Clodhopper Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Well the title does not elude a group of suave handsome gentlemen but rather the occurrences of the day. Our possy (JDog, Giles and myself) met up at JDogs' mansion shortly after midday on Friday to begin our pursuit of the woodpigeon which are currently so abundant in the wolds. JDog had been out on a reccy a few days prior and had noticed a nice line of birds coming from a nearby town and heading into some chopped maize crops. These maize crops are set in stunning surroundings where the wolds roll down into grass valleys and one can imagine September partridges bursting out of these crops to split over a line of guns stood down in the bottom of the valley. Pairs of Partridge were scattered around the place as we arrived along with numerous brown hares which lazily lopped out of our way safe in the knowledge that they had the speed to skip across the plough if required. There was a patchy blue sky interspersed with clouds which dashed across the horizon with the increasingly strong South Easterly breeze. We pulled off the main road and sat up to watch what was going on. Pigeons were heading on the line JDog had previously identified as well as a couple of weaker lines from some Spruce plantations in the opposite direction, this situation looked very promising indeed. It was whilst we were sat here that we noticed another vehicle parked up in gateway which also accessed our desired area. We feared the worst as this is a shared permission and there was only one logical place to shoot. We headed off down the track to meet up with this other vehicle only to see another 4X4 parked up in the valley with 2 lots of pigeons chasing each other round in circles on an adjacent game crop, disaster! We met with the first vehicle and it transpired that they had a pack of terriers and were there for the noble sport of ratting. The only problem being that they were targeting the prime spot where the pigeon lines crossed, pleasantry's were exchanged and we wished them the best of luck. We introduced ourselves to the other shooter and wished him farewell, he was in the wrong spot, and headed across the valley to see what we could make of the situation. We spied some birds deviating from the mainline and sitting up on some ploughing which adjoined some spring drilling we had not previously seen. This was far from ideal but would be far enough away from the other sportsmen to not interfere with them however we would need to pull the birds 150 - 200 yards off there line. We decided to give it an hour as this line was very strong, we had already seen upwards of 400 birds travelling along it. We set up 2 hides 60 yards apart with 9 dead birds on the plough, 2 on the magnet, 1 on the flapper and 1 on a bouncer. The birds reacted almost immediately with singletons peeling off the main line to come and look at the decoys. This was not decoying in its purist sense but more a case of trying to pull them away from where they wanted to be and hopefully within range. Dead birds were put on sticks as we shot them which increased the pulling power. Over the course of next couple of hours hundreds of birds flew along the main flightline but occasionally the line would deviate as some came for a closer inspection of the birds on the plough. We all shot some lovely birds and missed some sitters. The craic was as good as ever with plenty of leg pulling and banter. We finished the day with 58 pigeons in the bag of which only about 12 properly committed to the decoys. The bag could have easily been three times this had we been able to shoot in the correct spot but we made the best of what we had, enjoying a lovely afternoon beautiful surroundings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 (edited) As with Ginger Cat's post last week I have little to add. There is little doubt that had we been on the main line that developed during our session we would have shot at least three times what we ended up with. Bare field decoying. The enormous hide which my companions shared (for Giles' head apparently after one or two good shots). Edited April 8, 2018 by JDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilksy II Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Great report clodhopper, and well done you three on making a good bag and the best of a bad job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Top report. Sounds like the plan was executed pretty well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Well done guys. There certainly is some stunning landscapes up there on the wolds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 Enjoyable read Clodhopper...... A good day had by all and a decent bag , to go with it, cant be bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead eye alan Posted April 9, 2018 Report Share Posted April 9, 2018 Stunning report you should do a write up and submit it to shooting times, you all did very well but it must have been frustrating to watch such a strong line just yards away and not be able to shoot it. Never mind the company and banter probably made up for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 Good report. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 Sounds like a brilliant day with good banter a occasional pigeon . You did will the divert some from the line. Just one question, did the perimeter of the hide have to be that big to accommodate JDogs Cap?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 1 hour ago, pigeon controller said: Sounds like a brilliant day with good banter a occasional pigeon . You did will the divert some from the line. Just one question, did the perimeter of the hide have to be that big to accommodate JDogs Cap?? Cheeky boy. The hide that my two companions built reminded me of the 'blinds' that American duck hunters use. The videos I have seen show a duck arriving and all of a sudden six highly camouflaged guns with baseball caps facing the wrong way round and armed with seven shot autos jump up and fire twenty shots. This hide could easily have accommodated those six guns plus their dogs and their truck. Mine was a much more modest affair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodhopper Posted April 10, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 4 hours ago, pigeon controller said: Sounds like a brilliant day with good banter a occasional pigeon . You did will the divert some from the line. Just one question, did the perimeter of the hide have to be that big to accommodate JDogs Cap?? JDog's hide was indeed a modest affair. But he forgot to mention his second hide in which he secreted his butler, driver and dog man. I am on the large side and Giles has a big head so we needed the extra room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted April 10, 2018 Report Share Posted April 10, 2018 3 hours ago, Clodhopper said: JDog's hide was indeed a modest affair. But he forgot to mention his second hide in which he secreted his butler, driver and dog man. I am on the large side and Giles has a big head so we needed the extra room. Say no more about JDogs entourage!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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