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Plenty on peas.


aga man
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I have been out shooting pigeons most evenings the past couple of weeks, mostly on young vining peas but also some spring rape which is yet to prove the pigeon attractant I thought it was.

My bags recently have not been too impressive just the usual 25- 3o shot over 3hrs in the evening. A pleasant enough way to spend these hours and it keeps the farmers happy. Many of the birds I shoot now are shot with steel as I am trying supply the falcon/hawk breeding community after the demise of my local game dealer which has caused a bit of a headache.

A large acreage of peas are grown around one particular patch I shoot and pigeons have built here slowly over the last week. Ii have had at least 2 texts from fellow pigeon shooters advising me of the pigeons, which of course I had already seen.

The land in question was not my permission but my old shooting buddy Tan has the rights there along with some others. So it was on the cards when conditions were right.

The wind forecast today to was too much to resist and  although I had to work this morning we opted to shoot today. Ii didn't expect the pigeons to feed until afternoon but on my way out to work at 9am I could see good lines crossing the main road and drifting in the wind. These lines were continuous at times. After a brief chat with tan it was decided that he would head to the field and set up to try and start proceedings and if we are honest we wanted to beat any other shooters to it!

At lunchtime I had finished work and called Tan. had has shot 15 or so but was struggling, the area is vast and pigeons headed of the other end of the field and proved tricky to decoy. I quickly packed up some lunch and made my way up there.

Shooting with steel has been a learning curve for me and a chap called ben {pestcontrol 1} who I think is possibly a former member now on PW had kindly loaded me some steel specials and help me find a load that worked for me. Because of this I had promised Ben an afternoon in the hide to thank him. Today seemed the perfect chance.

The wind was strong at 1pm but I identified a line instantly and set up a hide. The magnet was deployed and a few deads on cradles. The pigeons obliged and i left Ben to do the shooting. He hadn't shot pigeons for a while and it showed at first but he soon found his feet and made me eat humble pie by showing me what steel shot can do killing some real stonkers!

Ben left me at 4.30pm as he had an appointment and I stayed whilst 6pm. Pigeon traffic had slowed but I dare say you could of stayed till 9pm and shot pigeons. We had 48 on our clicker 30 of which Ben accounted for.

Tan bagged an impressive 84 so a bag total of 132.

Another farmer not far from here rang me tonight to say his peas are blue over, possibly with birds we pushed over there today. Told him I will look tomorrow afternoon!

Thanks for reading.

 

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Edited by aga man
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4 minutes ago, motty said:

Great report! Good result. What was your problem with the steel cartridges before?

Thanks motty. I have been using cheddite 32gm no 4 which do the job ok but I have had a fair few runners. Could be me but someone who knows more about these things than me discovered they only had 21 grains of powder in them which I presume is not enough and maybe the reason they left a lot of muck in the barrels? Any way 28gm 7 and 30gm no3 are doing the job now.

I think I am a bit set in my ways and having always shot with lead perhaps some of these things are in my head but the steel don't hit like lead for me.

 

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7 minutes ago, aga man said:

Thanks motty. I have been using cheddite 32gm no 4 which do the job ok but I have had a fair few runners. Could be me but someone who knows more about these things than me discovered they only had 21 grains of powder in them which I presume is not enough and maybe the reason they left a lot of muck in the barrels? Any way 28gm 7 and 30gm no3 are doing the job now.

I think I am a bit set in my ways and having always shot with lead perhaps some of these things are in my head but the steel don't hit like lead for me.

 

If you haven't already, try Gamebore supersteel 32gm 4. They have done the job anytime I have used them. I do like a bit of choke, too.

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4 minutes ago, motty said:

If you haven't already, try Gamebore supersteel 32gm 4. They have done the job anytime I have used them. I do like a bit of choke, too.

Thanks, will try those, they seem decent price too. Ben {pestcontrol 1} as also educated me on the importance of choke with steel. I have seen 60yd pigeons killed stoned today with steel so I can see it does the job. Just need to get my set up right. Like you Ben does a fair bit of fowling and as helped me no end.

