Just Decoys

[wymberley]

So, we're ignoring all of the ancilliaries - flappers, rotaries and bouncers, et al and just considering your bog standard decoy of a reasonable standard and condition - yep, we all know that any old tat will work to a degree, but we'll ignore these as well as we're looking at a tad more than just a "degree".

Questions are, how many and can you have too many and if so how many is too many, placed out at once?

[Stephen-H]

Im a complete novice to pigeon shooting have only been out a few times with a friend. I have just bought my own decoys hide etc & I've gone for the most simple & light set up... 10 shell decoys on the springey stick things & two floating bouncers & if this works and I can connect just add the dead birds to the pattern with the head supported up all facing into the wind 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

13 minutes ago, wymberley said:

So, we're ignoring all of the ancilliaries - flappers, rotaries and bouncers, et al and just considering your bog standard decoy of a reasonable standard and condition - yep, we all know that any old tat will work to a degree, but we'll ignore these as well as we're looking at a tad more than just a "degree".

Questions are, how many and can you have too many and if so how many is too many, placed out at once?

I carry 27 shells and in the winter on rape have been known to have a pattern of 80.

[marsh man]

4 minutes ago, wymberley said:

So, we're ignoring all of the ancilliaries - flappers, rotaries and bouncers, et al and just considering your bog standard decoy of a reasonable standard and condition - yep, we all know that any old tat will work to a degree, but we'll ignore these as well as we're looking at a tad more than just a "degree".

Questions are, how many and can you have too many and if so how many is too many, placed out at once?

I often revert to what we would term as basics when it comes to pigeon decoying , net , poles , seat , cartridges and a sack of assorted decoys , this time of the year it is fairly easy to find the pigeons , do a bit of homework and look at the stubble fields , what I like is building a hide around a bale , putting out some rubber decoys showing above the stubble and then using any dead ones i get to make the set up more realistic , two floaters , dead ones on cradles and leave the magnet at home .

As for the amount of decoys , days will vary , if they are coming in well and showing little signs fear then you have got enough out , then you will days where you can put 50 / 60 out and they will jink and swerve about , I would find 30 / 40 is more than enough to draw the pigeons in .

Setting up in the right place to begin with is the most important bit .

[wymberley]

10 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I often revert to what we would term as basics when it comes to pigeon decoying , Sadly, age and pain are having the same effect net , poles , seat , cartridges and a sack of assorted decoys , this time of the year it is fairly easy to find the pigeons , do a bit of homework and look at the stubble fields , what I like is building a hide around a bale , putting out some rubber decoys  showing above the stubble and then using any dead ones i get to make the set up more realistic , two floaters , dead ones on cradles and leave the magnet at home .

As for the amount of decoys , days will vary , if they are coming in well and showing little signs fear then you have got enough out , then you will days where you can put 50 / 60 out and they will jink and swerve about , I would find 30 / 40 is more than enough to draw the pigeons in . Upped it to 30, but can always get/add more.

Setting up in the right place to begin with is the most important bit .

Many thanks, Guys.

[martinj]

33 minutes ago, wymberley said:

So, we're ignoring all of the ancilliaries - flappers, rotaries and bouncers, et al and just considering your bog standard decoy of a reasonable standard and condition - yep, we all know that any old tat will work to a degree, but we'll ignore these as well as we're looking at a tad more than just a "degree".

Questions are, how many and can you have too many and if so how many is too many, placed out at once?

Some days six will work, other days 50 aren't enough, it depends on what the birds are expecting to see. You might find six deeks on clover in May will be a killer but now on rape stubble they might be feeding in flocks of hundreds so six are a drop in the ocean.

For what it's worth I try to keep my decoy's looking fairly realistic by touching up with a mix of black and grey primer and keeping the white bits bright (not necessarily large.) I put a real pigeon on my bench and try to match the colours. You'd be surprised at some of the colour schemes of cheap decoys in comparison to real birds. Add dead birds to the pattern, sometimes bring in plastics/shells if pigeons get wary, see how the day progresses and diversify

[old'un]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

I often revert to what we would term as basics when it comes to pigeon decoying , net , poles , seat , cartridges and a sack of assorted decoys , this time of the year it is fairly easy to find the pigeons , do a bit of homework and look at the stubble fields , what I like is building a hide around a bale , putting out some rubber decoys showing above the stubble and then using any dead ones i get to make the set up more realistic , two floaters , dead ones on cradles and leave the magnet at home .

