Just what the doctor ordered

[motty]

I had spotted a good looking opportunity on some wheat stubble. It had been ripped up, but I was hopeful that the pigeons were still finding enough food to keep them keen.

Jules had been under a been a bit of stress at work over the last week, so he was delighted to come and have a day at the pigeons. We met up at just after 10am and got set up in a nice dry ditch.

We started with just two dead birds on the magnet directly in front of us. This had the desired effect, and we were in to the birds straight away. We obviously added the slain to the set up as we shot them.  They were coming thick and fast, so we had to make rapid tidy ups when we decided to do so.

Jules had to make a trip back to the truck after the first couple of hours, as we had gone through 200+ cartridges. We were killing lots of youngsters, but the adults were decoying just as readily. Not all of the birds were heading to us, so we made some good high shots, especially with the 36gm 5.5 that Catamong gave to me.

I really had no idea how many we were getting, but we were shooting pretty well. My Dad phoned me at one point. I was on the phone for less than 10 minutes. In that time Jules had shot around 20!

The return flightline also brought us some nice high birds to shoot. The crops were checked, resulting in finds of wheat and beans.

The final pick up took a while. We started at around 3.40pm. We put them in piles of 10 and counted 195. I was surprised we had shot that many. Jules wanted to finish on over 200, so we went on an even more in-depth search. This proved fruitful, as we found another 10. So we finished on 205 pigeons and a single jackdaw that strayed into range early on.

Jules' stress alleviated somewhat, we went home very happy.

[7daysinaweek]

Wow cracking bag just from two birds on the enticement spinner (magnet)

Hot barrels were the order of the day!

Fantastic read that Motty,

atb

7diaw

 

 

[muncher]

[dead eye alan]

Cracking day very enjoyable report, PC may have a coment on presantation.

[Old Boggy]

9 hours ago, motty said:

I had spotted a good looking opportunity on some wheat stubble. It had been ripped up, but I was hopeful that the pigeons were still finding enough food to keep them keen.

Jules had been under a been a bit of stress at work over the last week, so he was delighted to come and have a day at the pigeons. We met up at just after 10am and got set up in a nice dry ditch.

We started with just two dead birds on the magnet directly in front of us. This had the desired effect, and we were in to the birds straight away. We obviously added the slain to the set up as we shot them.  They were coming thick and fast, so we had to make rapid tidy ups when we decided to do so.

Jules had to make a trip back to the truck after the first couple of hours, as we had gone through 200+ cartridges. We were killing lots of youngsters, but the adults were decoying just as readily. Not all of the birds were heading to us, so we made some good high shots, especially with the 36gm 5.5 that Catamong gave to me.

I really had no idea how many we were getting, but we were shooting pretty well. My Dad phoned me at one point. I was on the phone for less than 10 minutes. In that time Jules had shot around 20!

The return flightline also brought us some nice high birds to shoot. The crops were checked, resulting in finds of wheat and beans.

The final pick up took a while. We started at around 3.40pm. We put them in piles of 10 and counted 195. I was surprised we had shot that many. Jules wanted to finish on over 200, so we went on an even more in-depth search. This proved fruitful, as we found another 10. So we finished on 205 pigeons and a single jackdaw that strayed into range early on.

Jules' stress alleviated somewhat, we went home very happy.

What a cracking bag and excellent write up. No wonder we're not seeing many here in Kent, you've got them and shot them in Norfolk.

Well done anyway.

OB

[Clodhopper]

No better stress relief than to sit in a his and shoot a few pigeons. Great result

[matone]

Some day that!

[aga man]

Nice bag fella's, well shot.

[marsh man]

Wheat stubble's seem to be the main diet at the moment with the beans proving to be a non starter.

Strange how it happens when the pigeons are more interested when the stubble is pulled up than when it is left untouched , something else that we don't really understand.

Excellent bag once again and ideal for Jules stress levels .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[motty]

On ‎07‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 09:32, marsh man said:

Wheat stubble's seem to be the main diet at the moment with the beans proving to be a non starter.

Strange how it happens when the pigeons are more interested when the stubble is pulled up than when it is left untouched , something else that we don't really understand.

Excellent bag once again and ideal for Jules stress levels .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think wheat stubbles round my way are still no.1. I haven't shot 1 pigeon on bean stubbles this year. We shot 66 flighted pigeons today. Many were stuffed with wheat. I found none with anything else inside.

[Konnie]

Well done chaps, 

well shot  right place right time yet again.

[mossy835]

very nice bag, and good shooting, wheat stubble seems to be the thing round here at the moment as well.

 

 

 

[marsh man]

9 hours ago, motty said:

I think wheat stubbles round my way are still no.1. I haven't shot 1 pigeon on bean stubbles this year. We shot 66 flighted pigeons today. Many were stuffed with wheat. I found none with anything else inside.

