marsh man Posted December 31, 2022 Report Share Posted December 31, 2022 Another year is all but over for not only Pigeons but all shooting in general , so with corvid now no longer a threat and the bird flu was tapping on the door with no serious threat to getting on our perms and carrying out whatever type of shooting we were intending to do , so how have you found the last year from start to finish ? We started in the woods for four Saturdays last February , one or two got good to very good bags by decoying close , or in the wood they were allocated to go in later on that day , then when the roost shooting is finished I start looking at and keeping an eye for any damage being done on our various o s r fields , apart from passing the time away on one or two mild days and giving my dog a few retrieves there was no chance of any big numbers , moving on to mid March when the rape had been fed and it began to take off , yes there were a few more about but again nothing out of ordinary , then our Peas were drilled early April , the drilling was a non event and the first Pigeons shot were on 3 / 4 inch growing Peas , May and June are normally slow around our with everything at the half way stage , even though you could still find a few on Peas and thin patches of Rape , by the end of June we were getting towards record hot temps and the barley went through its growing spell without a stem being blown over by the wind. By the end of June our Peas were drying out to go to seed and you could get some shooting most afternoons , by now it was getting hard to move on any big bags so I was restricting myself to a maximum of 20 which with a bit of running about I could move them on . We then had a record early grain harvest and it was non stop cutting everyday for nearly three weeks , then the peas were ready to be cut closely followed by the rape , by the end of July we had hardly , if any standing crops left so on paper the Pigeons were not doing any harm even though it was still legal to shoot as many as you wanted to . I was shooting all the Pigeons I wanted on the Pea , Wheat and Barley stubbles and left the rape stubble for whoever wanted to have a day and at times we had 100s but very few shooters, if any wanted to have a good day , time moved on and we kept getting small bags on the late stubbles until well into September when after spells of the rain the tractors could at long last get back to pulling up the stubble and preparing the land for this years rape and the fodder beet for winter feeding the Sheep. So we have now gone full circle and it will only be just over four weeks and we will all be back in the woods again to start a new year shooting Pigeons allover again . So how did YOU get on ? Β Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morkin Posted December 31, 2022 Report Share Posted December 31, 2022 Yes all come round agin and we will see what 2023 chuck at usπ. Happy New Year boi , let's hope it's a goodun.π·π·π·π Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted December 31, 2022 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2022 12 minutes ago, Morkin said: Yes all come round agin and we will see what 2023 chuck at usπ. Happy New Year boi , let's hope it's a goodun.π·π·π·π And the same to you my friend , will very soon be next year and way we go againΒ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian willetts Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 All the best to you all and may this one be a better one good huntingΒ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 well last year for me there not the numbers of young birds about at all,i was down on pigeons been out the last few months, and not saw many about,not in the last fews weeks, not inthe woods at all.so this year hope its better.MM good right up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old'un Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 Well I have made it to 2023,Β ... hope to start getting out a bit more but what I have seen so far does not build my hopes up...but you never know with pigeons, just hope my body can see me through to 2024. hope you had a good Christmas and lets hope its a happy 2023. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted January 1, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 25 minutes ago, old'un said: Well I have made it to 2023,Β ... hope to start getting out a bit more but what I have seen so far does not build my hopes up...but you never know with pigeons, just hope my body can see me through to 2024. hope you had a good Christmas and lets hope its a happy 2023. Making it to 2023 is an achievment in itself when according to the ole saying , we who are getting on a bit are on borrowed time , lets hope they are in no hurry in getting the time back . Happy New Year to one and all . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the hitman Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 Nice write up MM - Happy new year to everyone. My 2022 pigeon sorties were limited compared to the previous year mostly due to family and work commitments. My 2023 pigeon shooting adventurers will begin tomorrow as I have spotted a good number on a large acreage of OSR- however very little wind is forecast locally. Then itβs back to work on Wednesday. HitmanΒ Β Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Boggy Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 Very good account of your year MM. Thanks for posting. Looking at my shooting diary, my bag of pigeons for the year was down by about 30% on the previous year. The stubble shooting was the main reason as it just didnβt meet expectations. Also, the drilling over the last few years has produced smaller bags, mainly due to modern drills leaving very little on the surface. Strangely enough they seem to go for beans whilst still standing and the pods βpoppingβ, but once harvested with beans all over the ground, they are ignored. With fewer fields being rape, once they are on it, Iβve had reasonable bags this last year so hoping for the same this year. The last pigeons shot have had mainly ivy berries with a few acorns in their crops, so wonβt be on the rape yet awhile. Still getting a few in my little wood coming into the ivy, so that will keep me going until they start on the rape.Β OB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted January 1, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 42 minutes ago, Old Boggy said: Very good account of your year MM. Thanks for posting. Looking at my shooting diary, my bag of pigeons for the year was down by about 30% on the previous year. The stubble shooting was the main reason as it just didnβt meet expectations. Also, the drilling over the last few years has produced smaller bags, mainly due to modern drills leaving very little on the surface. Strangely enough they seem to go for beans whilst still standing and the pods βpoppingβ, but once harvested with beans all over the ground, they are ignored. With fewer fields being rape, once they are on it, Iβve had reasonable bags this last year so hoping for the same this year. The last pigeons shot have had mainly ivy berries with a few acorns in their crops, so wonβt be on the rape yet awhile. Still getting a few in my little wood coming into the ivy, so that will keep me going until they start on the rape.Β OB Good afternoon Chris and a Happy New Year to you and your family . What I have noticed over the last few years is that the Pigeon shooting is no longer evened out like it used to be , before the quanity of rape got established we would make a start on the Spring drillings , once we saw the tractor going around the fields with the drill on the back we knew our years Pigeon had begun , grain or Peas it didn't matter we knew we would get some shooting , we also had different crops them such as Linseed and Lucerne that kept us going and also some years we shot good numbers on the Clover down on the grazing marshes , maybe we were lucky by having early Peas as we often shot good numbers at every stage of growth , then when the Peas were coming to a close in late June / early July we then moved onto the laid barley and wheat fields which went from large patches to the complete fields , this would keep you more than happy till the harvest which in those days were a bit later than they are now , the stubbles would keep you going till late September and we often shot good numbers on the Aurtum drilligs . Now it is completly different with long lean times and then like last year where you could had shot good numbers every day of the week on the numberous stubbles , still it keep you on your toes and above all else , you can still shoot Pigeons , Well for the time being . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7daysinaweek Posted January 1, 2023 Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 Enjoyed your write ups MM. Here's to another year of them.Β π Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted January 1, 2023 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2023 1 hour ago, 7daysinaweek said: Enjoyed your write ups MM. Here's to another year of them.Β π THANKS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and your family members Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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