Exagerated bags

[B725]

Motty is right we do it because we enjoy it .

[Balotelli]

Absolutely spot on. But to hear the sanctimonious claptrap of doing a good job is tosh. Primarily we do it as it is  great sport - it just happens to benefit the farmer . So a win win situation.

But as posted we do need to be careful with the politics as the hand writhers will be on to it. Maybe Mellors is correct in promoting the necessity of a "good job". Having to go out in all conditions just to protect crops, otherwise there would be no food on the table, food banks would mushroom and children would starve. On that basis shooters should be paid for their contribution to the Nation's well-being or at least set the cost of cartridges against tax. Thank God for the shooting fraternity. We could also provide food for the food-banks although if reliant on me, at the moment, the beneficiaries would starve.

[WalkedUp]

Shot 112 today, but it was not what you would class as a “big” or “red letter” pigeon day. Long periods between birds and very few periods of sustained shooting. There were min 150 pigeons and 200 crows on the deck at arrival, setting up the pattern they were trying to get back in. All great signs but it just stopped, suspect they moved on to another cut field. If the birds had come back in as I expected it would have been 200+ day with red hot barrels. 

[Balotelli]

2 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

Shot 112 today, but it was not what you would class as a “big” or “red letter” pigeon day. Long periods between birds and very few periods of sustained shooting. There were min 150 pigeons and 200 crows on the deck at arrival, setting up the pattern they were trying to get back in. All great signs but it just stopped, suspect they moved on to another cut field. If the birds had come back in as I expected it would have been 200+ day with red hot barrels. 

An excellent day. What part of the country? I had a look around my neck of the woods and found about  eight on some stubble and that was it. 

[WalkedUp]

A dairy farm in North Wales, not exactly pigeonopolis. They grow wheat and barley for fodder. And cut as they need over the summer, this has been a bad summer so they are catching up now. 

[Balotelli]

6 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

A dairy farm in North Wales, not exactly pigeonopolis. They grow wheat and barley for fodder. And cut as they need over the summer, this has been a bad summer so they are catching up now. 

I'm pleased for you, probably makes up for a shed load of crud days. Quite honestly, I'd be pleased with 12  let alone a 112 - a pipe dream.

[Balotelli]

I would find it helpful if in the Sporting Pictures section that the birds were laid out neatly in maybe groups of, say 10, rather than piled up. It would make for a much nicer photograph. The odd occasion that I have shot a decent bag I have to adopt this ordering otherwise I just have no idea of how many that I've shot.

[Old farrier]

2 minutes ago, Balotelli said:

I would find it helpful if in the Sporting Pictures section that the birds were laid out neatly in maybe groups of, say 10, rather than piled up. It would make for a much nicer photograph. The odd occasion that I have shot a decent bag I have to adopt this ordering otherwise I just have no idea of how many that I've shot.

Looking forward to seeing your pictures 😊

setting the standard for the display 👍

[Balotelli]

1 minute ago, Old farrier said:

Looking forward to seeing your pictures 😊

setting the standard for the display 👍

Sure, but I won't need a wide angle lens. Next time, I promise I'll post a picture.

[WalkedUp]

A comment in Sporting Pictures once really tickled me, the birds were just heaped in a jumbled mess and some one messaged along the lines of “ah, I see you have laid the birds out in the traditional Norfolk style”. 

We lay our birds out in rows of 10, per species, with young birds split from old birds. No scientific reason for it, but seems that as you have the opportunity you may as well record the data accurately. 

[Balotelli]

1 minute ago, WalkedUp said:

A comment in Sporting Pictures once really tickled me, the birds were just heaped in a jumbled mess and some one messaged along the lines of “ah, I see you have laid the birds out in the traditional Norfolk style”. 

We lay our birds out in rows of 10, per species, with young birds split from old birds. No scientific reason for it, but seems that as you have the opportunity you may as well record the data accurately. 

Exactly. I'm shooting tomorrow and will no doubt bag a few. I'll put a picture on the Forum along the lines that you are suggesting.

[B725]

9 hours ago, Balotelli said:

I would find it helpful if in the Sporting Pictures section that the birds were laid out neatly in maybe groups of, say 10, rather than piled up. It would make for a much nicer photograph. The odd occasion that I have shot a decent bag I have to adopt this ordering otherwise I just have no idea of how many that I've shot.

A lot of folk use a clicker to keep count of what they shoot it's a lot easier. 

[Scully]

1 hour ago, B725 said:

A lot of folk use a clicker to keep count of what they shoot it's a lot easier. 

Ditto. 👍

[muncher]

This clap trap is why I have stopped posting about my outings, I don’t have to justify and prove to a wanna be . I don’t exaggerate my bags and can’t be ***** to line them all up after I’ve collected them in.

[marsh man]

11 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

A comment in Sporting Pictures once really tickled me, the birds were just heaped in a jumbled mess and some one messaged along the lines of “ah, I see you have laid the birds out in the traditional Norfolk style”. 

We lay our birds out in rows of 10, per species, with young birds split from old birds. No scientific reason for it, but seems that as you have the opportunity you may as well record the data accurately. 

