Real or imitation pigeons on a rotary?

[BinaryB]

Dear all

Calling on the more experienced pigeon shooters on here than I to ask the following :-

Are real pigeons or decoy birds best in terms of using them on a rotary?

i can never seem to get real birds to mount on the spreaders etc that well and as a result I always feel the birds look odd to say the least. It got me thinking if I would be better off buying a couple of decoy birds that are designed to mount on the arms of a rotary.

i would be interested to hear any opinions on this.

Many thanks

 

 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Some will state that dead birds are best, great if you have a pair. I use Hypa-Flaps.  

[Westley]

+ 1  for Hypa-Flaps on my 2 rotary's.

[shootgun]

Nothing can beat the real birds.

I always keep in a freezer a couple for the magnet from the previous outing.

Hypa flaps are good, but useless in strong winds.

[marsh man]

I have only used the real thing so I cant comment on the Hypa flaps or whatever they are called ,

At one time I used to put two fresh pigeons on a spare pair of spreaders and put them in my chest freezer so when I went on the spur of the moment all I had to do was fix them to the magnet arms and way you go , then when I got home I would put the thawed out ones in the freezer and set a pair up from the days bag .

One bit of advice , start off with a pair of clean ones with both wings intact and bend the spreaders arm so that the spike or clips go in the birds center wing joint , this work fine me , others might think differently .

[motty]

The first time I used hypaflaps I shot a bag of 202. They do work ok, but less so in a good wind. I have nearly always got dead birds, so I use those. If you are finding that pigeons don't look right on your magnet, then I would suggest you are either putting them on wrong, or you have strange wing spreaders/attachments on the arms.

[Harnser]

I use the hypaflaps and find them very good . You do need to tune them each time you use them . You can alter the angle that they are on the magnate arms by just turning them slightly before tightening them down . I can Always get them to flap well by using this method and will adjust the angle a few times to get it right . They are much lighter than real birds and the battery will last longer and less wear on the rotary . The angle that you need to get them to flap will change each time you use them because of the weather conditions on the day,wind speed etc.

harnser

[pigeon controller]

I've always used real birds on the magnet, the very best I can save from previous shooting. I ensure that I get a good wing spread and then have elastic to keep them in place. Place the legs through the centre bar and elastic again to the wing nut.This prevents the rotary force pushing the bird to the edge of the frame, finally spread the tail and hold to allow the muscle to keep the tail spread as if landing. 

[Wilksy II]

Breasted birds make them a fair bit lighter and can you save your battery, extending your magnets  run time 

[BinaryB]

Thanks all for the useful comments. I think i'll persevere with dead birds and look into how where to position the spreaders exactly. Good tip about breasting them!

Edited July 30, 2018 by BinaryB

[dead eye alan]

On 29/07/2018 at 13:09, Wilksy II said:

Breasted birds make them a fair bit lighter and can you save your battery, extending your magnets  run time 

Spot on!!!!!  

[Old Boggy]

As Wilksy 11, I try to use breasted birds where possible for lightness but have used hyper flaps and have found then to be a good substitute. More often than not, not bothering to change to real birds when the hyper flaps were working OK. On one occasion, I changed over to real birds with a noticeable drop off in pulling power, so changed back to hyper flaps where normal 'service' was resumed. Perhaps it was coincidence, bad presentation, wind strength or something but the HPs definitely worked better on that occasion.

When viewing the HPs going round from a distance there appears to be more noticeable movement. Just my observations, but as Motty says and he's shot many more than me, they have worked well for him.

OB

[Terry2016]

Real Birds as the majority above, Although i would add start with birds form the freezer and change them when you get a couple of fresh ones.

If you look at frozen birds compared to fresh they are duller.. they do work but it may give you that bit more of a visual aspect if needed.

I have also used Hyper flaps they work ok.. just break to often and are too fiddly for me .. the get screwed up and all sorts lol ( i am a bit rough on the decoys) hence real birds work best

atb 

Terry

[kenholland]

I use two half shell's slit each side use foam wings easy to buy lighter on the rotary battery last's longer , works for me .

[Walker570]

Many moons ago I used to get some formalin from the chemist and although it was not 100% stuff , when injected into pigeons it would not only preserve them, but set them in whatever position you chose. Used to breast out stuff kitchen paper in and roughly sew up and then inject all over with formalin. VERY nasty stuff so if you can get hold of some then handle with GREAT care.  Used to have six set up as feeders and store them in a ladies pair of tights with toes cut off and that way they would slide through without damaging the feathers and a couple set for the home made 'whirly' I had before magnets, talking over 30yrs ago. Now like today, I'm lazy, just 3 or 4 frozen and a floater.

[marsh man]

23 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Many moons ago I used to get some formalin from the chemist and although it was not 100% stuff , when injected into pigeons it would not only preserve them, but set them in whatever position you chose. Used to breast out stuff kitchen paper in and roughly sew up and then inject all over with formalin. VERY nasty stuff so if you can get hold of some then handle with GREAT care.  Used to have six set up as feeders and store them in a ladies pair of tights with toes cut off and that way they would slide through without damaging the feathers and a couple set for the home made 'whirly' I had before magnets, talking over 30yrs ago. Now like today, I'm lazy, just 3 or 4 frozen and a floater.

Decoys have advanced a lot over the last 30 years Walker , at one time it was a ritual on a Winters Friday night to take a dozen out of the freezer for the following days shoot , if it was the Summer I would take them out first thing in the morning and with a bit of luck they would go back in the freezer when I got home .

Now I take out two for either the magnet or the two floaters , the rest of the decoys are flocked shells or full body Flexi coys , the shells I find will sit on the stubble without any supports and I will put full body on a cradle , some days I replace with dead ones and other days I leave the dead ones where they fall , a sure sign of getting lazy and old , both in equal parts☺️

[Walker570]

Yep lots of developement. My first decoy ever was a wooden one carved and painted by my grandfather. Shooting cartridges with black lines around them and little WD arrows, stuff from Home Guard stores

Still have the brass resizing ring he had to resize the odd paper case which had swelled a bit.  Happy days.

I was looking at some cradles for dead birds this week.  I make mine from high tensile electric fencer wire and in different heights. Set one or two on high ones if there is a breeze and they will rock back and forth where the commercial ones I saw, although well made were too stiff to do that.

[Old Boggy]

8 hours ago, Walker570 said:

 

Still have the brass resizing ring he had to resize the odd paper case which had swelled a bit.  Happy days.

 

I bought one of those from Churchill Gunmakers who were in Orange Street in London. Must have been early 60s. Went into the shop to drool over their wares and the brass resizer was the only thing that I could afford. Wish I still had it. Had to make one recently in 16g which works well on some old paper cased cartridges that I was given. As you say, happy days indeed.

OB