Cheap way to make Ally Pigeon Lofting Poles, say 8 5ft Poles making a 40 Ft reach

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, as above, any suggestions where to get cheap Alloy tube, size of tube, and interlocking ? Last set I had were Parsons? 

Edited November 22, 2021 by oldypigeonpopper

[Dasher]

Second hand old fishing pole although it would be just slip joints, being carbon it would be light (about 1.2kg for 11m) and most will take apart and store within the largest section.

[mellors]

35 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, as above, any suggestions where to get tube, size of tube, and interlocking ? Last set I had were Parsons? 

Hi made mine from an old frame tent which lock together for a tenner from local gumtree. Then i used the material to make some pigeon bags and a 6x6 pieces for roofs on semi permanent hides. 

[oldypigeonpopper]

14 minutes ago, Dasher said:

Second hand old fishing pole although it would be just slip joints, being carbon it would be light (about 1.2kg for 11m) and most will take apart and store within the largest section.

Thanks but I need at least 40 ft

10 minutes ago, mellors said:

Hi made mine from an old frame tent which lock together for a tenner from local gumtree. Then i used the material to make some pigeon bags and a 6x6 pieces for roofs on semi permanent hides. 

Looked about local but nothing for sale

[mellors]

8 minutes ago, mellors said:

Hi made mine from an old frame tent which lock together for a tenner from local gumtree. Then i used the material to make some pigeon bags and a 6x6 pieces for roofs on semi permanent hides. 

I used some copper pipe fittings for the cross pieces. There 6ft long ally poles interlocking 36 ft that one you could go another two easily. 

[Centrepin]

I use an old fishing pole, reclaimed from a skip.

Where it had damage I used gaffer tape to repair. 

It's only as short as your imagination. You could almost anything to extend it.

I can only just lift it at 40 feet with a decoy and hanger.

Normally I leave it behind one of my perm hides but at the moment it's in the garage for more gaffer tape repairs if you need any pictures. 

[Old Boggy]

2 hours ago, mellors said:

I used some copper pipe fittings for the cross pieces. There 6ft long ally poles interlocking 36 ft that one you could go another two easily. 

That looks pretty good Mellors.

I am convinced that just 2 at 36 feet or higher are more effective than say 5 using the standard set of pole (25 feet) and the hooks, which can be a pain to get down.

25 feet into the lower branches of the trees very rarely show up too well.

Thanks for posting.

OB

[gamekeeper1960]

11 hours ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, as above, any suggestions where to get cheap Alloy tube, size of tube, and interlocking ? Last set I had were Parsons? 

Hello Matey, I have been thinking along the same lines for a while and considered using a telescopic flag pole which can be had for not a lot of money...

I remember in my younger days I made a set from 8' white oak dowels which weren't a lot of money then, sure now they cost a fortune !. And I don't think I'll ever have the strength I had then to get them in the air  anyways ...🤭

[oldypigeonpopper]

53 minutes ago, gamekeeper1960 said:

Hello Matey, I have been thinking along the same lines for a while and considered using a telescopic flag pole which can be had for not a lot of money...

I remember in my younger days I made a set from 8' white oak dowels which weren't a lot of money then, sure now they cost a fortune !. And I don't think I'll ever have the strength I had then to get them in the air  anyways ...🤭

Hello, I looked at telescopic flag poles , 40 ft, did you find one suitable, 

[gamekeeper1960]

1 hour ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

Hello, I looked at telescopic flag poles , 40 ft, did you find one suitable, 

To be honest no..but they sell all sorts on ebay all the way upto 12metres....

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Buy some lengths of aluminium pole, measure you vehicle to ensure each length will fit. Find a local engineering firm that can swage the ends for you to make one pole fit inside the next.

Choose how many you want and can comfortably assemble to your desired height.

You now have a custom set of poles.

[oldypigeonpopper]

59 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Buy some lengths of aluminium pole, measure you vehicle to ensure each length will fit. Find a local engineering firm that can swage the ends for you to make one pole fit inside the next.

Choose how many you want and can comfortably assemble to your desired height.

You now have a custom set of poles.

Hello, that's another way I was looking at , 

[Centrepin]

3 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Buy some lengths of aluminium pole, measure you vehicle to ensure each length will fit. Find a local engineering firm that can swage the ends for you to make one pole fit inside the next.

Choose how many you want and can comfortably assemble to your desired height.

You now have a custom set of poles.

Can you actually lift them with a lofting hook and decoy on the end?

