A Quiet Weekend

[Jim Neal]

That's what the village residents will be thinking, anyway!  Not much shooting to report back on from the last couple of days, unfortunately.

Yesterday I freed up the last few hours of the afternoon.  I planned to drop in to a spot in the end of a wood that I know will never produce a bumper bag, but always has the odd few drifting in up the flightline.  It can be quite busy some days but that's rare.  Some years ago I considered it worthwhile to build a hide there to shoot from.  There's a hedge connecting the corner of the wood to a long strip of black pine a couple of hundred yards away, and it's always a noticeable line in for pigeon traffic.  First off though, I invested an hour's time to begin with because the hide has now just got the dry, crumbly remnants of the fir branches I dressed it with originally to conceal me....which it was failing miserably at!

I hitched up the trailer and parked up by a nearby plantation which has several rows of fir trees planted along it, interspersing the rows of ash and oak.  The fir trees are about 30ft tall now and their lower branches are all in a pretty ropey condition; only needles on the last third or so.  I'm presuming this is just down to light levels, as the trees are so densely packed there's no light gets through to the ground.  Reaching up to the best looking branches, I cut and piled up several bundles, bound with bailer twine to make them easier to drag along, and loaded up the trailer.  I felt grateful for the unusually dry weather we've had recently which meant I could drive on the meadows.  Just a short trundle across to the wood, I unloaded my bunches of foliage over the fence as close as possible to the hide, jumped over and went to work

It's amazing how a heavy, cumbersome bunch of fir branches seems to go absolutely nowhere once you spread them out to dress a hide!  I could have done with another three trips' worth, but it was time to get on.  I dropped the trailer, nipped back home for gun, dogs and flask, and headed back.  One of the reasons I chose this spot was the wind had turned round and was coming from the north.  There's a gateway in the flightline hedge about 80 yards before it gets to the wood.  Here, you can stand in the gateway with the tall, thick foliage concealing you from incoming birds and have a pop at them as they come overhead.  With a north wind, it's perfectly on your back and therefore gets the birds a bit lower and slower, usually enough to make them shootable.  On a south-west wind they come zipping along, usually out to your left which not only makes them longer range and faster but also leaves you exposed without any cover when you mount the gun; they mostly flare off and it is a rare thing to actually down one, even though I do still keep trying on occasion!  What's also good about standing here is you can see 500yds in either direction to the side of you, so you know whether or not there's traffic coming in on alternative lines.

On this occasion, traffic was almost non-existent and I kicked myself when I was caught napping, looking to my left as a bird came up the line on the right side.  I saw it too late, took a poke at it over my right shoulder, and that was that.  I decamped back into the wood because the wind was starting to bite.

Tucked into my freshly dressed-up hide, I knew it was going to be a non-starter due to the lack of birds in the air, but as it was too late to relocate anywhere else I just stuck it out.  It was just nice to be out with my gun and dogs in a wood, enjoying the fresh air.  I didn't really have my shooting head on, to be honest, and missed the two or three chances I had.  A lone bird arrived from an unexpected direction and staged up at what I considered the furthest reaches of my range (I'd only put 27g 7.5 shells in my pocket).  I proceeded to have an argument with myself; do I go for a low-percentage shot at the sitter, or leave it in hope that it would decoy a few others in.  I chose not to shoot.  Then when it was still sat there several minutes later and literally not another bird showed itself, I threw caution to the wind, switched to the tighter choke barrel and gave it a crack.

To my amazement, the bird helicoptered down to the ground!  Knowing it wouldn't be stone dead and could escape, I sent the dogs straight on it, threw in the towel and took the pigeon home for the dogs' dinners.

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Today, Matt joined me again.  Pretty much out of other options, we headed straight for the wood with the line of Leylandii trees.  The wind was still in the north; this meant it was in your face, angling in from the right hand side if using the hide I'd built.

