Time Marches On

[marsh man]

Now we are in Summer time we can now look back to see how Spring fared as far as pigeon shooting goes .

 

Overall the last few months has been pretty poor , drillings were a non event and so were the peas , well up to a couple of weeks ago that is , I have now had three 30 plus afternoons these last three weeks but with being able to leave the fields alone , ( within reason that is ) , and with the fields in a very good pigeon area in the past without bragging a 30+ afternoon on the peas would have been a run of the mill sort of day.

 

In a earlier post Motty predicted there would be big bags shot on peas towards the end of the month , well this hasn't happened around this part of Norfolk , up Mottys way things might be different although I haven't seen one post where a big bag of pigeons have been shot on peas these last few weeks and when did we see a individual last shoot a three figure bag on anything come to that.

 

Anyway , we have got a reasonable amount of pigeons around here and yes there will be some decent bags shot before long but with the barley started to get grain in the ears I dare say with a few heavy showers to lay a few patches, barley might be a better bet than the peas.

 

So have you been doing any better ??

[motty]

I have often said that June is THE month for pigeons on peas; well that's what my experience has told me. I may well just have a quick look back to see the dates for my best bags on peas. I had a couple of 100+ bags with Muncher in May (over rape) and with a little luck the next one isn't far away...

I agree that there will soon be pigeons enjoying a snack on barley. I will be keeping an eye on the winter sown fields that I can shoot.

Bare with me, I am going to have a look at my diaries.

[Cranfield]

In my area its been a poor Spring, the drilling amounted to nothing much , apart from some good bags of corvids on drilled beans, my largest bag of pigeons was 46 over drilled peas and after that day I never saw another pigeon on that field.

Most of the time I have been flightline shooting pigeons, or decoying corvids . Certainly keeping on the move and shooting up to five locations a day.

This has been par for the course over the last few years.

 

Hopefully the pre harvest time will be better for the pigeons.

[aga man]

It has been a bit tricky here of late but to be fair it has not been the best in terms of what crops are being sown. We had very few spring cereals sown and the farm that did sow i shot a ton, if i hadn't of gone away on holiday i could of shot a another off the same farm!

The peas here have only just been sown and there dosen't seem to be as much be sown as usual. I completely agree with motty that June is THE best month for shooting pigeons over peas, i said these words to JDog this evening after a short session on some peas.

 

Pigeons have been on clover in urban areas here since late feb, but out in the country side i expect they will be forced to get on the peas until the barley starts getting milky.

It has been awhile since i have shot a decent bag of pigeons but to be fair i have been pre-ocupied with rabbits lately so hoping to get stuck into the pigeons now.

 

The next few weeks should be interesting.

[JDog]

Agaman and I had a large bag over peas this afternoon. We didn't get many pigeons but we did have a large bag to put them in.

[aga man]

Agaman and I had a large bag over peas this afternoon. We didn't get many pigeons but we did have a large bag to put them in.

It was so humid my bag was starting to sweat and stick to my leg!

 

 

 

Sorry don't mean to de rail the thread, well done for starting it marshman

[motty]

It was so humid my bag was starting to sweat and stick to my leg!

 

 

 

Sorry don't mean to de rail the thread, well done for starting it marshman

Well at least you didn't nearly end up with an empty cartridge case up the ****. Jules thought it was funny to put a spent shell on my seat just before I sat down.

[motty]

Just been through my diaries. Christ it took some time.

 

May 22nd '04, 140 shot on 3-4" plants

July 14th '06 119 shot on in pod harvest peas

June 9th '07 111 shot on 2" plants

July 7th '07 90 shot on vining stubble

June 22nd '08 91 shot on podded viners

June 24th '08 84 shot on podded up harvest peas

May 23rd '09 93 shot on 3-4" plants

May 28th '09 111 shot on 3" plants

June 20th '09 107 shot on podded viners

June 26th '09 121 shot on vining stubble

July 2nd '09 115 shot on vining stubble

June 18th '10 205 shot on 2" plants

June 19th '10 132 shot on 2" plants

July 4th '10 71 shot on 4" palnts

June 19th '11 100 shot on podded viners

July 6th '11 125 shot on vining stubble

June 15th '12 154 shot on 3" plants

April 22nd '16 113 on drilled peas

May 14th '16 106 on 3" plants.