Yesterday afternoon I got 27 on wheat stubble although mine were decoyed or coming to the tree I was under and not flighted , 66 pigeons on a flight line must be an excellent bit of sport and on par with any game shoot with the added bonus its only a fraction of the price , well done to all concerned .

This must be one of the first years I haven't shot any on Beans or the stubble , some years I have shot good numbers just prior to the harvest when the Beans are Black and a few falling out of the pods , then better bags when they have been cut and even when another crop have been put in on the same land , no two years are the same and in a way that's the way we like it , always trying to keep one step ahead and not relying on what pigeons should be eating . 

[Old Boggy]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

Yesterday afternoon I got 27 on wheat stubble although mine were decoyed or coming to the tree I was under and not flighted , 66 pigeons on a flight line must be an excellent bit of sport and on par with any game shoot with the added bonus its only a fraction of the price , well done to all concerned .

This must be one of the first years I haven't shot any on Beans or the stubble , some years I have shot good numbers just prior to the harvest when the Beans are Black and a few falling out of the pods , then better bags when they have been cut and even when another crop have been put in on the same land , no two years are the same and in a way that's the way we like it , always trying to keep one step ahead and not relying on what pigeons should be eating . 

Like you MM, I`ve got a few fields of bean stubble with plenty scattered over the surface with not a pigeon in sight. In the past I`ve made reasonable bags (for me anyway 30-50) on beans, but not so this year. Still plenty about on the disced maize though, so that`s my next short foray out.

OB

[ditchman]

Now that is a cracking report........and a frantic session.......

Motty....................how often do you set up first with only a magnet ?

[getthegat]

Blinding red letter day. Well shot. Some big old cartridges those 36grm 5.5s and to start with just a magnet.... light kit going, but darn heavy going home. Hope you had a local game dealer to take that lot.

[motty]

6 hours ago, marsh man said:

Yesterday afternoon I got 27 on wheat stubble although mine were decoyed or coming to the tree I was under and not flighted , 66 pigeons on a flight line must be an excellent bit of sport and on par with any game shoot with the added bonus its only a fraction of the price , well done to all concerned .

This must be one of the first years I haven't shot any on Beans or the stubble , some years I have shot good numbers just prior to the harvest when the Beans are Black and a few falling out of the pods , then better bags when they have been cut and even when another crop have been put in on the same land , no two years are the same and in a way that's the way we like it , always trying to keep one step ahead and not relying on what pigeons should be eating . 

I totally agree. Although we can use our experience to know where we might expect pigeons to be, this isn't set in stone. And yes, it would be boring if things were the same every year. One of the reasons that the beans have been poor for me this year, is how early the harvest started. Normally the beans would probably be getting cut about now, or within the last fortnight. All of the beans stubbles I can shoot have now been worked. I may yet get a shoot on some, ad there are still some beans on top.

 

4 hours ago, ditchman said:

Now that is a cracking report........and a frantic session.......

Motty....................how often do you set up first with only a magnet ?

I don't normally set up like that, but i had to walk the gear across the field. It works ok, though. Within a few minutes we had enough dead birds down as decoys.

[motty]

2 hours ago, getthegat said:

Blinding red letter day. Well shot. Some big old cartridges those 36grm 5.5s and to start with just a magnet.... light kit going, but darn heavy going home. Hope you had a local game dealer to take that lot.

We took over 700 in to the game dealer a couple of days later. Shame the prices are not great. The reason for the low prices is simply down to them getting so many pigeons in. This will obviously drop off soon, and the prices should return to normal.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, motty said:

We took over 700 in to the game dealer a couple of days later. Shame the prices are not great. The reason for the low prices is simply down to them getting so many pigeons in. This will obviously drop off soon, and the prices should return to normal.

I went to the game dealers today , I normally get there around 11 / 30 + 11 / 45 , today I got there about 20 to 12 and the gate was locked , the youngest one of the sons was cleaning his car and came and let me in , he said he now shut at 11. 30 on a Sunday instead of hanging about till 12 ,

I had 240 frozen and 65 fresh and they made just over £33 , and to tell you the truth I cant see them going up in the near future , today they had around 100 crates of Pheasants thawing out to be processed next week , these Pheasants were last years and they still have more to come out of the freezer , the last lot of pigeons I took up the woman who work there said they had 15,000 Pheasants in store and the market for pigeons is getting harder to find , so you can see what problems they are going to have with game this season when they haven't cleared last seasons before the new one have started .

Same with pigeons , people like ourselves will take pigeons in even at a small loss as long as they are being used but with the amount still going to the dealers it isn't helping to reduce there stock , with your 700 and my 300 that is 1000 pigeons off two people , multiply that by the amount of people shooting pigeons and you can see what they are up against .

We have been in the same situation in the past, but was there the same amount of people shooting and selling pigeons then as there is now ? , I very much doubt it . 

[Naeem]

Great day mate and well done.  🙂