Stock Doves

[old'un]

Had a drive round this morning just to see if the pigeons had started on the rape, plenty about but still very much on the acorns.

Also went to look at a couple of wheat stubble fields on the off chance they may be showing some interest as there's still loads of wheatears with corn in them, well I thought I was in luck as I drove down the track, about 500 birds got up…..bloody stock doves, never seen so many on one field.

[marsh man]

I have never seen 500 on several fields let alone on one , might be another one of these species where one area have got more than others , going by the reports lately on P W , or should I say lack of reports I would imagine there are less Pigeons shot this time of the year than any other , again it might be certain areas , we are well into game shooting at this time of the year and the Pigeons are doing very little damage , if any , the o s r fields are Green and lush with no signs of Pigeons which in not surprising with all the acorns about , still some grain stubble's and very , very mild for the time of year , mind you , it very rare we see many Pigeons on the Green stuff this side of Christmas .

[mossy835]

not seen any stock doves here, but this time last year i was shooting well on the rape fields.

[Walker570]

That is a lot of doves. I have rarely seen more than half a dozen.

[jall25]

Up here we are getting more and more - i might see 40/50 a day now when decoying - in the past only a half dozen 

[old'un]

Yep, in all the years I have been shooting I have only ever seen them in smallish numbers of around 10 or 15, think the most until now was around 70.

they seemed to be in three groups, when one group lifted the others would follow suite, belting up and down the field, with some landing in the trees and others back on the stubble, I sat and watched them for about half an hour and there was more birds joining them from all different directions, as you say an unusual numbers for stock doves, global warming me thinks.

[marsh man]

10 minutes ago, old'un said:

 global warming me thinks.

Could well be , or more people sticking to the rules as the dealers don't no longer want the ( real thing ) so the days of accepting them as small pigeons are now long gone 

[old'un]

21 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Could well be , or more people sticking to the rules as the dealers don't no longer want the ( real thing ) so the days of accepting them as small pigeons are now long gone 

Yep, your more than likely correct about them not being shot and the increase in numbers.

Talking about the rape, most of the fields I looked at were like you say a lush green and well grown, mind you a couple of hard frosts and it will knock it back.

On the subject of pigeon not hitting the rape yet and the mild weather, I must admit I have perhaps shot as many pigeons during the winter on mild overcast windy days as I have on bitterly cold days.

The other thing I have noticed is oak trees seem to be some of the last trees to lose their leaves, once all the leaves have fallen I start to see pigeons on the rape, driving around the other day the leaves are brown/golden but only just starting to fall.

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, old'un said:

Yep, your more than likely correct about them not being shot and the increase in numbers.

Talking about the rape, most of the fields I looked at were like you say a lush green and well grown, mind you a couple of hard frosts and it will knock it back.

On the subject of pigeon not hitting the rape yet and the mild weather, I must admit I have perhaps shot as many pigeons during the winter on mild overcast windy days as I have on bitterly cold days.

The other thing I have noticed is oak trees seem to be some of the last trees to lose their leaves, once all the leaves have fallen I start to see pigeons on the rape, driving around the other day the leaves are brown/golden but only just starting to fall.

If you are anything like me you have most likely been out on more mild days than bitterly cold days , I now the shooting on the really cold days to the hardy few , mind you , even the hardy few are getting fewer and far between nowadays 

When my old boss was alive he would never start shooting the Pheasants till mid November when he said all the leaves would be off the trees , now they are often on till the end of the month or even later , like you say , all to do with this so called global warning , still we haven't got to fire up the heating every day touch wood , I recon it will change before long .

[old'un]

5 minutes ago, marsh man said:

If you are anything like me you have most likely been out on more mild days than bitterly cold days , I now the shooting on the really cold days to the hardy few , mind you , even the hardy few are getting fewer and far between nowadays 

When my old boss was alive he would never start shooting the Pheasants till mid November when he said all the leaves would be off the trees , now they are often on till the end of the month or even later , like you say , all to do with this so called global warning , still we haven't got to fire up the heating every day touch wood , I recon it will change before long .

 

I remember one bitterly cold outing in the early 80s when I nearly came a cropper, a field of winter rape that was getting some serious attention from thousands of pigeons and a call from the farmer asking me to sort them out.

