It Rained All Day

[pigeon controller]

Last Saturday I had to deliver 200 birds to the north west of Birmingham , this area is known as the “Black Country  ” due to its industrial past. During the journey up the M5 motorway you pass a lot of urban wastelands and also pockets of wooded areas . All these contained pigeons in various numbers. After the delivery  I drove down the Motorway to our furthest permission at Droitwich with the intention to weave my way back through the country to try and find birds to shoot. I passed various fields of rape with zero birds.

On Tuesday I made another delivery to the north east of Brum using the M42 again saw birds on the edge of the motorway but nothing on the flowering rape fields. I returned using the “ Roman Roads” , A38 again birds on the verges and trees.

On Wednesday I had decided to go out and find some birds after a frustrating morning looking I could not find any number of birds. Bunny­_Blaster had offered to let me use his permission again as he had seen some birds on a poorly seeded section of rape. So I gave him a call so he could inform the Farmer of my presence. It had been raining all day so far so I knew it would be a soggy day.

I arrived at the field and lifted approx twenty birds off the area I was going to shoot , I loaded the barrow  and pressed the button and walked behind the load to my required shooting position.

The wind was from my right so I positioned the brolly to protect me from the steady drizzle and positioned my decoys to my left , two on the magnet four flyers and six on cradles on the taller rape on the edge of the lower section.

All set up and first bird came in from my left perfectly and paid the price. After twenty minutes not much happened then the wind decided to change into blowing into my face. So changed the position of the brolly to being in front of me and then extending the hide so I could step out and shoot.

I had to move all the decoys out into the taller rape to give room for the birds to swing round in front of me or come over my head to allow them the access the decoy pattern.

This type of shooting is not my favourite due to the fact the birds are dropping and also you are shooting at the back of the birds with the head shielded by the body. I had a steady supply of birds for the next two hours and built up a good decoy display. I continued until 17.30 and picked up fifty birds. I must publically thank Bunny_Blaster for his kind gesture for it certainly made my day.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done PC.  

[old'un]

Well done, considering the lack of pigeons on your other outings 50 birds is a nice bag,

I also had a drive round last week (but I picked the dry days) as you say not a lot about.

[Centrepin]

Well done, it's good you're seeing and shooting them.

They must be somewhere.

Just today whilst clay shooting I've been talking to a chap who has a perm near me, he's not seen a pigeon yet this year. 

Slightly off topic, how's the barrow working out, does the wheel clog with mud or does the power push it clear?

[eggy74]

Sounds like a great day out, pigeon numbers starting to get up here in Sussex, just not where i can shoot though !

[pigeon controller]

2 hours ago, Centrepin said:

Well done, it's good you're seeing and shooting them.

They must be somewhere.

Just today whilst clay shooting I've been talking to a chap who has a perm near me, he's not seen a pigeon yet this year. 

Slightly off topic, how's the barrow working out, does the wheel clog with mud or does the power push it clear?

It’s not clogged yet but I’m going over fairly solid ground and I’ve fitted wheels on the back legs so it has very little rolling resistance 

[old'un]

13 minutes ago, pigeon controller said:

It’s not clogged yet but I’m going over fairly solid ground and I’ve fitted wheels on the back legs so it has very little rolling resistance 

I had a golf trolley some years back but gave up on it, ok across a drilled field in the spring but it was hard going during the wet winter months when the build-up of mud made the wheels oval, as a matter of interest what make is your trolley? do the tyres have a tread?

[Centrepin]

47 minutes ago, pigeon controller said:

It’s not clogged yet but I’m going over fairly solid ground and I’ve fitted wheels on the back legs so it has very little rolling resistance 

 

31 minutes ago, old'un said:

I had a golf trolley some years back but gave up on it, ok across a drilled field in the spring but it was hard going during the wet winter months when the build-up of mud made the wheels oval, as a matter of interest what make is your trolley? do the tyres have a tread?

I have a large carp fishing type barrow but unfortunately my perm is often waterlogged which renders it useless. I wondered what difference the motor would make. Extra weight versus power.

 

[pigeon controller]

It’s a Nash trax power barrow with a 24 volt motor, the trick I believe from watching the internet is to load the front wheel which has a tread . I believe you can obtain a mud tyre for these barrows if you require.

[marsh man]

I can sense the enthusiasm is still there with sitting about in a steady drizzle , it must be good for both the soul and body to be back to what you do best , controlling Pigeons .

There seem to be a good number of members in the same age group who are finding it getting tough and this cart of yours seem to be part of the answer to getting from A to B or as we would know it, is from the nearest point you can leave your motor to where you want to position your hide .

Some photos would be good and another question is , did you cart the bag of 50 back on top of everything you took in the first place ?

THANKS for posting      MM

[Centrepin]

20 minutes ago, marsh man said:

 the nearest point you can leave your motor to where you want to position your hide .

Which is why I build permanent hides, with or without nets left in place, stash decoys and seats and carry absolutely the minimum I can get away with. Still I come home and need a sleep🙄

[pigeon controller]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

I can sense the enthusiasm is still there with sitting about in a steady drizzle , it must be good for both the soul and body to be back to what you do best , controlling Pigeons .

There seem to be a good number of members in the same age group who are finding it getting tough and this cart of yours seem to be part of the answer to getting from A to B or as we would know it, is from the nearest point you can leave your motor to where you want to position your hide .

Some photos would be good and another question is , did you cart the bag of 50 back on top of everything you took in the first place ?

THANKS for posting      MM

Yes it carried the whole load back to the truck no problem. According to the blurb it will carry 110 kilos over 4/5 miles. 

