Pigeons on sticks.

[JDog]

This week since the snow went I have completed 260 miles looking for decoying opportunities. I have still not found any.

However today I had a slice of luck. Armed with a new gun, a Hatsan Escort Magnum 20 bore borrowed from a friend of Clodhoppers I left the house at 2 pm and continued my search. Three miles from home I spied pigeons flighting along the road and alighting in a small spinney which was an old quarry. The wind was stronger than forecast at about 20 mph and all of the birds were trying to get into the leeward side trees. I had an old net in the car but no decoys so I stuck the net on a pig netting fence and knelt down behind it.

Shooting from either sitting or kneeling positions is not really for me but there was no alternative. Jasper thought it was marvellous as he could lick my face whenever he wanted but it did mean that my shooting was not up to scratch. On the strong wind the pigeons were tricky, one second I was mounted on one the next it was careering off at a tangent. When I had shot a couple I mounted them on sticks in the grass field and any others I shot joined them just laid out. This did interest incoming pigeons and I suspect that I would have shot less had I not set up this decoying system.

I used less than two boxes of cartridges and picked 17 pigeons.

[Walker570]

Needs must. Well done. I have noticed that pigeons have been acting a bit strangely after that snow went. All over the place.

[marsh man]

Look like you have been watching the Geoff Garrod method , that is what pigeon shooting all about , being adaptable .

I can no longer knell for any length of time neither , last summer I went to join Lakeside1000 on a barley stubble field with the large bales still on , he was getting a nice lot of shooting near a tree along a hedge so I drove across the field to set up round a bale , with me getting ever more forgetful I found I had forgot my seat , never mind I can knell on the stubble , I went and parked my car up , got back in my hide and started to shoot straight away , after about a hour I couldn't stick it any longer so I went and got my car and drove it hard up to the side of the square bale , lifted up the tail gate and put my net hide in front and I was more than happy sitting in the back with the dog , I must admit that some pigeons were a bit wary but a nice lot still came in to the decoys without worrying about the car .

[lakeside1000]

I remember it well , I thought you were just kneeling to pray for more pigeons 

Edited March 8, 2018 by lakeside1000

[aga man]

Nice bit of field craft for a tidy little bag. Well done that man.

[pbutd]

Hats off to you.To shoot that neat little bag from your knees or sitting sounds like true dedication...you must have good knees & a bonus of not needing a wash tonight after Jasper's attentions.Were you not a boy scout ? Carrying a penknife would have allowed you to cut a couple of hazel sticks to thread between the pig wire & raise the height of your net?Very clear picture & gives a good sense of the set up.

[pigeon controller]

Being adaptable is the name of the game, but where the pigeons want to be is the place to set up.You did well off your knees in difficult conditions. Result.

[old'un]

17 is better than going home again without firing the gun, well done on the effort, best I have managed this week is 27 for 3 outings and miles of motoring.

During the early days of rape (70s) we would work on 1 bird for every mile you traveled looking for them, would hate to think what it is now.

Pigeons on sticks, was shown this set-up some 40 years ago by an old professional pigeon shooter from Rugeley Staffordshire, and been using it ever since, mind you I don’t have the birds that high off the ground but the stick method presents the birds perfectly and in a strong wind you get movement from the wings,

Did they decoy into your decoys or just come and have a look?  

[marsh man]

4 hours ago, old'un said:

17 is better than going home again without firing the gun, well done on the effort, best I have managed this week is 27 for 3 outings and miles of motoring.

During the early days of rape (70s) we would work on 1 bird for every mile you traveled looking for them, would hate to think what it is now.

 

 

Pigeons on sticks, was shown this set-up some 40 years ago by an old professional pigeon shooter from Rugeley Staffordshire, and been using it ever since, mind you I don’t have the birds that high off the ground but the stick method presents the birds perfectly and in a strong wind you get movement from the wings,

 

 

Did they decoy into your decoys or just come and have a look?  

In the pre magnet days pigeon shooting was a very do it yourself sort of sport and all sort of different methods were tried and tested from a flapper where you pulled the cord , a pigeon decoy on a pulley system that glided down from a branch to land amongst the decoys and floaters on a fibre glass rod,

Everything seem if it was made with whatever materials you came across from plastic gutter for decoys , fencing wire for cradles and cutting it into nine inch lengths to prop the head up , and ole tile battens for the hide poles , the first thing we ever bought was some ex nato hessian camo netting from the shooting times , how times have changed .

Coming back to modern times , do anyone use , or have seen used a magnet with four arms on it that go up and down when working ?

