Not Early Enough

[pigeon controller]

I was called out on Thursday to scare some crows that had decided to graze on the direct drilled wheat ,due to family circumstances I  only had a three hour window to shoot. So after feeding and mucking out the horse I set out to find these elusive crows, as I drove out into the countryside the fog became thicker, so when I arrived at the prescribed field it was covered. I had every confidence in the farmers description of the flock so parked up and walked the gear down the field to the same position we had shot the pigeons on a previous occasion. I did not carry any decoys and used my primos to summon the first decoy. A quick call and out of the mist my first decoy was processed out onto the field, this continued for the three hour slot and I finished with fortytwo corvids all came to the call out of the mist.

So on to Saturday , after last weeks 170+ on the maize stubble DB wanted to be early and claim the field so I picked him up at 07.00 and we drove directly to the field. I had seen it in the week and it was covered with crows and pigeons in the mornings and not so many in the afternoon. As we pulled up in the gateway my phone rang and Bunny_Blaster said " have you just pulled up in the gate I'm setting up on the field" D B was not pleased and I 'm in for a grumpy day!!! Now last week the birds flew off and found some other fields to graze so we set out to find the other fields. We parked up opposite the roost wood and watched the birds coming out some to the maize and some to another field approx one mile away. When BB started to shoot the birds spooked and joined the other flock , which then stayed firm on the field.We contacted the farmer and gained permission to shoot. We decided to set up on the return flightline back to the Maize, the idea being our shooting would spook the birds out of there second sanctuary. The first bird shot lifted approx four hundred birds and we shot the tail end charlies as they headed to the maize BB would shoot and they would pass over our heads with the latter birds decoying which in turn spooked the main flock back. This continued all day with a lull in the afternoon, I had a discussion with a dog walker who insisted she could walk all over the fied and she deliberatly walked down the one side of the field we were shooting and then walked back, during which time I had a good number of birds come to the decoys but could not shoot.  We had shot from approx 10.00 to 15.00 and picked up one hundred and fifty birds for the picture, the dog found another when we were packing up

42 Corvids

150 Pigeons

[bone]

truly magnificent well done  PC. 

[kenholland]

a dark blue result with a Halloween dog well done , dog walkers can be a pain in the backside some are just sad people, never mind , keep up the good work.

[yickdaz]

you have a knack for this pigeon shooting lark 

cracking bag  you two  you hardly ever fail to pull it off 

[7daysinaweek]

Them blackens coming out of the mist, what a unique sight!

Many thanks for posting.

atb

7diaw

[motty]

Great result. I know how it feels to be beaten to a field when you know there is a good shoot on. You still came up with a plan and got a good bag.

I take it BunnyBlaster also shot a ton.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done yet again!

[pigeon controller]

1 hour ago, motty said:

Great result. I know how it feels to be beaten to a field when you know there is a good shoot on. You still came up with a plan and got a good bag.

I take it BunnyBlaster also shot a ton.

Yes , he phoned me as we were packing up 116 pigeons I believe. 

[motty]

2 minutes ago, pigeon controller said:

Yes , he phoned me as we were packing up 116 pigeons I believe. 

Possibly a blessing in disguise that you didn't get there first. Still, a win for all concerned.

[Clodhopper]

Your experience and local knowledge helped pull it off again PC. Well done.

Some dog  walkers are a pain, seem to think they can do and go where they like. We recently had one in with our sheep, the dog happily chasing the ewes and it’s owner could not see what the problem was. 

[pigeon controller]

1 hour ago, Clodhopper said:

Your experience and local knowledge helped pull it off again PC. Well done.

Some dog  walkers are a pain, seem to think they can do and go where they like. We recently had one in with our sheep, the dog happily chasing the ewes and it’s owner could not see what the problem was. 

As you say local knowledge, last week we shot the maize field and the birds definitely found another food source so we knew it was local but with no roads cutting through we had to drive the farm tracks to find them. The pressure this field has been under for four weeks now is amazing and they still come back .

 

Thanks you all for your comments and viewings.