Edited April 9, 2023 by pigeon controller

[marsh man]

38 minutes ago, pigeon controller said:

Yes it carried the whole load back to the truck no problem. According to the blurb it will carry 110 kilos over 4/5 miles. 

That could be the answer to a lot of peoples dream , How heavy is it to lift in and out of the motor for people like me who suffer from a worn out back ? and how much are we looking at to obtain one ?     MM

[pigeon controller]

2 minutes ago, marsh man said:

That could be the answer to a lot of peoples dream , How heavy is it to lift in and out of the motor for people like me who suffer from a worn out back ? and how much are we looking at to obtain one ?     MM

It will fold completely flat, but I load it empty in my truck and load it on site. I have constructed a ramp ( plank) so I can drive it into the back of my truck loaded if I want. 

[Stonepark]

I think I would get this one and get the spray MOD paint out for it.

 

https://www.agrieuro.co.uk/geotech-car-300t-electric-battery-powered-wheelbarrow-40v-battery-6-ah-p-30150.html

 

 

 

[pigeon controller]

My wife bought my barrow when I was confirmed to be ill, this was a reaction as she knew I had started a project to convert a normal barrow with a starter motor and battery. The Canal Trust recently used petrol driven barrows on a recent repair.

[marsh man]

28 minutes ago, pigeon controller said:

My wife bought my barrow when I was confirmed to be ill, this was a reaction as she knew I had started a project to convert a normal barrow with a starter motor and battery. The Canal Trust recently used petrol driven barrows on a recent repair.

I am sure there are some clever people out there who could knock up , ( maybe knock up is not the right word ) a similar version for a lot less money , as good as it seem I haven't got £600 + to spend on a cart that would only be used if my motor couldn't get there in the first place , my ole mate ( Lakeside 1000 ) converted a golfing trollie into a barrow with some kind of engine on it , this was fine ( at times ) and he used the cart to sit on when he got set up , as a lot of his shooting was down the marshes it wasn't the best of tools when conditions were wet , dry weather it was brilliant.

Another chap I knew was a reed cutter and he had a petrol engine machine that he walked behind the mini reed cutter , this looked like a garden rotavator and would go through mud and water , so these machines are out there and so are the people with the know how in converting these machines into making life easy for the pigeon shooter .

Just look at how a windscreen motor and a couple of metal arms made a difference to the Pigeon decoyer , and believe it or not there was a time when they were not part of the decoyers every day piece of kit 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Just now, marsh man said:

Just look at how a windscreen motor and a couple of metal arms made a difference to the Pigeon decoyer , and believe it or not there was a time when they were not part of the decoyers every day piece of kit 

Really?

[matone]

17 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

It’s a Nash trax power barrow with a 24 volt motor, the trick I believe from watching the internet is to load the front wheel which has a tread . I believe you can obtain a mud tyre for these barrows if you require.

Looks like a very useful bit of kit for the job ,well thought out.

[Morkin]

Great report PC,👍 and so glad you're getting out and finding some pigeons, really like your reports so keep um comming. And love that barrow idea it's got us all thinking.

[marsh man]

You might had only been a young man in short trousers and still bought the Beano T C , but there really was a time when you didn't need to get a hernia while lugging a mini tractor battery across a muddy field and not forgetting it had to be carried back again , then somebody was tinkering about in his man cave and the proto type of the first magnet was born , after a few teething problems and some alterations here and there it quickly became a U K Pigeon shooter best seller , if only Dragons Den had got a nose in.   

[TIGHTCHOKE]

        

[old'un]

1 hour ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Really?

yep, built my first magnet early 80s, used a windscreen motor, being an engineer it was perhaps a little over engineered but it worked a treat, gave it away to someone on here about 3-4 years ago, or it might be longer.

[Centrepin]

https://johnsonrosstackle.co.uk/nash/21574-nash-trax-evo-power-barrow.html

https://www.nashtackle.co.uk/en/tackle/barrows/power-barrows/nash-tackle-power-barrow/

It looks an excellent well thought out piece of kit. You can use the two 12v batteries for your magnet, or flapper. Your carrying batteries anyway, might as well be dual use.

My barrow is almost identical, just not electric.

I can't justify the price as a complete unit but would like to know if its possible to add the power to a standard barrow. Maybe a caravan motor mover type thing may work. 🤔 

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, old'un said:

yep, built my first magnet early 80s, used a windscreen motor, being an engineer it was perhaps a little over engineered but it worked a treat, gave it away to someone on here about 3-4 years ago, or it might be longer.

Around that time a mate of mine bought one that I believe was already second hand , it was made from a windscreen motor and had two speeds , all you done was took the connector out of one socket and stuck it in the other , this did make a difference with the speed , after a while , like a lot of P W members he called it a day and gave me the whole set up with the magnet as I used to take him wildfowling a lot on the marshes I rented , the base and the motor was fine , the only thing that broke after regular use was the arms would snap near the flat metal block that married into the motor , the arms were made from thin metal rods and while I had it the arms came adrift a few times near the metal block and the farm boys would stick a bit of weld on and we were soon ready to go again .

Time move on and another member was packing Pigeon shooting in and just going rifle shooting , so he put all his gear on the sales section and I ended up buying the lot , he had a light weight magnet which I kept and still use and my old one I gave to Lakeside who was a member on here , he sorted the arms out and the motor never ever let him down , so at a rough guess I would say is well over 40 years old , what car the motor came off I haven't got a clue , but for liability I would say a Honda rather than the old fashion Skoda