 

These are my all time best bags on peas. This doesn't show the whole story, as there are plenty of 'decent bags' of 20 - 60 odd spread about, too.

For me it is interesting that there are no entries in August - the pigeons showing far more interest in cereals at that time. I can remember on several of the days (certainly in early- mid July) the pigeons dropping into the surrounding wheat fields.

I still expect to see a few reports this month from folk that have shot good bags on peas.

[kitchrat]

Now we are in Summer time we can now look back to see how Spring fared as far as pigeon shooting goes .

 

Overall the last few months has been pretty poor , drillings were a non event and so were the peas , well up to a couple of weeks ago that is , I have now had three 30 plus afternoons these last three weeks but with being able to leave the fields alone , ( within reason that is ) , and with the fields in a very good pigeon area in the past without bragging a 30+ afternoon on the peas would have been a run of the mill sort of day.

 

In a earlier post Motty predicted there would be big bags shot on peas towards the end of the month , well this hasn't happened around this part of Norfolk , up Mottys way things might be different although I haven't seen one post where a big bag of pigeons have been shot on peas these last few weeks and when did we see a individual last shoot a three figure bag on anything come to that.

 

Anyway , we have got a reasonable amount of pigeons around here and yes there will be some decent bags shot before long but with the barley started to get grain in the ears I dare say with a few heavy showers to lay a few patches, barley might be a better bet than the peas.

 

So have you been doing any better ??

Does this short-straw barley get laid these days?? (No funny remarks!!)

[Cranfield]

Does this short-straw barley get laid these days?? (No funny remarks!!)

 

The birds will take it down regardless.

[JDog]

This afternoon I watched a lot of pigeons (for these parts) fly over peas to the first bit of laid winter barley I have seen. The overhead wires came in very handy for them.

[Big Mat]

From my ride about this afternoon and evening, I saw pigeons on peas ( drilled 2 weeks ago, just poking through ), pigeons on some short patches of rape ( they've been hammering the field for months ) and some pigeons eating all the weeds on my game cover plots which has grown since i power harrowed it

[marsh man]

Does this short-straw barley get laid these days?? (No funny remarks!!)

Very rare the Spring barley will get laid , mainly due to shorter stems, but the winter variety is a different kettle of fish , if it survive the wind and rain when the grain is at the heaviest during the milky stage then its likely to stay upright , although around these parts most years we can find several fields that are knocked about that can produce some decent sport ,

 

Last Summer me and Lakeside1000 shot some good bags on barley that was laid as flat as a pancake in places , in fact you could put the decoys on the barley without the use of cradles and find the shot birds fairly easy.

 

With todays wheat fields now growing the shorter variety , finding laid spots in wheat is not what it once was and on a normal year very little go down , if we cant find any on the wheat we shoot the barley stubbles while we are waiting for the beans ,, wheat and rape to be cut then it is fill your boots time for a few weeks .

 

This afternoon I watched a lot of pigeons (for these parts) fly over peas to the first bit of laid winter barley I have seen. The overhead wires came in very handy for them.

Watching telegraph wires across the grain fields from now on is a good way to let you know if there are pigeons getting interested in any patches that have suffered from wind and rain .

[marsh man]

From my ride about this afternoon and evening, I saw pigeons on peas ( drilled 2 weeks ago, just poking through ), pigeons on some short patches of rape ( they've been hammering the field for months ) and some pigeons eating all the weeds on my game cover plots which has grown since i power harrowed it

Your peas are fairly late Big Mat , time they are cut the harvest will be well underway , the peas I shot this afternoon are now in flower and if you could pick the ideal day for shooting today would have ticked most of the boxes , nice and warm . cloudy with a stiff breeze and a nice lot of pigeons getting about and playing ball for a change , the only drawback was the wind swung around to be head on for the last hour I was there , never mind the ones I left undisturbed might be there later on during the week .