We parked up a little short of the conifers and elected, as before, to split up and walk a pincer movement towards the prime spot.  Not much was sitting and no shots fired en route to the line of Leylandii.  Once we had met up again, we loitered without really putting down roots.  After his last time out with me, when his dog wound him up a treat, Matt had decided to leave it at home today but I still had my two spaniels.  Having had ten minutes on the way there to blow off a bit of steam, they were a little less prone to charging about hunting madly whilst we stood to survey the scene.  I let them snuffle about a bit and they actually stopped and sat off-lead on their own accord.  Then I noticed movement to my right - a pigeon swinging around us.  I was right in the middle of the conifers at this point and the bird crossed the line of trees right above my head.  A pure snap-shot, I connected with it and the bird walloped into one of the Leylandii only yards away and the sound of it clattering down was very obvious.  I sent the dogs straight on - fully expecting to be cleaning up a mouthful of feathers in only a few seconds' time - but neither dog picked it.  Matt was sure he'd heard the thud of it hitting the deck, so this was most bizarre.  Seems as it was very quiet I set off on a little sweep of the wood, covering 100 yards or so in a fan shape going out from where I'd lost sight of the pigeon.  Nothing, how strange.

I'd intimated to Matt that the usual hide position wouldn't be great today, explaining that the pigeons would be higher and faster coming downwind towards you.  However, there were a few that tantalised him and he was having a pop at them so he stayed put whilst I went off for a recce.  I walked most of the way to the other end of the wood, back round the pen past the car where I relieved myself of my cartridge bag which I'd optimistically filled with at least as many rounds as we'd fired between us a fortnight ago when we had a very busy session here.  With one box emptied into my coat pocket, I continued on the last leg of my round trip to meet up with Matt again.  He'd been letting off a steady stream of single and double shots whilst I'd been gone but had nothing to show for it!

I took up position behind him, facing downwind, resigned to the fact that we may as well sit it out until sunset for the few birds that would undoubtedly come in at last knockings.

Traffic picked up a little, and we each had a few opportunities.  Matt finally knocked one down whilst I took three.  We both missed the chance to shoot at a pigeon that caught us off-guard and it slipped in to a tree about 40 yards away on Matt's side of the conifers.  With nothing to lose, I snicked the barrel selector over for a tighter choke and took a pop at it.  I definitely hit the bird because it initially fell from the branch.  However, it regained its composure and struggled across to another tree only 20 yards or so away where it landed up again.  This time, Matt put a barrel into it and again I know it was hit because a few feathers were knocked out, but the bird unbelievably flew off across the wood and out of sight!  Later on I hunted the dogs out that way but with the light failing and the ground there being very difficult to effectively hunt I had to give up on it.  I've definitely found the limitations of the 27g 7.5 cartridges I've been using.  I'm sure with a heavier load the sitters I've shot at in the last couple of weeks would have been in dead on the floor rather than picked running or lost.

That was it, we managed 5 pigeons picked between us and I was cursing the two that got away.  I dropped Matt off and headed back home for some cold chicken fajitas () and a beer or two.  Then I took my frustrations out on splitting a few hundredweight of wood for the fire, which the dogs are currently enjoying the benefit of whilst I'm upstairs on my computer!

Last outing next Saturday then, possibly a cheeky one mid-week if I get time and can sort out permission to go on someone else's land.  Roost shooting season comes and goes all too quickly.......

Edited February 25, 2023 by Jim Neal

[mossy835]

thats a nice reed you went out and you did get some, i went to one farm and nothing came in the wood, so went to another farm across the road, stayed they and about 6 came in and i did shoot 3 of them,and that was it,now this wood is very good for pigeons, but not this year,hope it picks up.

[Old Boggy]

Another fantastic and detailed account of your time in the country. So detailed I could almost feel I was there with you.

Thanks again Jim for taking the time to write what has become a ‘look forward’ to post.

It’s not all about numbers, but making the effort to get out there.

Keep them coming.

OB

[pigeon controller]

Nice report, well done. Thanks for posting.