The lucky boy

[Jacko3275]

Drove down today to look at the land Jdog passed on to me as my first perm( good man you know ) and not many birds about but with a good central view point you can see most of the acreage and it looks like it’s  got potential in the winter months.. watched different bits for a couple of hours And a few birds ( not worth setting up) about so decided to drive to another place jdog as sorted for me to shoot ( definitely a good man )  unfortunately there was no lines here either but this is pigeon shooting And I understand now more than ever how  Difficult it is to locate and shoot  pigeons think I clocked 140+ miles  For not one pull of the trigger long day but enjoyable as I learnt 

Edited September 12, 2020 by Jacko3275

[Balotelli]

2 minutes ago, Jacko3275 said:

Drove down today to look at the land Jdog passed on to me as my first perm( good man you know ) and not many birds about but with a good central view point you can see most of the acreage and it looks like it’s  got potential in the winter months.. watched different bits for a couple of hours And a few birds ( not worth setting up) about so decided to drive to another place jdog as sorted for me to shoot ( definitely a good man )  unfortunately there was no lines here either but this is pigeon shooting And I understand now more than ever how  Difficult it is to locate and shoot  pigeons think I clocked 140+ miles  For not one pull of the trigger long day but enjoyable 

Spending time and money on fruitless ventures isn't the ticket. You need some intelligence on the ground.

[Jacko3275]

2 minutes ago, Balotelli said:

Spending time and money on fruitless ventures isn't the ticket. You need some intelligence on the ground.

You get intelligence by doing recon yourself not someone telling you when to shoot it Is all a learning curve .. if you want something guaranteed to shoot at go to a clay ground 

[Balotelli]

9 minutes ago, Jacko3275 said:

You get intelligence by doing recon yourself not someone telling you when to shoot it Is all a learning curve .. if you want something guaranteed to shoot at go to a clay ground 

OK, sound as though you have it sussed.  But shooting barren fields isn't much of a learning curve.

[Old Butcher]

Time  never wasted jacko   it will come good in the future keep at it

[Jacko3275]

25 minutes ago, Balotelli said:

OK, sound as though you have it sussed.  But shooting barren fields isn't much of a learning curve.

It’s the first time I have viewed each of these fields so ye a learning curve .. you say you would be happy to shoot a dozen on your so called perm put the hours and the mileage in and you might do one day 

19 minutes ago, Old Butcher said:

Time  never wasted jacko   it will come good in the future keep at it

I know this cos I listen to you experienced guys not try and alienate them.. 

[GingerCat]

48 minutes ago, Jacko3275 said:

You get intelligence by doing recon yourself not someone telling you when to shoot it Is all a learning curve .. if you want something guaranteed to shoot at go to a clay ground 

And thats pretty much it in a nutshell. 

[Jacko3275]

1 minute ago, GingerCat said:

And thats pretty much it in a nutshell. 

👍

[clangerman]

ah the pleasure of endless waits in gateways gazing out over empty fields looks like you arrived now jacko (only joking mate) spend as much time there as you can nothing beats recon unless the bird loving neighbour cuts his beans after I just spent two days watching my side lol 

[Jacko3275]

1 minute ago, clangerman said:

ah the pleasure of endless waits in gateways gazing out over empty fields looks like you arrived now jacko (only joking mate) spend as much time there as you can nothing beats recon unless the bird loving neighbour cuts his beans after I just spent two days watching my side lol 

🤪🤪🤪

[Ultrastu]

I had a wasted afternoon .trying to get some crows to decoy  .

I have a new theory  .it depends on the day of the week  .go out on an odd day like a wed afternoon  ,and you can catch your quarry unawares  but plan all week to shoot them on a Saturday  and they know your coming and avoid the area like the plague 

[Balotelli]

1 hour ago, Jacko3275 said:

It’s the first time I have viewed each of these fields so ye a learning curve .. you say you would be happy to shoot a dozen on your so called perm put the hours and the mileage in and you might do one day 

I know this cos I listen to you experienced guys not try and alienate them.. 

Very wise words. I wouldn't be so bold as to include myself in the "Experienced Guys" and know my place. Just pragmatic

[Clodhopper]

You are now on the edge of a very slippery slope Jacko. My wife ridicules me for planning every journey we make around which field I want to check out.  Trips to the supermarket, visits to parents etc all involve slight detours to “quickly glass over this or that field”. Sometimes it even pays off  and you see something to get excited about!  
 

 

[Old farrier]

29 minutes ago, Clodhopper said:

You are now on the edge of a very slippery slope Jacko. My wife ridicules me for planning every journey we make around which field I want to check out.  Trips to the supermarket, visits to parents etc all involve slight detours to “quickly glass over this or that field”. Sometimes it even pays off  and you see something to get excited about!  
 

 

There called scenic routes 😂😂

you don’t want her getting board with the main highway 🤭

[Centrepin]

11 hours ago, Jacko3275 said:

You get intelligence by doing recon yourself not someone telling you when to shoot it Is all a learning curve .. if you want something guaranteed to shoot at go to a clay ground 

If its any help, I make notes and diagrams, draw little scetches and mark out potential hides. Dates, times, crops, water retention at certain points. Fox & badger sets and so on. Everything gets written in with 10 or 12 figure grid references. 

If it's completely dead then ill trim back a bit of foliage around where I think a hide might go. Makes it quicker to put a hide up and less nettles and brambles. 

It also gets me seen on the land by the owners and they know I'm doing a proper job and not just cherry picking. 

