lofting poles

[john]

This morning i spent 30 mins watching about 80 pigeons just sitting about in sitty trees with no intention of feeding on the OSR they usually feed on. when a low flying aircraft disturbed the birds and they all took flight, eventually they came drifting back but i noticed that the birds would fly past each tree and only land in the trees that allready had birds in. Has any one had sucsess using lofting poles ?

[Guest Mr Pieman]

I recently brought a set of poles and have found they really make a difference. I put 4 'coys in a tree and the birds drift in to join their friends. My younger brother used them last week and shot 31 birds - all sitting!!

 

PP

[sutty]

John , hello

There is a saying (I cant remember who said it though) that a deek in a tree is worth ten on the ground.

I have had some good results lofting decoys in trees, the method i use is to bend wire into an S shape (welding rods) the deeks have a plastic loop on there backs and i hang them as high as i can in the sitty tree, for this i use an old telescopic roach pole with a wire hook taped to it, a bit like "hook a duck" really?.

I find that if i put 3 or 4 in the sitty tree they favour and say half a dozen in trees at either side they land more confidently.

dont forget though to space them out as woodies dont sit directly below each other for obvious reasons!!!!!!!!!!

Regards Sutty!

[Cranfield]

Decoys in trees are brilliant, especially when the birds are jumping from one field to another.

 

The big drawback is..........the wind.

I find even a stiff breeze can be a nuisance.

I did have a set of light poles, that slotted together and had three birds stuck on a cross bar, on the top.

This set up defied any wind, but it was a nuisance to cart around, unless you could drive almost to the decoying point.

 

Can be frustrating picking up decoys, but certainly worth a try.

[Guest Mr Pieman]

There is a saying (I cant remember who said it though) that a deek in a tree is worth ten on the ground.The comment was made by a person that sells lofting poles

 

PP

[tiercel]

You dont necessarily need lofting pole to set the decoys in the tree's, all you need are some fishing weights and some fishing line. Tie the line to the weights throw them over a branch then pull the decoy up with the line.

[eugene molloy]

I never found the advantages to be gained from lofting decoys to be worth all the grief of carrying the kit around. On no occasion have I felt that lofted decoys made the difference between success and failure. Obviously others doffer.

 

Many deershoots ago I bought a set of Aluminium slot-together poles which doubled as hide poles. They were hopelessly fragile and bent very easily. I had a most amusing correspondence with the manufacturer who was a right comedian and a lovely man…but the poles were still useless.

 

I tried the “catapult and fishing weight” method too and found it terminally tedious. It took forever and the decoys always looked unconvincing swaying about in the wind.

 

Roach pole...done that too, but it only goes 35 foot ish off the ground.

 

I’ve yet to see a method of lofting that can actually get the decoys where you want them…on the top of a good sized sitty tree. When you see them a third of the way up a 100 foot tree they look stupid (and I’m sure the woodies agree).

 

The biggest drawback is psychological in the sense that very often the bright thing to do is abandon your first idea and move someplace else; but having spent all that time and effort getting decoys lofted you are unwilling to go through the bother of getting them down. Consequently you sit like a lemon, doing no good, knowing full well you should be two fields away. I know, I’ve done it.

 

Regards, Eug

[M ROBSON]

We only put lofters out on the odd occation. I always look for a dense bush, like Hawthorn, they tend to be darker and a more managable height, the deeks stand out better.

 

I also have a few deeks with the **** cut out of them, they fit just perfect over a fence post and are very realistic.

[Fisherman Mike]

On one of my regular shoots I have actually climbed the tree in winter and wired 1/2 doz deeks to the branches and left them there. The birds dont get used to them because they get shot when they come in...

 

I left 6 up one beech tree for 3 seasons until this winter when it was brought down in high winds.... and some ****** nicked em.

 

Works well though..

 

FM.

[shore_shot]

all you need to get the deeks up the tree is one thing a 7yr old son ,,lol mine works great and he loves it

[john]

Thanks for your replies.

Being a yorkshireman (deep pockets and short arms) i went to my local fishing tackle shop and paid £16. for a 6 metre fishing pole, fastend some wire to the top section in a hook a duck style and made some S shaped wires for the pigeon deeks.

Tried it last weekend, when i got to the farm there was two pigeons sitting in the willows and about 20 feeding on the short OSR. I had to put the birds off to get to trees where i wanted to be, set up my hide, put two deeks easily up in the tree, turned to pick up the third only to find two pigeons landing close to the deeks that i had just put up, needless to say it worked a treat, managed 7 for 9 shots before things dried up.

[johns]

The land I shoot on is arable with a lot of copses for the game drives. This means the pigeons tend to make short flights from one copse to another and ground decoying is pretty tough.

 

I was thinking of using full bodied deaks as lofters to get 'em as they come to the trees during the day, but it seems like it might be a better idea to get 'em in the evening when they're looking for somewhere to sit around to digest their dinner.

 

Has anyone tried using lofters for roost shooting?

 

John.