Stubble disappointment & size

[getthegat]

All wheat fields have been disc'd and the one field of beans has been cut, it's a big field, so not easy to pick the best spot, but the ground is literally covered with beans that either dropped as they were cut or fell out of the pods before cutting due to the heat; you could hear the pods splitting in the hot sun. I took a look this evening and the birds seem to be liking a long gradual slope and 50 yards out nearly at the top of the field is a electricity pylon with some tall grass at the bottom. It's in a good position, I figure on setting up there on Friday afternoon. It's quite a trek, so I will have to travel light. Some rain is forecast, which may or may not help. Not counting my chickens ( pigeons in this case) but fingers crossed for a nice few hours. 

[marsh man]

9 minutes ago, getthegat said:

All wheat fields have been disc'd and the one field of beans has been cut, it's a big field, so not easy to pick the best spot, but the ground is literally covered with beans that either dropped as they were cut or fell out of the pods before cutting due to the heat; you could hear the pods splitting in the hot sun. I took a look this evening and the birds seem to be liking a long gradual slope and 50 yards out nearly at the top of the field is a electricity pylon with some tall grass at the bottom. It's in a good position, I figure on setting up there on Friday afternoon. It's quite a trek, so I will have to travel light. Some rain is forecast, which may or may not help. Not counting my chickens ( pigeons in this case) but fingers crossed for a nice few hours. 

You should do well if you are the only farm with the beans cut , we have only got one lot and they should be done sometime next week as some of the stalks are still a bit Green .

I don't mind shooting around the bottom of a pylon , you don't have to worry to much about the wind direction and the metal work come in handy to hang your net on , plus you have the added bonus of tall vegetation around the base that get left alone .

I also use telegraph poles that run across one or two of the farms I go , on these I put four poles in the ground ( two in the front and two level with the back of the pole ) , I then put a nail in about 6 foot up the pole to hang the back of the nets up and just open it like a curtain when I go in and out , now, most of the poles I go on have still got a nail in from previous visits  ☺️ .

GOOD LUCK for Friday.

[Old Boggy]

11 hours ago, marsh man said:

 

I also use telegraph poles that run across one or two of the farms I go , on these I put four poles in the ground ( two in the front and two level with the back of the pole ) , I then put a nail in about 6 foot up the pole to hang the back of the nets up and just open it like a curtain when I go in and out , now, most of the poles I go on have still got a nail in from previous visits  ☺️ .

GOOD LUCK for Friday.

Stour boy on here and myself did exactly that around a telegraph pole on wheat stubble on Tuesday afternoon. He came armed with the hammer and nails. Worked well and also provided shade from the sun.

We had a few, but our banter distracted us to the extent that concentration was lost and quite a few chances missed as pigeons came in unnoticed. 

A good few hours out though in good company with a few birds each to take home.

It doesn't get much better.

OB

[Penelope]

12 hours ago, getthegat said:

All wheat fields have been disc'd and the one field of beans has been cut, it's a big field, so not easy to pick the best spot, but the ground is literally covered with beans that either dropped as they were cut or fell out of the pods before cutting due to the heat; you could hear the pods splitting in the hot sun. I took a look this evening and the birds seem to be liking a long gradual slope and 50 yards out nearly at the top of the field is a electricity pylon with some tall grass at the bottom. It's in a good position, I figure on setting up there on Friday afternoon. It's quite a trek, so I will have to travel light. Some rain is forecast, which may or may not help. Not counting my chickens ( pigeons in this case) but fingers crossed for a nice few hours. 

Had a field like this a few years ago, the beans on the ground were so thick, you couldn't have put a five pound not on the floor without it touching beans. The pigeons didn't bother with it at all. I had 21 one afternoon, pulling them off a flight line. They were the only pigeons shot over that field.

