GingerCat Posted March 30, 2018 Report Share Posted March 30, 2018 Last week I was on my way home looking forward to some well earned beers when diverted by the wife for some emergency bananas and juice for my young daughter. Mildly cross at the momentary delay in my justly deserved cold beverage I duly turned right instead of left and headed towards the nearest supermarket. Those thoughts soon disappeared when I saw somewhere in the region of 300 birds feeding on some rape not 100 yards down said road. The flight line was from behind some houses and over the road into the field of rape before they stopped on the power lines that were drooping under their collective weight. I didn't have permission for the field and time was against me so made a note and carried on. The following afternoon again on my way home I made a point of passing that field and it was even busier than before. The birds were literally piling onto those power lines and had destroyed the rape on a good 2 acre plot of the enormous field. By Wednesday the sight was something to see and only getting bigger. I texted Jdog and it transpires it was a long forgotten permission of his that was just a touch off the beaten track. Fast forward to this morning and I met the Dog at said field. The area was still busy, perhaps not at its peak however there were still hundreds of birds. The flight line was as before, they came from behind a row of houses and crossed the main road before travelling 100 yards into the 300 acre field. This presented some issues, namely it was going to be a long walk, parking, bank holiday Friday and people don't want two over keen pigeon shooters popping away 50 yards from their door. We sought a hasty plan B and headed up a side lane, the walk would be the same if not shorter, parking was fixed and Jdog knocked on a lovely ladies door to let her know before apparently giving advice on how to trim her bush. The field was really 4 fields that have merged at some point into one. It was sloping slightly up hill to out left, the main road was now 300 or so yards to our right and a paddock behind us, the flight line was from the right going left, another was from behind and to the left going forward. We couldn't really have two hides so I made a big one, a few jokes later about men in hides with semi's and the pattern was soon done. We were trying to pull the birds and extra hundred yards or so up the field due to the proximity of the houses and main road. A few came but nothing very exciting as they seemed to skirt the pattern. A bit of minor adjustment and the birds started. In the first 20 minutes we shot 6 and missed a few more. Within an hour we were well into double figures however the once frantic sport had now turned, being such a big field they had simply moved off 500 yards to another patch of rape they liked and there was little we could do about it. I remarked there's nothing quite like having a crack shot watching you shoot to give you stage fright, it didn't help my feet had found a hole preventing easy movement in the ridiculously soggy ground we had made our hide on. Sporting as he is; JDog missed a few on purpose to make me feel better. The wind had changed some 90 degrees and was now directly from behind rather than from the left, birds continued to come in but the main line was now 200 yards to our right and straight across the field. We couldn't move or we would be uncomfortably close to the main road and houses. Our birds were now coming from behind, skirting the pattern in a wide arc and either dropping in to the deeks or darting off to join their friends on the other side of the field. We shot a few more cartridges than perhaps we should however due to constraints on safe shooting we were limited a little on second shots on going away birds and started to take them further out to give time to follow up if needed. During one hectic 5 minutes I saw what I initially thought was a wood pigeon coming into the pattern, as it banked to its left I noticed it was white and said to Jdog whose shot it was, that it was a feral, "no its not" replied the Dog and felled it with a single shot at some 45 yards. He then ran out of the hide and brought back this bird, the only one of its kind I've ever seen. A white, not albino, wood pigeon. It had the most extraordinary colours of muted brown and white on it. its now breasted out and in the freezer and will join its mates at some point on my plate. All in all we had a great few hours with good banter whilst and taking birds from behind to liven up an otherwise uninteresting bank holiday Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodhopper Posted March 30, 2018 Report Share Posted March 30, 2018 Excellent write up. Good to hear you got a bit of sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted March 30, 2018 Report Share Posted March 30, 2018 Well done chaps, you got some shooting at least, and hopefully a beer or 2 in the end. Quite a contrast to when I came over on good Friday a couple of years ago. Lovely weather and fresh drilling a everywhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted March 31, 2018 Report Share Posted March 31, 2018 Not much can be added to that report which is worthy of an entry in The Shooting Gazette. In the last nine days I have been out pigeon shooting with Clodhopper, Mighty Mariner and Ginger Cat and out on my own twice and I conclude that no matter how good a day I have when I am out solo I would rather shoot with a like-minded companion. The leucistic pigeon was a beauty and it took my brain two seconds longer that normal for me to identify it as a wood pigeon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted March 31, 2018 Report Share Posted March 31, 2018 Great report, it has set me up for the day. I've just loaded the Disco after trying to dry out the gear from yesterday, report to follow tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead eye alan Posted March 31, 2018 Report Share Posted March 31, 2018 1 hour ago, JDog said: Not much can be added to that report which is worthy of an entry in The Shooting Gazette. In the last nine days I have been out pigeon shooting with Clodhopper, Mighty Mariner and Ginger Cat and out on my own twice and I conclude that no matter how good a day I have when I am out solo I would rather shoot with a like-minded companion. The leucistic pigeon was a beauty and it took my brain two seconds longer that normal for me to identify it as a wood pigeon. I would rather shoot with a like-minded companion. Me too!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mightymariner Posted March 31, 2018 Report Share Posted March 31, 2018 Agree JDog......I can never remember the bag, but always the company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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