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Roasting Pigeons


marsh man
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Some of the Pigeon shooters on the forum get there information about where the Pigeons are working by a phone call , my information concerning yesterdays shooting was at funeral on Monday ( our ole head gamekeeper passed away age 94 ) the farm foreman had a yarn and said , have you been on the Peas near xxxx wood , yes I have had and I shot it Tuesday last week and also looked Saturday and saw very little on the Peas or moving about so I went on the Peas near the Church , well I went down to look at the wheat and there must had been getting on for 200 either on the Peas or coming out of the wood to join them , well god above know where they came from and I will have a go tomorrow ( Tuesday ) .

So yesterday I got my odd jobs finished by early dinnertime and after a bite to eat I was on my way by 1pm , pulling up to the field 20 minutes later I didn't see that many , yes there were Pigeons about but only a few on the field , I then left my motor and walked down the edge of the wood and they got out more or less non stop , these were no doubt sheltering from the hot sunshine and would have possibly moved onto the Peas later in the afternoon , so certainly worth setting up for 2 / 3 hours .

Wind direction was from the South which was ideal as there is a grass track with a thick hedge than run along side , this haven't got any gaps in apart from one where they cut a gap and planted a new tree , so all I had to do was to drive to the gap and set up the other side of the hedge with my motor directly behind me , perfect , I put the magnet out with two dead pigeons and balanced some shell flock decoys on top of the Peas , set my hide well into the hedge to give me some shade from the hot sun , it was now nearly 2pm and I was ready for the first customer , two or three minutes later the first one was going hell for leather to get to the magnet , raised the gun above the net and totally mis judged it , it overflew the magnet and I balls it up and it was the first miss of the day , I told myself to take them well out and I couldn't have been listening as the second one done the same and I did manage to bring it down and give my dog a long retrieve with the second shot .

This was a poor start so I moved the magnet another 15 yds to give me a bit more time , this ploy worked a treat and I was hitting a lot more and only missing the odd one , when I got a long right and left I knew the moving the magnet was well worth the short time it took , my dog was picking most of the well out pigeons up and he was getting through the four pints of water I took him and my bottle of frozen drink was thawing out nicely , sport was never fast and furious but a lot better than it had been recently , things started to slow up a bit from 4pm so my deadline was 5 pm , time I clear up and look for the odd one it normally take me about an hour to get back home .

I shot the last Pigeon about 4.50pm and called it a day bang on 5 , after finding one that dropped in the Wheat I picked up 33 , my first 30 odd bag this year , no doubt if I had hung on I might had got 40 plus but I had more than enough sport and I will give a mate of mine a ring so he can have a few shots Saturday , as a footnote , even at that time of the day it was scorching , hence the title , after I had my tea I went for a walk along the river and it was one of the best nights of the Summer up until till now .

Thanks for reading   MM

SAM-4548.jpg

 

 

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What a cracker of a day MM.

From the title I thought you were going to give a 'culinary masterclass' on the finer points of cooking a woodie :lol:

I like the way you box them as not to overheat them and it sounds like you and the old pooch got a bit of a roasting for sure.

A very enjoyable read as usual of your exploits and thank you for posting up.

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What a report, well done. Moving the pattern to make the shooting easier is the way forward in my opinion. You did your reconnaissance before setting and chose the perfect spot for yourself. 
my concern in this weather is keeping the birds cool. Damp carp sacks will work especially with a strong breeze if you can hang them in the shade.

Cracking report , thanks for posting.

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11 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

Good to read, nice to have the background too. I’m sorry about your old Head Keeper, but good innings nonetheless. 