As for the amount of decoys , days will vary , if they are coming in well and showing little signs fear then you have got enough out , then you will days where you can put 50 / 60 out and they will jink and swerve about , I would find 30 / 40 is more than enough to draw the pigeons in .

Setting up in the right place to begin with is the most important bit .

never use more than a dozen and change those as soon as I get dead birds, I manage to kill a few.  I do prefer dead birds from the start if the walks not to far.

Edited August 1, 2019 by old'un

[TIGHTCHOKE]

6 hours ago, marsh man said:

I often revert to what we would term as basics when it comes to pigeon decoying , net , poles , seat , cartridges and a sack of assorted decoys , this time of the year it is fairly easy to find the pigeons , do a bit of homework and look at the stubble fields , what I like is building a hide around a bale , putting out some rubber decoys showing above the stubble and then using any dead ones i get to make the set up more realistic , two floaters , dead ones on cradles and leave the magnet at home .

As for the amount of decoys , days will vary , if they are coming in well and showing little signs fear then you have got enough out , then you will days where you can put 50 / 60 out and they will jink and swerve about , I would find 30 / 40 is more than enough to draw the pigeons in .

Setting up in the right place to begin with is the most important bit .

I quite agree, in the past on the good days I have stood next to the rotary in plain view and shot pigeons as they join the pattern.

 

Hell yes!

Edited August 1, 2019 by TIGHTCHOKE
Syntax!

[marsh man]

5 hours ago, old'un said:

never use more than a dozen and change those as soon as I get dead birds, I manage to kill a few.  I do prefer dead birds from the start if the walks not to far.

We have seen posts where the person have shot a passing pigeon while after Rooks ect and ended up with a tidy bag , if my memory is right , I think it was P C who started off with nothing and ended up with a good bag of Rooks / Crows and 20 odd Pigeons only a week or two ago .

I wouldn't say starting off with nothing is advisable , but you can get away with a few shell decoys that will stack on top of each other and stuck in the game bag along with a couple of boxes of cartridges , as for the hide , this time of the year is a doddle with the branch's well in leaf and weeds a good 3 / 4 feet high . interwove a few branch's into each other and add a few weeds in front and you are ready to go , if you don't like standing you can take a little fold up stool , or borrow a five gallon empty drum from the farm .

[TIGHTCHOKE]

28 minutes ago, marsh man said:

We have seen posts where the person have shot a passing pigeon while after Rooks ect and ended up with a tidy bag , if my memory is right , I think it was P C who started off with nothing and ended up with a good bag of Rooks / Crows and 20 odd Pigeons only a week or two ago .

I wouldn't say starting off with nothing is advisable , but you can get away with a few shell decoys that will stack on top of each other and stuck in the game bag along with a couple of boxes of cartridges , as for the hide , this time of the year is a doddle with the branch's well in leaf and weeds a good 3 / 4 feet high . interwove a few branch's into each other and add a few weeds in front and you are ready to go , if you don't like standing you can take a little fold up stool , or borrow a five gallon empty drum from the farm .

Well if any one could it would be PC.

 

Least I ever took out in summer was 6 shells, 2 boxes of carts and some bottled water.

 

Shot 72 having had to return to the car for more shells.

[old'un]

14 hours ago, marsh man said:

We have seen posts where the person have shot a passing pigeon while after Rooks ect and ended up with a tidy bag , if my memory is right , I think it was P C who started off with nothing and ended up with a good bag of Rooks / Crows and 20 odd Pigeons only a week or two ago .

