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First cauliflowers now turnips.


JDog
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I had a call from a farmer saying that he had a problem with pigeons on his turnips. This was a new one on me. Stubble turnips in the autumn maybe, or even turnip tops in snow but never in June. Somewhat reluctantly I agreed to meet him, dawdling on the way via the gun shop for cartridges and generally not getting very excited about matters.

 

The farmer met me in his yard and I followed him to a large field of turnips where the plants were 15cms high. The field was covered in pigeons. Lots of pigeons. The man could have talked for England but I was keen to make a start sensing that there was a bit of sport to be had. The only place for a hide was along a 50m wide spinney at the top of the field. The pigeons I had seen entering the field wanted to be at the bottom. I hoped that the rotary would do the trick and I started with only two dead birds on the machine. Within ten minutes I had ten more dead birds and these were placed five on each side of the rotary on sticks.

 

For four hours the pigeons came incessantly. For the same four hours I wondered why they were choosing to come to a field of turnips when there was laid barley nearby. Amongst the turnips was quite a bit of volunteer spring rape and every plant I saw had been nibbled. Very few turnip leaves had been dealt with in the same way. Only if the farmer is a PW member and reads this will he realise that the pigeons may have been doing him a favour.

 

I shot for just over four and a half hours with better than a shot per minute at times. When birds fell a way out I had to gather them in as incoming birds decoyed to them and landed short. I had time restraints otherwise I would have stayed longer. It took me an hour and a half to tidy my kit away, and collect dead birds from this field and the adjoining one and when I could search no more I had a count up. I picked 232 pigeons.

 

For those who don't recognise it the spring rape is the lighter coloured plant in the first picture.

 

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DSC07694_zpsgnsn5ra9.jpg

Edited by JDog
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Wow.....a farmer's phone call actually resulting in a bag like that with zero recon, very impressive JDog!!

Makes my recent efforts seem a little sick, must try harder.

At this time of year in the past Dad and I have had some great bags over turnip/fodder crop grown for sheep to graze.....never realised it drew pigeons until one year when they were mad for it.

What a bag, that must have been frantic shooting!

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