The Famine Is Upon Us .

[marsh man]

No I am not going all religious , just been out for two days and haven't really seen enough to get excited about , I don't get to despondent as I have seen it all before at this time of the year and if you haven't got the right crops then sadly you won't have many Pigeons to go at , in the past we used to grow Linseed , Lucerne  , Broccoli and Spring beans and not forgetting the Clover Leys for the cattle , these crops would get you through lean months until the Peas were ripe, then followed by the grain fields , the shortage might not be for everyone as Muncher who shoot in the North of the county have had some excellent bags in the last few times he have been out .

All our Rape is well in flower now and any thin patches where Pigeons can still cause damage have now got gas guns going off to keep them off , looked at our Peas and you can now see the first signs where they are poking through the field , these should produce a few smallish bags over the next few weeks , apart from the Peas I cannot see much happening for a while while the Pigeons are mainly nesting and eating the various buds , so do YOU find it the same , or are you lucky and still got crops to go at ?

[Spr1985]

I’m out again tomorrow @marsh man,  plenty of activity on the osr fields still, despite most of it being 4’ high and in flower. Where it hadn’t been shot all winter the birds smashed it and a few spots that are struggling so it’s keeping them coming in. Hopefully tomorrow shall produce a decent day and I’ll have another post to make. 

[Scully]

Spring barley due in any time soon. Can’t wait! 🔫🔫

[clangerman]

only odd birds on all my rape now shot dozen for dog retrieves of peas yesterday on beans tomorrow call sounds promising but you know what farmers are like 

[Wilts#Dave]

Had a large block of peas go in but got there a day or two late I think and only shot 28 (saw hundreds flighting the previous day) 
Spotted some direct drilled barley well over a week ago and checked that out to see plenty of seed on the ground but no pigeons! However kept an eye on it as it seemed easy pickings and pigeons began to find it last weekend and built up through the week…..shot it this afternoon and managed 56, which was less than I thought I might shoot but still a good knock and to be honest the best bag I’ve had since the end of December! 
The rape promised good things but just didn’t deliver good bags here sadly, although I see on Facebook endless massive bags over rape / flailed maize covers etc in other parts of the country. 
It’s usually a quiet spell now until into June when I tend to start getting some shooting on peas again. It still won’t stop me driving round looking for opportunities  when I get the chance! 

Edited April 14, 2022 by Wilts#Dave

[pigeon controller]

The maxim that we use to use was the course fishing season, the birds would be difficult to shoot from the end of the season March 14th due to buds, pairing up etc and would start again June 16th with milky, downed cereal’s. You can still have some good days on spring rape, tyfon and clover.

Edited April 15, 2022 by pigeon controller

[marsh man]

10 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

Had a large block of peas go in but got there a day or two late I think and only shot 28 (saw hundreds flighting the previous day) 
Spotted some direct drilled barley well over a week ago and checked that out to see plenty of seed on the ground but no pigeons! However kept an eye on it as it seemed easy pickings and pigeons began to find it last weekend and built up through the week…..shot it this afternoon and managed 56, which was less than I thought I might shoot but still a good knock and to be honest the best bag I’ve had since the end of December! 
The rape promised good things but just didn’t deliver good bags here sadly, although I see on Facebook endless massive bags over rape / flailed maize covers etc in other parts of the country. 
It’s usually a quiet spell now until into June when I tend to start getting some shooting on peas again. It still won’t stop me driving round looking for opportunities  when I get the chance! 

Glad you found some of the little gems that turn up now and again , as you well know with this so called climate change that every year is different , overall this have been a nigh on perfect Spring for drilling , all our Spring grain fields went in with very little activity from Pigeons , yes we did have a few Rooks and Jackdaws have a look but that could be the bits and pieces brought to the service from whatever crop was in last year , the Peas were the same and yesterday when I looked the first Peas had just started to break through the soil , these had been in nearly three weeks , going by the past we might have to wait till the tree buds have broke out in leaf and the Peas are well above the ground, but like you say it don't stop the weekly run out to check out what is happening on the likely crops .

 

1 hour ago, pigeon controller said:

The maxim that we use to use was the course fishing season, the birds would be difficult to shoot from the end of the season March 14th due to buds, pairing up etc and would start again June 16th with milky, downed cereal’s. You can still have some good days on spring rape, tyfon and clover.

This time of the year I go out with low expectations and if I come empty handed then I am not dissapointed , if I manage to shoot a few then it is a bonus .