[motty]

3 hours ago, marsh man said:

In the pre magnet days pigeon shooting was a very do it yourself sort of sport and all sort of different methods were tried and tested from a flapper where you pulled the cord , a pigeon decoy on a pulley system that glided down from a branch to land amongst the decoys and floaters on a fibre glass rod,

Everything seem if it was made with whatever materials you came across from plastic gutter for decoys , fencing wire for cradles and cutting it into nine inch lengths to prop the head up , and ole tile battens for the hide poles , the first thing we ever bought was some ex nato hessian camo netting from the shooting times , how times have changed .

Coming back to modern times , do anyone use , or have seen used a magnet with four arms on it that go up and down when working ?

My mate had a three armed flapper magnet. It was huge and certainly no better than a standard magnet.

[pigeon controller]

Yes I remember the flyer out of the tree, a complicated system of pulleys that operated four flappers with a manual pull from the hide. It makes setting up a magnet a lot easier. We had a manual magnet which worked on a bycycle free wheel which you worked from the hide with a string, this had a cam which made the bird lift as it rotated. 

I have seen a four arm magnet in operation with another shooter once and the birds came in range to be shot but it did look st range as they were set all at different heights.

[marsh man]

9 hours ago, motty said:

My mate had a three armed flapper magnet. It was huge and certainly no better than a standard magnet.

 

3 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

Yes I remember the flyer out of the tree, a complicated system of pulleys that operated four flappers with a manual pull from the hide. It makes setting up a magnet a lot easier. We had a manual magnet which worked on a bycycle free wheel which you worked from the hide with a string, this had a cam which made the bird lift as it rotated. 

I have seen a four arm magnet in operation with another shooter once and the birds came in range to be shot but it did look st range as they were set all at different heights.

The magnet I was referring to had a cog on the top where you threaded a cord on , it had four arms on and when it went round all the arms were going up and down at different levels , certainly looked a complicated bit of kit . I have got a d v d of it somewhere where they were using it on a rape field , they no doubt picked the right field for selling purposes , but the pigeons were coming into it from all angles and quite a few paid the price.

Something you wouldn't get away with now is using live birds for decoys , I did read once where a pigeon shooter raised two young pigeons up and used them for decoys when they were fully grown , possibly tethered down on one leg with a cord back to the hide to make him flap when the cord is pulled , a dangerous occupation for the pigeon involved .

[motty]

9 hours ago, marsh man said:

 

The magnet I was referring to had a cog on the top where you threaded a cord on , it had four arms on and when it went round all the arms were going up and down at different levels , certainly looked a complicated bit of kit . I have got a d v d of it somewhere where they were using it on a rape field , they no doubt picked the right field for selling purposes , but the pigeons were coming into it from all angles and quite a few paid the price.

Something you wouldn't get away with now is using live birds for decoys , I did read once where a pigeon shooter raised two young pigeons up and used them for decoys when they were fully grown , possibly tethered down on one leg with a cord back to the hide to make him flap when the cord is pulled , a dangerous occupation for the pigeon involved .

I own a couple of four arm magnets. I used one on some barley stubble 18 months or so ago, when I shot 286 pigeons with Muncher. The pigeons came in very well. Was it down to the four armed magnet? Highly unlikely.

[dead eye alan]

 

 My mate Tom has a 4 arm magnet , the arms go up and down as they travel over a cam at the base and a series of cordes make the wings flap. It's a wondrous thing in motion, hideous and complicated to set up works ok eventually and need's a lorry battery to power it. I think it was made by a Bedfordshire pigeon shooter and marketed through a shooting magazine that he wrote a column for, but cannot remember his name. Over to the massive of PW to fill in the gap. 

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, dead eye alan said:

 

 My mate Tom has a 4 arm magnet , the arms go up and down as they travel over a cam at the base and a series of cordes make the wings flap. It's a wondrous thing in motion, hideous and complicated to set up works ok eventually and need's a lorry battery to power it. I think it was made by a Bedfordshire pigeon shooter and marketed through a shooting magazine that he wrote a column for, but cannot remember his name. Over to the massive of PW to fill in the gap. 

That is the one I was referring to , four arms with a cog on the top , I believe one version the four arms went round at the same level , and the one you describe was classed at the time as the Rolls Royce of magnets ,

I have got the guys advertising it on video and not d v d , so when I get round plugging in our old video recorder I will try and find out who marketed it.

[dead eye alan]

 

   Jim Albone keeps coming in mind.