JDog Posted October 23, 2017 Report Share Posted October 23, 2017 Out and about yesterday afternoon I saw good numbers of pigeons in large flocks acting in a very skittish way. This morning from my bed I can see a flock of 500 pigeons flying from and to the roosting wood opposite my house. These pigeons were not there two days ago. The flocks behaviour is also skittish. One minute they are back in the wood, the next they are on telegraph wires, the next they are diving down into an old barley stubble. Posters of late report birds in flocks not decoying. Perhaps they have some new pigeons in their area too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted October 23, 2017 Report Share Posted October 23, 2017 See the same around here every year, they are mainly young birds kitting-up for the coming winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted October 23, 2017 Report Share Posted October 23, 2017 Interesting observations JDog, good of you to post. Another observation I made this morning was 100 or so pigeons in a hedge feeding on Hawthorn berries. Nothing too unusual for this time of year but still plenty of fresh drilling etc here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted October 23, 2017 Report Share Posted October 23, 2017 saw the first load of migrant birds today as i was zeroing my HW77....came over me at 1 o'clock about 750 odd birds in a big clump.....then in the space of 5 mins another 5 lots in clumps of 30-50....then finally 2's and 3's....finish......they are on a different line this year but still on my permission....so i will watch them now.......... first time in 3 years...............3 years ago there were 10-15000 coming in in between 1.30 to 3.00 o'clock.............and i9t was like that for nearly 2 weeks.................i didnt half burn some cartridges off that year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted October 23, 2017 Report Share Posted October 23, 2017 Out and about yesterday afternoon I saw good numbers of pigeons in large flocks acting in a very skittish way. This morning from my bed I can see a flock of 500 pigeons flying from and to the roosting wood opposite my house. These pigeons were not there two days ago. The flocks behaviour is also skittish. One minute they are back in the wood, the next they are on telegraph wires, the next they are diving down into an old barley stubble. Posters of late report birds in flocks not decoying. Perhaps they have some new pigeons in their area too. I've seen this in the past (but not in such numbers, maybe several dozen) and if I managed to shoot one, it was always a young bird, so I assumed it was like teenagers when 1st allowed to drive - racing about in all directions, just because they can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted October 23, 2017 Report Share Posted October 23, 2017 I've seen this in the past (but not in such numbers, maybe several dozen) and if I managed to shoot one, it was always a young bird, so I assumed it was like teenagers when 1st allowed to drive - racing about in all directions, just because they can. One of the woods I shoot at this time of year is full young birds flying like they are practicing avoidance manoeuvres, the wood is about half a mile wide at its widest point and about one and a half miles long, there are places along the wood where it narrows to about 30/40 yards, these places are where I usually stand to shoot, last time I shot it was last Tuesday, there were hundreds of birds just flying up and down the wood, I ended up with 37 birds picked and most were young birds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodhopper Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 Watching a field this afternoon, birds flighting in in groups of between 10 and 50. They would either drop down to feed or sit up in the hedgerows. They would then all lift in a big flock and bead back to the woods about 1 mile away only to start flighting back again. This happened 3 or 4 times in the hour that i watched them. I did not see anything obvious spooking them. I would guess the most down on the field was upwards of 300. Big question is, will it be worth a go tomorrow or is trying to decoy birds this flighty a waste of time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 (edited) Only 1 way to find out Edited October 25, 2017 by GingerCat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodhopper Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 Only 1 way to find out Thats kind of what i was thinking. I guess i will just sit and watch pigeon flitting about or i may get some sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 There a field I shoot on that is very similar. I'm going to find out myself this weekend. I suspect some will decoy and some won't but either way it's better than sitting about at home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moor man Posted October 25, 2017 Report Share Posted October 25, 2017 Lots of pigeons flying s.w. today outside of Exeter. Several groups of maybe 70+ birds flying high, straight and with purpose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted October 26, 2017 Report Share Posted October 26, 2017 Still lots of young birds in this area, Its my impression that pigeons have done well this year, and numbers are up on last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead eye alan Posted October 27, 2017 Report Share Posted October 27, 2017 Lots of pigeons flying s.w. today outside of Exeter. Several groups of maybe 70+ birds flying high, straight and with purpose. On there way to Lands End? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbutd Posted October 28, 2017 Report Share Posted October 28, 2017 Big migration of adult pigeons over south Herefordshire today;They were pretty high ,heading North (against the wind) and clearly had neck bars when viewed through the binoculars.My shooting 'oppo & I watched them for several hours , on a broad front going over our rather pathetic crow setup.Pigeons have been off the menu here for a couple of months but we had to get out! You know how it is. We started trying to do an estimated count but were overwhelmed by their numbers after half an hour. In bunches of 20 to 200+ they just kept coming at a height of about 2-300 ft. Not shootable more's the pity. Wonderful to see from a pigeon fanatics point of view & I think we both wished we could 'engage' with them. Where are they heading , where do they stop off at night will they be there tomorrow? I am desperate to find some shootable pigeons again but I think it may be December before we get any decent bags? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted October 29, 2017 Report Share Posted October 29, 2017 big flocks flying over yesterday not stopping at all about 200 at a time.so some one is in for some good shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshgun Posted October 29, 2017 Report Share Posted October 29, 2017 Seen five Big flocks of around 300-500+ flying S E towards Cardiff yesterday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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