Looking and Looking

[pigeon controller]

We set out as normal at 09.00 to try and find pigeons who were damaging crops. We looked at the turnips we protected last week in the pouring rain and it had approx twenty down and none joining so we moved on and possibly would return in the afternoon. We mainly concentrated on our barley fields which on our permissions were standing like soldiers on parade. As we travelled east we started to overlap with Top Gunners permisions so we gave them a ring and they came out to meet us and show us there barley and other crops as we agreed to shoot together to make it a more sociable event, in other words , more of a Pith Take. By 14.00 we had not found a field to shoot. We had seen lots of barley down in blow holes and birds on clover but not in sufficient numbers to set up. At 15.00 we left them and drove back to our permissions to look at the turnips. On the way back we went through a very heavy thunder shower which we thought would make the birds return in numbers but as we watched the field about twenty returned. So we were starting to panic as we had not shot a bird, so we started to phone round our farmers to ask if they had a concern with any of there crops. One of the conversations explained that he had birds dropping in on his laid barley but in the middle of the field and he did not want us to walk into the barley or retrieve birds from the barley , so we drove over to his farm and watched the field as we did he drove down to us along the track. After chewing the fat we suggested that we would shoot the cut sileage and he said fine, what we did not say was the flightline was directly along a line of trees.

So we set up under the end tree with six birds from the week before , as all the decoys were wet from last week, we had four on spikes and to flyers .

It was now 16.00 and the first bird across came straight to us and the first shot lifted approx one hundred birds out of the barley. To put it bluntly we were exactly in the right position as the birds presented themselve perfectly and we shot till 19.00 and picked up seventy three birds in three hours.

So after travelling one hundred and thirty five miles we ended up with seventy three birds in three hours, which although hard work it was a pleasing result

73 Pigeons

[GingerCat]

Persistence pays off. Good work and a nice report. 

[Clodhopper]

Your experience and observations paid dividends in the end. Long day but worth it in the end. Nice report.

[dead eye alan]

 Great job protecting the crops again PC, can't see many young uns in the bag! are thy a bit later this year?

[pigeon controller]

1 hour ago, dead eye alan said:

 Great job protecting the crops again PC, can't see many young uns in the bag! are thy a bit later this year?

I can only remember one young bird. Second row, third from the left.

Edited June 16, 2019 by pigeon controller

[JDog]

Stay in bed longer next week. Get up at 3pm and you will be fine.

[marsh man]

Some of my days are almost identical , when I say identical I mean up till 4 pm , then for the rest of the day we are miles apart and in a totally different world .

I wouldn't have thought there would have been to many members who could notch up 73 in three hours at this time of the year where most of the crops are still three to four weeks away from the beginning of this year harvest , so well done on your long but in the end rewarding day .

In a way I did beat you on one thing , out of the 13 I got on a bare bit of rape two of them were this years young ones , now we are in the middle of June you can expect one or two fairly regular in the next next few weeks . 

 

[pigeon controller]

2 hours ago, JDog said:

Stay in bed longer next week. Get up at 3pm and you will be fine.

Yes Sir!!!!  ( Touches forelock obediently )

Edited June 16, 2019 by pigeon controller

[aga man]

Fair play, you deserve every single bird.

[motty]

I would be very satisfied with a bag like that from a pretty late start.

As usual, you got your rewards for all the miles and effort.