Short session

[the hitman]

I spotted a good number of pigeons feeding on a favourited field of OSR on Tuesday- and as I couldn’t get out until Saturday I was optimistic that I would get some shooting. The wind changed direction on Wednesday to an Easterly and the pigeons simply disappeared from this field. Yesterday the wind was more southerly so I was out at 8.30am today for a recce.

Not much about, however where I had seen them on Tuesday had a few down feeding so I set up.

After an hour I had 3 which at least gave me 2 for the magnet. I could see pigeons going to another field on the same farm, however with the wind direction I would be shooting with the gusting wind and sun in my face - but it was better option.

So I set up at the second location with the wind in my face- the pigeons began to arrive in singles and small groups. Some were coming over my head and perhaps I should have had my sillo decoys further out as they were having some difficulty getting in. After about an hour the wind changed to a westerly, which changed the line into the field and the pigeons began to arrive from left to right into the decoys.

I kept picking away and had 2 cracking second barrel kills as they were spinning away after the first shot.

The sun was lovely and I was stripped down to my T- shirt in the hide.

The sport was all over by 12.30, I gave it another 30 mins but nothing- so I picked up my 26 hard earned pigeons.

I did spot a large area of heavily grazed rape and thought this will be where they want to be when the rest of the field is in yellow flower- one for the future perhaps.

Drillings to come next .

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done, nice when the weather works in your favour!  

[mossy835]

well done to get what you did.

Edited March 12, 2022 by mossy835

[marsh man]

A good detailed write up and by the sound of it you got a well deserved bag , as the days are getting longer I am more of a afternoon pigeon shooter than morning one , now I limit myself to around three hours with the odd four hour session , although yesterday when I went about one o clock there were a few pigeons on the move in the strong wind , the clouds soon got darker and I didn't notice it had started to rain hard until I went to put a fresh pigeon on the magnet , as I hate getting wet I never put the fresh one on the magnet , instead I took the two old ones off and quickly packed up.

Looking at your Rape field you were shooting over it might be a better bet than the drilling's , on our place they tend to keep up with the latest kit and loose seed from drilling is a non event , in fact I have been to a fresh drilled field and even after kicking away a boot full of soil I still haven't seen any seed , I dare say the computer on the tractor tell them the depth they need to drill after checking the soil out .  

[the hitman]

51 minutes ago, marsh man said:

A good detailed write up and by the sound of it you got a well deserved bag , as the days are getting longer I am more of a afternoon pigeon shooter than morning one , now I limit myself to around three hours with the odd four hour session , although yesterday when I went about one o clock there were a few pigeons on the move in the strong wind , the clouds soon got darker and I didn't notice it had started to rain hard until I went to put a fresh pigeon on the magnet , as I hate getting wet I never put the fresh one on the magnet , instead I took the two old ones off and quickly packed up.

Looking at your Rape field you were shooting over it might be a better bet than the drilling's , on our place they tend to keep up with the latest kit and loose seed from drilling is a non event , in fact I have been to a fresh drilled field and even after kicking away a boot full of soil I still haven't seen any seed , I dare say the computer on the tractor tell them the depth they need to drill after checking the soil out .  

Drillings is always a special time of year- more these days because it signals the beginning of spring rather than the guarantee of good bags of pigeons.

I am old enough to remember those  bygone days when drillings was the crème of years sport- now stubble shooting for me is more productive.

As the days become longer and warmer I will be looking for afternoon sport - or even better all day.

[marsh man]

9 minutes ago, the hitman said:

Drillings is always a special time of year- more these days because it signals the beginning of spring rather than the guarantee of good bags of pigeons.

I am old enough to remember those  bygone days when drillings was the crème of years sport- now stubble shooting for me is more productive.

As the days become longer and warmer I will be looking for afternoon sport - or even better all day.

Me and my brother got a lot of our early shooting perms by looking at the seed when the Spring drilling take place , it was then a matter of finding out who the farmer was if we didn't already know and I dare say 9 times out of  10 we got the o k , at the time there was no rape about and large numbers of pigeons got on the fields of Kale that were used as cattle feed , then come March they started to hit the drilling's , on some of the Pea fields I dare say there was more seed above ground than there was below it and you could shoot the field at every stage of growth .

I well remember me and my brother found a lot of Pigeons on a fresh drilled Bean field , we found out who the farmer was and went to his farm , my brother went to see him and said he had just noticed a lot of pigeons on his Bean field , after a five minute chat the farmer said he think someone is going to shoot it later on during the day , straight away my brother said is there any chance then going on it until he come and then we will go , Yea I think that will be alright and with that we went and set up , we shot a three figure bag between us and we never saw a soul , when we finished we went back to the farm to see if he would like a few pigeons and let him know how many we shot , he thanked us for going and declined the offer of a few pigeons , we then asked if we could go again and he said help yourself , we shot that farm for years without ever seeing anyone and if I hadn't moved house I might had still been going on it .