How Often Do You Pick Up ??

[marsh man]

I am a great believer that a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush , most of the shooting now and of late is over tall crops such as Barley and Peas and it got me thinking with P C report last week with shooting over laid Barley and according to the great man himself , shooting around 180 and picking up just over 100 , I agree it was hot as I was out myself shooting over some laid Barley , admittingly they wern't coming in on the same scale as they must have been for P C and D B but when I had two or three down I went out and picked them up and ended up losing very little .

Yesterday me and Lakeside 1000 had a afternoon on a big Barley field and that was the same , shooting a couple and then go and pick up , although we only shot getting on towards 30 I only lost one and that was after trying a couple of times to find it .

I know we will answers about crop protection and all that , but is there any reason not to pick up after shooting a few instead of leaving them and ending up losing nearly half of the days bag ?

So how often do you pick up , as you go along after shooting a few , or when things slow down ?

[Penelope]

I guess it all depends on how busy it is. I have generally waited for natural lulls unless there's a walker, in which case it's pick as soon as is practical.

[motty]

I will pick obvious walkers etc asap, but I generally will only pick up if the slain that are strewn everywhere are making incomers decoy too far out or flair off.

Edited July 5, 2019 by motty

[wymberley]

Everything ASAP. Wounded and suffering birds are very good at 'playing dead' If my wandering about scares off a few which I could have bagged, then so be it, I'll go back tomorrow.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, motty said:

I will pick obvious walkers etc asap, but I generally will only pick up if the slain that are strewn everywhere are making incomers decoy to far out or flair off.

I wasn't referring to shooting over crops where you can see more or less what you have shot , as you say there is no point if things are busy running out and picking up each one if the oncoming birds are still committing to the decoys , as a moral issue yes I agree that ones flapping about with broken limbs should be picked and dispatched as soon as possible .

What I was on about was shooting over tall and laid crops where even the dead birds cant be seen , what have you , or anyone else come to that got to lose by shooting half a dozen and then stop to pick up instead of carrying on shooting and after you get into double figures you haven't got a clue where they are , I personally wouldn't be happy knowing a lot of the ones I couldn't find are lying tucked up somewhere with a broken wing that is going to take a while before it is dead , we all lose some now and again which cant be helped as long as you have the satisfaction you have done your best to find it .

[Nuke]

I send the dog after any bird that I don't see.

/M

[Cranfield]

A lot depends on the crop, laid cereals can be the worst.
I am not sure any delay in picking a shot bird affects your ability to pick it.

If its in open ground its easy, pick it when there is a lull, but when its in deep cover, that's a different matter.
I think the basic rule of thumb is, if you can pick it without damaging the crop do so, I think Pigeon Controller made this point in the post you are referring to.

 

[mossy835]

pick up when i can depends if they are still coming in,

[Westley]

6 hours ago, Penelope said:

I guess it all depends on how busy it is. I have generally waited for natural lulls unless there's a walker, in which case it's pick as soon as is practical.

Can I ask what you do with all of these 'walkers' rucksacks.   Do you bury them along with the owner, or take them home and burn them later  ?

[Guest]

I only leave a bird out for a few minutes if I know it is stone dead if more birds are coming in. Otherwise I either send the dog out within a minute or immediately if I can see it’s in distress. Don’t care if that means I miss others coming in. Most important thing to me is to dispatch an injured bird ASAP 

Last year on rape (didn’t have the dog with me) a bird I winged, crashed into the middle of the field and then proceeded to head for shelter in a hedgerow. I left the hide and spent a good half an hour trying to get it as it kept hopping from one side of the hedge to another. Birds were coming into my decoys while this was happening but just thought it was the right thing to do.

Don’t understand people leaving injured birds when they could be retrieved and dispatched

[twenty]

25 minutes ago, Hammeronhammeroff said:

I only leave a bird out for a few minutes if I know it is stone dead if more birds are coming in. Otherwise I either send the dog out within a minute or immediately if I can see it’s in distress. Don’t care if that means I miss others coming in. Most important thing to me is to dispatch an injured bird ASAP 

Last year on rape (didn’t have the dog with me) a bird I winged, crashed into the middle of the field and then proceeded to head for shelter in a hedgerow. I left the hide and spent a good half an hour trying to get it as it kept hopping from one side of the hedge to another. Birds were coming into my decoys while this was happening but just thought it was the right thing to do.