Yes Monday was a sad day and also a time to reflect on all the good days we had spent together , I first met him in the late 60s when me and my two brothers first went beating , at the time the estate was the only place for miles around where you would see a Pheasant and this was the start of doors beginning to open , first was the cock day , followed by the four week roost shooting in February and later on decoying , the pay at the time was £3.00 and a bottle of beer , always a bottle and no signs of a can . as time wore on I bought one of Roys Labradors , it was about a year old and a bit timid , he said it would be better off with you as I could devote all my time to the dog , this dog turned out a cracker and over the years I bought two puppies off him , one of them had a small strip of White on it's chest and the folk who came to look at the litter was by passing this one , as I was looking for one he said you can have that one for £75 when he was charging between £150 and £200 for the others , he was also very good at trialing and won many trials including what was then the English Championship in Essex , he had that much silver ware his boss said he will have to leave them up the hall as his cottage could easily get broken into .

We used to train the pups down on the rough land down the marsh , he kept one of the pups so I went out there on a Sunday morning and do 2/3 hours and then carry all the week until the following Sunday when we would advance a bit more , this carried on all Summer and now and again we would meet up to see how things were progressing .

At the time I didn't know then that I would spend the last 30 years of my working life on the estate where I first went beating all those years ago and we ended up spending 100s of days together on a shoot day and around his cottage putting the world right .

As you rightly say , a sad day but the man had a very good innings  R I P   Roy.

 

9 hours ago, 7daysinaweek said:

What a cracker of a day MM.

From the title I thought you were going to give a 'culinary masterclass' on the finer points of cooking a woodie :lol:

I like the way you box them as not to overheat them and it sounds like you and the old pooch got a bit of a roasting for sure.

A very enjoyable read as usual of your exploits and thank you for posting up.

Morning 7diaw, 

My cooking skills are far worse than my shooting skills and even they are not that good :lol:

I bring the veg trays home from TESCO'S and find them ideal , you can get 10 or a dozen in nicely and the boxes can stack on top of each other so the air can still circulate and cool them off , not only that if you get a good bag they don't take up that much room , I also take them in the trays when I take a few to the village pub as they look better than taking them in a sack .

All the best and have a good day     MM

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Morning John,

What a cracking read of your day out which I`m sure Bobbie also enjoyed immensely. Funerals are invariably sad occasions, but it does give us time to reflect on the good times we enjoyed in the company of a lost friend and as a celebration of their lives.

Those pigeons look in good condition which of course they should at this time of year and hopefully you were clear of any blow flies whilst out.

That field of peas should no doubt provide you with quite a few more days out and so I wish you good luck and keep cool.

Many thanks for posting.

OB

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Hi MM

Nice write up and obviously an emotional time for you.

Good to see that your tradecraft worked to your advantage with a very respectable bag of pigeon.

I have been using the Geoff Garrard method of propping pigeons up using long bendy rods - which work well on tall crops like peas.

Glad that you remembered a lost shooting friend in a very fitting way by having a day in the hide.

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24 minutes ago, the hitman said:

Hi MM

Nice write up and obviously an emotional time for you.

Good to see that your tradecraft worked to your advantage with a very respectable bag of pigeon.

I have been using the Geoff Garrard method of propping pigeons up using long bendy rods - which work well on tall crops like peas.

Glad that you remembered a lost shooting friend in a very fitting way by having a day in the hide.

THANKS hitman ... I have got one or two Geoff Garrard videos where he do put a Hazel rod straight through the Pigeon and stick them in the ground at a slight angle and as you say they seem to work a treat  , with me being a ole skinflint I make all of my cradles out of ole fencing wire and can easily make them at different heights , cradles are one of the most important pieces of kit in all your pigeon gear as incoming Pigeons must be able to see your decoys at a distance , having said that , the little field of Peas I went on yesterday afternoon are that tall I put 12 shell flocked decoys on top of the Peas with no supports , extended the arms on the magnet and the first two I shot I put on a couple of floaters , what were about came in a gave me shot or two but the afternoon was very hot and in the end the heat was to much for me and I only managed nine , it would had possibly been better to had gone later when the sun was dipping down as tonight when I went for a walk you could have easily shot till at least 7 . 30 and even a bit later , might well try that next week when we will be reaching the longest day of daylight hours .

All the best for the weekend , or the next time you get a chance to get out :good:

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