My lofting pole is 14m and with a hook and decoy is a nightmare to lift overhead, especially in even the lightest breeze.

Most people don't take into account its an overhead lift. I doubt if my lofting pole including decoy and hook weighs 2lb.

If you doubt me, try taping a couple of lightweight brooms together and hook over your house gutter.

No doubt of the effectiveness once you have 2 or 3 in the trees. They bring em in.

[Old Boggy]

13 minutes ago, Centrepin said:

Can you actually lift them with a lofting hook and decoy on the end?

My lofting pole is 14m and with a hook and decoy is a nightmare to lift overhead, especially in even the lightest breeze.

Most people don't take into account its an overhead lift. I doubt if my lofting pole including decoy and hook weighs 2lb.

If you doubt me, try taping a couple of lightweight brooms together and hook over your house gutter.

No doubt of the effectiveness once you have 2 or 3 in the trees. They bring em in.

If you look at Mellors photo with just 2 decoys on one pole and also TCs advice to "Comfortably assemble to your desired height"

By this, I`m sure that rather than try to hoist 14m of pole from the horizontal to vertical, you start off with the 2 decoys on the spreader then progressively add further poles to the vertical set up until you reach the desired height and by resting against a branch on the way up, you will find that this is fairly easy. Far easier (and more effective in my opinion) than mucking about trying to hook 4 or 5 decoys with a standard set of poles and hooks which only goes to about 30 feet and then have the hassle of getting them down again.

OB

[Yellow Bear]

A technique I have used was to fix 1 or 2 decoys to a "branch" and hoist it into a tree with 30lb line using a catapult and 1oz weight to get line over a high branch.  W second line not over the branch is used to stabilise but can also be useful to retrieve. 

[Centrepin]

4 hours ago, Old Boggy said:

If you look at Mellors photo with just 2 decoys on one pole and also TCs advice to "Comfortably assemble to your desired height"

By this, I`m sure that rather than try to hoist 14m of pole from the horizontal to vertical, you start off with the 2 decoys on the spreader then progressively add further poles to the vertical set up until you reach the desired height and by resting against a branch on the way up, you will find that this is fairly easy. Far easier (and more effective in my opinion) than mucking about trying to hook 4 or 5 decoys with a standard set of poles and hooks which only goes to about 30 feet and then have the hassle of getting them down again.

OB

I think we'll have to agree to disagree untill you've tried either method in the field.

Getting them down presents little or no problem if hooked on a branch correctly. They merely need lifting slightly to diss lodge,  gravity does the rest. 

If you were closer I'd happily loan you the poles, hooks and decoys to try.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

5 hours ago, Centrepin said:

Can you actually lift them with a lofting hook and decoy on the end?

My lofting pole is 14m and with a hook and decoy is a nightmare to lift overhead, especially in even the lightest breeze.

Most people don't take into account its an overhead lift. I doubt if my lofting pole including decoy and hook weighs 2lb.

If you doubt me, try taping a couple of lightweight brooms together and hook over your house gutter.

No doubt of the effectiveness once you have 2 or 3 in the trees. They bring em in.

Yes, put the branch head and decoys on the top of the first section.

Lift it up vertically and place on top of the second section.

And so on with subsequent sections until it gets to the height you can manage.

Straight up the side of the tree to stand for all to see.

[Old Boggy]

15 hours ago, Centrepin said:

I think we'll have to agree to disagree untill you've tried either method in the field.

Getting them down presents little or no problem if hooked on a branch correctly. They merely need lifting slightly to diss lodge,  gravity does the rest. 

If you were closer I'd happily loan you the poles, hooks and decoys to try.

Many thanks for your kind offer to lend me poles hooks etc, but over the years I have accumulated and made various bits and bobs for lofting and have tried both methods many times. I can conclude that in my opinion and based upon my own experience, I am able to loft and return 2 decoys, as per the method proposed by Tightchoke and Mellors above, far quicker and easier than to use the separate hooked decoy method. Each to their own I suppose.

OB

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Right then OPP, have a look here at the Lucky Hunter site;

 

https://www.lucky-hunter.com/product/aluminium-lofting-pole-set/

 

https://www.lucky-hunter.com/product/aluminium-lofting-pole/

 

You buy the base pole and one extension and then you can add as many extra poles as you want.

 

Might be worth a look?

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Or here;

https://ukshootwarehouse.com/product/premium-compact-aluminium-lofting-poles-set-of-8-poles-lofting-full-bodied-decoys/