Lost it

[getthegat]

I think I've lost the art of decoying. As far as I can remember I've only had one outing all season where the pigeon have decoyed. I've tried all sorts of patterns, rotary doesn't work, Silosocks had poor effect,  best luck was with half shells and flapper, but even then I can't seem to pull them in.i was on a large field of wheat stubble today, hundreds when I arrived, had a great spot in the middle of the field using a broken bale, the hide was good, no birds flared off, but they just weren't interested, kept pitching a few hundred yards away on another part of the field. I was between a well frequented cops and a long hedge of good size tall bushes and trees, with good feeding area and flight paths all around. They stayed and gave the odd shot or two for half an hour or so, then gradually disappeared. Any that came back totally ignored the deeks. Its been very similar all season and to add insult to injury, I've been shooting very poorly. 

[bruno22rf]

We all have spells like yours, mine has lasted the last 35 years.

[marsh man]

24 minutes ago, bruno22rf said:

We all have spells like yours, mine has lasted the last 35 years.

You need to give it time Bruno instead of being in a hurry , it will come eventually , you just need to be patient  , joking aside , 35 years is a fair ole while 

[muncher]

Must be the year , I’ve had a season like that, only in the spring did they decoy well 🙈

[marsh man]

6 minutes ago, muncher said:

Must be the year , I’ve had a season like that, only in the spring did they decoy well 🙈

It must be a bit frustrating for the ones who haven't got a large quantity of Pigeons to go at , for those who have got a lot using the fields they go on will still get some shooting even though they are not decoying that well , but when you only have a few and you wait ages only to see one flying towards you and tottally ignore your decoys , I have also had several afternoons where only the odd one come into the decoys or at least come close enough to have a shot , maybe one of the reasons is I no longer put the effort in as I once did , at one time I would never leave my house without having at least a dozen thawed out or fresh Pigeons , I never used a rubber decoy for years and every one would be set up on cradles , every fine detail would be checked over and I was there to shoot as many Pigeons as I could , now it is all about getting a few shots in the fairly short time I am there , as long as they come into range then they will get a shot aimed towards or at them , If I get it them I let my dog go and do a retrieve and now I can't really be bothered in setting the shot bird up , In the Summertime I try and get under or on the edge of a mature tree and decoy a long way out with the outside ones being 50 / 60 yds and the nearer ones around 40 yds , if the pigeons don't decoy then hopefully they make there way towards the tree I am under , this give me a few head on or sidewards shots and the odd one decoyed if it is front of the decoy patten , maybe not the way to shoot a lot of Pigeons but I am not there to shoot a lot , a few shots , a few retrieves is now my idea of of a few hours sport .    MM

[getthegat]

18 hours ago, marsh man said:

It must be a bit frustrating for the ones who haven't got a large quantity of Pigeons to go at , for those who have got a lot using the fields they go on will still get some shooting even though they are not decoying that well , but when you only have a few and you wait ages only to see one flying towards you and tottally ignore your decoys , I have also had several afternoons where only the odd one come into the decoys or at least come close enough to have a shot , maybe one of the reasons is I no longer put the effort in as I once did , at one time I would never leave my house without having at least a dozen thawed out or fresh Pigeons , I never used a rubber decoy for years and every one would be set up on cradles , every fine detail would be checked over and I was there to shoot as many Pigeons as I could , now it is all about getting a few shots in the fairly short time I am there , as long as they come into range then they will get a shot aimed towards or at them , If I get it them I let my dog go and do a retrieve and now I can't really be bothered in setting the shot bird up , In the Summertime I try and get under or on the edge of a mature tree and decoy a long way out with the outside ones being 50 / 60 yds and the nearer ones around 40 yds , if the pigeons don't decoy then hopefully they make there way towards the tree I am under , this give me a few head on or sidewards shots and the odd one decoyed if it is front of the decoy patten , maybe not the way to shoot a lot of Pigeons but I am not there to shoot a lot , a few shots , a few retrieves is now my idea of of a few hours sport .    MM

That is it pretty much spot on. I don't want a big bag, just a pleasant few hours, which actually I always do have. I'm meant to be semi retired, but customers have different ideas and I seem to be working harder than ever, leaving little time, or energy for my shooting. Recon is almost non existent, consisting of a few minutes checking out the odd field, then setting up and giving it a go for an hour or three, almost never do I get a good length of time to look around to see where the best places are, good flight lines etc, it's more a case of rock up and give it a go. I'm sure the birds are wiser than in the past, or is that just another excuse. Perhaps watching the likes of Garrad and Crowman on YouTube adds a level of expectation, they spend more time building a hide than I get for the whole outing. I'm not one for giving up and will shoot as long as I can get to the fields and fire a gun. Thanks MM

 

[JDog]

20 hours ago, muncher said:

Must be the year , I’ve had a season like that, only in the spring did they decoy well 🙈

If Muncher can't get them to decoy then I doubt if anyone can.

