A Day of Two Halves

[Scully]

Got a call on Wednesday to the effect ‘there’s loads of bloody birds about, can you spare a few hours?’ As it was I couldn’t, but dropped by yesterday for a look ( no gun, had just finished work ) and while having a bit craic with the landowner we watched pigeons dropping in on the perimeter of a field of barley he’d called a halt on as it was a few % out, which meant there was a 15 yard stubble all around the crop. 
Phoned mate knowing what shift he was on, and arranged to set up this morning. Then got a call from him to say a mate had received a call from a desperate farmer who had told him his fields were ‘blue’, as was the field adjacent ‘ but he won’t mind if we shoot on his land too ‘.
I said I’d call by and have a scan while on my way to the farm we’d committed to. 
Stopped off at secondary land this morning and found most of it in stubble with plenty of corvids on it, but no barley, at least not where he said it was, so on I went to meet mate. 
He was there at 0800, just before me, and said the field was covered in them, and as it was a square field and birds were in the margins, perimeters and hedgerows, we decided he would set up on the higher slope with his back to the road, and I’d set up in the lower hedge, directly opposite each other at a distance of about 200 yds. 
I linked my hide into the hedgerow of blackthorn and hawthorn as the wind was annoyingly strong ( yet again! ) and cold, and pulled it taut so it wouldn’t collapse around me and foul my gun etc, then set out about a dozen crow deeks on the edge of the crop. 
My first shot was an Exocet of a bird ( a feral as it turned out ) as it zipped past parallel to the hide and tumbled over in a ball of chaff.
Bolstered with this promising start I missed the next three l, which were corvids. Shot around another half dozen or so then it went quiet, then mate phoned to suggest we went for breakfast as it had gone quiet for him also. Good idea! 🙂
Off to the A66 cafe which is less than a mile away for a full English and an unexpected but nice catch up with a member of the BIG shoot beating team, then back to it. 
A few pigeons started showing interest now (1100ish) so after clattering a couple I nipped to vehicle for my ‘bobber’ and added them to the pattern at the far end of the crow deeks. 
Never saw another corvid until about 4pm when we were packing up, but in the meantime pigeons showed up on a regular basis. 
Wherever I set up, I always seem to end up with my seat in a hole, and it’s bloody annoying!  When your backside is lower than your knees it’s a struggle to get on your feet with any semblance of speed or decorum, but in a hedgerow with my back to a fence there wasn’t much room for choice, so I had to make the best of it. 
I could see birds heading for mate, and he likewise, but unless we talked on the phone we couldn’t forewarn each other, but it was great to watch birds circle him and watch as they tumbled out of the sky followed by the shot. 🙂

As more and more pigeons showed interest I added them to the pattern, but went through a phase of inexplicable misses, until I slowed down my mount, missed some infuriatingly close birds before going through a short phase of just pricking birds, the obligatory missed opportunities when either on my phone, pouring a coffee or texting someone, or just simply being asleep, or having a pee, and then it all came together. 
The pigeons were decoying well, and in a particularly busy 30 mins or so, had two rights and lefts and more first barrel kills than I can remember. 
Mate clattered some very high birds, and at one point had a left, right, centre and one more (S1) as it settled in the tree under which he was sat. 
As always I should have shot more than did, many more, but I was enjoying myself immensely; it is just wonderful to see that explosion of fine feathers as a bird tumbles or spins out of that burst pillow, or the way they fold their wings as they commit and drop before flaring their wings and braking, showing that pinkish/brown rouge of a breast as you swing that gun to meet them. Some just seemingly ‘trip’ head over heels as they fly into that pattern. Wonderful! 
Landowner called round late in the day to tell us of another field which was ‘black and blue’! 

We had a clear up at about 1530, but unfortunately only recovered around around a third of the bag as most of it landed in the crop. 
We don’t get big days that often, but as we seem to be getting more and more land to shoot on, I intend to get a cool box or similar in which I can store pigeons as it seems such a shame to waste all that meat. 
Anyhow, total bag was 77 birds, most of which were pigeons. 
Had a drive over to the ‘black and blue’ fields, and indeed they were. I can’t go but mate is gonna have a look out tomorrow. 😀

Cracking larl day! 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done.  

