Flapper V Rotaries , Decisions Decisions ?

[marsh man]

I have never owned a flapper but I have been with a few Pigeon shooters who have with Lakeside1000 being one of them .

I did report my afternoon out last Saturday , when I arrived my mate had a full setup with a magnet , dead pigeons , two dead pigeons on extending floater rods and a two arm rotary , Pigeons were drawn in from a fair distance and I might well be wrong in thinking the rotary was seen by the far off Pigeons first and then commit when the flapper came into play with the help of up to 30 freshly shot Pigeons scattered around on Green Pea stubble 

So having put my rotary in moth balls for the last month or so and just relied on dead birds full size rubber decoys and a couple of floaters , so now the grain stubbles have started I now believe that a flapper work better on grain stubble that is short than the Rotary , so after nearly a lifetime without a flapper , do I invest some of my hard earnt pension and get a flapper in my twilight years,  or continue using the rotary when the occasional urge come ?

So what come out on top , Flapper or Rotary ?  , over to you 

[enfieldspares]

It's often said that BIG patterns draw the most birds the most often. My advice? Invest in more standard full size decoys.

[aga man]

I don't personally use a flapper for pigeons, only an old one for crows.

I have seen others use flapper to good effect & it seems you can buy all manner of types of flapper these days.

For me the Magnet is a great all round tool and can often be the difference in making a bag or not.

A fair bit of my shooting is drawing birds off a flightline, either going out to feed or returning after a feed.

The magnet is very useful for this and helps attract the birds in my General direction. I don't believe a single flapper would have the same effect.

I have shot a fair few pigeons on laid Barley of late and found the only decoys i have needed is 2 dead birds on a magnet.

I'm sure the flapper is a great tool, but for me if I had to choose it would be the simple magnet. Not a magic tool by any means but a very useful one in many different situations. 

[clangerman]

if we need the numbers partner will deploy everything bar the kitchen sink prefer just dead bird pattern personally feels more like you earn the birds 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, I use 2 bouncers, 2 whole body, and 6 shells, and a spinner,  pigeon decoys, to much faff getting my rotary set up and extra weight, oh and I need a new battery 🙄

Edited July 22, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[marsh man]

9 hours ago, clangerman said:

if we need the numbers partner will deploy everything bar the kitchen sink prefer just dead bird pattern personally feels more like you earn the birds 

 

9 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, I use 2 bouncers, 2 whole body, and 6 shells, and a spinner,  pigeon decoys, to much faff getting my rotary set up and extra weight, oh and I need a new battery 🙄

I think the hot weather yesterday must have affected my way of thinking as the reason I have stopped using the magnet is that these last couple of months I have enjoyed just going back to how we once started off , yes of course the modern day battery operated machines will increase your bags and if I went back to a few years ago when I was hungry for big bags I would have used everything on the market to try and get as much and as many out of the day as I could .

Now it is all down to passing a few hours away and hopefully have a few shots , let my dog have a few retrieves and come home with a few pigeons in the bag .

So the decision have been made , keep what I have got and a flapper is no longer required , if only all decisions were as easy as that .

[oldypigeonpopper]

26 minutes ago, marsh man said:

 

I think the hot weather yesterday must have affected my way of thinking as the reason I have stopped using the magnet is that these last couple of months I have enjoyed just going back to how we once started off , yes of course the modern day battery operated machines will increase your bags and if I went back to a few years ago when I was hungry for big bags I would have used everything on the market to try and get as much and as many out of the day as I could .

Now it is all down to passing a few hours away and hopefully have a few shots , let my dog have a few retrieves and come home with a few pigeons in the bag .

So the decision have been made , keep what I have got and a flapper is no longer required , if only all decisions were as easy as that .

Hello, I am much like that now, it's nice just to get out of the town I live in and enjoy a few hours in the countryside, 👍 

Edited July 23, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[old'un]

Find a field the pigeon want, get in the right position and you will shoot pigeons (most of the time) my setup has change a little over the years, I now only use 6 plastic decoys and the magnet with two dead birds, sometimes I don't even put the plastic birds out if they are coming in strong and in numbers, if I get it right I will kill pigeons.

I will admit that on occasions you do need a little more help to pull the birds if you cannot get in the right position or the birds are a little shy but generally shooting pigeons on some of the first stubbles is fairly easy, you don't need a flapper or all the other stuff they keep bringing out.

[pigeon controller]

I was called out on Tuesday just to shoot crows, I had one dead crow as a decoy. At the field it was devoid of crows with the occasional pigeon. I watched it for twenty minute and the crows that came went to a sitting tree on the one edge of the field. So I set up within range of the tree, first two shots lifted approx three hundred crows from around the woods and trees. They just lifted up into the stratosphere and disappeared, the two shots gave me two pigeon decoys which I put on flyer frames. The first crow came next and this went onto a flyer frame.

So no magnet, no flapper and after five hours packed up with 41 corvids and 69 pigeons.

Last week Bunny_Blaster had a bag of 500 plus using a magnet and two flappers.

 

[yickdaz]

18 hours ago, aga man said:

I don't personally use a flapper for pigeons, only an old one for crows.

I have seen others use flapper to good effect & it seems you can buy all manner of types of flapper these days.

For me the Magnet is a great all round tool and can often be the difference in making a bag or not.

A fair bit of my shooting is drawing birds off a flightline, either going out to feed or returning after a feed.

The magnet is very useful for this and helps attract the birds in my General direction. I don't believe a single flapper would have the same effect.

I have shot a fair few pigeons on laid Barley of late and found the only decoys i have needed is 2 dead birds on a magnet.

I'm sure the flapper is a great tool, but for me if I had to choose it would be the simple magnet. Not a magic tool by any means but a very useful one in many different situations. 

exactly that many times i have had shooting on fields they are not even feeding on by drawing them across with the magnet turned very average days into great days and can  be the difference between no shooting at all to at least some shooting 

[clangerman]

9 hours ago, marsh man said:

 

Now it is all down to passing a few hours away and hopefully have a few shots , let my dog have a few retrieves and come home with a few pigeons in the bag .

i have been like that for a long time now all i used on stubble this afternoon with the pup was air rifle and eight dead birds only shot 23 but having to make them land for a rifle shot was more satisfying than a 100 day with the semi auto and far less weight to carry 

[Cranfield]

In most circumstances (crop height, topography, etc., ) the movement provided by the rotary, is likely to be seen from a greater distance than a flapper.

If I could only have one item it would be a rotary.
However, we can have as much gear as we want, so order away.

[cooooper1]

Hi all, been out 3 times on barley stubble in last 2 weeks hit 143-136-111 always start with two dead birds on a magnet with 7 birds on for me best decoying tool in my bag mechanics peckers, magnets can be both negative and positive which normally after hour decoying will tell me which, on all 3 of them bags the magnet spooked them. Peckers look more natural movement has in not quick n sharp like flappers,magnets which gives the birds more confidence to decoy.

[the hitman]

To answer the original question- it’s a magnet for me every time. The last flapper I owned was a 1970’s pull string type handed down to me in the late 80’s - which I modified so it was about 2ft off the ground. If the birds decoy well from the start I won’t bother putting the magnet out - however I always have it with me.

My magnet has successful pulled pigeons more often than it has deterred them.

Hitman

[wymberley]

Neither.

Both can be more trouble than they're worth - particularly the rotary. I tend to side with the big pattern idea and especially if you introduce a few rook/crow decoys into the mix which never does any harm. Apart from pulling in their brethren, it relaxes the pigeon. Worth a try before lashing out.