Not our day

[Jacko3275]

While loitering around outside Jdog house 😜 he came out to me and suggested we have a drive round some stubble fields so for the next 2 hrs we  drove round 20 different fields And saw very little feeding and no real lines to give us reason to set up on Any of them ..so off we went to where we had shot over standing wheat this was now stubble  after watching while having a cuppa and snack we noticed 2 definite lines at the bottom of the field  and plenty of birds feeding  as we drove to set up we lifted a least a hundred birds so this looked promising .. we where set up for 2 o’clock and the first bird sheepishly approached and the was just about to turn when Jdog dispatched of it and that was about as close as any where going to come we shuffled the pattern a few times magnet and flapper on and off but the just wouldn’t decoy the 2 lines had stopped but there was hundreds of bird round and about but showing no interest in our decoy we end the day at 330/4 o’clock with 9 of the only birds stupid enough to come close... there are only 2 field cut in that area so it was confusing why they would not decoy and the birds shot had empty crops .. this is why pigeon shooting can be so frustrating as well as so enjoyable 

[kenholland]

must admit I haven't seen much about  lately , so going fishing in the morning , shot 2 on my last outing , so will have a look next Wednesday.

[mossy835]

i get a lot of that a few birds about not wanting to decoy.even with fields cut.glad you got some.a lot of my new cut fields now have been ripped up.

[JDog]

Last week on his own Jacko had one field to go to and shot 50. On Saturday we looked at 20 fields and shot 9. That was my prediction at the start of the day.

[GingerCat]

funny old game shooting pigeons. Sometimes you don't need a hide or rotary and will shoot plenty, other times there simple aren't there to shoot or won't decoy. If it was easy we wouldn't do it. 

[clangerman]

as i think jacko deserves a laugh at my expense after a offer then finding i don’t have enough birds to stage a two man dinner phone call this morning saw me thrash up to wilts trying to save my red face tearing along taking branches of on the corners almost losing it pulled in the farm took several large shocks moving the lecy fence only to find three empty fields bar one squeaker talk about not my day 

[marsh man]

Looking at the bags of some of our top posters you can easily get carried away in thinking, what I am I doing wrong by only getting bags that are barely into two figures ? , in reality you are doing nothing wrong and small bags to there standard are the norm for the average pigeon shooter , mind you , having the time and a lot of land you will get the odd good bag but even so , you still need a good quantity of pigeons in your area and ideally not to many people chasing them about , GOOD LUCK .

On 15/08/2020 at 17:33, Jacko3275 said:

While loitering around outside Jdog house 😜 he came out to me and suggested we have a drive round some stubble fields so for the next 2 hrs we  drove round 20 different fields And saw very little feeding and no real lines to give us reason to set up on Any of them ..so off we went to where we had shot over standing wheat this was now stubble  after watching while having a cuppa and snack we noticed 2 definite lines at the bottom of the field  and plenty of birds feeding  as we drove to set up we lifted a least a hundred birds so this looked promising .. we where set up for 2 o’clock and the first bird sheepishly approached and the was just about to turn when Jdog dispatched of it and that was about as close as any where going to come we shuffled the pattern a few times magnet and flapper on and off but the just wouldn’t decoy the 2 lines had stopped but there was hundreds of bird round and about but showing no interest in our decoy we end the day at 330/4 o’clock with 9 of the only birds stupid enough to come close... there are only 2 field cut in that area so it was confusing why they would not decoy and the birds shot had empty crops .. this is why pigeon shooting can be so frustrating as well as so enjoyable 

 

[Jacko3275]

26 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Looking at the bags of some of our top posters you can easily get carried away in thinking, what I am I doing wrong by only getting bags that are barely into two figures ? , in reality you are doing nothing wrong and small bags to there standard are the norm for the average pigeon shooter , mind you , having the time and a lot of land you will get the odd good bag but even so , you still need a good quantity of pigeons in your area and ideally not to many people chasing them about , GOOD LUCK .

 

I understand this when I go out with NPPC if I get 10 it’s a good day for me but this day was baffling even for Jdog there was lots of birds about just not showing interest ... if we where not going out for a meal that night with mrs Jdog and my missus we may have moved to a different place on that field or to another field it was just not our day

[Wilts#Dave]

Had a particularly frustrating day myself today, after shooting 200+ on my last outing (rare pb) today ended on a total of 9 pigeons after setting up once only for the combine to roll in after I’d shot 5.....moved to a different part of the farm in haste at 3 o clock only to get caught in the biggest downpour I’ve ever been out in, soaked through along with all the kit and only a further 4 pigeons to show for it. 