[mossy835]

well done a very good day.

[Scully]

Thanks both. 👍

[Fellside]

On 22/07/2022 at 21:11, Scully said:

Got a call on Wednesday to the effect ‘there’s loads of bloody birds about, can you spare a few hours?’ As it was I couldn’t, but dropped by yesterday for a look ( no gun, had just finished work ) and while having a bit craic with the landowner we watched pigeons dropping in on the perimeter of a field of barley he’d called a halt on as it was a few % out, which meant there was a 15 yard stubble all around the crop. 
Phoned mate knowing what shift he was on, and arranged to set up this morning. Then got a call from him to say a mate had received a call from a desperate farmer who had told him his fields were ‘blue’, as was the field adjacent ‘ but he won’t mind if we shoot on his land too ‘.
I said I’d call by and have a scan while on my way to the farm we’d committed to. 
Stopped off at secondary land this morning and found most of it in stubble with plenty of corvids on it, but no barley, at least not where he said it was, so on I went to meet mate. 
He was there at 0800, just before me, and said the field was covered in them, and as it was a square field and birds were in the margins, perimeters and hedgerows, we decided he would set up on the higher slope with his back to the road, and I’d set up in the lower hedge, directly opposite each other at a distance of about 200 yds. 
I linked my hide into the hedgerow of blackthorn and hawthorn as the wind was annoyingly strong ( yet again! ) and cold, and pulled it taut so it wouldn’t collapse around me and foul my gun etc, then set out about a dozen crow deeks on the edge of the crop. 
My first shot was an Exocet of a bird ( a feral as it turned out ) as it zipped past parallel to the hide and tumbled over in a ball of chaff.
Bolstered with this promising start I missed the next three l, which were corvids. Shot around another half dozen or so then it went quiet, then mate phoned to suggest we went for breakfast as it had gone quiet for him also. Good idea! 🙂
Off to the A66 cafe which is less than a mile away for a full English and an unexpected but nice catch up with a member of the BIG shoot beating team, then back to it. 
A few pigeons started showing interest now (1100ish) so after clattering a couple I nipped to vehicle for my ‘bobber’ and added them to the pattern at the far end of the crow deeks. 
Never saw another corvid until about 4pm when we were packing up, but in the meantime pigeons showed up on a regular basis. 
Wherever I set up, I always seem to end up with my seat in a hole, and it’s bloody annoying!  When your backside is lower than your knees it’s a struggle to get on your feet with any semblance of speed or decorum, but in a hedgerow with my back to a fence there wasn’t much room for choice, so I had to make the best of it. 
I could see birds heading for mate, and he likewise, but unless we talked on the phone we couldn’t forewarn each other, but it was great to watch birds circle him and watch as they tumbled out of the sky followed by the shot. 🙂

As more and more pigeons showed interest I added them to the pattern, but went through a phase of inexplicable misses, until I slowed down my mount, missed some infuriatingly close birds before going through a short phase of just pricking birds, the obligatory missed opportunities when either on my phone, pouring a coffee or texting someone, or just simply being asleep, or having a pee, and then it all came together. 
The pigeons were decoying well, and in a particularly busy 30 mins or so, had two rights and lefts and more first barrel kills than I can remember. 
Mate clattered some very high birds, and at one point had a left, right, centre and one more (S1) as it settled in the tree under which he was sat. 
As always I should have shot more than did, many more, but I was enjoying myself immensely; it is just wonderful to see that explosion of fine feathers as a bird tumbles or spins out of that burst pillow, or the way they fold their wings as they commit and drop before flaring their wings and braking, showing that pinkish/brown rouge of a breast as you swing that gun to meet them. Some just seemingly ‘trip’ head over heels as they fly into that pattern. Wonderful! 
Landowner called round late in the day to tell us of another field which was ‘black and blue’! 

