy the pigeons have to be feeding and interested in the field your on!

 

One think I do miss is my old Seamark (manual) flapper lent it out it never came back!!

Would love to track an original one down that someone no longer wants! If thats you message me please.

Edited September 4, 2016 by masmiffy

[Westley]

I have fitted a TV aerial on the back of my bungalow and it is pulling pigeons from all over the place, I know cos I am having to clean the carp of my window directly below it ! Do not know if it would work in the field though

[la bala]

I have fitted a TV aerial on the back of my bungalow and it is pulling pigeons from all over the place, I know cos I am having to clean the carp of my window directly below it ! Do not know if it would work in the field though

Market it, some punter will buy it

[Westley]

Market it, some punter will buy it

 

[masmiffy]

If i were you I would cover the aerial with cammo tape it would be a bit more saleable then

 

This idea is copyright and I retain this, any attempt at using without prior arrangement will result in legal action

[Davyo]

If i were you I would cover the aerial with cammo tape it would be a bit more saleable then

 

This idea is copyright and I retain this, any attempt at using without prior arrangement will result in legal action

Beat you to it, been doing it with satellite dishes that double up as a umberella ella ella.

[dougall]

in summer when decoying is easiest best bags have been with just dead birds/cradles.

when things are tougher rotary has made bags that would not have happened with nothing... cant beat right place right time 1st and foremost if no birds around can do whatever you want will be pointless.

[old'un]

we now have lots of shooters with the same setup and decoys laid out in text book fashion, it doesn't take them long to learn that if they see this pattern with two of their members spinning around in a tight circle then avoid it.

[Guest stevo]

we now have lots of shooters with the same setup and decoys laid out in text book fashion, it doesn't take them long to learn that if they see this pattern with two of their members spinning around in a tight circle then avoid it.

hahaha I've been saying this for years ..

[pigeon controller]

I've found that pigeon shooting has become the new Carp Fishing ie gizmos. We used to have two real birds on flyers, ten plastics to start. We would add real birds when shot and a complicated pulley system that would work four manual flappers which you used to attract birds off other flightlines and hold open as if they are landing when they are within range.

 

All the new bits give you confidence and magnets do increase the bag size on certain days.

[marsh man]

I am not sure how long magnets have been out now , possibly 20+ years ? , so people who have taken up the sport since then have known nothing different and using one is just there standard set up and tend to believe they will not get any shooting without one .

 

What I have noticed the last few weeks when I have left the magnet at home is , you don't alert the attention of passing pigeons a long way off by using a static set up with say one floater amongst your decoys but the ones that do commit come in with a lot more confidence than when a magnet is swirling round in circles .

 

Now we are hearing a lot on here by members is , no matter what we done they didn't decoy , we moved the magnet in , out and to either side and even moved the flapper , all I can say is , next time to go leave all that stuff at home and go back to basics and see if that is any better , to see how it work without all the mod cons have a look at Geoff Garrods video on here ( Good old Geoff ) and see the bag he made by starting off with one pigeon as his decoy set up , its really like going back in time.

[old'un]

Was out yesterday looking at a few fields of barley stubble that were still showing a few pigeons, strange but wheat stubble this year as not shown many birds, anyway not much doing so went to a field of beans that were cut last Friday, I've looked at this field twice this week and very little showing but today (Thursday) it looked a bit more promising with the odd bird or two flying around the field with low wing beats and then dropping into the trees, nothing was coming straight into the field, so I went and sat in the corner of the field and watched for a good hour, by 12:30 there were plenty of birds moving and some started dropping into the field, I decided where to setup and put my dead birds out on willow sticks and the magnet, there were lots of young birds about and they decoyed fairly easy but what I noticed were the adult birds would fly up the field and make a bee line for my decoys but when they were about 50 yards out they would slowly make a u-turn and head for trees at the far end of the field, this went on for a good hour, I have seen this many times and its usually late summer when birds have been shot at with the typical setup, they soon learn, so back to basics, took all the birds of the willow stick and put them on the ground and took the magnet in, I now had 15 dead birds laid out on the ground and nothing else, well for the next 4 hours birds were coming in like stones young and adult birds, I ended the day with 180, as Marsh Man says sometimes going back to basics work.

[marsh man]

Excellent bag and a very good write up old un , Bean stubble take some beating this time of the year, up until they break out in leaf and then I find the best is over . Well done and I hope your got a few more good days yet .

[pigeon controller]

Brilliant result, back to basics as you said . Great bag.

[cooooper1]

when i first started many moons ago i was told as long as i put the birds or decoys facing into the wind in a horse shoe or V shape pattern birds will decoy mmmmmmmmmm,

soon found out that`s not for me, every time i head out i`m armed with 10/15 dead birds,magnet,peckers,flappers and half dozen batteries only reason being nobody knows what the birds will need to get them to decoy on the day, my thinking better have it at hand than not,i always start with about 10 dead birds propped up and 3 mechanical peckers going in a random pattern with dead birds facing into the wind but the peckers side on and give it a hour to watch what the birds reactions are to this set up, if this doesn`t get them decoying then the magnets normally my next step,being wild animals one day they are suicidal next day they want come any where near you never mind what you try to do to decoy the little *******

Edited September 10, 2016 by cooooper1

[umney531]

Two flappers with real birds on can't go wrong