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Another reasonable bag in the afternoon sun.


lakeside1000
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Lunchtime today, the wife stuck her head outside then quickly retreated back into the house, we were supposed to be going out socialising but the bitter east wind made the air temperature about 3 or 4 degrees, " I'm not going out ,its too cold " she informed me, you may as well go out after the pigeons, "really, do I have to", as I reached for the gun and cartridge bag.

I don't need telling twice , that's for sure, so a quick lunch, packed the car and filled the flask and I was off.

I have been watching a decent bunch of pigeons building up on some very damaged rape , 4 large fields with some huge bald patches, but very limited areas possible to shoot due to neighbouring property  , after a look around I found a small hawthorn bush in the corner of two fields with good sized bald patches in both, separated by a large ditch but with a crossing point just 10 yards away, ideal for two separate patterns and a good spot under the bush for a hide. with my back to the wind.

It was just 2.00 when I got started, I only had 8 dead birds and 3 full bodied plastics, so I set the flapper and 4 birds in one field about 30 yards out downwind, hung the 3 plastics in the bush on branch hooks (just above my head) and the other 3 dead ones out in the other field again around 30 to 35 yards downwind, I cut back the bush on one side to allow me to get right in under the branches and set the nets up to mimic an extension to the bush , Parked the car 100 yards down the lane and legged it back just in time to catch the first customers arriving, 2 down for 3 shots , a quick reload and another one down within a couple of minutes,  

I grabbed some cradles and set the 3 out with the other 3 to even up the patterns, just back in the hide and in they came, I dropped another 8 in less than 10 minutes which all joined the patterns , from then on they came , mainly in small numbers which is how I like them , I was shooting well, better than my norm , still missed a few and had to double tap several but they just kept coming, all added to the patterns , after 4.00 it went quiet for an hour and a half with just an odd bird including some unlucky crows passing overhead on route somewhere else, but after 5.30 ish, it picked up again and they kept coming until I packed up

The plastics were about 2 to 3 feet above my head, but during the afternoon I had 3 birds attempt to land in the bush , two bolted in the wrong direction as soon as they realised I was there but one made the error of flying out over the decoys , giving it 30 yards and dropping it with an up the backside shot . most of the birds decoyed in perfectly passing either to my left or right and making some great passing shot practice. very few high birds as they were staying low to avoid the cold easterly wind, most coming in just inches above the rape, but with the odd high bird for those satisfying over the head birds that send a puff of feathers out on the wind before crumpling and dropping .

By 7.00 the sun was going down and the air temperature was dropping, I switched on my brand new heated waistcoat with just the back panel on full heat, brought the car up and cleared away, a few birds were out in the rape and took some finding , but most had fallen in the clear patches so easy to locate and gather in. The final tally was 38 woodies, 4 carrion crows and 3 jackdaws, possibly another 3 or 4 pigeons out in the rape but I left them as I don't like walking through standing crop, so something for the local foxes to enjoy.

Many time through the afternoon I saw large groups of pigeons way out in the distance just circling and dropping into the rape , but as is usual on these large areas many never came in my direction , but a very satisfying session with a total bag of 45 picked, that'll do for me, :yahoo:

 

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Edited by lakeside1000
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Another well thought out write up and a deserved bag in the very cold , windy conditions , they say you only get out of what you put in and you certainly put in the time and work load , on the news dinnertime they were saying this April could end up been one of the coldest and driest on record , so your heated waistcoat was a good investment , I will blame you Alan if the grand children notice a few bob have been removed from their inheritance and spent on grand dads welfare :lol:

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On 27/04/2021 at 08:04, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, well done 👍, heated waistcoat ? I was looking at those for this winter, what make did you buy.?

The waistcoat was listed on eBay, my wife bought it as a birthday gift for me, its obviously Chinese but great quality , it was £67  and that was without the battery pack which was an extra £17, again from the bay. there are cheaper ones but this one is very good quality and the electronics work well, there are 3 separate heated panels, shoulders, lower back and stomach, each one is controlled individually by a switch with 3 different heat settings  ,from fully charged the battery lasts about 3 to 5 hours depending on the heat settings used , I just use the shoulder panel on full heat, its still hot after 5 hours, so very nice thankyou, 

The battery pack has two USB outlets so I can charge the phone at the same time, very useful 😁

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5 minutes ago, lakeside1000 said:

The waistcoat was listed on eBay, my wife bought it as a birthday gift for me, its obviously Chinese but great quality , it was £67  and that was without the battery pack which was an extra £17, again from the bay. there are cheaper ones but this one is very good quality and the electronics work well, there are 3 separate heated panels, shoulders, lower back and stomach, each one is controlled individually by a switch with 3 different heat settings  ,from fully charged the battery lasts about 3 to 5 hours depending on the heat settings used , I just use the shoulder panel on full heat, its still hot after 5 hours, so very nice thankyou, 

The battery pack has two USB outlets so I can charge the phone at the same time, very useful 😁

Hello, many thanks for this reply and info and much appreciated, is there an eBay number for the waistcoat and battery pack ? regards gordon

Edited by oldypigeonpopper
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4 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, many thanks for this reply and info, is there an eBay number for the waistcoat and battery pack ?

The battery pack was 254781685214, the vest / waistcoat was 174523009670 but I dont think this one is available any more, if you search 'heated vest' you will get plenty of options, 👍

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