Don’t understand people leaving injured birds when they could be retrieved and dispatched

Same here

[pigeon controller]

I will normally pick up when we have ten down and lay out as decoys, if we have a runner we send the dog, which I know is bad practice as he gets use to only picking up live birds . I have to be careful  how I word this as we were on a farm as a guest and the farmer is not interested in birds picked just dead birds !! DB and I have a concious and do not like leaving birds as I have respect for my quarry. 

I had a conversation with a respected pigeon shooter in the past and he would not pick up once he was in the hide , only send the dogs for runners. His reason was how many times do you go out the pick up and birds come in while your out??

I have  the same effect when I'm fishing and shooting on my own , I pick up the flask and you get a bite or two in the decoys!!!!!!

[motty]

We all should have a fair idea of whether a bird is killed outright when we shoot each one. There will always be times when a bird is found alive when we thought it was stone dead, and vice versa. If one is obviously still alive, I will send the dog, especially if it is too far to put another shot into. Ones we think are stone dead, may unfortunately get left a little longer.

[marsh man]

We are not short of pigeons but we might not have the really big numbers that some of the top posters have on the forum , on rare occasions they might be coming in nearly non stop but like I say it is very rare , the majority of the time if I am shooting over tall crops and I knock one down in the standing stuff I make a mental note where it is then hang on a couple of minutes in case the shot have disturbed any and they might be heading my way , then as soon as the coast is clear I walk out to roughly where it is and put the dog in , the bird is fresh with plenty of scent and if the dog is half tidy you can be back in the hide in a few minutes and carry on shooting , I find this is the best way for me as anything over two or three I soon forget where they are , all down to old age .

As for damaging the crop , the field we were on yesterday was either flat or well knocked about and if I had been walking backwards and forwards for most of the day I wouldn't had made it any worse than it already was , with today's modern combines having a area laid is nowadays no concern , then to be honest , I have never had a farmer or land owner say I want you keep shooting and not waste time going out to pick up , and I bet a lot of you are in the same boat as me , if they did feel that way about saving there crop then I am not the one they need to protect it .

We have only just got over one major scare with the G L , let's not give them any reason to impose another fiasco .

[kenholland]

I don't own a dog , I only shoot what I can pick I hate losing birds I cannot pick , plus the time looking for them , that's why stubble is a bonus for me, and for others aswell .

[BenBhoy]

5 hours ago, Hammeronhammeroff said:

spent a good half an hour

I'd have just shot it again...

[NoBodyImportant]

Last year I was on a dove hunt on public field.  I pegged a few and this Canadian kept running out and grabbing them.  He would shoot about 5 feet behind them and after a few seconds my friend or I would hit them.  He keeps grabbing them up saying he shot them.  My friend throws a cooking over to his peg and said ,”That’s a good boy!   Yes you are! Yes you are!”.    Like he was a retrial dog.   Normally though I  retrieve 100%.  But we plant fields to attract dove.  The day before the hunt they chop the crop up and leave it in the field for the dove.  So there is no worries about damage crop.  

[HIDENSEEK]

12 hours ago, marsh man said:

We are not short of pigeons but we might not have the really big numbers that some of the top posters have on the forum , on rare occasions they might be coming in nearly non stop but like I say it is very rare , the majority of the time if I am shooting over tall crops and I knock one down in the standing stuff I make a mental note where it is then hang on a couple of minutes in case the shot have disturbed any and they might be heading my way , then as soon as the coast is clear I walk out to roughly where it is and put the dog in , the bird is fresh with plenty of scent and if the dog is half tidy you can be back in the hide in a few minutes and carry on shooting , I find this is the best way for me as anything over two or three I soon forget where they are , all down to old age .

As for damaging the crop , the field we were on yesterday was either flat or well knocked about and if I had been walking backwards and forwards for most of the day I wouldn't had made it any worse than it already was , with today's modern combines having a area laid is nowadays no concern , then to be honest , I have never had a farmer or land owner say I want you keep shooting and not waste time going out to pick up , and I bet a lot of you are in the same boat as me , if they did feel that way about saving there crop then I am not the one they need to protect it .

