Hide and Seek

[pigeon controller]

This weekend is one of the shortest daylight hours for shooting in the year, due to the shortest day being on the 21st.So when we set out at 08.00 it was not fully light and we picked up on a few birds coming out of roost, but they just went to trees on a local golf course, no shooting. We continued to the first field of rape, nothing, second nothing. On the third farm we found about fifty in the trees but not feeding also the farmer had flags under the trees on the rape . I suspect that the birds had been feeding on the acorns not the rape so we drove on. We continued to the field I shot last week which is about seventy acres and as we scanned the field it had a good number all down feeding hard, but nothing joining. We watched it for thirty minutes and they continued to feed but still nothing joining. We had the idea that we would set up and they would just leave the field and go to the woods which border the field and feed on the acorns etc. We set up at the top of the bank so we could see the whole field and watch. We had the HIDE and now we SEEK the pigeon, when we set up we had zero wind and as the morning progressed the wind became stronger in our face, so the birds were coming from the back of us into the pattern. We had started shooting at 11.00 and by 13.00 it had just died. So it was play time I had seen birds coming across the main road but not coming to the field but going to a small plantation of young oaks on ajoining park. So I went with two decoys and a small piece of hide and a spare magnet to see if they would decoy to the magnet. I set up as close to the road as was safe and legal and waited the first crossing bird came straight to the magnet and was despatched, the subsequent fifteen would not come near and I packed up and returned to the hide. We decided to pack up at 14.30 as it was dead and we had lots of bottles to deliver on the way home. We finished with thirtynine pigeons and three corvids which was better that last week but it was evident that the birds were finding food in other places.

39 Pigeons , 3 Corvids

[marsh man]

A good bag for the likes of us , but for you its not the sort of bag we have come to expect after being out most of the day , certainly not the easiest time of the year to shoot large bags of pigeons, but as always , well done for the commitment you two show to pigeon shooting.

By the way , that rape look very sparse compared to the majority of rape fields in our area.

[JDog]

Well done.

Pigeons here are on something but I know not what but it's certainly not rape.

[E.w.]

You are a very patient man and very skilled in the art of pigeon shooting, all things considered you ended up with a good result, ?.