Frozen decoys

[Jacko3275]

How many times can or do you freeze and  defrost your shot birds if at all ... do they get to a point where they are no good

[kenholland]

if they are debreasted it's ok, up to a point just replace them when they get a bit rough looking , [ not natural ] you will know I am sure.

[ditchman]

let em gooo 

let em gooo

 

let em gooo⛄🎼

[marsh man]

I hate wasting any pigeons I get, so I try and make the frozen pigeons last as long as possible , instead of thawing them out I try and set some up in the freezer so I can use them if I go on the spur of the moment , if your freezer is big enough you can set two up on the arms of the magnet and freeze them in that position , if you have got a wire box in your freezer , lay some nice clean ones on there backs with the neck and head dropping through the bottom of the wire box then when you want to go , take them out and they should be ready to use with there neck and head frozen upright , this time of the year if you are only going for a few hours then you should be able to put the pigeons back in the freezer while they are still frozen and then they will be already for the next time you go , and then the next time and so on .

[Jacko3275]

39 minutes ago, ditchman said:

let em gooo 

let em gooo

 

let em gooo⛄🎼

Have you just come out of the pictures 

[ditchman]

47 minutes ago, Jacko3275 said:

Have you just come out of the pictures 

no ..............the mental hostipital

[Jacko3275]

16 minutes ago, ditchman said:

no ..............the mental hostipital

🤪🤪

[dodgy dave]

just a day to see what its like 

[pigeon controller]

I tend to use and then leave for fox bait, I'm very fussy with my decoys they have to be feather perfect and are carried from the field in segmented wine bottle bags and them either kept in the fridge or frozen individually . I'm a firm believer that tatty decoys spook approaching birds. When you see birds at close quarters they pride themselves on being perfect, tatty birds are usually I'll or city birds roosting in dirty conditions.

[dead eye alan]

4 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

I tend to use and then leave for fox bait, I'm very fussy with my decoys they have to be feather perfect and are carried from the field in segmented wine bottle bags and them either kept in the fridge or frozen individually . I'm a firm believer that tatty decoys spook approaching birds. When you see birds at close quarters they pride themselves on being perfect, tatty birds are usually I'll or city birds roosting in dirty conditions.

I brest mine out then roll them up in newspaper and keep in the fridge, thy last for at least 2 trips.

[motty]

I don't think the appearance of decoys matters too much. The most manky, rotten bird will still be more realistic than the best plastic decoy.

I keep dead birds in the fridge. They last a few outings. Often I will use a fresh pair of decoys for a magnet. These will be used once and then frozen. The fresh birds I have from that shoot will be used next time, then frozen, and so on.

[oowee]

I reckon it matters more with crows and rooks. I here about people using screwed up bin bags but I definitely get less spooked birds using  dead  birds on sticks and try to get rid of the plastic stuff at first chance. My dealer does a good line in taxidermy rooks and pigeons to use as deeks but I can't imagine them lasting log in the muddy fields I end up in.  

[old'un]

Never noticed much difference in the pulling power of pristine dead birds and birds that have been used a few times and look a bit scruffy.

One observation when shooting over winter rape was when you get a bird hit the ground hard and a cloud of feathers are left on the ground, any dead birds set near these feathers seem to make some incoming pigeons a bit shy of landing by them, does not seem to worry them during the summer months, mind you having said that, winter pigeons are a totally different bird to summer birds.

[pigeon controller]

On 4 December 2019 at 17:36, old'un said:

Never noticed much difference in the pulling power of pristine dead birds and birds that have been used a few times and look a bit scruffy.

 

 

One observation when shooting over winter rape was when you get a bird hit the ground hard and a cloud of feathers are left on the ground, any dead birds set near these feathers seem to make some incoming pigeons a bit shy of landing by them, does not seem to worry them during the summer months, mind you having said that, winter pigeons are a totally different bird to summer birds.

I agree feathers are a no no on winter rape we will attempt to pick up the majority if we can. If we have rapter strikes this will leave loose feathers and we will change the bird and pick what we can. 

We have in the past when birds are wary to come to the decoys put three or four birds out in the centre of the field and pluck a few feathers. The incoming birds are attracted to the SAFE birds and spook on the the decoys.

[old'un]

1 hour ago, pigeon controller said:

I agree feathers are a no no on winter rape we will attempt to pick up the majority if we can. If we have rapter strikes this will leave loose feathers and we will change the bird and pick what we can. 

We have in the past when birds are wary to come to the decoys put three or four birds out in the centre of the field and pluck a few feathers. The incoming birds are attracted to the SAFE birds and spook on the the decoys.

Strangely enough and talking raptors and feathers, I had a good day this Wednesday on some rape, there was a good breeze and the birds were decoying well but I must admit that I do like taking birds that have plenty of sky between them and the ground rather than hovering over the decoys, with the strong breeze behind me some of the high birds were falling well out into the field (70+ yards) and hitting the ground hard resulting in a good cloud of feathers on the ground, then this Buzzard turns up and drops into one of the feather clouds, stands there looking then lifts off and flies around the field and drops into another feather cloud, it was doing this for about 20 minutes and spooking incoming pigeons so I went out onto the field and told him/her to go away, guess he/she was looking for an easy meal, funny how Buzzard appear from nowhere when you start shooting.

[Pigeon_corvid_control]

On 04/12/2019 at 16:50, oowee said:

I reckon it matters more with crows and rooks. I here about people using screwed up bin bags but I definitely get less spooked birds using  dead  birds on sticks and try to get rid of the plastic stuff at first chance. My dealer does a good line in taxidermy rooks and pigeons to use as deeks but I can't imagine them lasting log in the muddy fields I end up in.  

I often use sticks on bags to great affect. They are light and portable. The last time put out ten sticks on bags and 3 full body decoys i ended up with a mixed bag in the 90's. 

 

But i agree; if available nothing beats the real thing. Corvids are crafty *******.

[martinj]

On ‎27‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 19:12, Jacko3275 said:

How many times can or do you freeze and  defrost your shot birds if at all ... do they get to a point where they are no good

I go by appearance and my nose

In the summer my nose tells me to change them more often, the old ones are left for the kites, they aren't too fussy.

[lakeside1000]

I have to throw them out when they stink the car out, the missus gives me real grief when she has to hold her nose when we go shopping, not to mention her seat covered in feathers, 

Someone told me the ultra violet in the white patches fades after death but I dont have any problem getting them to come in to old decoys, its just hitting them thats the problem

I freeze down all fresh birds going to the dealers, and just keep back up to a dozen in the fridge for decoys, that way I dont mix up the good from the nasty and the fridge birds are always easy to set up on mounts. needless to say I have a dedicated fridge in the shed for them, which I keep closed at all times, very nasty inside.

[steve_b_wales]

I keep Crows/Jackdaws with bamboo canes inserted in them, in my (dedicated) shed freezer. That way, I can stake them out quickly.

[dad]

I like to keep a dozen in a dedicated fridge but sometimes i keep too long and and end up fridge full of maggots so now i put them in individual plastic bags with seal tops to contain the maggots it only takes one fly to crawl down a throat even as late as November.i dont take more than 3 out now 2 for rotary 1 for flyer and 8 half shells i notice they seem to fixate on rotary and come close enough to be shot.