motty Posted February 25, 2018 Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 My few brief outing after pigeons this year have been flighting in woods or roost shooting. I decided that It was time to get the decoying gear out. Mice have been busy in the shed and stripped the wire off one of my magnets, so that needed to be repaired. That done, I got that and my other gear stowed into the back of the truck. The venue was to be the farm that I have visited a bit recently. There has been a few thousand pigeons on the maize covers (of which there are several) which are still standing. It is certainly not easy to pin the little beggars down, with so much maize to choose from, plus several hundred acres of rape. I arrived on the farm at around 9.30 am yesterday to meet up with a couple of fellow beater friends who would be covering different spots. I found a good looking spot for myself and put a few hundred pigeons off the cover and out of the trees. It looked quite promising, but would they come back? I decided to put my hessian hide amongst the maize stalks and deployed 50 shell and full bodied decoys on the adjoining wheat. The magnet was put on the edge of the cover. It was very slow going to start with, but I was getting a chance now and then, and a retrieve or two for the dog. A few decent bunches then started to come in, not necessarily decoying, but paying enough attention to the decoys to allow me some shots. Many of my shots were similar - driven type shots as the pigeons were gliding over looking for a spot to either land in the trees or with the decoys. These were pretty satisfying, varying in height and speed. I wasn't shy of shooting a few out of the trees. I must have had a least half a dozen that decided to land a bit short of where I wanted. The action hotted up a bit into the early afternoon. I had to use some quick reloading skills to get a few bonus birds. I almost rued not having the semi auto with me, as the chance was there for more than 2 shots on multiple occasions. I was having a great time with the o/u, so it didn't really matter. The dog was enjoying himself, too, and made some good retrieves. I have no doubt that the flight was helped along by some horse riders and a helicopter that disturbed some big flocks from other areas of the farm that were not manned. I got packed up for 2pm. The best sport had been had. I picked a nice little bag of 56. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodhopper Posted February 25, 2018 Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 Good report, not easy when there is so much food about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilksy II Posted February 25, 2018 Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 Good to get back into the decoying, no doubt there’s a lot more shooting to be had of those cover crops, good bag as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lakeside1000 Posted February 25, 2018 Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 Well done Motty, not just for the bag but for making the effort to get out in the cold, Our cover maize was cut on the 1st of Feb and has since been stripped of any seed, mainly by rooks . nice write up as well, chears. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 25, 2018 Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 Very good but no mention of the 36 gram no. 4s that you were no doubt using. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry2016 Posted February 25, 2018 Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 Nice write up Motty, and well done sounds like a great time. atb Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted February 25, 2018 Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 Nice to read that you are getting amongst them again. Could be an interesting week ahead if we get the covering of snow, the pigeons choices might be a bit more limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted February 25, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2018 2 hours ago, JDog said: Very good but no mention of the 36 gram no. 4s that you were no doubt using. No, I will not mention the loads I was using, as they are unsuitable for pigeon shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.