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What were the chances?


JDog
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On Monday afternoon I spied a decent number of pigeons going into an old barley field with straw swaths still in it. This field was harvested a month ago and the farmer has got behind with his baling.

 

Last night I contacted the usual suspects to ask them if they would like to come and shoot this afternoon. The range of excuses was tremendous but suffice to say no one could make it and I went on my own. What were the chances then of me seeing a very large cloud of pigeons in the sky as I approached the field and a tractor with a tedder on turning the straw which had been there for so long? The field was ruined for the day in my books so I went elsewhere.

 

The wind was strong, gusting to 25mph so I looked for a line into beans, any old beans and I found one. Pigeons were fighting into the wind and as I watched I could see that there was a point where they came down off their line before entering the field. I decided not to set up a hide but to stand in a thick hedge and take my chances at any flighting birds which came within range. They came well for three hours and I did my usual trick of running out of cartridges (thankfully there were more in the car) and in the end having fired just less than 150 cartridges I had a pick up and collected fifty one pigeons.

 

DSC07783.jpg

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Flighting pigeons in a good wind has got to be the ultimate sport. 1 in 3 in such conditions is in my opinion above average and by far my preferred type of shooting although I could not compete with your average.

 

All standing beans in this area are long gone, cultivated and drilled recently with wheat, so I'm hopeful of a few on drilling today.

 

I note from one of your previous posts that pigeons were feeding on standing beans but when cultivated showed little interest. This happened in this area with pigeons feeding strongly on the standing crop but once harvested and with beans all over the field, not a pigeon to be seen. However, when the field was lightly cultivated, they returned. Most odd. I can only assume that there were better offerings elsewhere at harvest time.

 

They never cease to surprise us, but that surely is the attraction.

 

OB

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A day to cherish Mr JDog , sport with a shotgun at the highest level and I don't think you would get better sport from most of the average game shoots , over the years I have been helping and shooting on 100s of driven days and without a shadow of doubt some of the best shots have been at the humble Wood Pigeon.

 

By the way , your photo is lovely and clear on my ancient p c .

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A day to cherish Mr JDog , sport with a shotgun at the highest level and I don't think you would get better sport from most of the average game shoots , over the years I have been helping and shooting on 100s of driven days and without a shadow of doubt some of the best shots have been at the humble Wood Pigeon.

 

By the way , your photo is lovely and clear on my ancient p c .

 

I have never shot fifty birds to my own gun on a game shoot and neither would I want to. Some of the birds I shot on Tuesday were as good if not better than any game bird I have ever shot. One grouse on a Perthshire moor still stands as the very best but that was a lucky shot.

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