I'll also pull out the air rifle or .410 with light cartridges and sit and wait for rats. Not always easy as we suffer tresspass from walkers, horses and motor bikes who all think for some bizarre reasons they can wander around the farm buildings and barns. 

[marsh man]

12 hours ago, Jacko3275 said:

Drove down today to look at the land Jdog passed on to me as my first perm( good man you know ) and not many birds about but with a good central view point you can see most of the acreage and it looks like it’s  got potential in the winter months.. watched different bits for a couple of hours And a few birds ( not worth setting up) about so decided to drive to another place jdog as sorted for me to shoot ( definitely a good man )  unfortunately there was no lines here either but this is pigeon shooting And I understand now more than ever how  Difficult it is to locate and shoot  pigeons think I clocked 140+ miles  For not one pull of the trigger long day but enjoyable as I learnt 

This would be the time of the year where you would only be checking your fields of rape out , realistically you wont be shooting many Pigeons on the growing rape plants until just before Christmas or even later into the new year , this would depend on what other food supply is in the area such as Oak trees and the amount of berries on the trees and the weather , it would also make a difference with how many other Rape fields are close to your ones , some fields you can look at and get the feeling that it could be good for pigeons and other fields you know they wouldn't be a lot of good , mainly because they are in a built up area , very close to roads and foot paths crossing the field .

You seem to be used to driving a lot of miles for your shooting jacko , where I am used to very short distances , so from my point of view , the only drawback is how far you need to travel to keep an eye on it when the days get shorter and the weather turn a bit nasty , still you have got a nice lot to look at rather than go all that way for one or two small fields

GOOD LUCK  MM

[mossy835]

im sure in the winter you will have a nice bit of shooting there,

[motty]

On 12/09/2020 at 21:22, Balotelli said:

Spending time and money on fruitless ventures isn't the ticket. You need some intelligence on the ground.

Relying on anything other than another experienced pigeon shooter to do recon, in my opinion, is a bad idea. It might be ok in a certain way, but recon is not all about how many birds are seen on a field. You have to gauge how the pigeons are using  the fields and several other things. Having any old person saying there is 500 plus pigeons on a field doesn't necessarily mean much.

[243deer]

the classic example of the point motty has just made is the farmer saying his new drilling is grey with hundreds of birds when in reality there are 20

[mossy835]

all farmers tell you there are hundreds on the field.i shoot one farm that grows hundred or acres of peas. he said the field is blue with them, went there not one about.

[marsh man]

I don't often get calls from the land owner or his workers , but there are times I get the heads up from the game keepers son who more or less run the farming side and he knows what he is talking about , last year I knew most of the stubble fields were played out and would yield very little sport , he rang me one day to tell me there were several pigeons going on a certain stubble field where they had dumped some old grain on the field before they were going to pull it up , this was at a time when there was little else about and when I shot it it produced around the 40 mark which was well worth the phone call .

You can also cut down on a lot of travelling by knowing what crops the pigeons should be feeding on throughout the year , no point in doing a lot of miles just to have a look at a spud or a beet field when you should know you will see very little pigeon activity .

In my case I continue shooting pigeons for around three / four more weeks , our first shoot is getting on towards the end of Oct , after that I keep an eye on the new rape crop , keeping an eye is just taking my dog for a walk around the various fields and rarely any need to take a gun , this will continue throughout the season , if a few pigeons get on then the farm might put out a gas gun , after Christmas it is still rape until it start germinating around March / April then the Spring drillings will start which include Peas , when all the drilling is over then it is mainly Peas once they are above ground and any bare patches of Rape , moving on a couple of months it is again Peas and check out the Winter barley for blown patches , then it is cut Peas and then the combines will be serviced ready to make a start in mid July  , after that is when we start meeting other pigeon shooters whose season start when the first fields of grain are cut , now it is stubble and any Wheat fields still standing , Beans if you have got them and over the next week or so it is the turn of Maize fields , this should put you where we are now and the start of the farming calendar start all over again .

[Balotelli]

3 hours ago, marsh man said:

I don't often get calls from the land owner or his workers , but there are times I get the heads up from the game keepers son who more or less run the farming side and he knows what he is talking about , last year I knew most of the stubble fields were played out and would yield very little sport , he rang me one day to tell me there were several pigeons going on a certain stubble field where they had dumped some old grain on the field before they were going to pull it up , this was at a time when there was little else about and when I shot it it produced around the 40 mark which was well worth the phone call .

You can also cut down on a lot of travelling by knowing what crops the pigeons should be feeding on throughout the year , no point in doing a lot of miles just to have a look at a spud or a beet field when you should know you will see very little pigeon activity .

In my case I continue shooting pigeons for around three / four more weeks , our first shoot is getting on towards the end of Oct , after that I keep an eye on the new rape crop , keeping an eye is just taking my dog for a walk around the various fields and rarely any need to take a gun , this will continue throughout the season , if a few pigeons get on then the farm might put out a gas gun , after Christmas it is still rape until it start germinating around March / April then the Spring drillings will start which include Peas , when all the drilling is over then it is mainly Peas once they are above ground and any bare patches of Rape , moving on a couple of months it is again Peas and check out the Winter barley for blown patches , then it is cut Peas and then the combines will be serviced ready to make a start in mid July  , after that is when we start meeting other pigeon shooters whose season start when the first fields of grain are cut , now it is stubble and any Wheat fields still standing , Beans if you have got them and over the next week or so it is the turn of Maize fields , this should put you where we are now and the start of the farming calendar start all over again .

That is a superb post, informative and helpful.