Last time on OSR ........ or is it ?

[Old Boggy]

Our usual and reliable field of rape that has given Stourboy and myself (also Wooder last week) some regular shooting over the last few weeks is now well up and just showing a few flowers here and there. There are however, some 'mullered' areas in the middle and along the opposite side of the field to our normal hide position.

Yesterday though, we took up our position in the lee of an ivy covered hedgerow once again with the strong SW wind over our right shoulders. Our plan this time as a bit of an experiment was to do away with any decoys and just position the rotary very slightly upwind and fairly close in from our hide knowing that any birds would either approach directly from our left or from a small wood to our right and then swing round giving us two lefties 'left to right' shots immediately in front.

We know that the little wood to our right is on a very regular flightline with birds heading here to 'rest & digest'.

We were set up by 1 pm and didn't have long to wait before the first pigeons appeared heading towards the rotary.

Most of the birds today came from our right to swing round, as said, giving fairly easy (or should have been) shots in front. Unfortunately instead of coming ideally in ones and twos, these pigeons hadn't read the rules and came in ten or so at a time. Even for two ageing and supposedly experienced shooters, who should have remained calm, chosen our birds and shot instinctively, these birds sometimes got us flustered to the point of changing from one bird to another. This as most know is fatal and invariably leads to a miss, and so it proved yesterday. The chance in the strong wind of a right and left was pretty unlikely due to the birds tipping a wing and being out of range in the blink of an eye. However, Stourboy brought off a cracking right and left which gave him a big smile, me the satisfaction and pleasure of watching and Decker the lab a look of total astonishment at his master's achievement.

Halfway through proceedings we were treated to a buzzard alighting in a tree nearby, which we thought might put the pigeons off. Perhaps it was deciding whether to attack the rotary for easy pickings of one of two the two pigeons, which has happened once before. It didn't put the pigeons off and neither did the next couple of shots disturb the buzzard, which eventually got bored and flew off downwind.

Picking the shot birds in the now quite tall rape was proving pretty difficult, even for the good marking, scenting and retrieving of Decker. Like all dogs that are getting on in years, he will not give up his determination to please, whilst in the field, but very similar to their ageing masters, it's not until the evening and possibly the next day, that limbs start to stiffen. That is, until the next time out, then it starts all over again with renewed vigour, both human and canine. It was for this reason we decided not to send Decker for each marked retrieve but only the occasional one, with a final sniff round at the end. All the while we were seated in the hide, the dog was most attentive, but as soon as we started packing up, he found a comfortable spot under some ivy and laid down. 

During the day we must have counted about 1000 cormorants travelling upwind towards the nearest lakes and due to the fairly strong wind, passed over our hide position well within range !

Once again this time, one bird was hard hit, landed in a nearby tree and promptly fell out, right in the middle of a wide dyke. Once again, Decker was not sent to retrieve and this with four others that fell way out in the field, were left for Charlie to find. Better that than for him to feast on some early wild pheasant poults or ducklings. All others, however, were successfully picked.

The absence of any decoys this week made not a jot of difference to the birds coming in and obviously had previously been a bit of a waste of time and effort.

We ended our three hour session picking just fifteen pigeons, two of which were youngsters. This was just enough to give us sufficient shooting between chatting and of course our 'tucker' which this week consisted of pork & pickle pies, hot cross buns and Mrs.Stourboy's delicious lemon drizzle cake.

After finishing, we decided that in fairness to Decker and to prevent too many birds not picked due to the height of the rape, our next trip out would see us just inside the aforementioned little wood where we have a readymade hide which hopefully would assure us of sufficient shots to keep us reasonably occupied, with the added bonus of a shorter and much lighter walk. In front of the wood is a field of winter wheat, so perhaps just a rotary to try to channel them in and the knowledge of an easier pickup. Taking them well in front to fall onto the wheat would be the plan. We shall see !

Thanks for enduring yet another of my rambling reports and I apologise if they have become somewhat monotonous over the weeks.One of these times I will report that we shot over 100, or maybe not. We'll leave that to the younger shooters amongst us.

OB

Edited March 12, 2020 by Old Boggy

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Good work Agent OB, keep up the reports please.

[aga man]

A good read Old Boggy, sounds like you might well be back at that rape field for a few more shots yet.

[dead eye alan]

Super report worthy of a post in any magazine just loved reading it.

[motty]

Hopefully one or two more trips there for you, yet.