We had a clear up at about 1530, but unfortunately only recovered around around a third of the bag as most of it landed in the crop. 
We don’t get big days that often, but as we seem to be getting more and more land to shoot on, I intend to get a cool box or similar in which I can store pigeons as it seems such a shame to waste all that meat. 
Anyhow, total bag was 77 birds, most of which were pigeons. 
Had a drive over to the ‘black and blue’ fields, and indeed they were. I can’t go but mate is gonna have a look out tomorrow. 😀

Cracking larl day! 

Enjoyed reading that report. So I’m not the only one that has a ‘missing phase’ now and then….🙂

It happened to me mid afternoon yesterday. I stopped and went for a stroll, pie and drink in hand. Hey presto, the reset button was pressed and I got back on to them. 

[Spr1985]

Sounds like you and your friend had a fantastic day out scully 👏🏻 A good read and certainly stoked the excitement for me getting out and having a go 👍🏻

[pigeon controller]

Great report of an honest days decoying, well done.

[Old Boggy]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading that.

Many thanks for posting and well done.

OB

[Scully]

10 hours ago, Fellside said:

Enjoyed reading that report. So I’m not the only one that has a ‘missing phase’ now and then….🙂

It happened to me mid afternoon yesterday. I stopped and went for a stroll, pie and drink in hand. Hey presto, the reset button was pressed and I got back on to them. 

Thanks. We had a go in the ‘blue’ laid barley this morning. Not quite a waste of a day, but not worth reporting on. 

9 hours ago, Spr1985 said:

Sounds like you and your friend had a fantastic day out scully 👏🏻 A good read and certainly stoked the excitement for me getting out and having a go 👍🏻

Yeah, we had a grand day. Thanks, and good luck. 

7 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

Great report of an honest days decoying, well done.

Thankyou. 👍

7 hours ago, Old Boggy said:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading that.

Many thanks for posting and well done.

OB

Good, pleased you enjoyed it. Cheers

[marsh man]

As already said, a very good report and what sounded a very good day had by all .

The only part which would have upset my day was leaving around 50 ( two thirds ) of the bag unpicked , I hate losing one let alone that many and as you pointed out you wasn't at times shooting well so a lot of those birds dropped would have , or could have still been alive , unlike a lot of people on the forum I have never been told by the land owner to shoot the Pigeons but don't pick em up if they fall in the crop , Saturday I was shooting on a field of Peas that are going for seed , the field is now ready to be combined and the pods are beginning to split open , most of the Peas are still standing 12 to  18 inches high , one Pigeon I shot at carried on across the field and collapsed just before it got to a tree that  is standing in the middle of the field , with a fair wind blowing I knew if my dog got within scenting distance he would stand a good chance in finding it , so we stopped shooting and walked down the tram lines to around the area where I saw the fall , I sent him out and within a couple of minutes he had found it , which was stone dead , only a small thing to some but this made my afternoon and with shooting 19 we never lost one that was dropped.

There you go , if your land owner want them shot but not picked up then so be it , no one can kill them all , or come to that find them all ,but in my case I like to think I have done my best to find whatever I had shot. 

[Scully]

10 hours ago, marsh man said:

As already said, a very good report and what sounded a very good day had by all .

The only part which would have upset my day was leaving around 50 ( two thirds ) of the bag unpicked , I hate losing one let alone that many and as you pointed out you wasn't at times shooting well so a lot of those birds dropped would have , or could have still been alive , unlike a lot of people on the forum I have never been told by the land owner to shoot the Pigeons but don't pick em up if they fall in the crop , Saturday I was shooting on a field of Peas that are going for seed , the field is now ready to be combined and the pods are beginning to split open , most of the Peas are still standing 12 to  18 inches high , one Pigeon I shot at carried on across the field and collapsed just before it got to a tree that  is standing in the middle of the field , with a fair wind blowing I knew if my dog got within scenting distance he would stand a good chance in finding it , so we stopped shooting and walked down the tram lines to around the area where I saw the fall , I sent him out and within a couple of minutes he had found it , which was stone dead , only a small thing to some but this made my afternoon and with shooting 19 we never lost one that was dropped.