I find now I am of a certain age that shooting a bag say over 50 can be tiring on my back , when the session is over it is then time to pack up , the first job is to go and sack your decoys up which is often around 25 , then to collect the dead , time I bend down and pick them up I take them back to my hide position in bundles of 10 , these are left in a heap ready to sack up , sometimes I have to cart all the stuff back to my motor and if I am lucky I can drive up to where I set up , I then have to bend down and put the dead in at least two sacks if I have had a decent day , the last thing I want to do is to ****** about bending down again and laying them all out in a nice neat row just to take a photo , after everything is stowed away in the motor they then have to be laid out again either on the floor or on the bench to cool off before they go into the freezer , so in my case the least bending down the better and I will carry on along with several other Norfolk pigeon shooters to put them in the traditional Norfolk heap .

[old'un]

12 hours ago, Balotelli said:

I would find it helpful if in the Sporting Pictures section that the birds were laid out neatly in maybe groups of, say 10, rather than piled up. It would make for a much nicer photograph. The odd occasion that I have shot a decent bag I have to adopt this ordering otherwise I just have no idea of how many that I've shot.

It may be a heap but I know how many I have shot because I counted them into the heap and when I bagged them, 48 pigeons and 1 black.

 

[Scully]

2 hours ago, muncher said:

This clap trap is why I have stopped posting about my outings, I don’t have to justify and prove to a wanna be . I don’t exaggerate my bags and can’t be ***** to line them all up after I’ve collected them in.

😀 Ours get breasted and the remains disposed of, and that’s it. 
No lining up and no photos anywhere social media anymore. 

[GingerCat]

9 minutes ago, Scully said:

😀 Ours get breasted and the remains disposed of, and that’s it. 
No lining up and no photos anywhere social media anymore. 

Same. Then straight into the freezer ready for sausages or burgers. 

[Balotelli]

Can't argue with Scully or GingerCat's sentiment. That's exactly what I do breast them and in my case casserole them. But the burgers and sausages seem a most interesting alternative. As a matter of interest, what do you do with the carcasses? I can imagine use for decoys for a certain amount of time, but what then? I do have a possible solution but I suspect that it might not be particularly attractive to some members of the Forum

[old'un]

1 hour ago, Scully said:

😀 Ours get breasted and the remains disposed of, and that’s it. 
No lining up and no photos anywhere social media anymore. 

I also don't usually post pictures of what I have shot, but for the purpose of this thread I posted the two above, as you say pictures can be used against us when reposted on facebook and alike with a totally different headline and knee-jerk write-up.

[Scully]

2 hours ago, Balotelli said:

Can't argue with Scully or GingerCat's sentiment. That's exactly what I do breast them and in my case casserole them. But the burgers and sausages seem a most interesting alternative. As a matter of interest, what do you do with the carcasses? I can imagine use for decoys for a certain amount of time, but what then? I do have a possible solution but I suspect that it might not be particularly attractive to some members of the Forum

Carcasses are disposed of by whatever means the landowner dictates. 

[motty]

17 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

A comment in Sporting Pictures once really tickled me, the birds were just heaped in a jumbled mess and some one messaged along the lines of “ah, I see you have laid the birds out in the traditional Norfolk style”. 

We lay our birds out in rows of 10, per species, with young birds split from old birds. No scientific reason for it, but seems that as you have the opportunity you may as well record the data accurately. 

I understand if people want to lay birds out in rows, but many of us probably can't be bothered. If I had only ever shot a couple of ton bags I would probably present the birds differently for a photo, but after a good day I generally want to pack up and get gone.

[yickdaz]

2 hours ago, motty said:

I understand if people want to lay birds out in rows, but many of us probably can't be bothered. If I had only ever shot a couple of ton bags I would probably present the birds differently for a photo, but after a good day I generally want to pack up and get gone.

same here i finished shooting at 6.15pm on sat last thing i wanted do is lay them out in neat rows i was tired and hungry and still had to pack up then drive home oh and does it really matter if they put in a heap or put in rows i mean come 

Edited September 7, 2020 by yickdaz

[marsh man]

8 minutes ago, yickdaz said:

same here i finished shooting at 6.15pm on sat last thing i wanted do is lay them out in neat rows i was tired and hungry and still had to pack up then drive home oh and does it really matter if they put in a heap or put in rows i mean come 

Couldn't agree with you more ( daz ) , I am no one for taking photos of a bag of pigeon , maybe the odd one to remind me of a certain day , if I did want a photo it would be easier when I got home , at times I lay them out on the floor but to save bending I have got a pile of veg boxes that can stack on each other and these go on the bench that is level with the top of the freezer , these each hold about a dozen and you can easily stack as many as you want , they take up very little room and if the conditions are hot I put a old sheet over the boxes to stop any flies , then the next morning when they have cooled down it's just a matter of transferring them from the boxes into the freezer , again with the minimum of bending .

To me a photo of one bag of pigeons look exactly the same as another bag of pigeons , still everyone to there own .

[mellors]

21 hours ago, Balotelli said:

Exactly. I'm shooting tomorrow and will no doubt bag a few. I'll put a picture on the Forum along the lines that you are suggesting.

Oh really we'll hold you to that. We can't wait.

At least you should know what they look like now. 👍.