[marsh man]

Another great report that was full of details , I enjoy the laid back approach and above all the contents of the lunch box , just had my tea but I dare say I could just about manage a small piece of the drizzle cake 

I was out for a few hours myself today , quite a nice day weather wise , my first port of call was one of my old stomping grounds over the other side of the river , this farm had two rape fields beside each other , one of them had a bale hide in the middle but after going for my normal walk and a coffee when I returned it didn't look that promising and was time to move on , my next stop was a large acreage about three miles up the road , this is where Lakeside do a lot of his shooting , after a yarn with the farm manager and a walk around a big rape field that wore me out without taking any gear with me  , although it was mainly uphill it still told me I was getting on a bit .

It was now getting on towards dinner time so back home for a cuppa and then go and have a look on my main shooting grounds , on this place we have got several rape fields , the only trouble is they are spaced out over a three mile round area , after walking around one or two I stopped to have a yarn with the tractor driver who was getting some land ready for Spring barley , I asked him if had seen any pigeons and he said there were a nice lot on two small rape fields near a Fir wood , off I go again and low and behold I had finally found some , with it now gone three o clock it wasn't worth setting up for an hour , so it was back home for another cuppa while watching The Chase ( sad I know ) , so today I clocked up about 20 miles , walked around half a dozen rape fields and the gun never came out of it's case , weather permitting my gun might see daylight tomorrow .

[Old Boggy]

11 hours ago, marsh man said:

Another great report that was full of details , I enjoy the laid back approach and above all the contents of the lunch box , just had my tea but I dare say I could just about manage a small piece of the drizzle cake 

I was out for a few hours myself today , quite a nice day weather wise , my first port of call was one of my old stomping grounds over the other side of the river , this farm had two rape fields beside each other , one of them had a bale hide in the middle but after going for my normal walk and a coffee when I returned it didn't look that promising and was time to move on , my next stop was a large acreage about three miles up the road , this is where Lakeside do a lot of his shooting , after a yarn with the farm manager and a walk around a big rape field that wore me out without taking any gear with me  , although it was mainly uphill it still told me I was getting on a bit .

It was now getting on towards dinner time so back home for a cuppa and then go and have a look on my main shooting grounds , on this place we have got several rape fields , the only trouble is they are spaced out over a three mile round area , after walking around one or two I stopped to have a yarn with the tractor driver who was getting some land ready for Spring barley , I asked him if had seen any pigeons and he said there were a nice lot on two small rape fields near a Fir wood , off I go again and low and behold I had finally found some , with it now gone three o clock it wasn't worth setting up for an hour , so it was back home for another cuppa while watching The Chase ( sad I know ) , so today I clocked up about 20 miles , walked around half a dozen rape fields and the gun never came out of it's case , weather permitting my gun might see daylight tomorrow .

The gun may not have come out of its cover, but your time out wouldn't have been wasted. Not just the fresh air and exercise but the knowledge you gained to see where the pigeons were feeding will stand you in good stead for your next trip out. Good luck today if you go out. Weather looks good.

OB

[Wooder]

Another good report, reading that I felt like I was actually with you. Salivating at the thought of lemon drizzle cake!

 

[Old Boggy]

17 hours ago, Wooder said:

Another good report, reading that I felt like I was actually with you. Salivating at the thought of lemon drizzle cake!

 

The irony of that was that when you came out with us last time and Stour-boy joined us with Decker for the pick-up, he forgot  to share out the cake.

I also omitted to mention this time that a pigeon came in when I had a lump of cake in my gob, but managed to get the pigeon OK. However, most of the cake fell to the floor hotly pursued by Decker's mouth. Consequently his concentration was lost and he didn't mark the pigeon, although it was picked later.

OB

[dad]

Nice report ob nice to see me and my mate are not the only 2 old codgers that get out mid week i stood in a wet ditch yesterday and kept falling over getting out.if my wife could see some of the i do she would have me committed.

[Old Boggy]

46 minutes ago, dad said:

Nice report ob nice to see me and my mate are not the only 2 old codgers that get out mid week i stood in a wet ditch yesterday and kept falling over getting out.if my wife could see some of the i do she would have me committed.

dad, I think that you`ll find quite a few old codgers on this forum. probably more than you realise and long may it continue. 

[Wooder]

3 hours ago, Old Boggy said:

The irony of that was that when you came out with us last time and Stour-boy joined us with Decker for the pick-up, he forgot  to share out the cake.

I also omitted to mention this time that a pigeon came in when I had a lump of cake in my gob, but managed to get the pigeon OK. However, most of the cake fell to the floor hotly pursued by Decker's mouth. Consequently his concentration was lost and he didn't mark the pigeon, although it was picked later.

OB

That's Lab's and food for you !