I’m not going to lie I don’t overly enjoy those days as time is at a premium at the moment but most people will only tell you of the good days when we all get the bad ones where it just doesn’t go your way! 
Still, at least you were in good company eh!! 

Edited August 19, 2020 by Wilts#Dave

[Balotelli]

I've posted previously "Where are all the pigeons" and it seems the consensus is that many of us are struggling.   Judging from posters' locations, it seems Norfolk is the place to be for decent bags. 

[marsh man]

10 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

Had a particularly frustrating day myself today, after shooting 200+ on my last outing (rare pb) today ended on a total of 9 pigeons after setting up once only for the combine to roll in after I’d shot 5.....moves to a fifteen part of the farm in haste at 3 o clock only to get caught in the biggest downpour I’ve ever been out in, soaked through along with all the kit and only a further 4 pigeons to show for it. 

I’m not going to lie I don’t overly enjoy those days as time is at a premium at the moment but most people will only tell you of the good days when we all get the bad ones where it just doesn’t go your way! 
Still, at least you were in good company eh!! 

This year have been a very strange ( season ) in more ways than one , to begin with we had talk of a Pandemic that was going to sweep the country , then when it arrived we went into what was called a lockdown , this took some getting used to with the threat of being fined for making unnecessary journeys and at my age you had to self isolate when I was in perfectly good health , to begin with we were allowed an hour a day out to exercise , I even got called a idiot on the forum because I walked my dog around the fields more than once a day , to overcome this I got a letter from the estate where I worked classing me as a key worker in case I got stopped going from a to b.

Then when things started to get back to some form of normality the weather went crazy with very hot and dry conditions , this suited most of the people who were laid off and still getting paid with walks and bike rides in the countryside , I was seeing more people walking the foot paths than I had ever seen in the past .

The weather made a huge impact on the crops ( and still is ) with very low returns when it came to harvest time , now we have a vast area that is suitable for pigeons to feed on , take last week for instance , we had rape stubble , wheat stubble and Spring barley stubble on one big block of several hundred acres all at the same time , in the afternoons you could easily find four, maybe five hundred pigeons feeding mainly on the rape and wheat stubble , I knew for a fact that after a few shots you would move them off for the rest of the day , yes you could get a small bag that would pass a afternoon away but seeing the amount that got off you could easily be fooled to expect a lot of shooting and for the majority of us it just don't happen , there you go , pigeon shooting was never that easy and I would say this year is a bit harder than others , mind you , we have at least got a nice lot of pigeons to go at, where others might not be so lucky .

[Balotelli]

14 hours ago, marsh man said:

This year have been a very strange ( season ) in more ways than one , to begin with we had talk of a Pandemic that was going to sweep the country , then when it arrived we went into what was called a lockdown , this took some getting used to with the threat of being fined for making unnecessary journeys and at my age you had to self isolate when I was in perfectly good health , to begin with we were allowed an hour a day out to exercise , I even got called a idiot on the forum because I walked my dog around the fields more than once a day , to overcome this I got a letter from the estate where I worked classing me as a key worker in case I got stopped going from a to b.

Then when things started to get back to some form of normality the weather went crazy with very hot and dry conditions , this suited most of the people who were laid off and still getting paid with walks and bike rides in the countryside , I was seeing more people walking the foot paths than I had ever seen in the past .

The weather made a huge impact on the crops ( and still is ) with very low returns when it came to harvest time , now we have a vast area that is suitable for pigeons to feed on , take last week for instance , we had rape stubble , wheat stubble and Spring barley stubble on one big block of several hundred acres all at the same time , in the afternoons you could easily find four, maybe five hundred pigeons feeding mainly on the rape and wheat stubble , I knew for a fact that after a few shots you would move them off for the rest of the day , yes you could get a small bag that would pass a afternoon away but seeing the amount that got off you could easily be fooled to expect a lot of shooting and for the majority of us it just don't happen , there you go , pigeon shooting was never that easy and I would say this year is a bit harder than others , mind you , we have at least got a nice lot of pigeons to go at, where others might not be so lucky .

An excellent interesting and well balanced post.

[Old Boggy]

7 hours ago, Balotelli said:

An excellent interesting and well balanced post.

Totally agree.

You can always rely on Marshman to tell it how it is from his many years of experience. That's not meant as an ageist comment by the way MM .

OB