Herringn Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 Hi All, Had a call from the Farmer this week to say that he is cutting the cover crops from the small syndicate he has on his farm this week. Has anyone had much sucsess shooting freshly cut cover crops, any suggestions on how long I should wait before I head on down, I am guessing a day or two? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatcatsplat Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 Depends what's in the area I guess - If they have nothing else to eat they'll be on it straight away, or given some choice a day or two's wait might come in handy - Keep an eye on it (or ask the farmer to) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 It depends on what the cover crops are. If they are maize give the pigeons a week to find the bounty then go and watch. It could be good unless someone gets there before you but there is no point in rushing matters until pigeons get on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herringn Posted February 15, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 Thanks for the advice, there is some rape near by which is getting hit quite hard from what I hear, but not a lot else about. I havent got permission on the rape though, which is a shame. Ive not shot over cut cover crops before so not sure if its worth setting up for, only the drillings on this farm with mixed sucsess, although i have seem some large flocks in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 Thanks for the advice, there is some rape near by which is getting hit quite hard from what I hear, but not a lot else about. I havent got permission on the rape though, which is a shame. Ive not shot over cut cover crops before so not sure if its worth setting up for, (Don't setup in hope) only the drillings on this farm with mixed sucsess, although i have seem some large flocks in the area. Like JDog said it depends on what it is but as with any other crop and pigeons you will never know when and if they will hit it, you have just got to go and look as often as possible and hope for the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireSam Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 Never had much luck with cover crops on the two permissions that have them. Usually poor yielding maize strips and usually devoid of any maize grains by the time they are cut back. A few years ago one farmer left a large patch of maize in the middle of the field as a cover crop. Once the season was over he mowed it down and left me two small patches I could put hides in (very kind of him). The ground was covered in maize grains ... I watched for weeks and had a slow build up of crows but the pigeons never found it in any numbers. Shot about 50 crows and 10 pigeons on the best day. I have seen other maize cover crops elsewhere get hammered by pigeons at this time of year .... so I think they need to learn its a good food source, and then they recognise it in the future. Any situation like this is always worth a reccy, even if just to show an interest to the farmer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilts#Dave Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 There is a large estate near me and some of it borders one of our permissions, they have whole fields of maize as game cover that attract large numbers or pigeons and corvids every year after the season even before being chopped up.....as they are such large blocks, cobs of maize are still available to the pigeons etc but sadly there's no chance of shooting on it. The keepers never bother either but you could certainly make a bag on it! Small strips on farm shoots tend to have no cobs of maize left by now so not as likely to attract decent numbers.....keep an eye on it is the only answer and if it's drawing any sort of number of corvids/pigeons then indeed set up and give it a go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konnie Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 If it's maize, it needs to be the first or last flailed in the area, around here you get good shooting on it but best is if it's like I said. A friend flails his one patch at a time to get best results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 I had a call from a Landowner ten days ago saying that his men would be chopping up his maize covers that day. After two days I returned and there were no birds on any of them, the same after a week, yesterday there were quite a few birds on the largest patch and today at midday there were 400 on the same patch. It goes to show that you have to watch every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 cutting cover crops.........................if the birds have a mind to ...they treat it like crac cocaine.............having said that they have cut the cover crops at strumpshaw 5 days ago ...and i have yet to see a bird... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunny_blaster Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 There's a few lads on the pigeon shooting pages on Facebook who seem to be shooting some decent bags over cover crops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williegunn88 Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 I have the pigeon shooting on the farm next to the estate I work on, and last year when the cover crop strips were cut I had two tremendous days over decoys. The birds seemed to hit it very hard indeed for those two days but then it just went dead. They were on it almost immediately after cutting too. I was dropping some venison off at the farmer's earlier this evening and he told me they have just cut the crops today...I hope the birds can wait until Saturday before they start thumping it, if they start thumping it. Been some big flocks around the estate the past couple of weeks, but not 'pin downable' so hopefully this will give them something to focus on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted February 15, 2017 Report Share Posted February 15, 2017 I bet that thousands of pigeons are being shot countrywide on maize covers at the moment. The ones that I can shoot on are covered in corn, yet I haven't had a proper go on them yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butchdickason Posted February 16, 2017 Report Share Posted February 16, 2017 I plan to shoot one of the maize cover crops tomorrow, there has been plenty of pigeon and crows on it all week, but with my luck there will not be a lot about tomorrow. Will post results in the evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butchdickason Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Set up by 9, tracrtor and muck trailer arrived a9.15, home for 9.30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kippylawkid Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Sorry, but you made me chuckle there. Keep at it, god loves a trier and all that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oowee Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 I had a good day last week with crows and rooks on a strip of maize. They couldn't keep away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Set up by 9, tracrtor and muck trailer arrived a9.15, home for 9.30. A shame for you. Maize is a very hungry crop and needs lots of muck on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Set up by 9, tracrtor and muck trailer arrived a9.15, home for 9.30. you had a good day then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Set up by 9, tracrtor and muck trailer arrived a9.15, home for 9.30. So how many did you shoot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted February 17, 2017 Report Share Posted February 17, 2017 Set up by 9, tracrtor and muck trailer arrived a9.15, home for 9.30. it maybe poo to you ...but it is his bread and butter...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted February 20, 2017 Report Share Posted February 20, 2017 I haven't had any success worth shouting about, yet, but I saw a colossal amount of pigeons on the farm I was shooting on Saturday. They simply have too much choice at the moment. I drove around the farm before I left on Saturday and put at least 5000 off of one cover strip. I'm just biding my time...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 20, 2017 Report Share Posted February 20, 2017 I haven't had any success worth shouting about, yet, but I saw a colossal amount of pigeons on the farm I was shooting on Saturday. They simply have too much choice at the moment. I drove around the farm before I left on Saturday and put at least 5000 off of one cover strip. I'm just biding my time...... How many? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted February 20, 2017 Report Share Posted February 20, 2017 How many? 5000. I was surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 20, 2017 Report Share Posted February 20, 2017 Muncher will be getting a call then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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