Persistence pays off

[GingerCat]

I met the pigeon whisperer earlier today along with my favourite gun dog, after a brief exchange of pleasantries we made our way to a large expanse of bean drillings. There must have been 400 acres of beans, clear sky's, a strong wind and a crop sprayer doing its very very best to get rid of any birds that might have been there. 

Jdog wasn't best pleased with this. I was enjoying the scenery but never the less followed him to the next spot. A large field of peas. I've shot this field before and it seldom dissapoints. We saw a line, not a strong line but a line, going down a hedge to a dip and some hawthorns trees. 

We set up with the wind to our backs and the line stopped. A few did float by and a crow fell to an excellent 50 yard shot with a somewhat closer pigeon joining it but that was about it. 

I could tell Jdog was annoyed with the lack of birds and he had a final place to try. This was about half a mile from his house and on first sight I thought quite odd. A rape field 2 feet high sloping gently uphill away from us. To the right a hedge with 3 tall trees some 100 metres or so apart going up the hedge. I didn't see a bird until, suddenly one flew into the first tree and then dropped down into the rape. Then another, and another and then another 20. 

Quite excited with set off with minimal kit. I put a rotary out in a tram track and the dog set up at the next tree. In front of us was a great view of the wolds and rolling fields with clear sky's and again the wind was behind.

The birds were coming from behind and then turning into the trees to get in, some came across the field and dropped and more still came from the right. 

What followed was an hour of sheer joy with the best birds so far this year and I suspect for some time to come. 

Not a single bird was easy in the wind, they flew in at a rate if knots and turned and twisted  everywhch way. The sun was in the most perfect spot to dazzle us everytime a bird came from the right and occasionally some just shot over our heads to pastures elsewhere. 

In all we picked 15 for more shots than I care to count and there were some great shots, mine was a 40+ yard left to right that I gave twice the lead to than normal and jdogs must have been a 50+ screamer quartering away. 

Of note is that the dog ran out of cartridges again............

[WalkedUp]

Naughty naughty running out of cartridges but good work to keep going until you found the birds and thank you for sharing 👍

[dead eye alan]

Great post good you managed to find a few, pity that JD ran out of cartridges yet again, still thy do say you can not teach an old dog new tricks.

[ditchman]

out of cartridges again....

that cunning ploy is wearing a bit thin now..

[JTaylor91]

I noticed a bit of a stronger wind than we have had for a little while yesterday and thought JDog would be out prowling The Wolds. Glad to hear the persistence paid off sounds like you had to work for those 15 birds.

[243deer]

as I load a bag of 250 carts into the truck again I often question my sanity, I think I should take a leaf out of JDogs book and run out but then I do not get the chance to go that often so I suppose travelling in hope has become the norm.

The memorable shots are what keeps us going back time after time

[JTaylor91]

14 minutes ago, 243deer said:

as I load a bag of 250 carts into the truck again I often question my sanity, I think I should take a leaf out of JDogs book and run out but then I do not get the chance to go that often so I suppose travelling in hope has become the norm.

The memorable shots are what keeps us going back time after time

The first time I met JDog I didn’t know what to expect so loaded a full slab and cartridge bag into the car. He must of thought I was crackers.

[Clodhopper]

Last Saturday I became the victim of the Wolds Cartridge Thief. I made the mistake of leaving my hide position to go to another field in order to lift some birds that had settled there. Whilst away from the hide there was a barrage of shots and on my return my once healthy cartridge bag was looking saggy and depleted. A voice from the next hide whispered “ I may have run out of cartridges, can I borrow some of yours?” 

[JDog]

In the Cotswolds Steveyg was my Jinx. Ginger Cat has taken over that role in these Wolds. The huge number of pigeons on the bean drilling were simply not there and the line to the peas never started. It might have been a nice day to be out but I wanted to find some pigeons.

It was 4:45 when we saw a few. My expectations were low which is why I only travelled with a few cartridges in my pocket.

If any pigeon shooter had birds like this for two or three hours they would think they had gone to heaven.

Barney was a star and picked some long birds in very tall and thick rape.

[dead eye alan]

13 minutes ago, JDog said:

In the Cotswolds Steveyg was my Jinx. Ginger Cat has taken over that role in these Wolds. The huge number of pigeons on the bean drilling were simply not there and the line to the peas never started. It might have been a nice day to be out but I wanted to find some pigeons.

It was 4:45 when we saw a few. My expectations were low which is why I only travelled with a few cartridges in my pocket.

If any pigeon shooter had birds like this for two or three hours they would think they had gone to heaven.

Barney was a star and picked some long birds in very tall and thick rape.

You need deeper pockets. 😎

[dodgy dave]

or longer arms

[marsh man]

Excellent write up , as much as we like dropping on to a good decoying session their is still a lot of sport in finding some pigeons in thin patches of rape , if you are lucky enough to have a sitty tree nearby then you can normally get some sport at certain times of the day , I found the same sought of place yesterday , a few got out of the rape and a lot more out of the nearby trees , it is also worth looking under the trees to see how many dropping their are , this will give you some idea how many pigeons have been coming to the trees ,  GOOD LUCK 

[Old Boggy]

Nice write up GingerCat.

I was out for my couple of hours yesterday afternoon, having looked at a few possibilities with very little hope of even getting a shot as my chosen venues, plans A, B and C barley drilling, bean drilling and a rape field were all completely devoid of pigeons and that was mid afternoon when recently they had been feeding. Sat and watched some dropping into a bare patch of rape on another field, so decided to give it a go, with the usual expectation of putting the birds up and them never returning. I was spot on with that assumption, but better to be out than not, so I set up within the shelter of a willow with just the whirly upwind. Just got back to the hide when two were suddenly over the decoys with the gun still in its slip. Perhaps a few will come in after all I thought. Whilst there was a chill NE wind, I was in the lee of it with the sun on me, so it was just good to be out. Watched a marsh harrier lazily hunting a nearby dyke, then a pair of buzzards overhead, plus my first swallow sighting of the year, so despite very little pigeon activity, I was thoroughly enjoying my short time out. Just the one pigeon came anywhere near which I shot to see it fall stone dead in the meadow behind me. I`ll collect that when I`ve finished thought I.

No further pigeons appeared to be in the whole county, so after a couple of hours and a pressing job back home, I decided to finish. The car was parked just a hundred yards away behind a hedge so very little walking involved with my gear, which was a pleasant change. Having put all the gear in the back of my little 4x4, I then went round to retrieve my one and only pigeon, only to witness a buzzard at the bird. When he saw me he calmly picked the bird up and flew off with it. Ah well, at least it wasn`t wasted I thought and wished him well and hoped that he enjoyed his dinner. Note to self, as said on many occasions, `get the gun ready before firing up the whirly`  

You`d think at my age, I would have learnt that by now.

OB