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The Long Wait Is Finally Over


marsh man
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If we asked Pigeon shooters , what is your favorite time of the year for decoying , the majority would say shooting on wheat or barley stubble when it is bailed up in the height of the Summer ,  (the others most properly haven't done it ) 😊 , well after what seem like ages shooting on the pea stubble's and picking up small bags over failed rape the combines are finally doing what they were made to do , on ours I found out they had cut three fields of Barley that are in a block of about 100 acres .

Sunday night I took the dog up to have a look and sure enough the three were cut and bailed , this was about 7pm and yes there were pigeons on the stubble and a few going in and out , yesterday I was busy trying to dig a small pond in the back garden and what should have took a good hour ended up taking most of the day , getting old and having a ropey back didn't help so the shooting was put on hold till today .

Today was a lovely day down this way with plenty of sunshine and no sign of rain , apart from no wind it was an ideal day to shoot pigeons , time I done the morning chores and had a bit of dinner I was ready to go at a little after 2pm , it only take 10 mins or so and I was soon driving through the open gate onto the stubble fields , as soon as I pulled on I could see plenty of Pigeons on the three fields , I soon walked them off mainly to give the dog a run and to see where they come back once disturbed , having decided to set up on the middle hedge I would be sheltered from the sun , the sound of the shot should keep the other two fields clear and I should get a few coming into the tree I was under .

Today I didn't bother with any dead or using the magnet , I put 30+ decoys well out on the stubble and that was more or less it , lately I have been shooting well on the early ones and falling apart on the later ones and today was no different , I had only been in my hide a few minutes when the first one came from the side and was crossing the hedge when the first shot put paid to it , for a few minutes there were pigeons everywhere and two more quickly were added to the bag , during the lull I put two dead ones on the floaters and stuck them amongst the decoys and the other one with it's wings out on the stubble , after a good hour I rang Lakeside 1000 up to see how he was getting on shooting a field of standing barley , he was getting a few and I had 15 , throughout the afternoon it never got to busy but there was always enough to keep you happy.

I normally wrap up at six o clock , but as it was a lovely evening I rang my wife to say I will pack up at 6 . 30 and be home about 6 . 45 , the first timing I stuck to but the second one I was a bit out and got home about at 7 . 15.

When I drove over the last stubble field as I was coming off I put up well over 100 and hopefully some of those will play ball the next time I go on Thursday or Friday .

Sorry I have ran on a bit , but picking up 41 was a P B ........ ( for this year :lol: ) and the first day out on the long awaited Barley stubble.

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Great result for you marshman. Personally i still prefer to shoot pigeons flighting but the stubbles certainly open a lot of area to explore and make things easier to reduce numbers for following rape crops.

Still a week or so off for us yet so i will stay here in the canary isles for a while longer😎

 

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16 hours ago, Ultrastu said:

Good job .looking forward to the same here .

You shouldn't have to long to wait now and I hope the wait was well worth it .

 

16 hours ago, vampire said:

This time of year is great,like waiting for xmas when you were a kid.Pigeon shooting during the day and rabbit shooting at night.

I now find sitting out in cold and wet conditions is more like a chore rather than a day of pleasure , we have to do it but I know what time of the year I would sooner be doing it in :lol:

 

3 hours ago, aga man said:

Great result for you marshman. Personally i still prefer to shoot pigeons flighting but the stubbles certainly open a lot of area to explore and make things easier to reduce numbers for following rape crops.

Still a week or so off for us yet so i will stay here in the canary isles for a while longer😎

 

I agree if it was down to sport there are better sporting ways to shoot pigeons than on stubble fields , but it's just a nice time of the year when you can get to wherever you want to go and have no trouble in finding what you shoot .

Enjoy the rest of your hols aga man ,  next week they forecast down the East coast into the low 30s so it will be our turn to sit in the sunshine , drinks are in the freezer so bring it on  :cool1:

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Hi Marsh man, pleased you had a better day, it was not so good on the laid barley, I think its got a bit too hard for them, most birds just passed by going somewhere else , I got a call from the estate manager at 5.00 telling me they were cutting peas in the next village, so this morning ( in the rain ) I went for a look see, a bit slippery on the surface with all the green veg laying about but the pigeons are finding it already, 50 or so on the power lines and about the same on the ground, so once the rain stops I will be over there giving them grief, but in the meantime I am just watching the rain dribble down the windows, 

Combine starts on the barley Monday weather permitting so just checking my cartridge reserve,  since last week when I ran out of cartridges at 6.00 pm with 74 picked and swarms of birds coming in I intend to keep a reserve in the car wherever possible, especially as I am still looking for that elusive first 100 in one session,  A second visit to the same spot a week later only produced 39 so I missed my chance there, someone kick my butt.😪😪

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I'm with you on stubble and bales, though I'm talking about the small bales they made when I was young and one could make an excellent hide with them in any part of the field you wanted. Nothing cut yet on any of my perms and still very few about. I have my eye on a big wheat field that has some perfect laid patches, so far I've seen about 40 on it, but once disturbed they don't come back. Our time will come. Enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing.

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