Good day for the job

[the hitman]

Hi folks 

So spotted a cut rape field late yesterday afternoon with a nice line in and a few down. I arrived at the field at 11am to find the farmer shortening the stubble- thankfully he was almost finished, I was just hoping he hadn’t disturbed the flightline.

I know this field well and set up in front of a line of hardwoods, with a good S/westerly blowing.

The birds were flitting all over the field and showing more interest in the trees than my decoys- but I was getting a few. I decided to change tactics and make a small hide among some thistles which gave me a nice view of pigeons flighting over the trees. This was great sport, and I pulled of one high shot which surprised me.

I was moving between shooting over  the decoys and flighting over the trees.

The shooting was really enjoyable but not exactly non- stop, in fact there were long periods where I didn’t see a pigeon.

I must say that the Eley Olympic blues through full choke are a good combination as I didn’t have a runner all day.

I called it a day at 5pm with 28 picked and 3 lost in a thick patch of brambles.

Not the biggest bag but a very enjoyable day.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done.  

[mossy835]

nice you got a few,

[marsh man]

You done very well Hitman with the field only been cut a day or so , do you know the reason why they were cutting down the stalks ? , maybe they set the cutter high so they just combined the heads and then cut the stalks later , only guessing , maybe for a  reason tottally different , we had a good drying day here today although it clouded up this afternoon with just a bit of dampness in the air , they should have cut our seed Peas today so maybe a bit of shooting in the days to come , lets hope so as my gun is getting cobwebs in the barells through lack of use   

[the hitman]

11 minutes ago, marsh man said:

You done very well Hitman with the field only been cut a day or so , do you know the reason why they were cutting down the stalks ? , maybe they set the cutter high so they just combined the heads and then cut the stalks later , only guessing , maybe for a  reason tottally different , we had a good drying day here today although it clouded up this afternoon with just a bit of dampness in the air , they should have cut our seed Peas today so maybe a bit of shooting in the days to come , lets hope so as my gun is getting cobwebs in the barells through lack of use   

Hi MM

I imagine it’s to help when ploughing perhaps? It’s a common practice locally, and the plough is normal not far behind. A couple of dry days forecast here so maybe a few more stubble to go at soon.

Good luck with the peas -hopefully you will blow the cobwebs off soon.

[Scully]

Sorted. 👍

[Wilts#Dave]

23 hours ago, the hitman said:

Hi MM

I imagine it’s to help when ploughing perhaps? It’s a common practice locally, and the plough is normal not far behind. A couple of dry days forecast here so maybe a few more stubble to go at soon.

Good luck with the peas -hopefully you will blow the cobwebs off soon.

Very common here too. The rape stubbles are often knee high and a pain to walk in and drive over…..they go over the stubble with the topper soon after combining generally, to make cultivation easier! 
Much nicer to shoot over once it’s been shaved off 

[pigeon controller]

It’s nice to shoot flighting birds, well done for moving as most will not when set up.

[dead eye alan]

6 hours ago, pigeon controller said:

It’s nice to shoot flighting birds, well done for moving as most will not when set up.

+1 

[old'un]

Well done on finding a few on the stubbles, flightline shooting is now my favourite way of shooting pigeons.

went out yesterday and was surprised to see just how many fields had been combined, still the odd wheat field to be combined but with this dry window I think everything will be in today, apart from spring barley and the beans.

[Blackpowder]

On 08/08/2023 at 19:19, the hitman said:

Hi folks 

So spotted a cut rape field late yesterday afternoon with a nice line in and a few down. I arrived at the field at 11am to find the farmer shortening the stubble- thankfully he was almost finished, I was just hoping he hadn’t disturbed the flightline.

I know this field well and set up in front of a line of hardwoods, with a good S/westerly blowing.

The birds were flitting all over the field and showing more interest in the trees than my decoys- but I was getting a few. I decided to change tactics and make a small hide among some thistles which gave me a nice view of pigeons flighting over the trees. This was great sport, and I pulled of one high shot which surprised me.

I was moving between shooting over  the decoys and flighting over the trees.

The shooting was really enjoyable but not exactly non- stop, in fact there were long periods where I didn’t see a pigeon.

I must say that the Eley Olympic blues through full choke are a good combination as I didn’t have a runner all day.

I called it a day at 5pm with 28 picked and 3 lost in a thick patch of brambles.

Not the biggest bag but a very enjoyable day.

Well done Mr G nice bit sport there.

 

Blackpowder