I’ll Stick to Pigeons

[bunny_blaster]

With the run up to our annual family trip down to Dorset I was full excitement to catch some Bass on lures. This didn’t go to plan, although not for lack of effort. I fished every day at various states of tide and many different lures. All I hooked into was a small bass that threw the hook in the surf. I’d hardly seen a pigeon all week and I was getting twitchy.

When we arrived home yesterday I grabbed my truck keys and headed out to find some birds for today. I found 3 good lines into blocks of wheat and decided on which I’d shoot today. The others where busy but I’ll shoot them next weekend with any luck. I spoke to PC and he too had seen these birds so we met at 11 and set up under a flight line each. I had steady shooting all afternoon and we packed up at 5.30 as I had some picking up to do. PCs line was sporadic but I could hear him banging away so was glad he had some shooting. I finished the day with 284 picked and PC had 65. 

[Wilts#Dave]

I’d say you definitely picked the busier line 😂 

Well done, that’s a lot of picking up to do over wheat 👍🏼

[JKD]

Very well done 👍 Perhaps you can pass some tips onto kitchrat 😆😂

[clangerman]

fair old bag there well done 

[scooby1]

That is a Great Bag Of Pigeon Well Done 👍

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Very well done.    

[bunny_blaster]

7 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

I’d say you definitely picked the busier line 😂 

Well done, that’s a lot of picking up to do over wheat 👍🏼

When we arrived at the fields we watched for 20 minutes and PCs line was the busiest out of the 2. As the day went on the line moved to some fields further on and I caught a lot on the return line

[pigeon controller]

I must thank BB for considering “ Age UK” adopting a fossil and allowing me to share his pigeon bonanza. 
When  we arrived my line was the stronger with groups of five to ten passing regularly between the hedge and a tree out in the field. This area had some bare patches and I set up the magnet and six real pigeons two on flying frames. The shooting started and I was holding off to try and drop the birds close. The wind changed slightly and caused the birds to come at me and the overhanging branches caused me to miss some easy birds. Following my treatment I have to keep out of the sun which caused me to be in the hedge.

It was a great day and I shot like a muppet trying to adjust lead , towards the end of the day I just pushed the gun through and hit more birds and ended up with 65.

Thanks again to Ben.

[Wilts#Dave]

2 hours ago, bunny_blaster said:

When we arrived at the fields we watched for 20 minutes and PCs line was the busiest out of the 2. As the day went on the line moved to some fields further on and I caught a lot on the return line

Can happen like that can’t it, credit to you nearly 300 pigeons is a lot of shooting….most enjoyable I’m sure! 
Good for you to get PC out as well, I’m sure he very much enjoyed it. 

[kitchrat]

10 hours ago, bunny_blaster said:

With the run up to our annual family trip down to Dorset I was full excitement to catch some Bass on lures. This didn’t go to plan, although not for lack of effort. I fished every day at various states of tide and many different lures. All I hooked into was a small bass that threw the hook in the surf. I’d hardly seen a pigeon all week and I was getting twitchy.

When we arrived home yesterday I grabbed my truck keys and headed out to find some birds for today. I found 3 good lines into blocks of wheat and decided on which I’d shoot today. The others where busy but I’ll shoot them next weekend with any luck. I spoke to PC and he too had seen these birds so we met at 11 and set up under a flight line each. I had steady shooting all afternoon and we packed up at 5.30 as I had some picking up to do. PCs line was sporadic but I could hear him banging away so was glad he had some shooting. I finished the day with 284 picked and PC had 65. 

Hells Bells, great stuff. That's more pigeons than I can see in a whole day of scouting! (well almost!)

9 hours ago, JKD said:

Very well done 👍 Perhaps you can pass some tips onto kitchrat 😆😂

Move to Warwickshire jumps to mind! (or is it the fancy dress costume I need? Was BB using it?)

