motty Posted August 11, 2019 Report Share Posted August 11, 2019 Jules is a good chap. Mostly. He kindly kept his eye on a freshly cut rape field over a few days and watched the number of pigeons build up nicely. I decided to have a pop at them on Thursday. The weather was set fair, with a nice breeze to accompany the warm sunshine coming through the clouds. I arrived at the field at just after 10am, having first confirmed with the farmer that the field would be left alone. I moved a few pigeons off as I drove across the stubble to where I thought would make a good hide position, then I sat and watched for a bit. I was delighted to see the old faithful flight line starting, coming from way off. I then hastily set my desert net hide up in the open, chucked out a few decoys and set the magnet just off to the right of me. As I walked back from "putting the truck away" some pigeons were already trying to land in my decoys, which is what I was hoping to see. As expected, I was in action immediately. I was shooting fairly well, and the main line was bringing regular victims. I had a good amount down by the time Jules arrived at around 1pm - perhaps 70. I let Jules have the majority of the shots for a little bit, and he didn't let the pigeons off the hook. Though the main line was where I was mostly watching, odd bunches did turn up from other areas, catching us off guard at times. However, shooting with a full 360 degree angle of fire is my favourite kind of decoying, and those surprise birds were still on if we were quick enough. The wind changed a couple of times during the day, ending up 150 degrees from where it started. I left the decoys as they were and it made no difference to how well they came in. The only thing stopping them was the long range outliers that some birds decided to land with. It was just the kind of day that I go pigeon shooting for. There was never a moment without a pigeon in the sky. We also kept seeing a mass of pigeons to our right, several fields away. I think a fair few birds that succumbed to us were most likely headed that way. Several old cartridges were used up during the course of the day. I am now very familiar with the use of 42gm BB steel on pigeons. However, I don't ever fancy a full day using them. I shall stick to my usual ounce of size 7s in lead. By 5pm and with a good headache, I decided to call it a day. The flight had all but stopped. The long pick up yielded a bag of 201 pigeons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted August 11, 2019 Report Share Posted August 11, 2019 well done motty ...........suicidle birds as usual........... daresay jdog will be along shortly with some sort of aserbic comment.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oowee Posted August 11, 2019 Report Share Posted August 11, 2019 Cracking day out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodhopper Posted August 11, 2019 Report Share Posted August 11, 2019 Good effort there. You are obviously back on form. Jules must be a fine chap to lay that on for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted August 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2019 Just now, Clodhopper said: Good effort there. You are obviously back on form. Jules must be a fine chap to lay that on for you. He is ok. I have permission to shoot there, but he can keep an eye on things when I can't. He probably wouldn't bother looking if there wasn't a likely invite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted August 11, 2019 Report Share Posted August 11, 2019 Well done Motty, I told you last week that Jules is your good luck charm and the following weekend you prove it. Great result using the Intel available , local knowledge , historical information and of course Jules. You're text informs newby shooters lots of things to look out for and the result proves it. Again well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted August 12, 2019 Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 Very nice. Well shot you guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted August 12, 2019 Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 Good job chaps. Next time I’m out I must try that close in decoy pattern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted August 12, 2019 Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 That old hide is certainly earning it's keep just lately . excellent bag . I like your description of the weather , The weather was set fair , with a nice breeze to accompany the warm sunshine coming through the clouds , I wonder how our good friend ditchman from south of the county would have described it after he had celebrated with a bottle of the finest Red wine By the way , you must have a very good boss unless you are the boss , mind you I don't blame you doing what you like the most , your are only on this earth once so make the most of it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted August 12, 2019 Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 A fine result, with everything going your way, its nice when those days come along. You mention using up some old cartridges, as you did in a previous post. A few years ago I found an old supply of mostly wildfowling and other odd clay cartridges. It was quite exciting taking down high flying corvids with Alphamax No4 and various shot sizes of Hymax. I don't recall the details of the clay cartridges, but they had multicoloured cases and killed most things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dead eye alan Posted August 13, 2019 Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 Great wright up and report very nice bag that decoys much to close! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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