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Feel like a England batsman


muncher
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I starting to feel like a batsman, getting scores but not pushing on. Last Thursday I was out driving from job to job when I spotted a freshly drilled barley field getting plenty of attention,a quick phone call to book the rest of the afternoon off and have a go in a very strong Westerly wind. I only had 8 plastic  shell decoys to start with and I set up next to a hedge with the wind in my back. First pair in delt with, so I had a pair for the rotory. After half an hour I only had 4 birds down and the flight line had moved to the other side along a dyke edge, so I upped sticks and moved and got down the side of the dyke no hide ,I just made a ledge to stand on. That did the trick and the pigeons came straight in ,it was now 2.30.I was getting a lot of customers when the drill pulled back into the field to finish the headlands,so I had to move all the decoys etc out of the way then set up again. Great that all done and birds dropping in nicely,when they decided to roll the field,I called it a day at that point with 37 in a couple of hours.

Saturday I had the usual conversation with Motty, he had a good field of beans to shoot .I must say I wasn't keen due to the amount of rain and it was still raining.Well he persuaded me and we set up under some tall poplar trees with an umberlla.Well it rained all day the field was so wet we couldn't walk on it ,so we only used the dogs to pick any birds we shot and yes we had several customers come mainly to sit in the trees . The birds fizzeled out and we manged a very wet 53.

Sunday is not a day I normally go shooting but the wife was busy studying,so out I went again with my brother to look around. We drove around several fields and found nothing of any interest.Motty called and said I might have a field worth a go ,so we met up and watched a drilled bean field for a while and it did have some birds down but not enough in my mind for 3 shooters,so I said I will look elsewhereleaving my brother with Motty. I went to a poor rape field I had asked my brother to check out but he said it was void of pigeons,but I found a good amount down feeding. I loaded up my rucksack and four dead birds and trudged over to the corner of the field next to a small hedge where the birds had been feeding, the wind was coming from my right and very strong too. Almost immediately birds dropped in and I felt that I might be on for a big bag,but it slowed down and I would get busy for a bit with spells of quiet, the shooting was quite difficult in the wind and several just passed wide of the decoys for long shots. Slowly the activity died down and at 4 o'clock I packed up with 41 picked up. I now am starting to feel like a English batsman getting scores but not pushing on.

Monday I was on my way home from work when I spotted a massive cloud of pigeons,so I investigated and found a drilled barley field with about 700 feeding hard. So I phoned Motty to see if he felt like a day of shooting pigeons,yes was the answer the only problem was I couldn't find a single grain of barley on the top, I felt we might of missed the opportunity. Tuesday morning we arrived at the field at a bout 9.30 to see 1 pigeon down and nothing joined for an hour,so we decided to have a drive round and look for alternatives. After a while we arrived back at the bean filed we shot on Saturday to find a lot of birds feeding hard. So we thought it's worth a go. We set up in a shallow dyke with the wind coming do the field from oveour right shoulders, 10 shells and a couple of dead birds on the rotory. Some birds decoyed well while others were shying off the pattern,we tried several changes but the result was the same ,some dived in others came and then spooked giving us some testing shots . The flight slowed up and Motty went under the same trees as Saturday for a while to try and stop them going in there and pick a few fly dies that had just made the trees. We stayed untill half five to just scaped the ton with 102 and a Jackdaw. Prehaps my place is secure in the team now I've made a big score this season,well for a while!

 

 

Edited by muncher
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Good report, Jules. You must be very busy at work!

The first picture is about 20 birds light, as 10 were in my truck and I had an armful at that moment. Well done on remembering the jackdaw. I thought my dog wanted to take it home!

Yesterday was good, but extremely frustrating. There were hundreds of birds around. They would set their wings to come in and then just decide against it at 60-70 yards. It happened all day. Luckily some fell for the trap.

Edited by motty
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Good report. You might be struggling for numbers but at least you are batting.

I have yet to get going as my best land is still to be drilled and it's raining as I type.

I did get a text yesterday from a farmer saying he drilled spring rape last Thursday though so I am hopeful.

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A good detailed report and at least you are getting on the score sheet. Is the captain just doing a bit of squad rotation in readiness for some big bags?

Strange with the birds shying away. I had a similar situation last spring when some where suicidal and others came within 70 yards and just veered away, could not seem to change it. No idea why.

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Don't get me wrong,they are good bags in anyones book, it just seems I get a very good start for it to just dry up. The birds are shying away because they have seen it before,if not by us then other shooters, either that or we couldn't get the pattern dead right.

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6 minutes ago, muncher said:

Don't get me wrong,they are good bags in anyones book, it just seems I get a very good start for it to just dry up. The birds are shying away because they have seen it before,if not by us then other shooters, either that or we couldn't get the pattern dead right.

Yep. If they had all decoyed properly, it could have been a 250 bag. Big if.

Still, not a bad start on a new farm.

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1 hour ago, muncher said:

Don't get me wrong,they are good bags in anyones book, it just seems I get a very good start for it to just dry up. The birds are shying away because they have seen it before,if not by us then other shooters, either that or we couldn't get the pattern dead right.

As you say , good bags in any ones book , as long as you are getting good sport and having a good day, the bag size is not really that important .

If we knew all the answers when it comes to pigeon decoying I don't think the population in the U K would be as big as it is now and deep down , would we really want to know all the answers ? , if we did , would it be as much fun as getting it right every time you set up ?.

Buy the way , I thought I had a good job when I was working , employed on a 5000 acre estate with plenty of pigeon shooting , but I couldn't go at the drop of the hat when I bumped into a likely field , you two must have some very understanding employers , unless you are both self employed :lol:

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1 hour ago, marsh man said:

As you say , good bags in any ones book , as long as you are getting good sport and having a good day, the bag size is not really that important .

If we knew all the answers when it comes to pigeon decoying I don't think the population in the U K would be as big as it is now and deep down , would we really want to know all the answers ? , if we did , would it be as much fun as getting it right every time you set up ?.

Buy the way , I thought I had a good job when I was working , employed on a 5000 acre estate with plenty of pigeon shooting , but I couldn't go at the drop of the hat when I bumped into a likely field , you two must have some very understanding employers , unless you are both self employed

Luckily, we can both usually get the next day off if a good situation presents itself.

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On ‎02‎/‎05‎/‎2018 at 02:53, motty said:

Good report, Jules. You must be very busy at work!

The first picture is about 20 birds light, as 10 were in my truck and I had an armful at that moment. Well done on remembering the jackdaw. I thought my dog wanted to take it home!

Yesterday was good, but extremely frustrating. There were hundreds of birds around. They would set their wings to come in and then just decide against it at 60-70 yards. It happened all day. Luckily some fell for the trap.

This pulling out at 60-70 yards is what they have been doing 90% of the time in my part of Essex for years. I put it down to overshooting, do you remember ridiculing my post about educating Essex birds - "mensa pigeons!" you called them??

Shot my 1st wild turkey last week, they are quite well educated too...   At least you can call them in.

Cheers,

Kitchrat

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still very good bags, but I know exactly what you mean you should of had a lot more if they had decoyed better its happened more times than I care to remember to us, and you come home thinking that should of been more with the amount I seen flighting today 

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