I keep going back to the past , but much of it then is still the same today , In Archie Coats book he used to go on holiday at the beginning of April when all crop protection and Spring drilling had come to a stand still , this was in the pre o s r days, so nowadays you can extend the small and bread and butter days a bit longer .

P S    You mentioned Tyfon , what is it ? , or is it a local name for another crop ?

Happy Easter to one and all .

[Centrepin]

18 hours ago, marsh man said:

 so do YOU find it the same , or are you lucky and still got crops to go at ?

Probably only seen 50 this year in total.  1  pigeon in the week coming out of the grain store, 28grams of 6s was the last it knew.

Saw just 1 today, it surprised me by dropping low over me while I was putting my hide up. I'm sure it called out, haha, not a chance of seeing me again today. 

Crows only for me and apparently nothing of anything on the OSR. Sporadic squirrels showing but unless food is left out for them, very few.

However, I'm reliably informed drilling is to commence around the week beginning the 25th.

Muck speading began this morning over the ploughing, but that's as much to keep the Easter cycles, BBQs and picnicking parties away as it is to fertilise the soil.

1000 this morning I was building a good bag of crow and a guy came walking across the plough lines looking for somewhere to settle for a picnic with his family. He then complained it was unfair of the farmer to plough so close to the woods as "they" had no where flat to walk. Once they'd departed I packed up and collected 1 empty crisp packet and 1 plastic bottle. This was just 2 fields away from the nearest path.

Methinks I'll leave it now till at least next Wednesday. 

[pigeon controller]

5 hours ago, marsh man said:

Glad you found some of the little gems that turn up now and again , as you well know with this so called climate change that every year is different , overall this have been a nigh on perfect Spring for drilling , all our Spring grain fields went in with very little activity from Pigeons , yes we did have a few Rooks and Jackdaws have a look but that could be the bits and pieces brought to the service from whatever crop was in last year , the Peas were the same and yesterday when I looked the first Peas had just started to break through the soil , these had been in nearly three weeks , going by the past we might have to wait till the tree buds have broke out in leaf and the Peas are well above the ground, but like you say it don't stop the weekly run out to check out what is happening on the likely crops .

 

This time of the year I go out with low expectations and if I come empty handed then I am not dissapointed , if I manage to shoot a few then it is a bonus .

I keep going back to the past , but much of it then is still the same today , In Archie Coats book he used to go on holiday at the beginning of April when all crop protection and Spring drilling had come to a stand still , this was in the pre o s r days, so nowadays you can extend the small and bread and butter days a bit longer .

P S    You mentioned Tyfon , what is it ? , or is it a local name for another crop ?

Happy Easter to one and all .

Tyfon is a broad leaf plant looking a bit like turnip tops or young OSR, it is grown to supplement the grass when it does not grow in the heat of the summer. Not much of it grown now but we do have the odd farm might grow ten acres , can be very productive.

[FOXHUNTER1]

I had a few crows this morning until my gun broke , would have easily been a 100 bird day otherwise 😡😡

[Centrepin]

7 minutes ago, FOXHUNTER1 said:

I had a few crows this morning until my gun broke , would have easily been a 100 bird day otherwise 😡😡

Top man, pity about the gun, hope its an easy fix

[pigeon controller]

43 minutes ago, FOXHUNTER1 said:

I had a few crows this morning until my gun broke , would have easily been a 100 bird day otherwise 😡😡

Good bag, well done. I hope you can sort out the gun.

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

Tyfon is a broad leaf plant looking a bit like turnip tops or young OSR, it is grown to supplement the grass when it does not grow in the heat of the summer. Not much of it grown now but we do have the odd farm might grow ten acres , can be very productive.

THANKS for the update , we might have had something similar as we grow a lot of Fodder and Radish beet , this also liven the soil up and feed the Sheep and Cattle in the Winter months .

One crop that was good for Pigeons was Lucerne , again this was grown a lot well before the o s r took off , weather it would have the same draw now , that I couldn't tell yer , Linseed was a hit and miss , one year it would be good , the following year it could be totally ignored , Kale used to have a double purpose in the Winter months , this would be strip fed for the cattle and also be used as a game cover strip , when we shot it for Pigeons when the game shooting finished we would often put the hide against the kale and decoy the field that joined it , if it was Winter wheat or barley they would decoy well as they showed up a treat on the Green back ground .