Darling buds my ****.

[JDog]

What is it, ten days since the better weather started? Something like that, and in that time I have driven many hundreds of miles looking for pigeons on drillings. Yesterday I drove 90 miles and despite looking on my own in the morning then Mightymariner and Clodhopper in the afternoon I saw nothing to excite me and never fired a shot. What few pigeons I have seen have been on ash buds and they will stay on those buds until the leaves emerge.

Clodhopper, out of his own desperation and mine suggested a look at one of his fields drilled a few days earlier with lots of grain on top and some pigeon activity. There was some movement of birds but it was a nice afternoon so what the heck and we set up along a tall hedge 40m apart. Clodhopper was hamstrung by his seven year old son and by his friend Giles, the one whose head got so big the last time we were out that the hide had to be enlarged.

The long and the short of it was that not many birds were seen, and of those a few decoyed from behind and a couple from the distant right and that was it. I believe that we picked 12 pigeons and a Carrion crow. Giles fired twelve shots without hitting a feather which greatly added to the enjoyment of the rest of us, only redeeming himself right at the end of our session.

[Clodhopper]

That about sums it up, bloody nice weather and no pigeons to share it with. One very happy little boy though.

[aga man]

Shot a similar number and a Carrion myself this evening on some backward rape patches. Didn't start shooting till 4pm and all the pigeons I shot had empty crops. Seeing a good few on clover in horse paddocks here now.

[Blackpowder]

First year ever so far not found a field or flight line to set up on, hope pea sowing is a bit better but machines are equally efficient as grain drills.

 

Blackpowder