ShropshireSam Posted March 1, 2017 Report Share Posted March 1, 2017 Desperate to get in a days decoying on Saturday as a good wind, even though I knew they were unlikely to decoy. Found a field of rape pigeons were hitting hard, and have been on and off for a few weeks. Problem is there are 3 fields close together without gas guns on and when disturbed they move to a wood then onto another field. With a good wind I hoped the flocks may break up a bit and get some shooting. I moved birds off the field (about 300) and neighbouring wood (about 500), set up with lofters in small hawthorn tree, a magnet and 12 half-shells in front and hide underneath tree and a strong cross wind. Pigeons returned to the wood in steady stream but not interested in decoys and headed for next wood/rape field .... I could see them dropping into the rape in the distance ... as could any pigeon nearby. Only had the odd bird decoy ... shot 2 from 4 shots. Would have had more shooting in the wood. Packed up and went home. Returned in the afternoon. Moved birds from far field and wood, then moved birds from narrow strip of wood previously had watched them flight over in the morning. Stood and waited for them to return and had some shooting for about an hour then dried up ..... 11 birds shot. Then headed to a roost wood, went right to end were birds came in against the wind. Had only steady traffic apart form a flock of over 300 passing over high. Had my best roost shooting this season with a good wind and 12 birds for 24 shots. Certainly seem to shoot best when I don't have time to think. Had one bird drop about 40 yards behind me. When I packed up and looked for it a buzzard had already found it, eaten all the innards and not touched the breast meat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 3, 2017 Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 Good descriptive report, could you not use rope bangers to keep them on the move and over your pattern. I find that cutting them down to work for a couple of hours is enough to disturb them and keep them flying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireSam Posted March 3, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2017 I have used rope bangers before to good effect on good windy days but currently expect this big flock will just keep moving on until they find an undisturbed rape field. Tomorrow I will return to same wood with a flapper on top of a lofting pole on top of a ivy covered tree. Hope this will pull in a few more birds. May put a few banger ropes out on the rape fields - its a pain as a big detour to drive round all 3 fields due to locked gates and soft ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireSam Posted March 6, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 6, 2017 Busy on Saturday until after lunch. Had a quick reccy, furthest rape field had a gas gun in place and wood I planned to shot was full of pigeons. Moved them off and set up with a ff5 flapper taped to the top of my lofting poles. This wood has a lot of ivy covered trees and many of them are practically just tall tree trunks covered in ivy. Choose a smaller one of these in an opening. Tree was low enough to get a lofter to the top. Positioned the flapper at the top of ivy covered tree and set up a simple screen hide at about 7 0'clock and 15 yards to the flapper. This gave the best view of incomers. Set up by 2 pm and had stop start traffic for 3 hours with a good wind and the odd shower. The flapper worked well with many birds pulled towards it, a few then continued up the wood but in range, a few headed for neighboring trees and a couple decoyed straight to the flapper. All made for a good variety of shots. Had a quiet spell about 5 pm when the wind dropped and then had some birds come into roost. Finished with 24 birds picked. First time I have tried a flapper on lofting poles. Wired up 10 m of wire extension to keep battery on the floor. With the weight need to carefully extend the poles whilst using tree for support. To give the extra height I needed I taped the bottom pole to a big length of hazel I pushed into the ground as an extra extension. Certainly think this worthwhile for some winter sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 Well done, I use lofters in the winter to draw birds but have never used a flapper. DB has used them in the past with a manual flapper to good effect. This is a good lightweight solution just a flapper or lofter no magnet and place shot birds round the base of the sitty tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salop Matt Posted March 7, 2017 Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 Sam are you shooting in the Crackly bank, Sheriffhales area ? Most Saturdays someone is having a good few shots in this area Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShropshireSam Posted March 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2017 Sam are you shooting in the Crackly bank, Sheriffhales area ? Most Saturdays someone is having a good few shots in this area Not me mate....all my permissions are around Edgmond. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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