Edited by aga man
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Great bag and report agaman! I’ve been driving past those pigeons and seen them building up, glad you got a chance to get under them Well done pal!

And if it’s the same Ben I’m thinking if he did me some steel for flighting last season he does know his stuff

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3 minutes ago, Wilksy II said:

Great bag and report agaman! I’ve been driving past those pigeons and seen them building up, glad you got a chance to get under them Well done pal!

And if it’s the same Ben I’m thinking if he did me some steel for flighting last season he does know his stuff

Thanks mate. Yes it' the same Ben. Nice kid.

Keep checking your phone messages. Will be your turn up here next.

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God knows if this will work not been able to post for ages. 

Yep a big thanks to the one an only Aagman had a cracking few hours in the hide with you m8 had a good chin wag in-between the pigeons an bangs glad I pulled my finger out an found them eventually an glad I could show you what steel can really do when you can hit um ?

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well done guys-

I also recommend GB supersteel in 3's or 4's (the last lot of 3's were sold cheap to me).

I've only got one field of pea's on the go-had a 40 bird day last week. Its been a  battle to beat other shooters into position bearing in mind I've had sole permission for about 7 years however the new farm manager is handing out permission to anybody that's passing-I'll be having a word this week as my services go well beyond a fleeting visit during this fruitful fair weather time.

I'm out tomorrow, being a shift worker can be beneficial at times when the other guys are tied to weekends only-and also the forecast for Saturday is rain.

regarding shells-Bywell shooting ground are offering a 32g steel rottweil for £172 a thousand-now that is cheap and Rottweil make darn good shells.

perhaps a YO postcode day trip to stock up??

have a good wee

kend if you're out and I'll report back on tomorrow.

f.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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6 minutes ago, Fuddster said:

well done guys-

I also recommend GB supersteel in 3's or 4's (the last lot of 3's were sold cheap to me).

I've only got one field of pea's on the go-had a 40 bird day last week. Its been a  battle to beat other shooters into position bearing in mind I've had sole permission for about 7 years however the new farm manager is handing out permission to anybody that's passing-I'll be having a word this week as my services go well beyond a fleeting visit during this fruitful fair weather time.

I'm out tomorrow, being a shift worker can be beneficial at times when the other guys are tied to weekends only-and also the forecast for Saturday is rain.

regarding shells-Bywell shooting ground are offering a 32g steel rottweil for £172 a thousand-now that is cheap and Rottweil make darn good shells.

perhaps a YO postcode day trip to stock up??

have a good wee

kend if you're out and I'll report back on tomorrow.

f.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that fudds, much appreciated. Nothing like a field of peas to bring out the butterfly shooters!

Good luck tomorrow pal.

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Well done great result, very informative report. I've had to change to steel due to the decline in the lead shot market, and found them to be effective. The concern is that the reptile and rapter market will get to saturation point during the stubbles ?? 

I look forward to your continued reports on steel shooting.

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Thanks PC. A very good point you make.

I have already decided that I may well cut back on the amount I shoot over stubble this year. At the moment the peas and spring rape need to be protected and luckily I am shifting birds ok. I enjoy shooting pigeons as much a the next man but killing big numbers with no outlet for them does not appeal to me.

I am still pursuing other possible outlets and have more freezers but I am starting to worry about moving my shot birds as harvest approaches. 

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8 hours ago, aga man said:

Thanks PC. A very good point you make.

I have already decided that I may well cut back on the amount I shoot over stubble this year. At the moment the peas and spring rape need to be protected and luckily I am shifting birds ok. I enjoy shooting pigeons as much a the next man but killing big numbers with no outlet for them does not appeal to me.

I am still pursuing other possible outlets and have more freezers but I am starting to worry about moving my shot birds as harvest approaches. 

That's the main reason I drive to Greece for a couple of months in July and August as the " Butterfly Shooters " flood the markets with stubble birds. I too do not like shooting for crop protection and discarding the shot birds which I feel is disrespectful to our quarry. 

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