James Dixey Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 I have shot wood pigeons for 30 years in East Kent; and have access to over 100 farms between the A28 and A257 south of Canterbury, down to the coast between Folkestone and Sandwich Used to get regular bags of 50-100 in a day with a record of 284 on newly sown near Bridge, just o/s Canterbury Took a bit of a break over the last 3 years through work Have now been back out looking for 4 whole days and haven't found a single decent flight line or more than the odd couple of birds on the odd field or two. Am I just looking in the wrong places or have the big numbers just disappeared? I notice more and more woodies in domestic gardens; is this a trend? Please advise/all help and advice will be acknowledged James Dixey Ickham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
la bala Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 Maybe on your 3 year lay off someone else has got in there and thinned them out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 There are defo more birds in gardens if mine is anything to go by. That said there are stop big numbers out there, saw hundreds and hundreds yesterday and I have a plan to deal with them in a few days time. Keep looking and welcome back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 same down here a lot in the trees at the back of my garden,been out on 3 farms today and not seen a pigeon to shoot at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arley Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 Beech Trees around my office are covered in pigeons eating the leaves, a couple of hundred at least Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 Dozens of them round our street .i think they now they are safe can not shoot on estate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 Of course there are pigeons in towns. Their numbers have swelled enormously over the last 50 years. They have spread far and wide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 A tricky year to get back out looking to be fair. If you don't have any peas or spring rape, I'm sure you will see numbers when the cereals start to ripen. You will probably find your local sports pitches are covered in pigeons at the moment feeing on clover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PPP Posted May 5, 2018 Report Share Posted May 5, 2018 Access to 100 farms? Jesus! Maybe it’s too much land to really keep an eye on? I regularly shoot over 3 farms totalling less than 3,000 acres and struggle to keep up with that at times... Msybe narrow the search Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted May 6, 2018 Report Share Posted May 6, 2018 Urban pigeons have increased a great deal over the past five years in my opinion. More decoyers have spooked pigeons so they tend to feed in times they feel safe. Observations have seen a large proportion of birds sitting in trees then follow the leader down to feed , if not disturbed they gorge then sit in trees. Flightlines tend to be early and late to the said feeding fields.They are learning to evolve to survive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooder Posted May 6, 2018 Report Share Posted May 6, 2018 (edited) On 5/5/2018 at 11:47, James Dixey said: I have shot wood pigeons for 30 years in East Kent; and have access to over 100 farms between the A28 and A257 south of Canterbury, down to the coast between Folkestone and Sandwich Used to get regular bags of 50-100 in a day with a record of 284 on newly sown near Bridge, just o/s Canterbury Took a bit of a break over the last 3 years through work Have now been back out looking for 4 whole days and haven't found a single decent flight line or more than the odd couple of birds on the odd field or two. Am I just looking in the wrong places or have the big numbers just disappeared? I notice more and more woodies in domestic gardens; is this a trend? Please advise/all help and advice will be acknowledged James Dixey Ickham Hi I live in selling near Faversham, but come from your area used to live in littlebourne and shoot farms at Ickham (Haywards and mike Maise) also H Edited May 6, 2018 by Wooder CLICKED SEND BY ACCIDENT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooder Posted May 6, 2018 Report Share Posted May 6, 2018 i will try again too much beer and sunshine !! Hi I live in selling near Faversham, but come from your area used to live in Littlebourne and have shot farms at Ickham (Haywards and mike Maise's also Twymans) not many birds in the fields down our way at the moment, even the drillings where poor ! had some good days on the rape at a farm near Chartham, but no large bags. flocks down in Kent are not what they used too be. best shooting is on the rape stubble so a long wait !! go for s pint in the Rose at Wickhambreaux some time in the next village. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted May 6, 2018 Report Share Posted May 6, 2018 19 hours ago, PPP said: Access to 100 farms? Jesus! Maybe it’s too much land to really keep an eye on? I regularly shoot over 3 farms totalling less than 3,000 acres and struggle to keep up with that at times... Msybe narrow the search Could be some truth in your post , keeping an eye on 100 farms would certainly take some doing , more so if they were large farms , I have got the time and find keeping check on the land I have got takes most of it up . over the years I have homed in on some decent land for pigeon shooting and I don't think I could do any better by having much more land to look after . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Dixey Posted May 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 On 06/05/2018 at 15:10, Wooder said: i will try again too much beer and sunshine !! Hi I live in selling near Faversham, but come from your area used to live in Littlebourne and have shot farms at Ickham (Haywards and mike Maise's also Twymans) not many birds in the fields down our way at the moment, even the drillings where poor ! had some good days on the rape at a farm near Chartham, but no large bags. flocks down in Kent are not what they used too be. best shooting is on the rape stubble so a long wait !! go for s pint in the Rose at Wickhambreaux some time in the next village. Thanks for responding My house is equidistant from Rose and Duke William; so I have a wonderful choice! I will buy you a pint if you fancy a wander back to your ole huntin grounds! I don't buy the line "wait until the right feeding turns up" If the birds are not in our areas, where have they gone? They still have to eat and need an awful lot; they have to eat their own weight every 36 hours is what a Min of Ag scientist told me 10 years ago They have gone somewhere and are feeding as they always have We just have to find out where and on what! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Dixey Posted May 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 On 05/05/2018 at 13:59, la bala said: Maybe on your 3 year lay off someone else has got in there and thinned them out. Could have done! On 05/05/2018 at 15:12, GingerCat said: There are defo more birds in gardens if mine is anything to go by. That said there are stop big numbers out there, saw hundreds and hundreds yesterday and I have a plan to deal with them in a few days time. Keep looking and welcome back. 2 minutes ago, James Dixey said: Could have done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Dixey Posted May 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2018 Thanks for your encouragement to keep looking! What were those 000's you spotted feeding on and where are you? I want to find out how far pigeons will move from where they were born to find food James Dixey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wooder Posted May 8, 2018 Report Share Posted May 8, 2018 13 hours ago, James Dixey said: Thanks for responding My house is equidistant from Rose and Duke William; so I have a wonderful choice! I will buy you a pint if you fancy a wander back to your ole huntin grounds! I don't buy the line "wait until the right feeding turns up" If the birds are not in our areas, where have they gone? They still have to eat and need an awful lot; they have to eat their own weight every 36 hours is what a Min of Ag scientist told me 10 years ago They have gone somewhere and are feeding as they always have We just have to find out where and on what! Hi James, a pint sounds good! I think the poor shooting over drillings this year was all about timing, the drillings where late due to bad weather, so the birds where already on the buds. There are about 20 beech trees over the road from the front of my house, over the last week or two there have been about 50 or 60 birds feed daily on the buds. what farm did you shoot the 284 on ? I have shot at highland court farm at Bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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