Mightymariner Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 I haven't been out decoying in a long, long time, so today I met with JDog, who had kindly found somewhere for us to go high on the Wolds. Work has been **** lately so, to be honest, I was just glad to be out. The sun was shining, it was warm. So whether we shot any pigeons was neither here not there to me. Of course, Johnny was worried in case we didn't shoot any. I didn't care. We drove to a recently drilled barley field with a small copse at one end which pigeons had been using before dropping in on the field, which, incidentally, had no spilt seed on it. We were there for 11am and walked a short distance to the copse, both setting up in the shadows on the edge of the copse, with the sun on our left. We put a few dead birds out and my flapper. Johnny had kindly placed me downwind, believing any pigeons would come to me first. We didn't have to wait long before the odd bird drifted across, very high and heading for two ash trees behind us. We shot four in 20 minutes. They were all coming from some height, cupping wings and plunging down to the trees. After a while numbers really started to move, coming across the large drilled field towards us, or from the right, beating up a hedge in the light wind towards the copse. Often birds would appear from nowhere, dropping into the trees or passing over. After an hour we had a fairly decent pattern, and then the birds really hit the line. We had groups of 20, 30, 50 and twos and threes coming across the field. It was a great sight, we could see them from a distance. They spotted the pattern and the flapper and would often come across, some dropping like stones from unbelievable height to curl over us. It was some of the best pigeon shooting ever. We had shots left, right, over and behind. At times we had 5-6 birds down but couldn't pick them because so many more were moving. We tried to let them in over me before we shot, so we could both shoot at the bigger groups but that didn't really work as I couldn't tell when they were far enough in. So we shot alternatively, which worked well. By about 2pm we had about 50 birds down in the pattern and we were pulling in a lot of pigeons. Some of our shots were very memorable. I think we shot pretty well, probably 2:1. Eventually, by 3pm, it tailed off and birds started to drop in on the far side of the field. We still pulled in the odd bird but most entering the field headed for the birds on the far end. We packed up and picked up as many birds as we could find, before returning with Jasper to pick another three birds down the bottom corner of the field. We ended with 75 pigeons. I would say it goes down as one of my best-ever days decoying. Pure enjoyment that doesn't happen that often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenholland Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 you will have to take more time of work , by the looks of your result well done it's nice when things come together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Yes this was right out of the top drawer in terms of quality of pigeons and it was somewhat unexpected too. MM shot really well and between us we built the bag from high passing birds and a few that decoyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Marvellous shooting and what a day for it. I love it when the close their wings and drop down like stones. Not easy shots either. Well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Sound like a fantastic days shooting , days which were once a common occurrence but sadly nowadays quite a rare event . What a brilliant day weather wise you picked , a perfect day to be in the countryside and to shoot that amount of pigeons put the icing on the cake . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 well done both of you.good days shooting and nice pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Well done, you deserved a decent bag after all the miles and recon you have put in lately JDog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 1 hour ago, GingerCat said: Marvellous shooting and what a day for it. I love it when the close their wings and drop down like stones. Not easy shots either. Well done. thats excactly what i like............ now that is pigeon shooting at its best...and a lovely day to-boot............excellent.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodhopper Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Well done chaps. Sounds like you both had a great time and what a wonderful day to be out. I know JDog has certainly put in the miles recently to find them and each one will be well earned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilts#Dave Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Cracking job Jdog, 75 bird day would do all of us.....this sounds like a great afternoons sport 👍🏼 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 Two things I forgot to mention in my earlier post. These pigeons were at the other end of the flight line which Ginger Cat and I saw last week, two miles as the pigeon flies from the resting wood. In case there were no pigeons where we set up I had a reserve place where I thought we might have shot half a dozen. After we had shot fifty or so we agreed that there was no point in moving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TIGHTCHOKE Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 Wellies in this lovely weather? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCat Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 I'm glad you found where they were going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 Sounds like my kind of shooting. Well done to the pair of you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted February 27, 2019 Report Share Posted February 27, 2019 Very envious, we have none on land on which we have access to at the moment. Good write up, sounded great fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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