Do We Now Rely On The Rotary To Much ?

[marsh man]

Yesterday weather wise it was as good as you will get , a stiff wind , nice bit of cloud and pretty warm in the sunshine , as this will be my last Saturday off for a while we decided to pass the afternoon away on one of Fodder Radish fields , I gave my mate the first choice where he wanted to go as I like to relax a bit with a cup of coffee first and weigh up what is about , it was now getting on towards one o clock and Rob had already set up so I drove down to the other end of the field and made a start , getting the poles in the ground near the hedge for the net wasn't that bad ,but getting the base in for the magnet was nigh on impossible due to the ground like concrete , so after trying two or three times in different places I gave it up as a bad job and just relied on the 25 decoys set up well out and the two floaters .

Rob was getting a few shots and to his credit he was letting a lot of young ones live another day but when he rang me up he was saying a lot of the older ones were flaring off , whereas although I wasn't getting that much shooting to begin with, the Pigeons that did come in came in a treat , as the afternoon wore on I could see we still had a lot of Pigeons in the area and hopefully will get a bit of sport throughout the Autumn and Winter months .

I know this wasn't a scientific experiment but when we finished we had exactly 50 , I got 29 and Rob got 21 , I now leave the magnet at home if I have to do much walking and I am beginning to wonder if it is still worth taking , it is now like a drug , you get hooked on using it but I am now weaning myself off it .

THANKS for looking and what do you think ??.

[Old Boggy]

Funnily enough, the last time I went out on a field of maize stubble (cut the previous day and cultivated the day after) I decided to just take 2 flappers and a few full bodied flocked decoys. 

Pigeons numbers hadn`t really built up but I had to make the most of the situation knowing that the field would be cultivated the following day. The ones that were about decoyed in text book fashion with no flaring off as often happens with the whirly. In fact, as I was on ground sloping away from my hide, birds were landing amongst the flappers and decoys most confidently, often without me spotting them. I wasn`t quite on the flightline but as I was only out for a few hours, was too bone idle in my old age to move, so would have had a few more. 

For my short session I didn`t end up with quite as many as Marshman, but it was well into double figures so I was well pleased.

Nevertheless, it proved to me that pigeons can quickly become used to rotaries but flappers seem to inspire more confidence for them to decoy well. However, this was on open ground where any movement was easily spotted. Not sure whether this would still be the case on taller crops such as rape, but I will be continuing to use flappers in the near future. Time will tell, but I will be taking flappers later on when shooting over rape if only to cut down on the weight with smaller batteries etc.

I think that rotaries have become the default bit of kit, so other things to provide movement in the pattern is well worth trying and I`m sure I`m far from alone in this thinking.

OB

[HIDENSEEK]

38 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Yesterday weather wise it was as good as you will get , a stiff wind , nice bit of cloud and pretty warm in the sunshine , as this will be my last Saturday off for a while we decided to pass the afternoon away on one of Fodder Radish fields , I gave my mate the first choice where he wanted to go as I like to relax a bit with a cup of coffee first and weigh up what is about , it was now getting on towards one o clock and Rob had already set up so I drove down to the other end of the field and made a start , getting the poles in the ground near the hedge for the net wasn't that bad ,but getting the base in for the magnet was nigh on impossible due to the ground like concrete , so after trying two or three times in different places I gave it up as a bad job and just relied on the 25 decoys set up well out and the two floaters .

Rob was getting a few shots and to his credit he was letting a lot of young ones live another day but when he rang me up he was saying a lot of the older ones were flaring off , whereas although I wasn't getting that much shooting to begin with, the Pigeons that did come in came in a treat , as the afternoon wore on I could see we still had a lot of Pigeons in the area and hopefully will get a bit of sport throughout the Autumn and Winter months .

I know this wasn't a scientific experiment but when we finished we had exactly 50 , I got 29 and Rob got 21 , I now leave the magnet at home if I have to do much walking and I am beginning to wonder if it is still worth taking , it is now like a drug , you get hooked on using it but I am now weaning myself off it .

THANKS for looking and what do you think ??.

I resisted using a magnet at all until 3 years ago,and now wouldn't like to be without it in the vehicle. HOWEVER, I frequently have to switch it off or take it in altogether if they  flare off. I still use a flapper & random timer, sometimes on a 3ft steel rod, and sometimes find this spooks the birds if it flaps just as they are over the deeks.I think a lot of this is down to shooting pressure and everywhere in my part of the world has plenty of that! All of my "toys" are taped up as I'm sure flash on a bright day doesn't help.I'm hoping this may help newcomers to our sport, old hands won't learn anything from me!

[panoma1]

Stating the obvious.....having birds feeding hard on a particular field, is a recipe for success! It is difficult to attract any number of birds in, if they want to be elsewhere!

