Just a text.

[JDog]

When I moved up here three years ago I took an hour off one afternoon in April to walk the dogs. I was sitting in a field gate way watching a line of pigeons going into a bean field when a Discovery pulled up to get access to the field. We chatted and I was given permission to shoot on this satellite farm of 500 acres. The man explained that he was the estate manager for a large estate fifteen miles away and he told me that there were regular shooters on that part so I have never bothered him for access.

Last Tuesday I did some morning spotting for Clodhopper out the same way and I drove through the estate on the way home. There were pigeons everywhere and I texted the manager to say that if his regular shooters needed a hand I would oblige. He called me back to say that the 'regular' shooters were anything but and if I had time I should have a look over there. I arranged to meet him and he handed me two maps of the estate which extends to 2,000 acres. How exciting, especially as the rotation includes rape and beans.

Today I went for a look round and saw a few on a badly eaten field and I set up near a small spinney. These pigeons have not been shot at, at least not for a long time and they decoyed readily and in just less than two hours I shot and picked 33. These were shot with the Hatsan 20 bore which is a recent acquisition and which will take some getting used to I feel.

Hide on the corner of the spinney.

Corvid damage early on in the nesting season.

 

Edited April 9, 2018 by JDog

[aga man]

Well done JDog, even more land!  You picked the better day looking at the forecast. Very wet tomorrow.

Why the 20bore, neck again?

[kenholland]

I love to here stories like this j d well done and good  luck for the future ,just getting use to my 20 bore hushy but they do kill well.

[muncher]

Very nice couple of hours JD. 

[Clodhopper]

Nice couple of hours there. ?

[Wilksy II]

Great news Jdog and a great bag! Just bad news for your fuel consumption!

[marsh man]

Mr JDog.....   I dare say you could build up an unlimited amount of land regarding pigeon shooting , in reality , only a small amount of dedicated pigeon shooters can spend a lot of time looking and shooting pigeons , younger ones get tied up with females , work ect and would find the time and money difficult to maintain a good service over a large area , middle age men have family and work commitments and can only spend a limited amount of time looking and shooting pigeons , although having said that , if you were keen enough , you always find at least some time , and a few others , quite a lot of time. 

Then it leave people like our selves , got the time and ( Just enough money ) to spend the time keeping up a regular appearance and being available if anything else crop up , the only thing that can put a spanner in the works is maintaining good health , but the way I look at it is , while you have got your health then use it as one day the decoys will have to be hung up. 

Now I no longer look for extra land as I have enough land that my time and money allow , at one time I hired around 400 acres of good pigeon and rough shooting land , also my brother looked after one estate and I looked after another plus one or two farms , with the amount of wheat and various crops grown on the marshes there were odd years where the pigeons were going on the next door neighbours , a quick phone call was all it needed to gain access on that farm , this went nigh on every year as I hired the initial land for well over 20 years and in that time we had just about every farm in a large area of south Norfolk, there was also the odd time where a farmer whose land we didn't go on would ring us up and ask us if we could keep an eye on his land , so what I am getting at is , there was a lot of land to shoot pigeons on and not enough pigeon shooters to shoot them on a regular basis , this situation could well apply at the present time .  

[Clodhopper]

I think it is the age old problem, many just want to turn up and shoot in the nice weather and on the easy drilling’s. We were being watched the other day by a chap who thinks a particular farm is “his” but he only turns up in the spring. We have shot a few hundred off the rape this winter.

[marsh man]

9 minutes ago, Clodhopper said:

I think it is the age old problem, many just want to turn up and shoot in the nice weather and on the easy drilling’s. We were being watched the other day by a chap who thinks a particular farm is “his” but he only turns up in the spring. We have shot a few hundred off the rape this winter.

That could well be right , but as an example , two of our local wildfowling clubs share the pigeon shooting on a large farm of over 1000 acres , the two clubs at a guess have around 250 members , out of that lot I doubt there are more than a handful of serious pigeon shooters , one member on the forum who is retired spend a fair bit of time on the uplands and the marshland where the crops are grown and I very much doubt he see another pigeon shooter most of the time he is there and that includes weekends when other people who work have got the time off , so its not a case that they haven't got anywhere to go .

[pigeon controller]

Well done JDog you soon will have shooting rights all over England??

You prove the theory that " If you don't ask you don't get" . We have a large number of " Butterfly Shooters" who only appear during the summer months and never on the rape in the winter.

Again well done on your efforts.

 

[pbutd]

Mutual respect & trust will go a long way toward gaining permissions , add honesty ,tidiness & a bit of skill at killing pigeons (eg: PC &DB) and the refusals you get will be few & far between. 'Slowly slowly' as they say. But it is such a good feeling when you gain a new area like that!

[motty]

Well done on the new land, Dog!

I have personally stopped hunting for new land to shoot, as I feel that getting round all that I have at the moment can be a struggle. That doesn't mean that I won't ask if I see a good situation!

[JDog]

It was a text offering help on an occasional basis rather than one looking to get more land. As per Motty I believe I now have more than enough and I can’t get round it all. In addition Aga Man, Mightymariner, Gingercat and Clodhopper are all looking on their own patches and they occasionally ask me along to enjoy an outing with them.

What I have found is that farmers would rather put bangers out than get on the phone to tell me that they have a pigeon problem.