[marsh man]

20 hours ago, muncher said:

Must be the year , I’ve had a season like that, only in the spring did they decoy well 🙈

As JDog just quoted , if you can't get them to decoy then who can ? , we all have days where nothing go right and some might well get more days like that than others , but for one of the top decoyers to get a whole complete Summer where you found it hard to decoy Pigeons then there must be a reason , so with someone who go on a regular basis then what to you put it down to ?, with you going as many times as you do then I wouldn't have thought weather conditions as some days must be nigh on perfect conditions , nor over shot as you have no doubt got land that only you decoy and very few decoyers seem to go week days and even weekends come to that , we have had a few good bags posted on the forum but I don't think nowhere near as many as we get on a ( normal ) year . so what do you put it down to ?    MM

[muncher]

7 minutes ago, marsh man said:

As JDog just quoted , if you can't get them to decoy then who can ? , we all have days where nothing go right and some might well get more days like that than others , but for one of the top decoyers to get a whole complete Summer where you found it hard to decoy Pigeons then there must be a reason , so with someone who go on a regular basis then what to you put it down to ?, with you going as many times as you do then I wouldn't have thought weather conditions as some days must be nigh on perfect conditions , nor over shot as you have no doubt got land that only you decoy and very few decoyers seem to go week days and even weekends come to that , we have had a few good bags posted on the forum but I don't think nowhere near as many as we get on a ( normal ) year . so what do you put it down to ?    MM

I can only put it down to , all the late harvest so the birds have many choices of food source , so if your decoys aren’t quite to their liking, they won’t commit. There normally things you can do to get the shots but that’s when you have to try different things and ideas. 

[Wilts#Dave]

32 minutes ago, getthegat said:

That is it pretty much spot on. I don't want a big bag, just a pleasant few hours, which actually I always do have. I'm meant to be semi retired, but customers have different ideas and I seem to be working harder than ever, leaving little time, or energy for my shooting. Recon is almost non existent, consisting of a few minutes checking out the odd field, then setting up and giving it a go for an hour or three, almost never do I get a good length of time to look around to see where the best places are, good flight lines etc, it's more a case of rock up and give it a go. I'm sure the birds are wiser than in the past, or is that just another excuse. Perhaps watching the likes of Garrad and Crowman on YouTube adds a level of expectation, they spend more time building a hide than I get for the whole outing. I'm not one for giving up and will shoot as long as I can get to the fields and fire a gun. Thanks MM

 

Frustrating when they just won’t play ball (or turn up at all). 
Reconnaissance really is key to getting consistent results though, without it you’d need to be extremely lucky!
It’s obviously much easier to find them when you’ve got bigger numbers to go at in all fairness, but even then you still need to know when to be there and where to put your hide / decoys. 

[matone]

58 minutes ago, muncher said:

I can only put it down to , all the late harvest so the birds have many choices of food source , so if your decoys aren’t quite to their liking, they won’t commit. There normally things you can do to get the shots but that’s when you have to try different things and ideas. 

This ,in heaps .Been out most of day feeding etc and every stubble of all variety plus emerging rape fields have a few birds widely scattered on them.

[semi-auto]

One of my better days of 200+ saw not one bird decoy on the young rape. I messed around with the deeks trying various patterns, but to no avail. They simply didn't want my field - they were off elsewhere flying very high on the wind. In the end I gave up with the decoys and started trying to hit them as they flew past and over. Missed with the first dozen (probably more) shots before I eventually connected. Once I had the rhythm, it was a bird every few minutes. The field was covered with dead birds. Can't remember exactly how many I took to the game dealer but it was 200+. This farm was at times prolific and it was here that I shot my best ever bag of 328. Sadly the best fields have now been sold to the Woodland Trust.