[getthegat]

I sat at the bottom of the pylon yesterday just to get the lie of the land and birds came right towards me and even landed, as if I blended into the metalwork! As long as my hair isn't standing on end then I guess I'm safe. The field looks hopefull but not as popular as a freshly cut wheat field about 5 miles away; that field is not possible to shoot as it's too near houses, road etc

 

[getthegat]

Well that was an eventful few hours. Me and Soph' trudged across to our pylon position, put out 12 shells and 1 silosock floater in a rough horseshoe to my right almost at the top of the slope, with my half dozen Fuds and another floater to my left with basically the pylon back and in-between. My hide was a camo tarp strung across behind and above us and my net across the front so we're sat in between the 4 pylon legs but on one edge. It starts well and I shoot good, 5 down with 6 shots. It's blowing a hooley and the tarp is whacking me around the head, but it's sort of working. We have one shower and I'm glad of the bit of shelter, then all hell breaks loose. A massive thunder storm for what seems like hours. Soph is cowering under my legs covered with my wax jacket and I'm hanging on to the tarp for dear life with both hands, hoping we don't get struck by lightning. Eventually it stops and we shoot some more, then more rain. Goodness knows how the hide worked, with the tarp flapping like a sail boat sail in a hurricane, but birds decoyed in. After about 3 hours we chuck in the towel and collect our soggy gear and count up the tally; 20! if I count the 2 unpicked ones, and for 30 shots. Most were juveniles, which surprised me, with one dropped at a paced out 51 yards?So all in all; eventful is the best way to discribe my afternoon on the beans.

[marsh man]

7 minutes ago, getthegat said:

Well that was an eventful few hours. Me and Soph' trudged across to our pylon position, put out 12 shells and 1 silosock floater in a rough horseshoe to my right almost at the top of the slope, with my half dozen Fuds and another floater to my left with basically the pylon back and in-between. My hide was a camo tarp strung across behind and above us and my net across the front so we're sat in between the 4 pylon legs but on one edge. It starts well and I shoot good, 5 down with 6 shots. It's blowing a hooley and the tarp is whacking me around the head, but it's sort of working. We have one shower and I'm glad of the bit of shelter, then all hell breaks loose. A massive thunder storm for what seems like hours. Soph is cowering under my legs covered with my wax jacket and I'm hanging on to the tarp for dear life with both hands, hoping we don't get struck by lightning. Eventually it stops and we shoot some more, then more rain. Goodness knows how the hide worked, with the tarp flapping like a sail boat sail in a hurricane, but birds decoyed in. After about 3 hours we chuck in the towel and collect our soggy gear and count up the tally; 20! if I count the 2 unpicked ones, and for 30 shots. Most were juveniles, which surprised me, with one dropped at a paced out 51 yards?So all in all; eventful is the best way to discribe my afternoon on the beans.

As you say , eventful , I would say more an endurance test , being underneath a pylon in a thunderstorm is not really on my bucket list  .

How ironic with all the hot , dry weather we had been having you had to pick one of the only wet days we have had in weeks.

Anyhow , good write up and I am glad you all came away in one piece , wet maybe but no doubt you enjoyed it and are now looking forward to your next ( hopefully dry ) day out .

[getthegat]

Cheers for that Mr Marshman, it wasn't what I'd hoped for either and definitely not on my bucket list. I was glad to be back shooting half reasonably well, my lighter Franchi and some 30 grm 6s from Just Cartridge doing the business and restoring some lost confidence in my abilities. 

[anser2]

On 05/08/2018 at 22:25, marsh man said:

Lucky you , We are now entering the time where young game birds are being put in release pens and all the surrounding fields will become a no go area , you certainly wont get on the fields if they are only stubble , then how do you know on the day you have looked the maximum number have already built up ?, 

I think you would be doing well getting a good bag of pigeons off rape stubble after three weeks , more so if you have had rain during that duration . 

Also next years rape crop is normally on this years barley fields , so how long do you expect the farmer to leave them if the rape is going in on those fields ? . unless of course he direct drill into the stubble's.

 

Very true marshman. I usually find that once we get a bit of rain within days the rape seed germinates and thats the end of shooting on that field.

[marsh man]

12 hours ago, anser2 said:

Very true marshman. I usually find that once we get a bit of rain within days the rape seed germinates and thats the end of shooting on that field.

I find bean stubble exactly the same , once the loose beans break out into leaf the best of the shooting is over .

One of our rape stubble's have been void of pigeons for well over a week now , then on one of the wet days during the week the farm ripped it up and ran the cultivator  over , yesterday afternoon I went past and there were a nice lot of pigeons had got back on there , possibly looking for seed that were in the cracks in the soil that hadn't germinated ? , whatever they found I don't think it will last long , so that might be my port of call today while they are still showing any interest .