Out on The Clover

[pigeon controller]

Following my return from my holiday in Greece the demand for birds has been manic, delivered two hundred on Tuesday. Wednesday  another request for three hundred and Thursday a request for seventy fresh. So I think I may have to go out shooting!!

Bunny_Blaster had been supplying while I was away and had some stock from being out in the week. So yesterday was a day that we needed to find the birds. DB had received a call in the week about thousands on the rape from one of our farmers, this farm is in the south of our permissions so we headed off that way looking at crops on the way ( peas, cover etc) The thousands on the rape were a few birds eating the clover on the edges of the farm track and on a pony paddock next to a house nearby!!! We found two dead birds on the track also so it had been shot, give it a miss.

We had a call from TopGunners who had found some birds in the week while rabbit shooting eating late on clover. We gave them a ring and only one was out looking but he had seen three good flightlines to the clover fields. So we decided to head over and look at other fields on the way. We met up at approx 11.00 and scanned the fields , It was a strange strong wind from the North East which made it a difficult decision as to sighting of the hide. We started at midday with Myself and DB in the hide and TGs keeping them on the move, eventuall we covered each flightline with a hide. We had used the hedges to protect us from the wind which made it difficult at times as birds would suddenly appear and be away with the wind. We stopped shooting at 18.00 and consolidated the birds for a picture despite being asked only George the dog would sit with me. The total being one hundred and sixty one. We had covered seventy five miles.

So after dropping DB back I popped over to B_B and collected his birds and went back home ,bagged up the frozen birds   and put the fresh in trays in the chiller and eventually had my tea at 22.15. This morning the three hundred frozen collected at 09.00 I then drove and delivered a hundred plus fresh. This has now allowed me to write my account of the day.

 

[Scully]

Fabulous! Sounds like a great outing!

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done that man.   

[twenty]

Great Stuff 👍

[marsh man]

That was certainly a long ole day P C and a tiring one at that , no doubt the break had done you good and you done well in off loading a good number of Pigeons . Well done to all concerned . 

[old'un]

that's a good bag on clover, where you decoying them or just flighting them?

[pigeon controller]

2 minutes ago, old'un said:

that's a good bag on clover, where you decoying them or just flighting them?

Decoying under the flightline, so a bit of both.

[old'un]

9 minutes ago, pigeon controller said:

Decoying under the flightline, so a bit of both.

that's still a good bag,  your getting quite good at this game.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

Decoying under the flightline, so a bit of both.

As a matter of interest , have you , or your fellow companions ever done a video on Pigeon shooting ? , what would be interesting would be from starting at the very beginning , finding the Pigeons , hide building , setting the decoy pattern out and then watch developments , you are then either happy with the set up , or adjust accordingly , although I am not complaining but we see far to much shooting in most video's and not enough starting from scratch , far better for beginners and even us oldies to see how the top boys go about there craft 

[stockybasher]

Awesome day for you and your mates - thanks for posting.

Question for you please - what camnet material do you use please, it always looks appropriate to the many backgrounds you use 👍

[mossy835]

its the one he made.

Edited June 5, 2022 by mossy835

[pigeon controller]

13 hours ago, stockybasher said:

Awesome day for you and your mates - thanks for posting.

Question for you please - what camnet material do you use please, it always looks appropriate to the many backgrounds you use 👍

As Mossy 835 stated its home made from strips of material purchased from Asian material stores / Market stalls this cut in strips and added to a basic ex army European spec camo net. One side is brownish for winter and the other greenish for summer. 
one tip is to take some leaves into the shop to compare colours and also look in daylight. 
it’s amazing whats about as scrap I.e. old fishing keepnets/ landing nets, green clothes, string and rope etc

Good foraging

[pigeon controller]

13 hours ago, marsh man said:

As a matter of interest , have you , or your fellow companions ever done a video on Pigeon shooting ? , what would be interesting would be from starting at the very beginning , finding the Pigeons , hide building , setting the decoy pattern out and then watch developments , you are then either happy with the set up , or adjust accordingly , although I am not complaining but we see far to much shooting in most video's and not enough starting from scratch , far better for beginners and even us oldies to see how the top boys go about there craft 

They are very shy!!!. We are technical dinosaurs and would find it difficult. During my angling years I did appear on a program called Angling  Today with Terry Thomas on Eel Fishing. I was never offered any Hollywood parts following that and prefer now to keep a lower profile. The setting up procedure is based on  thirty odd years of shooting pigeons every weekend.

The fields we shot at the weekend are a typical example, the flightlines are spread across the whole area and you would be frustrated to set up on one and watch the birds fly along another three. Splitting was the right decision as we required a bigger bag to supply the outstanding orders.

 

[Wilts#Dave]

Military precision / planning, and I wouldn’t expect anything less. Well done, a very well deserved bag for you all. 

[stockybasher]

2 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

As Mossy 835 stated its home made from strips of material purchased from Asian material stores / Market stalls this cut in strips and added to a basic ex army European spec camo net. One side is brownish for winter and the other greenish for summer. 
one tip is to take some leaves into the shop to compare colours and also look in daylight. 
it’s amazing whats about as scrap I.e. old fishing keepnets/ landing nets, green clothes, string and rope etc

Good foraging

Many thanks PC  

[Accuspell]

Amazing. I have never managed more than 28. That was on newly drilled peas! I have never been much good at decoying, despite having a day with Archie Coates back in the 80s.

[Old Boggy]

As said, that must have been a long and tiring day. Your stamina and determination is to be admired.

Many thanks for posting.

OB

[pigeon controller]

Thanks for all your kind comments, I post to educate, brag!! And confirm that at 74 you can still achieve things that people say “ You should not be doing that at your age” if you have a will to do it . Yes , my hips hurt , I can’t bend to pick a dropped shell very easily. Loading and unloading the freezer is painful. I’m very lucky that I have no major concerns “ Just Knackered Syndrome”

I appreciate comments on my ramblings and thank you, my thirty year association with DB has made me guarded with my meetings of others but do appreciate the camaraderie of this forum. I love the anonymity of this forum , it’s like reading a book you imagine the characters and what they look like, Ditchman especially!!. Thank You.

[Old Boggy]

1 hour ago, pigeon controller said:

Thanks for all your kind comments, I post to educate, brag!! And confirm that at 74 you can still achieve things that people say “ You should not be doing that at your age” if you have a will to do it . Yes , my hips hurt , I can’t bend to pick a dropped shell very easily. Loading and unloading the freezer is painful. I’m very lucky that I have no major concerns “ Just Knackered Syndrome”

I appreciate comments on my ramblings and thank you, my thirty year association with DB has made me guarded with my meetings of others but do appreciate the camaraderie of this forum. I love the anonymity of this forum , it’s like reading a book you imagine the characters and what they look like, Ditchman especially!!. Thank You.

You don`t have to imagine what Ditchman looks like. He`s exactly like his avatar