A long day at the office

[lakeside1000]

After the last two weeks of some very satisfying outings on a large area of rape I decided to try out another some miles away that had been seeing a lot of pigeon damage recently,

In the last two weeks or 4 outings I have had a 30, a 17, a 45 and a 20 which I consider good at this time of year over rape.

Anyway up at 6 am and a 12 mile drive I arrived at the remote field around 7.30 ( had to stop for breakfast) to find it covered in pigeons, in the centre of the field is an old WW2 bomb crater which makes a good hide point with 360 degree view, so I set up and waited, all the birds had departed for pastures new but I expected them to return, waiting continued for about 2 hours with only one bird showing interest but not getting within range, the north wind had picked up and was decidedly chilly, so I cleared up and made my way down to a large wood on the edge of the field, set up again using a big old oak tree trunk as shelter, and waited, one bird skirting along the edge of the wood came too close and at last one shot and one bird down, then I waited but it was not to be, in the distance I could see large numbers of birds rising and falling over other areas but they did not come back.

In frustration I decided to knock it on the head and have an early finish, by now it was nearly 2.30 and cold as hell, my back was killing me as I staggered around collecting my gear and tossing it in the car, the route home took me past the productive rape fields I had decided to give a rest to but I had to take a quick look , so I drove down the lane to the first gateway and there they were, hundreds and hundreds of them swirling around in the afternoon sun, well I had to have a go didn't I? I drove up to the wood on the top of the hill, hid the car and set up in a nice sheltered spot under some big ivy bushes, almost immediately I had two birds in the pattern, I missed both, a bit over anxious i think, so a nice cup of hot coffee and a couple of ibuprofen for the old knackered back and I was ready, with only about 1.1/2 hours left before roost I managed to knock down another 12 with one absolutely amazing shot, 65 yards out and moving down wind I got a head shot on it and had to walk over 100 yards out to pick it up, the rest were fairly standard over the decoys but very satisfying after such a terrible start so 12 birds for 16 cartridges by 5.30 the sky was quiet and I once again packed the car and headed home. not a day for the record books but at least it ended better than it had started, just goes to show perseverance pays !! 

Edited March 27, 2018 by lakeside1000

[JDog]

A good effort in the cold.

I presume that your house is not close to the cliff edge or you would be moving your belongings rather than pigeon shooting.

[dead eye alan]

 

 Great effort Lakey you worked very hard for 12 birds, that amount of effort would have knocked me for 3 days.  

[marsh man]

I would have to go back a long way to find out the last time I got up at that hour to go pigeon shooting , I am keen but not keen , I know the field well where you went and I would have either went the day before to see if the pigeons were working on the field or walking them off and to see how long if and when they come back , the days are now long gone where I will sit about for hours and hope they will come back , more so in the cold damp weather .

I went out yesterday on some spring barley drilling , got there about dinnertime and in the murky weather there were some on the field but a lot more sitting about in the trees , one consolation was I could drive down some old game cover to a convenient tree well away from the wood , the weather conditions were , light drizzle and misty with a cold wind , not the ideal conditions but worth a try.

After around 10 minutes the first pigeon done what I thought it would do , instead of coming to the decoys it headed to the tree where I was set up and it was stopped short before it got there , one down and the shot put plenty of birds in the air and the next one done the same thing with the same result , I then set these two up well out into the field and moved the floaters out as well to see if it would prove more noticeable , by now I had been there over half an hour and very few birds were moving about , over the next hour three more were added to the bag and the cold dreary weather was beginning to take its toll , I decided to give it till three o clock and if things don't improve then I will call it a day , by ten to three I had one more pigeon and my time was up , with six pigeons in the bag , a wet net ,decoys and one very cold pigeon shooter it was time to load the motor back up , unlike you Alan I didn't bother to look at any more fields on the way home as I wouldn't had been tempted to have another go at that time of the day , still you deserve all the birds you get as you put a great deal of effort in your pigeon shooting , with me becoming a wimp I am waiting now for drier conditions and a bit warmer , unlike today where it is now pouring a rain and still fairly cold . 

[lakeside1000]

On 27/03/2018 at 10:31, JDog said:

A good effort in the cold.

I presume that your house is not close to the cliff edge or you would be moving your belongings rather than pigeon shooting.

Hi Jdog, no we are about 200 yards from the back of the dunes, about a mile north of the worst hit bit, sad thing is one of our dearest friends lived right in the middle of the bad bit but the other side of a small tarmac lane, all the houses opposite her have now gone and the dunes have collapsed right back to the edge of the road, she had sold her house for £120,000 and was making plans to move away, the buyer has now pulled out and her house isn't worth much at all now as the road is the only thing between her house and the sea. She was so worried it would go as well she moved out and wont come back, so she's lost everything, but the government still wont do a damn thing about the erosion, just ignore all pleas and requests for help, all it needs are some stone barriers along a few miles of beach but as its a privately owned stretch of coast they say its not their responsibility to help . I nearly bought one of the cottages last year that has now gone into the sea , so a wise decision on our part not to risk it, the locals reckoned it would be at least 10 years before it was at risk, no one knows how fast it will erode now , it seems to go a bit faster every time we get a high tide and a strong easterly wind. at this rate we may be looking for a new home sooner than we would like.