[JDog]

I resisted using the rotary yesterday as it was very sunny and bright and the rotary arms would have glared. Once the pattern was busy enough birds decoyed perfectly well.

[kitchrat]

6 hours ago, marsh man said:

Yesterday weather wise it was as good as you will get , a stiff wind , nice bit of cloud and pretty warm in the sunshine , as this will be my last Saturday off for a while we decided to pass the afternoon away on one of Fodder Radish fields , I gave my mate the first choice where he wanted to go as I like to relax a bit with a cup of coffee first and weigh up what is about , it was now getting on towards one o clock and Rob had already set up so I drove down to the other end of the field and made a start , getting the poles in the ground near the hedge for the net wasn't that bad ,but getting the base in for the magnet was nigh on impossible due to the ground like concrete , so after trying two or three times in different places I gave it up as a bad job and just relied on the 25 decoys set up well out and the two floaters .

Rob was getting a few shots and to his credit he was letting a lot of young ones live another day but when he rang me up he was saying a lot of the older ones were flaring off , whereas although I wasn't getting that much shooting to begin with, the Pigeons that did come in came in a treat , as the afternoon wore on I could see we still had a lot of Pigeons in the area and hopefully will get a bit of sport throughout the Autumn and Winter months .

I know this wasn't a scientific experiment but when we finished we had exactly 50 , I got 29 and Rob got 21 , I now leave the magnet at home if I have to do much walking and I am beginning to wonder if it is still worth taking , it is now like a drug , you get hooked on using it but I am now weaning myself off it .

THANKS for looking and what do you think ??.

I have been saying for years that Essex Birds are often magnet aware. However, movement is important and flappers can, as said by Hidenseek below, scare birds if they flap at the wrong time. I have a flapper with remote control, which I use to get the attention, then turn it off as the decoys "reel them in".

NB JD, all moving part of the magnet are covered with matt finish, camo duct tape. The motor also need to be hidden with a bit of stubble or weeds.

I think birds round here are overshot and therefore over educated.

[mossy835]

i gave on the magnet a long time ago. just would not come near enough to have a shot.

[motty]

Well, I use at least one magnet on 99% of my pigeon decoying outings. It is very rare that I feel the magnet has a detrimental effect on my shooting. I have no tape or any other adornment on my magnets.

[figgy]

Depending on area and how much it's shot. Pigeon get wise to Rotary's when in a flock and get shot at. 

Always worth having, along with lifters and floaters. 

[marsh man]

We have now been using rotaries / magnets or whatever you would like to call them for a good number of years now, and for a lot of people it is part of the normal set up , how many times do we see a person using one where it going round and round in circles with next to nothing coming in and what do come in to it flair off when it is well out or at best when it is coming into range , if the area is shot fairly heavy then I think you would be better off by going back to basics and try and set up in the right place and using static decoys with a couple of floaters to create a bit of movement , we are lucky and no doubt so are the boys from north of the county where the big numbers of young ones about at the moment have never seen a magnet and are still drawn in to two pigeons going around in circles without ever catching the one in front .  

[Harnser]

On drilling’s or low crops I prefer flappers . The rotary comes into its Own higher crops like standing cereals or peas .

harnser

[aga man]

I think the rotary is an essential bit of kit for anyone who does a fair amount of pigeon shooting and there is no doubt they help bring birds in from range in most situations. The placement of it can be crucial some days though and i suppose only the pigeons know the answer as to why. Some days they flare from it but moving it can change the game?

It can be very rewarding to have a decoy session with out one occasionally though {old school}.

[GingerCat]

It's a useful bit of kit to pull birds off lines that otherwise might carry on. If your on a busy line and they can see the decoys you dont need it. I think I now prefer  flappers and replacing plastic with real birds as the day goes on. My last outing underlined that to me. 

That said I've had days where only a rotary will do given the choice of food in the area. 

Horses for courses and better to have and not use than need but don't have. 

[Wilts#Dave]

I’ve rarely had a day when pigeons have decoyed better after I’ve switched the rotary off / taken it in. I’ve had the rotary pack up/ batteries die a few times on busy days and the sport has noticeably slowed up! 

Personally I go for a rotary over a flapper with decoys every time, but everyone favours their own ways that work for them!

I wouldn’t say they’re as effective as when they first came out though. Dad bought one of the originals from Phil Beasley and once we got used to how to position it our bags went up dramatically in comparison to when we only used decoys. 

 

[hawkfanz]

i must b old school i have one but not used it this year,,also never use a 12g on pigeon,only 20g and now also my hushy 410,dont even see the need to be fireing large loads of lead, small loads pointed in right place do the job fine.

[deny essex]

I use one but only after watching how the pigeon react to a static pattern and feel it maybe an advantage to put a rotary out, likewise with flappers or floaters or peckers , if you dont take em you cant use them if you feel they are needed , some days they definitely are handy in my experience.

Edited September 29, 2019 by deny essex
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