Fields of gold

[motty]

I was disappointed to miss out on the action with Jules on Thursday, but pleased the brothers got a good bag. I just had to find a good looking spot for yesterday. I had earmarked a farm where the pigeons were getting stuck into some barley, but the field itself looked difficult to shoot, with regards to picking shot birds. I hatched a plan to have one set-up on the beans next door, and one set-up on the sugar beet across the road. Well, that was the plan until I spied a LOT of pigeons on another farm 20 miles away. These birds were also enjoying the barley. The problem was still the one of picking shot birds. There was also the fact that there was more than one field they were targeting. I devised another plan. It was pretty simple, if the farmer gave the ok. I phoned and asked if I could position Jules and Gerard elsewhere on the farm, if need be. He agreed to this, trusting me to sort it out.

I arrived at the farm yesterday at 8:15am, to see a few birds flitting about. I had a walk about and spotted a pair of grey partridge with some young, hiding in the canary grass. The adults did their best to draw my attention away from their tiny offspring. Not something I see very often. Jules arrived, and I showed him where I intended to place him. As he followed, a load of pheasant chicks crossed the road. Also nice to see.

Jules was to shoot next to barley field 1, just under half a mile from barley field 2 (my position). He had the option of trying to drop his birds on the canary grass (1ft tall and a bit patchy) or an eaten off corner of rape. My field adjoined a potato field. I intended to drop my birds on that. Gerard would be deployed when he had arrived after work.

My pair of magnets, side by side on the edge of the barley, were drawing pigeons across. They often had to fly across the whole of the barley field to reach my trap, slow down to land in the potatoes, and get shot. It was working, but it was slow going at the start (10am). Jules was heard popping away in the distance, having a better start than me. It was decided that Gerard would join his brother when he arrived.

I was on form for a change. I was killing some cracking crossers. It would have been nice to have had someone with me to witness and congratulate me on some of my better efforts. Again I was using my Bettinsoli o/u. The gun is definitely growing on me.

It was clear that we were all going to get plenty of shooting. By 1pm both hides had over 50 down, though Gerard and Jules were still popping away more than me. This continued until later, when the roles were reversed. My magnets were so effective. I dropped several birds in exactly the same spot as they slowed and hovered above them - easy shooting!

The action couldn't last forever. It slowed up a bit by 3.30pm. We had all had enough. Field 1 yielded 115 pigeons and 2 jackdaws. Field 2 yielded 132 pigeons and a crow. The pigeons were quite heavily flyblown and were taken straight to the dealer.

The farmer was happy with the result.

[Guest stevo]

Nice write up motty and a blinding result mate ??, did you take them to Lincolnshire game ? 

[muncher]

Was a very nice day, with a lot of pigeons about most of which went straight past us but the odd one would peal of and decoy to the edge of a rape field .I had a nice rows buck come for a look,but the fly's where unbelievable , never had it so bad.

 

[JDog]

Well done Maestro.

Your expertise paid dividends.

[motty]

16 minutes ago, stevo said:

Nice write up motty and a blinding result mate ??, did you take them to Lincolnshire game ? 

Haven't taken them there for a while. Not sure what they are paying. A year or so a go they were paying 40p fresh or frozen. Now they don't want frozen at all, and I bet they're only paying 20p fresh.

[motty]

6 minutes ago, JDog said:

Well done Maestro.

Your expertise paid dividends.

I had high hopes for yesterday. Thankfully, the things that I thought could go wrong, didn't. I am glad it worked, as I get pretty anxious any time I have guests.

As an aside, it is by far the best result I have had on this particular farm. It seemed like birds from far and wide were going there.

[ditchman]

nicely done....they grey partridge were they reared or natural ?....nice surprise that...if they were natural ...certainly a good indication of good sensible land managment and spraying regimes....

[marsh man]

North Norfolk is coming into its own as far as pigeon shooting goes , to get two 100+ bags off two different fields is pretty good going , picking up over barley is always a pain so you done well to devise a plan  where you can shoot and retrieve without going into the barley more than need be .

As for the flies , I was shooting again on the Mustard field yesterday and I didn't find the flies any problem , I shot nearly 40 and put them in a post office sack as soon as I picked them up and cooled them off in the fridge / freezer as soon as I got home .

Any young game chicks have got a very good start , warm , dry nights and plenty of insect life , next week should be a scorcher. 

[Guest stevo]

30 minutes ago, motty said:

Haven't taken them there for a while. Not sure what they are paying. A year or so a go they were paying 40p fresh or frozen. Now they don't want frozen at all, and I bet they're only paying 20p fresh.

Only reason I ask , I heard a rumour that as you say there not excepting frozen and there only paying 10 p a bird ? 

I would rather stay on the crows .

[aga man]

Great report motty, a very well executed plan. Nice to hear you made the effort to get the birds off to the game dealer.

As I sit here basking in the Spanish sunshine, I see on other internet sites that big numbers are being shot over barley at the minute and no doubt very few are going into the food chain.

A real shame. 

Well shot guys.

[Clodhopper]

I love it when a plan comes together. Great read, some cracking shooting and nice to see the wild partridge. They are just showing proper interest in the Barley in my neck of the woods, we have no lodged areas or low crops near by so an especially cunning plan will be needed.