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First time decoying.


Ploughman
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Hi all, new member here. 

I am going to have a try on some pigeons tomorrow on a field of oil seed rape, only shot clays before so is a whole new thing for me. 

I have a look this afternoon there is a big gang of pigeons in a tree about 200 yrs away(not on my permission) now and again a odd few fly to my field. 

I have some poles,net and about a dozen half body decoys, unfortunately no flapper or magnet yet. 

After any advice for the morning, looks like it will be fairly cold, maybe a bit of drizzle and 15 to 20mph wind. 

How early should I get set up for? How long should I give it before i give up/alter pattern move hide if I get nothing coming in?

if I set up as close as I can to the tree where they are I will be near a hedge but not on the side where they would see my pattern should I go out further into the field?

any advice appreciated. 

Thanks ploughman. 

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Opinions will vary on starting times. If it is your first time I would get out and in position before the birds arrive. This will mean 7am ish. I wouldn't advocate this approach all year round, though.

Unless you are really lucky, your decoys are unlikely to be seen by much. Six decoys is not a lot. If the rape is tall, set the decoys on top.

You may have more luck just flighting them to the field

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43 minutes ago, motty said:

Opinions will vary on starting times. If it is your first time I would get out and in position before the birds arrive. This will mean 7am ish. I wouldn't advocate this approach all year round, though.

Unless you are really lucky, your decoys are unlikely to be seen by much. Six decoys is not a lot. If the rape is tall, set the decoys on top.

You may have more luck just flighting them to the field

True, but he has a dozen!:whistling:

Ploughman, good luck, let us know how you got on.:good:

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Ploughman ........ Depending on where you are, but the forecast for the morning around our way in the morning is minus 3 or 4 which is not the best of conditions for early morning decoying .

If I was you and you were going out first thing in the morning , I would pull up to the field and pour myself out a nice cup of coffee and sit there in the warmth and watch what the pigeons do when and if they arrive , you will then have more idea where to set your hide up and put your decoys out , and hopefully by then the frost might have lifted off the rape to make it better conditions  for decoying.

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46 minutes ago, Ploughman said:

Thanks all for your replys and advice, is nearly freezing here now so will take marsh mans    advice probably get down at 8ish with a flask and see what happens. 

Thanks. 

The only problem with that approach can be that the birds turn up, go and land in trees/field, then when you disturb them, never return.

 

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58 minutes ago, motty said:

The only problem with that approach can be that the birds turn up, go and land in trees/field, then when you disturb them, never return.

 

That is a chance I would be prepared to take , at that time in the morning they haven't had time to feed and if they had been used to going on there for any length of time there would be a good possibility by walking them off there would be a good chance some of them at least would come back and hopefully by then you would be in the right place when they did return .

Its the first time op has been decoying let alone been on the field before , why get there early and set up in the wrong place and watch the pigeons dropping in on the other side of the field , he would then have to disturb then when he move , so surely, better to get the right position from the start .

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If you are only using static decoys, try putting any shot birds out on canes [Geoff Garrod style] as in this picture

Image result for pigeon on a cane decoy

The movement of the wings in the wind can really help.

As for timings, i wouldn't like to say what is best at the minute. I am currently watching a field of rape and pigeons don't go near in the mornings but 1pm onwards they are piling into it!

Good luck.

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15 hours ago, marsh man said:

That is a chance I would be prepared to take , at that time in the morning they haven't had time to feed and if they had been used to going on there for any length of time there would be a good possibility by walking them off there would be a good chance some of them at least would come back and hopefully by then you would be in the right place when they did return .

Its the first time op has been decoying let alone been on the field before , why get there early and set up in the wrong place and watch the pigeons dropping in on the other side of the field , he would then have to disturb then when he move , so surely, better to get the right position from the start .

I hear what you're saying, but again, the pigeons may even go to the opposite end of the field on their return.

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6 hours ago, aga man said:

If you are only using static decoys, try putting any shot birds out on canes [Geoff Garrod style] as in this picture

Image result for pigeon on a cane decoy

The movement of the wings in the wind can really help.

As for timings, i wouldn't like to say what is best at the minute. I am currently watching a field of rape and pigeons don't go near in the mornings but 1pm onwards they are piling into it!

Good luck.

I watch a lot of Utube and love geoff's tips, I carry a pack of barbecue sticks which I use to mount birds head up but body on the ground, then another pack of short canes sharpened at one end to mount birds as the photo shows, very light to carry, but invaluable for putting out dead bird decoys. as soon as I have 20 or so out I remove all plastic decoys  and rely totally on dead birds, the best pattern possible.  

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Ploughman, one thing you can try which may improve results is called flagging out, get a dozen 3 foot garden canes, cut plastic carrier bags into long strips and tape one to each cane, use these around the field where you dont want pigeons to land, so hopefully guiding them towards your decoys, on a small area of rape and in the right conditions this will work really well and improve your chances no end, good luck :yahoo:

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Hi all, got down field at just gone 8, sat with a coffee and watched them all sitting in the tree, had a couple of hours watching there were odd ones were leaving but in the opposite direction to someone else’s osr field. 

The osr was still well frozen at 10 so I came home as had other things on this afternoon. Will have a look on way home from work in the week and hope for better weather next weekend. 

Thanks for all advice. 

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17 minutes ago, Ploughman said:

Hi all, got down field at just gone 8, sat with a coffee and watched them all sitting in the tree, had a couple of hours watching there were odd ones were leaving but in the opposite direction to someone else’s osr field. 

The osr was still well frozen at 10 so I came home as had other things on this afternoon. Will have a look on way home from work in the week and hope for better weather next weekend. 

Thanks for all advice. 

Why didn't you get the gun out? Sounds like a bit of a wasted opportunity to me.

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9 minutes ago, Ploughman said:

Get the gun out for what?

there was nothing in my permission they just sat in the tree for the 2 hrs I was there. 

Well, I did advise getting set up before the birds arrived. You may well have attracted some early arrivals to your decoys. I hope you did learn something from your morning out.

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