There you go , if your land owner want them shot but not picked up then so be it , no one can kill them all , or come to that find them all ,but in my case I like to think I have done my best to find whatever I had shot. 

Thanks. I don’t take a dog when decoying and once I get something in which to store pigeon breasts away from the summer heat and flies then only the carcasses will be dumped. 
Those corvids and pigeons which drop in the crop are left for the combine to sort out; as the landowner once told me….’If it’s bigger than a grain of barley, it ain’t getting through.’ He isn’t bothered in the slightest, so I’m not either. 

[marsh man]

13 minutes ago, Scully said:

Thanks. I don’t take a dog when decoying and once I get something in which to store pigeon breasts away from the summer heat and flies then only the carcasses will be dumped. 
Those corvids and pigeons which drop in the crop are left for the combine to sort out; as the landowner once told me….’If it’s bigger than a grain of barley, it ain’t getting through.’ He isn’t bothered in the slightest, so I’m not either. 

It wouldn't bother me to much about leaving the combine to sort out the odd one that I couldn't find , but what would bother me was the thought of all the ones that were knocked down with broken wings and left to die which could take days , if i took someone who couldn't be bothered to pick up , or at least try to pick up what they shot then our friendship would be very short lived and that would be the last time he came decoying with me .

[Scully]

13 minutes ago, marsh man said:

It wouldn't bother me to much about leaving the combine to sort out the odd one that I couldn't find , but what would bother me was the thought of all the ones that were knocked down with broken wings and left to die which could take days , if i took someone who couldn't be bothered to pick up , or at least try to pick up what they shot then our friendship would be very short lived and that would be the last time he came decoying with me .

We all wound things; if you’re into shooting then it goes with the territory I’m afraid.
If they drop in the standing crop then that’s it, they’re left. I’ll do my best to cleanly kill whatever I shoot, and also to find whatever it is I’ve shot, but I’m not trampling crops to find quarry of any species, dead or not, and landowners don’t thank you for it, not the ones I know anyhow. 
I’m absolutely weary and bored to death of the holier than thou mob on this forum, constantly criticising others for the way they do things, or don’t do things. Circumstances dictate policy; we were asked to do a job and we did it. 
I have in the past walked alongside the combine, shooting bolting rabbits for this landowner and others, and not all rabbits bolt OUT of the crop. Some bolt into it, and wounded ones will be crushed by the combine. It’s a cruel old world out there at a times I’m afraid, and I genuinely couldn’t care less whether I fit into your rose tinted view of a ‘sporting gent’ or not, and neither could the landowners on whose land I shoot on. 
 

[Humblepie]

I think you are both right.  Understand Scully’s point of view about not trampling down standing crops to find a winged bird and doing damage in the process but also understand Marsh man’s point of view about dispatching an injured bird as soon as possible. I have done both. Spent lots of time with or without a dog trying to find an injured pigeon but also given up the hunt, including with my dog when the crops are too high and left it because I didn’t want to do to much damage.

I don’t often post on here but do read the posts every day and I respect both of you as decent individuals with reasoned arguments on most points

@Scully i don’t think @marsh man was being holier than thou but just trying to make a point…..play nicely Gents
 

[landowner]

Thanks for sharing this story, I know many of us can relate.

[Scully]

1 hour ago, landowner said:

Thanks for sharing this story, I know many of us can relate.

Thankyou. Unfortunately it’s likely to be my last. 

