no1ghillie Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 Found new rape fields and farmer happy for us to shoot pigeons, he told us the fields have never been shot before. Watched fields over a week and build up of pigeons, arranged for Wednesday great westerly wind and cloud cover, started at 3 deg and ended up at 9deg When we arrived pushed off several hundred pigeon, and started to set up hides and decoy patterns, and 2 new enforcer flapper off to the right. Birds everywhere they were even trying to get into the field whilst we were setting up, settled in and we shot 16 , the birds kept coming over the field but no interest in decoying or feeding,. we moved the pattern around 3 times switched the rotary off switched the rotary on , moved the floaters , brought them in but birds still refused to decoy we ended up taking long 50+ shots to try and make up a bag. All of the birds shot all had empty crops, we think they flighted by to very large wood at the monastery 3 miles south and stayed there. We sat it out until 3.0pm the pigeon traffic getting less and less, pulled stumps and headed home no1ghille east coast Ireland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 A good report. What you describe is pretty normal for winter rape shooting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clangerman Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 great effort beats my one bird yesterday if there is a strong line and they won’t play ball it might pay to pull the deeks in and shoot the line keep up the good work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted January 31, 2020 Report Share Posted January 31, 2020 Good report , well done. How is the rape in Ireland, has it been damaged by the flea Beetle?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
no1ghillie Posted February 1, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2020 No sign of flea beetle at present, very large acreage of rape all down the east coast of Ireland. Have noticed the massive increase in pigeon population over the last number of years, and early season August-September very large bags available on wheat , barley and rape stubbles were made before they vanished into the woods to stuff out on beech nuts, and acorns. Strange winter for decoying. Even pheasants were difficult to hold due to very mild winter , and would stray long distances no mater how often they were dogged in duck faired better with mild weather and were pairing off after Christmas. Noticed some farmers have started to plough in winter stubbles getting ready for spring grain seeding, this should cut down the amount of feeding available for pigeons. Our only problem is seeding machinery plants so deep that, no spillage left on the surface, even after heavy rain. Might get a opportunity when beans go in. Failing that trout season opens on the 1st March Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.