Mixed Bag

[martinj]

I was offered a bit of shooting last Saturday,on some freshly drilled beans which had been receiving some unwelcome attention from corvids and "pigeons", my mate said it would be a mixed bag, he advised setting out some dead crows plus some pigeon decoys. Six dead crows were set up on cradles 30 yards to my left and maybe a dozen pigeons 30 yards to my right. I was told to concentrate on the crows in the morning and perhaps pigeons would show up around 1-2:00pm.

The morning started according to plan, crows started drifting over and I was bagging a few, there was a lot of interest in the pigeon decoys as can be seen in the photo but , sadly, they were all stock doves. Around 1:30 the crows slowed down but the stock doves kept swirling around. I put a whirly out at 2-ish and the flocks of stock doves got larger - 50 to 100 in the air most of the time, eventually a few pigeons showed up but not in great numbers and I managed to weed a few out. Another crow or two came close enough despite the pigeon magnet which usually keeps them well away.

The bag was 25 crows and 5 pigeons, not exactly according to plan but a great day out!

 

 

[JDog]

Those Stock doves can be a nuisance.

Thanks for posting.

[aga man]

Well done on shooting the crows. A big help to songbirds at this time of year 👍

[kenholland]

the stock doves do give the woody's a bit of confidence round your decoys , but i had a hundred plus milling around a few years back made it a bit iffy trying to shoot mr woody.

[martinj]

On 27/03/2021 at 16:19, kenholland said:

the stock doves do give the woody's a bit of confidence round your decoys , but i had a hundred plus milling around a few years back made it a bit iffy trying to shoot mr woody.

this area is renowned for Stock Doves and they get more prolific from year to year. There are times when we see flocks of thousands, in fact I have noticed an increase in other areas where they are not usually seen.

[Catamong]

Yes, they're definitely on the increase in this area too, it's frustrating the way that these dumb little birds will generally come right into the decoy pattern, whilst the odd Woodie that may be in the group will invariably shy away.

They used to be the "Johnny Come Lately" in the feeding cycle, usually arriving after the Woodies have cleared off most of the spilled drillings, but nowadays, as pigeon numbers decline, they're there from day one.

Cat.😎