[Big Mat]

Your peas are fairly late Big Mat , time they are cut the harvest will be well underway , the peas I shot this afternoon are now in flower and if you could pick the ideal day for shooting today would have ticked most of the boxes , nice and warm . cloudy with a stiff breeze and a nice lot of pigeons getting about and playing ball for a change , the only drawback was the wind swung around to be head on for the last hour I was there , never mind the ones I left undisturbed might be there later on during the week .

 

It's not the latest i've seen drilled. Not a field i can shoot over, just one i pass every day, we had it for daffs a couple of years back

[kitchrat]

Very rare the Spring barley will get laid , mainly due to shorter stems, but the winter variety is a different kettle of fish , if it survive the wind and rain when the grain is at the heaviest during the milky stage then its likely to stay upright , although around these parts most years we can find several fields that are knocked about that can produce some decent sport ,

 

Last Summer me and Lakeside1000 shot some good bags on barley that was laid as flat as a pancake in places , in fact you could put the decoys on the barley without the use of cradles and find the shot birds fairly easy.

 

With todays wheat fields now growing the shorter variety , finding laid spots in wheat is not what it once was and on a normal year very little go down , if we cant find any on the wheat we shoot the barley stubbles while we are waiting for the beans ,, wheat and rape to be cut then it is fill your boots time for a few weeks .

 

Watching telegraph wires across the grain fields from now on is a good way to let you know if there are pigeons getting interested in any patches that have suffered from wind and rain .

Yes, power cables are a useful indicator of interest. Unfortunately, they are also a useful indicator to our prey that all is safe, ie pigeons on wires = safe, so come on in, no pigeons = go to another field. OK, at some time the 1st bird has to take a chance but it can be a long frustrating wait watching them stream onto another field. I DO NOT RECOMMEND PUTTING LOFTED DECOYS ON POWER CABLES!!!

Too much to ask to take dummy poles+ wires+lofted decoys in your shooting kit.......... (Bet it would work)

 

I have asked farmers to flatten selected areas of barley for me, no positive replies yet, and no printable ones either!!

Edited June 6, 2017 by kitchrat

[motty]

Yes, power cables are a useful indicator of interest. Unfortunately, they are also a useful indicator to our prey that all is safe, ie pigeons on wires = safe, so come on in, no pigeons = go to another field. OK, at some time the 1st bird has to take a chance but it can be a long frustrating wait watching them stream onto another field. I DO NOT RECOMMEND PUTTING LOFTED DECOYS ON POWER CABLES!!!

Too much to ask to take dummy poles+ wires+lofted decoys in your shooting kit.......... (Bet it would work)

 

I have asked farmers to flatten selected areas of barley for me, no positive replies yet, and no printable ones either!!

Chris Green tried this in one of his videos, and it did work.

I don't think it would matter one bit if there are no birds on the wires on the day you are shooting. If the pigeons are used to feeding there, they should still head for that spot and then decoy.

[marsh man]

Chris Green tried this in one of his videos, and it did work.

I don't think it would matter one bit if there are no birds on the wires on the day you are shooting. If the pigeons are used to feeding there, they should still head for that spot and then decoy.

I have used bamboo canes with a cradle taped to the top for showing decoys level or slightly above the crop and we had some high tensile thin steel rods that were laying about the farm , these were ideal as they would support a dead pigeon well above the grain crop if needed and would sway about without bending right over.

 

After todays heavy rain and strong winds I would be pretty sure there would be fields of winter barley knocked about with plenty of laid patches , I find there is no need to rush and try to shoot the laid bits until the pigeons get into some sort of routine which is around a couple of weeks or so from the time the first ones start showing interest , might be a bit different though if you have got other people keeping a eye on the field as well so then you would shoot it when you think it is worth going .