A difficult field

[GingerCat]

Earlier in the week jdog asked if I was free today, oddly I was and met him at his house just before lunch. He took the windiest route he could find to a remote field, I may have shot there or nearby before but for all the tea in China I couldn't tell you where we were. 

Jacko was waiting in his madmax like 4x4 and we surveyed the field. It was in the region of 200 acres and beans ready to be harvested. Birds were in it, landing in it, flying away, sitting about on stubble next to it. You get the picture. There were lots of birds and they wanted to be there. 

We set up on the far side 50 meteres apart and had 2 rotarys out in the crop. 

The birds now didn't really want to be there. Choosing to move elsewhere. A few did come past  so we gave it a couple of hours and shot well with what came in, jacko didn't like to wait for them to come in  so most his were in the region of 60 yards. 

Changing the pattern and removing the rotarys made no difference. 

Growing tired of this and with the ever changing wind that was somewhere between 20 and 35 mph, we went back across the field and stood behind the hedge under the now formed flightline that wasn't there earlier. 

Whatga difference, they came in from 360 degrees and were far from slow. I hit a couple of screamers around the 50m mark that crashed some 80m or so further on to give you an idea of their pace. 

Jacko and jdog were blazing away also. 2 hours of the finest sport resulted in us picking 35. Almost the same amount were unable to be picked with a large number in a water treatment place we just couldn't access. 

Had they nkt changed their minds (I think the wind was the issue to be fair) that would have been a hundred bag day easily. In any case it was better than anyway at the office. 

 

 

[old'un]

Perhaps there was a reason he did not want you to know where you were.

Sounds like you had a cracking day, the bag may have been small but when you can get onto a good flightline like that, its like you say, some of the best shooting there is, its my favourite way of shooting pigeons now.

Thanks for posting, how come JDog stopped posting on PW?

[Wilts#Dave]

Sounds like a frustrating but equally satisfying day. Sometimes they just won’t decoy whatever you try, other days they just throw themselves in…..you made the right choice by getting under the flight line though, love that sort of shooting! 
From what I’ve seen on his videos, Jacko certainly likes to jump up and have a go doesn’t he 😂

[marsh man]

The type of decoying day we have had many times in the past and hopefully will have many more days to come , we very often hear from new members ( and old ) where is the best place to put your magnet , we can get a 100 + different answers and if the truth is known there isn't one , in fact the best place at times is to leave it at home .

Ole Archie Coats wrote a chapter in his original all those years ago about advanced decoying , this was mainly about giving the normal setup a miss on some hard to decoy fields and try other means , several times I have decoyed the field beside the one that the Pigeons are using , this could be the wind direction is wrong , to close to houses , decoys show up better , easier to get to and a number of other reasons , this is what keep us going throughout the year to try and get on top of them , sometimes it work and other times it don't , if anyone do know all the answers then you are on a good earner , but finding that person would be harder than decoying in the hours of pitch darkness