I wouldn't say starting off with nothing is advisable , but you can get away with a few shell decoys that will stack on top of each other and stuck in the game bag along with a couple of boxes of cartridges , as for the hide , this time of the year is a doddle with the branch's well in leaf and weeds a good 3 / 4 feet high . interwove a few branch's into each other and add a few weeds in front and you are ready to go , if you don't like standing you can take a little fold up stool , or borrow a five gallon empty drum from the farm .

Did very much the same Wednesday of this week, I took a novice/new to pigeon shooting off PW for a day on some Barley stubble, all I set out was 3 plastic blacks and 2 pigeons on the magnet, end off day the bag was 37 blacks and 24 pigeons, think he enjoyed the day.

Edited August 2, 2019 by old'un

[wymberley]

Hmm!

I listened, so ordered another 10 decoys on Wednesday evening. The Flexicoys arrived first thing this morning which is what I've learned to expect from Uttings. While in "deek" mode, I decided to give the existing ones their 20 year service and while at it I removed the lead shot they were carrying - anything plastic would have been shredded  way before now - don't know why I bothered as it doesn't affect them in the slightest. However, it did give me the opportunity to check and the weight difference between the new ones and my old ones is that the former are exactly 20% lighter than the latter. Surely, anything that accurate has to be deliberate. The paint-work is not quite up to scratch and I can't tell/don't know if the rubber is the same spec', but I do know that it's thinner. I can't see these carrying the same amount of shot with impunity. Having said that, apart from the weight which could well be handy if it's a consideration, the differences between the two in real terms is marginal and they still remain the ones to beat.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Alternatively you could just stop shooting your decoys!

[wymberley]

27 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Alternatively you could just stop shooting your decoys!

Let's not be too silly. I miss so many of the real ones that I use the decoys as a confidence check.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

 Many years ago, sometime in the last century, I took a young ops Officer from RAF Cottesmore out on winter rape. I explained to him it was quite possible he wouldn't get a shot, but he was keen to learn.

We set up and tried changing the pattern, shot a few WPs and some Corvids. Alas he did not connect with anything. Later as I started to pack up he asked if he could shoot the decoys?

 

My answer involved sex and travel and his credit card details!

 

He did not shoot my decoys!

[marsh man]

6 hours ago, wymberley said:

Hmm!

I listened, so ordered another 10 decoys on Wednesday evening. The Flexicoys arrived first thing this morning which is what I've learned to expect from Uttings. While in "deek" mode, I decided to give the existing ones their 20 year service and while at it I removed the lead shot they were carrying - anything plastic would have been shredded  way before now - don't know why I bothered as it doesn't affect them in the slightest. However, it did give me the opportunity to check and the weight difference between the new ones and my old ones is that the former are exactly 20% lighter than the latter. Surely, anything that accurate has to be deliberate. The paint-work is not quite up to scratch and I can't tell/don't know if the rubber is the same spec', but I do know that it's thinner. I can't see these carrying the same amount of shot with impunity. Having said that, apart from the weight which could well be handy if it's a consideration, the differences between the two in real terms is marginal and they still remain the ones to beat.

Two old minds think alike . I use the same decoys as you do , mine are that old I think I bought them when it was pounds , shillings and pence 😊, I also give them a Spring clean , give em a wash and then touch the White bits on the neck and wing bars , then remove any visible shot and hey presto they are as good as new and ready to go back to active service .

[wymberley]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

Two old minds think alike . I use the same decoys as you do , mine are that old I think I bought them when it was pounds , shillings and pence 😊, I also give them a Spring clean , give em a wash and then touch the White bits on the neck and wing bars , then remove any visible shot and hey presto they are as good as new and ready to go back to active service .

Although he didn't see anything and being totally deaf wouldn't have heard anything, my father must have disturbed a poacher who legged it leaving behind a motley selection of decoys - one of which was an original Flexicoy - the ones with the embossed label on the underside - which was of an age even then. He put it on the hedge at the end of his garden. Mother was the gardener and when trimming the hedge she would remove it and replace it afterwards. There it stayed for some little over 20 years, day in and day out until I finally sold the house when Mother died and I binned it. Even then it was still pulling pigeon down from the two trees which the hedge ran between.