[maxwell]

On 22/07/2022 at 21:11, Scully said:

Got a call on Wednesday to the effect ‘there’s loads of bloody birds about, can you spare a few hours?’ As it was I couldn’t, but dropped by yesterday for a look ( no gun, had just finished work ) and while having a bit craic with the landowner we watched pigeons dropping in on the perimeter of a field of barley he’d called a halt on as it was a few % out, which meant there was a 15 yard stubble all around the crop. 
Phoned mate knowing what shift he was on, and arranged to set up this morning. Then got a call from him to say a mate had received a call from a desperate farmer who had told him his fields were ‘blue’, as was the field adjacent ‘ but he won’t mind if we shoot on his land too ‘.
I said I’d call by and have a scan while on my way to the farm we’d committed to. 
Stopped off at secondary land this morning and found most of it in stubble with plenty of corvids on it, but no barley, at least not where he said it was, so on I went to meet mate. 
He was there at 0800, just before me, and said the field was covered in them, and as it was a square field and birds were in the margins, perimeters and hedgerows, we decided he would set up on the higher slope with his back to the road, and I’d set up in the lower hedge, directly opposite each other at a distance of about 200 yds. 
I linked my hide into the hedgerow of blackthorn and hawthorn as the wind was annoyingly strong ( yet again! ) and cold, and pulled it taut so it wouldn’t collapse around me and foul my gun etc, then set out about a dozen crow deeks on the edge of the crop. 
My first shot was an Exocet of a bird ( a feral as it turned out ) as it zipped past parallel to the hide and tumbled over in a ball of chaff.
Bolstered with this promising start I missed the next three l, which were corvids. Shot around another half dozen or so then it went quiet, then mate phoned to suggest we went for breakfast as it had gone quiet for him also. Good idea! 🙂
Off to the A66 cafe which is less than a mile away for a full English and an unexpected but nice catch up with a member of the BIG shoot beating team, then back to it. 
A few pigeons started showing interest now (1100ish) so after clattering a couple I nipped to vehicle for my ‘bobber’ and added them to the pattern at the far end of the crow deeks. 
Never saw another corvid until about 4pm when we were packing up, but in the meantime pigeons showed up on a regular basis. 
Wherever I set up, I always seem to end up with my seat in a hole, and it’s bloody annoying!  When your backside is lower than your knees it’s a struggle to get on your feet with any semblance of speed or decorum, but in a hedgerow with my back to a fence there wasn’t much room for choice, so I had to make the best of it. 
I could see birds heading for mate, and he likewise, but unless we talked on the phone we couldn’t forewarn each other, but it was great to watch birds circle him and watch as they tumbled out of the sky followed by the shot. 🙂

As more and more pigeons showed interest I added them to the pattern, but went through a phase of inexplicable misses, until I slowed down my mount, missed some infuriatingly close birds before going through a short phase of just pricking birds, the obligatory missed opportunities when either on my phone, pouring a coffee or texting someone, or just simply being asleep, or having a pee, and then it all came together. 
The pigeons were decoying well, and in a particularly busy 30 mins or so, had two rights and lefts and more first barrel kills than I can remember. 
Mate clattered some very high birds, and at one point had a left, right, centre and one more (S1) as it settled in the tree under which he was sat. 
As always I should have shot more than did, many more, but I was enjoying myself immensely; it is just wonderful to see that explosion of fine feathers as a bird tumbles or spins out of that burst pillow, or the way they fold their wings as they commit and drop before flaring their wings and braking, showing that pinkish/brown rouge of a breast as you swing that gun to meet them. Some just seemingly ‘trip’ head over heels as they fly into that pattern. Wonderful! 
Landowner called round late in the day to tell us of another field which was ‘black and blue’! 

We had a clear up at about 1530, but unfortunately only recovered around around a third of the bag as most of it landed in the crop. 
We don’t get big days that often, but as we seem to be getting more and more land to shoot on, I intend to get a cool box or similar in which I can store pigeons as it seems such a shame to waste all that meat. 
Anyhow, total bag was 77 birds, most of which were pigeons. 
Had a drive over to the ‘black and blue’ fields, and indeed they were. I can’t go but mate is gonna have a look out tomorrow. 😀

Cracking larl day! 

Sounds like a good day to me 

[Scully]

Just now, maxwell said:

Sounds like a good day to me 

It was, Thankyou. 👍