We have only just got over one major scare with the G L , let's not give them any reason to impose another fiasco .

 

[HIDENSEEK]

My thinking exactly, except I don't like a dog hunting in barley (big softie). I can't remember more than 3 or 4 birds down in standing crops, no matter how well I marked them when shot. Yesterday lost several birds because I took my eye of the first bird to try and get the second ( 21 picked from 24 shot).

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, HIDENSEEK said:

My thinking exactly, except I don't like a dog hunting in barley (big softie). I can't remember more than 3 or 4 birds down in standing crops, no matter how well I marked them when shot. Yesterday lost several birds because I took my eye of the first bird to try and get the second ( 21 picked from 24 shot).

I can fully understand your concerns about using a dog in Barley as the hairs on the heads and the seeds can get everywhere on a dog and a visit to the vet is fairly common place , having said that I cant remember any my last five or six dogs going to the vets with problems from retrieving from Barley or Wheat fields , in fact the last time one of my dogs went to the vets with a similar injury it was a little arrow head of grass that had worked it's way up his front leg , a cut between  the toes, a long pair of flat scissors and some paper money given to the vet and the dog was as right as rain and raring to go .

21 picked out of 24 shot was pretty good , I recon if you only lose 10% of your days bag on tall crops then you have done well .

[lakeside1000]

I dont have a dog, I do have a really bad memory, so I never go more than 3 down in standing crop before I go looking, most times I mark the drop site well in my mind and can find them ok, but I do lose birds, its not something I like but in heavy tall crop like barley its unavoidable,How I see it , you do your best without trampling crops and those you cant find will go back to nature very quickly either to foxes or flies.

The other day with Marsh man , after he had gone home for tea taking the dog with him, I stayed on for another 3 hours, very late for me, finally packing away at 8.30 pm, I managed only 15 picked with 6 lost, 3 in the wood behind me and 3 in the crops, but a very nice afternoon in the sun.

 

[Whitebridges]

Nice to hear you two buoys had a day together. For me a lot depends on the farmer. I've got got a couple who say words along these lines. "don't yew go a traipsun about in the crop too much........ just drop 'em in the holes" (laid wheat or barley).

One he says....." don't let them **** in the holes....it contaminates the crop, it's worse than them eating it...."

This year i've seen more laid barley than for years. I reckon it's the wet weather. The stalks got away early and it's tall very tall in these parts. Then we had days of rain which flattened it. Just my thoughts.        

  

[mossy835]

my farmers dont mined me looking for them in crops,but so far the crops are still standing,all but a few holes and the pigeons are not going in on it,i just sit by the pond and hit them as they come in the trees.

[marsh man]

59 minutes ago, Whitebridges said:

Nice to hear you two buoys had a day together. For me a lot depends on the farmer. I've got got a couple who say words along these lines. "don't yew go a traipsun about in the crop too much........ just drop 'em in the holes" (laid wheat or barley).

One he says....." don't let them **** in the holes....it contaminates the crop, it's worse than them eating it...."

This year i've seen more laid barley than for years. I reckon it's the wet weather. The stalks got away early and it's tall very tall in these parts. Then we had days of rain which flattened it. Just my thoughts.        

  

I would imagine that some varieties are more prone to wind and rain than others , where we went the other day there must have been a block of 2 / 300 acres of Winter Barley that was either well laid or badly knocked about , whereas where I mainly shoot the Barley took a lot of buffeting from the wind and rain and apart from small bits laying at an angle the rest of it is still upright and should be combined towards next week end . 

[Whitebridges]

22 hours ago, marsh man said:

I would imagine that some varieties are more prone to wind and rain than others , where we went the other day there must have been a block of 2 / 300 acres of Winter Barley that was either well laid or badly knocked about , whereas where I mainly shoot the Barley took a lot of buffeting from the wind and rain and apart from small bits laying at an angle the rest of it is still upright and should be combined towards next week end . 

The variety plays a big part, no doubt MM. I know they produced short stem barley. I'm no farmer though.

The barley is being cut already in our county (Hingham and Thetford), OSR spayed off so maybe a few birds soon without dropping them never to be picked. Happy days.