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Roosting time?


Piers Austin
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1 minute ago, Piers Austin said:

Hi All, what time do pigeons come in to roost this time of year (end of November)? It is dark by 4.45pm. Might seem a silly question but I watched a wood 30 mins before and reckon they were all in!  Cheers 

Anytime after 2.30 depending on overhead weather conditions and how local the food source is.

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15 minutes ago, Piers Austin said:

Thanks guys. I will take note and watch much earlier. Does anybody practise roost shooting this time of year? The leaves are off the trees etc. I have only ever done it in February after the game season is over. Cheers 

Traditionally , full scale roost shooting is done in February , our ones are the four Saturdays in Feb unless the first one is on the 1st which if it was we would normally be shooting a few cock birds , our roost shooting is always on a Saturday although since being on the forum I have learnt some of the boys up north shoot on Fridays .

If you want regular shooting in your wood I would pick a windy afternoon and not to shoot in to often .

GOOD LUCK

 

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The sun set at 16:01 in Bordon this afternoon.  Getting there at 16:15 would be OK for the last of the crows!

I always reckon you should be out looking round no later than 2 hours before sunset, if you've got lots of woods to scout around.  Of course, if you know a certain wood and can virtually guarantee they'll come in, and what line they'll come in on, you would probably be twiddling your thumbs a while going that early, but still it's nice to be out and you can always cobble a blind together or just sit on a log and enjoy the tranquillity.  But as said above there will always be birds coming in to roost or stage up before moving elsewhere, from lunchtime onwards, but usually singles/pairs and often just cruising about rather than intent on settling to roost.

I often find at around 1 hour before sunset there's a noticeable increase in traffic which lasts about 30 minutes, then it goes a bit slack... then at pretty much bang on sunset you get a last flurry and that's it.

If you're new to roost shooting, try to think a bit more in terms of playing the longer game.  At any opportunity, go out without your gun and do the reconnaissance work, watch for consistent flightlines, stand in certain spots and see if you're right.  It's amazing how many more come in when there's not a loud bang every 5 minutes!  If you can do lots of that you'll probably arrive at a point where you think to yourself "Blimey I'm bringing the gun next time" and then you're at least going to arrive with a much better chance of some action.

The wind cannot be underestimated in its importance.  For example, today I was out for a bit of a mooch about and with the wind less than walking speed there were literally no two lines the same I saw a bird on, they were coming over at all angles from all directions.  On a different day in that wood, with a brisk westerly wind I could have gone to a hide I've built and most of the birds coming in would have flown within range of me.

You've got to enjoy the journey with roost shooting because I don't think anyone ever "got there" in terms of having it all sussed out!!

Good luck :)

Edited by Jim Neal
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  • 2 weeks later...

Keepers prefer us to stay out of the woods until 1st Feb so we don't disturb the game, but any woods not kept for pheasants I tend to get there 2 ish this time of year, the birds will change from day to day , if its dark and overcast, or very cold they may come in 2 or 3 hours before the light goes but for me normally it seems they will come in around an hour before the light starts to fall, better to be early than risk disturbing them once they are roosting.😀

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Are we going to be able to roost shoot this year ?   I have no problem as I can just walk 200yrds from my back door if necessary but have a couple of places which provide so superb sport equivalent to all you game bird shooting as pigeon approach the wood, pitching and diving in a good wind.  Takes some beating.  They where starting to float in as early as 2.30p this afternoon but the sun..light..was still up with no cloud.

Edited by Walker570
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8 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

Are we going to be able to roost shoot this year ?   I have no problem as I can just walk 200yrds from my back door if necessary but have a couple of places which provide so superb sport equivalent to all you game bird shooting as pigeon approach the wood, pitching and diving in a good wind.  Takes some beating.  They where starting to float in as early as 2.30p this afternoon but the sun..light..was still up with no cloud.

So then how many did you shoot?

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I did not shoot any. Too busy getting the rather large gardeen tidy and all the roses pruned but I am keeping my eye on things. I do not normally have a go on the rost until 1st Feb. It was always our start date, end of season I suppose and it has stuck.  If you have access to a few patches of suitable roosting woodland then there is no better sport to be had.

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1 hour ago, Walker570 said:

I did not shoot any. Too busy getting the rather large gardeen tidy and all the roses pruned but I am keeping my eye on things. I do not normally have a go on the rost until 1st Feb. It was always our start date, end of season I suppose and it has stuck.  If you have access to a few patches of suitable roosting woodland then there is no better sport to be had.

Oh I quite agree, always used to be BASC arranged shoots on Saturdays through February!

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5 hours ago, Walker570 said:

Are we going to be able to roost shoot this year ?   I have no problem as I can just walk 200yrds from my back door if necessary but have a couple of places which provide so superb sport equivalent to all you game bird shooting as pigeon approach the wood, pitching and diving in a good wind.  Takes some beating.  They where starting to float in as early as 2.30p this afternoon but the sun..light..was still up with no cloud.

As long as the rules don't get changed and you can stay within them there's no reason why not, I feel.

Wish I had something to shoot at, none about in the woods I've looked at recently.

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  • 3 weeks later...
8 minutes ago, Bumble said:

I was out roost shooting on Wednesday. Got into the wood at 3.30 but the pigeons didn’t really start to come in until 4.30, apart from a few solitary ones that I managed to knock over.  Once they did, it was thick & fast for 40mins. 

So how many did you kill? Have you seen many on the rape near you?

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2 hours ago, old'un said:

So how many did you kill? Have you seen many on the rape near you?

There’s no rape around here at all, nobody’s bothered planting it this year. It’s all either wheat, barley or oats. 
 

I finished on 27. Not a massive bag but enough for a couple of hours  stood under a tree with just a pocket full of cartridges. 

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18 minutes ago, Bumble said:

There’s no rape around here at all, nobody’s bothered planting it this year. It’s all either wheat, barley or oats. 
 

I finished on 27. Not a massive bag but enough for a couple of hours  stood under a tree with just a pocket full of cartridges. 

Massive bag or not , I bet 99% of the members would love to get 27 in a couple of hours while standing underneath a tree , our roost shooting start next Saturday and with what I have seen I would be very surprised is anyone got over 20 while just standing in the woods , I have had bigger bags by putting decoys and a magnet out if a rape field border the wood you are allocated , but that don't come under what we would class as traditional roost shooting .

GOOD LUCK and I hope you have got a few more good days to come MM

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 29/01/2021 at 17:42, Bumble said:

There’s no rape around here at all, nobody’s bothered planting it this year. It’s all either wheat, barley or oats. 
 

I finished on 27. Not a massive bag but enough for a couple of hours  stood under a tree with just a pocket full of cartridges. 

Your coat must have some big old pockets!  Well done, that's a stupendous bag for a roost shoot.  I haven't even seen a total of 27 pigeons in the woods I normally shoot during the last few weeks.

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  • 1 month later...

A mate and me went last Saturday afternoon/evening. We didn’t think we would get many, and it was more to try out his new toy rather than create a big bag which I don’t think we’ve ever achieved whilst roost shooting.

On the periphery of warm woods I find you get more time to react compared to being in the depths where the shooting is more of the ‘snap’ variety, but you do get more birds setting their wings to settle when in the woods proper. The knack is reacting in time. 🙂
No big numbers but any excuse to be out shooting. 

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