GingerCat Posted June 13, 2020 Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 I've not shot since the birth of my daughter, perhaps a month before. Let's say 4 months give or take. Today I joined jdog on some peas in the heart of the wolds. A strong line was present as they flew up a hedge before dropping into one corner of a pea field. We drove up some tracks and lugged the kit 400 yards or so to the designated spot. Set up and ready with a few shells, a couple on the rotary and little else by 5pm. As we walked up about 60 or so birds got up on a brown field. Jdog pointed out it was freshly sown mustard and unless you got down on your hands and knees you wouldn't see the plants, they were tiny. Smaller than tiny. Sat in my hide next to the hedge i could see the wolds unfold before me and on such a nice day the view was amazing, a gentle wind from our right and some banter to keep us going. Jdog being the gent let me miss the first 4 or 5 whilst I worked the rust out. Each was a "doddler". The birds should have been coming from the left, some did, some came from behind, other from in front, a fair few from the right and occasionally some came from behind, crossed over the hedge and then screamed in from in front. We both missed a few. The dog had an incredible shot I wouldn't have contemplated raising my gun too and jasper the furry rocket made an excellent retrieve. Lovely to see. What puzzled us was the draw of the mustard. The birds clearly really wanted to be there. One bird couldn't have got another mustard leaf in its crop, truly staggering how much it crammed in. We finished at about 715 with 16 picked and 5 lost in a very knarly, thick and bramble packed spinney. Not bad for a couple of hours in such pleasant surroundings. All the birds I prepped later had mustard in their crops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walker570 Posted June 13, 2020 Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 Brilliant. Lovely country to be in up there as well, I enjoy my occasional visits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7daysinaweek Posted June 13, 2020 Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 Mustard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clodhopper Posted June 14, 2020 Report Share Posted June 14, 2020 Great write up, birds pre marinated in mustard, delicious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted June 14, 2020 Report Share Posted June 14, 2020 (edited) When we watched the line before starting it looked like every pigeon went up the same line to the peas. As soon as we set up it became apparent that the line split and that some went to standing rape, others to standing beans, some to the peas and the majority to the emerging mustard. We saw a lot of pigeons and it was an enjoyable but frustrating session. Edited June 14, 2020 by JDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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