It was a bitterly cold wind but I was in my early 30s and fit and keen, once I got to the field I loaded up and set out across the field to my chosen spot, I could feel the heat draining from my body it was bitterly cold, but I thought once I get shooting I would warm up, there were pigeons coming from everywhere whilst I was still setting up, once in the hide there was some really hot action, I could hardly load fast enough, this went on for a good hour and I must have killed 50+, it went a bit quiet for about half an hour, the wind got even stronger and it started to sleet/snow, I could feel myself getting colder and I started to have problems picking cartridges out of my pocket, the pigeons started again but I was struggling to load the gun, by now my feet and legs were almost numb and my hands felt like they did not belonged to me, I needed to get back to the car and get out of this sleet and icy wind, gathering what I could of my gear I headed back to the car which was about 200 yards away, I was struggling and shaking with the cold, on reaching the car I just dropped everything on the floor, but now I could not feel my hands and try as I may I could not get the car keys out of my pocket, I started to panic a bit as I was now shaking like a leaf and feeling a bit light headed, I had now been out in this bitterly cold wind and sleet for over 3 hours, I was also in a fairly remote area, I continued trying to warm my hands to get some feeling back into them but they were now starting to hurt me, then I think someone must have answered my prayers, the farmer was coming down the lane from the farm and I waved him down, after I quick chat he said get in, back at the farm and with two or three cups of hot tea I was starting to thaw out but now the pain started, it was another hour before I felt warm and strong enough to go and collect the rest of my gear and pick up the pigeons I had killed.

Needless to say I am still going out and doing things that at my age (early 70s) I should know better, mind you I still think I am in my 30s.

[jall25]

1 hour ago, old'un said:

 

I remember one bitterly cold outing in the early 80s when I nearly came a cropper, a field of winter rape that was getting some serious attention from thousands of pigeons and a call from the farmer asking me to sort them out.

It was a bitterly cold wind but I was in my early 30s and fit and keen, once I got to the field I loaded up and set out across the field to my chosen spot, I could feel the heat draining from my body it was bitterly cold, but I thought once I get shooting I would warm up, there were pigeons coming from everywhere whilst I was still setting up, once in the hide there was some really hot action, I could hardly load fast enough, this went on for a good hour and I must have killed 50+, it went a bit quiet for about half an hour, the wind got even stronger and it started to sleet/snow, I could feel myself getting colder and I started to have problems picking cartridges out of my pocket, the pigeons started again but I was struggling to load the gun, by now my feet and legs were almost numb and my hands felt like they did not belonged to me, I needed to get back to the car and get out of this sleet and icy wind, gathering what I could of my gear I headed back to the car which was about 200 yards away, I was struggling and shaking with the cold, on reaching the car I just dropped everything on the floor, but now I could not feel my hands and try as I may I could not get the car keys out of my pocket, I started to panic a bit as I was now shaking like a leaf and feeling a bit light headed, I had now been out in this bitterly cold wind and sleet for over 3 hours, I was also in a fairly remote area, I continued trying to warm my hands to get some feeling back into them but they were now starting to hurt me, then I think someone must have answered my prayers, the farmer was coming down the lane from the farm and I waved him down, after I quick chat he said get in, back at the farm and with two or three cups of hot tea I was starting to thaw out but now the pain started, it was another hour before I felt warm and strong enough to go and collect the rest of my gear and pick up the pigeons I had killed.

Needless to say I am still going out and doing things that at my age (early 70s) I should know better, mind you I still think I am in my 30s.

Good on you !

[marsh man]

Brilliant  ..... Can't say I have ever been that cold but not to far from it , Pigeon shooting in the height of a cold Winter can be freezing and you can only put on so much gear , in the 70s I rented a big block of marshes in a prime pigeon area , the farmer started to grow rape and the main problem we had was the distance from where we left our motors to the rape fields , we only had two wheel drive motors and there was no way we could drive down the track from October on'wards , even a four wheel drive motor would often get stuck , one year one of the large fields that were rape was well over a mile from our parking place , the farmer was kind enough to drop off enough small bales so we could put a hide in the middle of the field , this kept off most of the cold wind but once you got cold you kept cold and even walking about to place the dead ones out didn't help much , the only means of transport to cart the bag back was a one wheel builders barrow , this was often loaded up with dead pigeons to the brim , we left everything else in the hide as we were the only shooters that shot on his land , walking back along a muddy wet track took some doing but like you I was pretty fit and didn't worry to much about the cold , I remember several times getting back and taking my jacket off and the steam would leave me as if I was a boiled kettle , no way could I do that now and Winter pigeon shooting is normally now on hold until the game and wildfowl season come to a close , in February I sometimes have a go but we let the helpers go in the woods for four Saturdays and if they have got a rape field near there allocated wood we don't mind letting them go early on a Saturday if they want to do a bit of decoying , I don't mind at all and I am more than happy to start now in the milder month of March .

[Walker570]

...still thinking your still in your thirties can get dangerous. Anyway as the joke goes ....if she dies she dies.....

A very old one some of you young sprogs will not have heard maybe.

Been there done that.  Doves  are damned good decoys and should n't be scorned.

[martinj]

On 10/11/2022 at 16:02, Walker570 said:

Been there done that.  Doves  are damned good decoys and should n't be scorned.

Ahem!