matone Posted February 13, 2021 Report Share Posted February 13, 2021 Today was bitterly cold but fine and a field of rape required protecting as the farmer had to go off for the afternoon on business !The pigeons have been persistent since the onset of proper winter ,although only in moderate numbers,usually around 50-150 and have been kept on the move by several volleys throughout the day usually. It was my first look out with gun for some time as January was a blur due to a pretty bad battle with the Covid virus...not something I`d recommend to anyone and hope that you all avoid...it`s a vicious virus! I found a relatively wind free spot to stand in a wooded beck bottom at the end of the field and had an hour and a half there before 3pm when things went quiet.Only a few small (20-30) groups came and not all came within range,but I managed 5 for 12 shots ,2 of which were corkers1 A miniscule effort for some that I read on here but very enjoyable personally,magnified by my recent brush with Covid that has affected so many of us and taken so many from us all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted February 13, 2021 Report Share Posted February 13, 2021 Well done that man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Centrepin Posted February 13, 2021 Report Share Posted February 13, 2021 Happy you're better and getting out👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matone Posted February 13, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2021 Thanks,every day on the sunny side is a good one now! As an aside ,I`ve never known such low numbers of pigeons in my area during the winter,and recently spoke to a friend in Notts who said their roost shoots were 50% down from last year..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted February 13, 2021 Report Share Posted February 13, 2021 22 minutes ago, matone said: Thanks,every day on the sunny side is a good one now! As an aside ,I`ve never known such low numbers of pigeons in my area during the winter,and recently spoke to a friend in Notts who said their roost shoots were 50% down from last year..... Hope you are on the mend with no long lasting effects , our woods have been as different from chalk to cheese , the woods cover nearly three miles and the first week ( last Saturday ) was good one side and poor on the other side , when I say good the best bag was 17 and the keeper and his young boy got 22 , on the other side of the estate nobody got into double figures , this could be down to some woods didn't have anyone in them due to travelling restrictions . Today was bitterly cold with the temp already below freezing just after dinner, last week I couldn't go due to my dinnertime jab appointment and today I couldn't get anywhere near my wood due to the side roads still blocked by snow drifts , going by the amount of shooting I don't think it was as good as last week , maybe the cold weather have moved them inland . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matone Posted February 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 (edited) Things should change with this rapid change in weather,it`s as if a switch was flicked ! It was starting to get hard going for a lot of wildlife with the hard frost on top of the snow! Hope your roads are getting opened up now,there`s been huge amounts on some of the high ground up here!!! Edited February 16, 2021 by matone Add Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted February 16, 2021 Report Share Posted February 16, 2021 9 minutes ago, matone said: Things should change with this rapid change in weather,it`s as if a switch was flicked ! It was starting to get hard going for a lot of wildlife with the hard frost on top of the snow! Hope your roads are getting opened up now,there`s been huge amounts on some of the high ground up here!!! Our minor roads were blocked but not to the same degree as the ones in your photo , we had some similar to the above when we had the beast from the east three or four years ago , and I can remember when I was working on the estate I couldn't get to work for three days , on the fourth day I left my motor at one of the farms that was close to the main road and walked a good mile or so over the fields which were fairly free from snow as all the fine snow was blown in the roads and were as high as the top of the hedge , we had an oil delivery garage in the middle of the estate that was blocked in so a digger started clearing at each end of the road and finally met in the middle , I walked down the road dinnertime and the snow each side was around eight feet high , never seen it like that before , and never seen it as bad as that since . Today there is no sign of snow on the main roads and I will have a look at the side roads tomorrow , hopefully we will be decoying again by the weekend . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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