Have the good times finished already in North Kent ??

[M2 Shooter]

Have been out every weekend and a few evenings since Mid June and have managed to shoot a few birds and have seen lots and finding somewhere to set up and shoot has not been a problem.  Went out this weekend and the lack of birds feeding and flying was very noticeable across all my permissions.

 

In the end I set up on a field that normally produces a few birds and in the three hours I was set up I only shot one woodie!!  With many fields Disced,  ploughed and rolled have the good times finished already this year?

[figgy]

Andy Crow must have a had a few good days and thinned them all out.

[mossy835]

with andy crow he seems to have a lot of pigeons where he is,there not down here.

[motty]

6 hours ago, M2 Shooter said:

Have been out every weekend and a few evenings since Mid June and have managed to shoot a few birds and have seen lots and finding somewhere to set up and shoot has not been a problem.  Went out this weekend and the lack of birds feeding and flying was very noticeable across all my permissions.

 

In the end I set up on a field that normally produces a few birds and in the three hours I was set up I only shot one woodie!!  With many fields Disced,  ploughed and rolled have the good times finished already this year?

Surely there must still be some opportunities for some good bags where you are, but you may have to look harder - maybe even ask for more permission. This is what I did around this time a couple of years ago. I found a bean stubble heaving with pigeons, phoned the farmer to get permission, and shot my pb of 391.

Put in that extra bit of effort and you may find you get lucky.

[bavarianbrit]

Seeing very little around Dover.

[Old Boggy]

I was out looking late last week having previously had reasonable bags (for me) for my short 2/3 hour sessions of between 15 and 30, but have noticed a distinct lack of pigeon activity in this part of Kent this last week. Two of my shooting pals have noticed exactly the same, so it's not just me !

Most wheat stubble is now ploughed in, apart from some undersown with rape. There are several fields of bean stubble with very little activity at all times of the day, despite lots of beans on the surface. Even the recent rain, potentially softening the beans, has not provided any interest.

Those bean stubbles will be closely viewed in the next few days and hopefully might just provide some shooting.

Plenty of acorns on the oaks so they will provide potential later on but also delays birds hitting the rape in the winter.

As Motty rightly says, just got to keep looking.

OB

 

[Wooder]

Still got a few down my way, I have one field of barley stubble in close proximity to a large wood, this has been sown with turnips for sheep to feed on this winter. they are on it most evenings on my way home from work, gonna have a go this weekend, time has been scarce due to work commitments, hope they are still there!

don't know what they are feeding on don't think the young turnip plants would be of interest 

[ditchman]

summer is never much of a outing around here..............autumn / winter are much better tho'............but at this time of year there can be a bit of a lull...

[marsh man]

We must buck the trend where I go , this afternoon I went on some wheat stubble and when I was driving across the field the pigeons were very reluctant to leave the field , at a guess there were 3 / 400 , this might sound a lot to some of the members who haven't got to many but I can assure you the woods are full of pigeons,

The first mistake was going to late , time I dropped some pigeons off at the pub it was gone two , the second mistake was setting a magnet up , if anything it was making the pigeons very nervous and I turned that off and put two floaters well out , this didn't help that much as the pigeons dropped on the field where they liked and didn't seem to interested in decoys , having said that I picked up 23 and it was all over by 4 . 30 and timed I packed up I was back home putting the kettle on by 5 .15. 

'

[getthegat]

Rotavators were out again today, no stubble left and the ever giving bean field has probably given its last reasonable shooting for a while. Not sure what to expect from now on, though I have one perm that still has to harvest the maze. Hope I'm wrong but could be lean times ahead with more traveling and recon.

[kenholland]

I know this might sound strange , but it I go down my motorway 20 miles for my junction turn off , and I don't see any pigeon flying over it , I now I am in for a quiet day , and it is, on average.

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, getthegat said:

Rotavators were out again today, no stubble left and the ever giving bean field has probably given its last reasonable shooting for a while. Not sure what to expect from now on, though I have one perm that still has to harvest the maze. Hope I'm wrong but could be lean times ahead with more traveling and recon.

Last year I had two maize fields side by side, once they were cut and left for a few days both pigeons and rooks soon found the loose maize cobs and produced some good sport , by then most of the grain stubble cultivating is done and very soon the tractors move on the maize stubble and the pigeons move off .

 

1 hour ago, kenholland said:

I know this might sound strange , but it I go down my motorway 20 miles for my junction turn off , and I don't see any pigeon flying over it , I now I am in for a quiet day , and it is, on average.

Glad we haven't got any motorways , so we are not likely to have the same problem as you Ken ☺️

[getthegat]

A useful barometer though, the motorway thing.

Yes I guess the maze will have a 2 day window of opportunity.

Not that I've shot loads this year, most likely under 200 all season, but it's been enjoyable, with some great time in the field, ever learning and finding my lost shooting mojo in the last few weeks. 

The next few months will throw up different challenges for all of us I'm sure, which no doubt will be shared on PW. Good hunting every body.

[motty]

23 minutes ago, getthegat said:

A useful barometer though, the motorway thing.

Yes I guess the maze will have a 2 day window of opportunity.

Not that I've shot loads this year, most likely under 200 all season, but it's been enjoyable, with some great time in the field, ever learning and finding my lost shooting mojo in the last few weeks. 

The next few months will throw up different challenges for all of us I'm sure, which no doubt will be shared on PW. Good hunting every body.

I don't see how the 'motorway thing' could possibly be a good barometer. I could drive for a few miles without seeing pigeons flying, but then hit on hundreds feeding/flighting in.

 

It just goes to show how areas differ. I still have many hundreds of acres of stubbles to shoot, which may or may not produce good bags. I will still be looking, regardless.

[getthegat]

The barometer works for kenholland, that's all that matters. We use to say that if a local wooded hill near my parents house was shrouded in must or fog or cloud, it would rain. Often it did ??

The rotavating on the beans has not been completed, only about 1/4 of the field was done. This morning and most of the day, it was being hit by hundreds of pigeons. No time until Saturday, though there are still quite a lot of beans even  on the tilled areas, so maybe it's not all over yet.?