Edited July 15 by kitchrat

[marsh man]

There yer go , I mentioned you ( in a nice way ) on one of my reports in the last few days , I got it wrong about you reducing the fish stocks but you were true to form in hitting the Pigeons hard after a weeks rest , it was also great news that our good friend P C got back into it after his health problems , even with him being a bit rusty it must have done him the world of good , a medicine the doctor cannot prescribe , Well done Ben and good to have you back ,     MM

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, 284 !!!!!!!! must be a PW record so far this year, Well done BB and PC 👍

[yickdaz]

Brilliant  the pair of you are class acts when it comes to pigeon shooting  but you have the birds on you in great numbers  we are shooting flighlines at the moment and managing between 30 to 50  and its not through lack of ability never fired more than 2 to 3 boxes per session 

[bunny_blaster]

1 hour ago, yickdaz said:

Brilliant  the pair of you are class acts when it comes to pigeon shooting  but you have the birds on you in great numbers  we are shooting flighlines at the moment and managing between 30 to 50  and its not through lack of ability never fired more than 2 to 3 boxes per session 

Yes we are lucky to live in an area which holds good numbers of pigeon most of the year. Flighting them is the best of the best. I shot a lot of flighting birds yesterday that were heading to another block of wheat behind us. I’d rather shoot 50 flighting than 100 over decoys any day of the week

[yickdaz]

1 hour ago, bunny_blaster said:

Yes we are lucky to live in an area which holds good numbers of pigeon most of the year. Flighting them is the best of the best. I shot a lot of flighting birds yesterday that were heading to another block of wheat behind us. I’d rather shoot 50 flighting than 100 over decoys any day of the week

Me to 👍

[oowee]

Cracking day lads well done. Out for a session in the morning over standing crop. 🤞

[mossy835]

that was a good days shooting,wish there were that many round here.well done to both of you.

[marsh man]

I wonder what the loss of income some of the farms in BB area lose through Pigeon damage , yes he shoot a lot of Pigeons but he cannot be on every farm where Pigeons are working and a lot must be feeding away at there hearts content , It was once reported that a W / Pigeon can eat nearly it's body weight in a day , let's say they can eat lb in weight per day , in ole money you had 112lb in a cwt and 20 cwt go to a ton , Ben and P C shot nearly 300 in a day , that would be over 2 cwt of food , not sure what a ton of barley is selling for nowadays but the farms around that must be losing a fortune throughout the year 

[jall25]

23 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I wonder what the loss of income some of the farms in BB area lose through Pigeon damage , yes he shoot a lot of Pigeons but he cannot be on every farm where Pigeons are working and a lot must be feeding away at there hearts content , It was once reported that a W / Pigeon can eat nearly it's body weight in a day , let's say they can eat lb in weight per day , in ole money you had 112lb in a cwt and 20 cwt go to a ton , Ben and P C shot nearly 300 in a day , that would be over 2 cwt of food , not sure what a ton of barley is selling for nowadays but the farms around that must be losing a fortune throughout the year 

 

Marsh man -hello 

I had a similar conversation this last week about vermin and stuff on our shoot

I am up to about 200 squirrels / 150 crows / 400 rats / 50 odd magpies on our shoot - mainly shooting them on feeders / or game covers - How much would that lot eat every day i wonder !

[stockybasher]

Well done BB and PC - what a day !!!

BB I see you have 3 dogs out with you - do you have any issues with the dogs picking up in standing wheat / barley ??

I am dog-less, but a friend is very wary of them picking up in standing barley ! Any thoughts ??

Best

Nick

[kitchrat]

2 hours ago, yickdaz said:

Me to 👍

I'd like to shoot 50, any 50 would be nice!

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, jall25 said:

 

Marsh man -hello 

I had a similar conversation this last week about vermin and stuff on our shoot

I am up to about 200 squirrels / 150 crows / 400 rats / 50 odd magpies on our shoot - mainly shooting them on feeders / or game covers - How much would that lot eat every day i wonder !

We did once have a thread about the cost to shoot Pigeons and the cost that some farmers must be losing through Pigeon and Crow damage , we talked about land owners putting there hands in there pockets to help with the cost of Pigeon shooting and weather the ministry would ever start a scheme that was similar to the old Rabbit Clearance Society where they issued out either cheap or free cartridges , both got very little response where they said there is plenty shooters about who would do it for free , but is there plenty of Pigeon shooters ( who know what they are doing ) and can turn up on a weekday after getting a phone call the night before , not that many I would expect and Pigeons feed every day not just at weekends .     MM

[jall25]

9 minutes ago, marsh man said:

We did once have a thread about the cost to shoot Pigeons and the cost that some farmers must be losing through Pigeon and Crow damage , we talked about land owners putting there hands in there pockets to help with the cost of Pigeon shooting and weather the ministry would ever start a scheme that was similar to the old Rabbit Clearance Society where they issued out either cheap or free cartridges , both got very little response where they said there is plenty shooters about who would do it for free , but is there plenty of Pigeon shooters ( who know what they are doing ) and can turn up on a weekday after getting a phone call the night before , not that many I would expect and Pigeons feed every day not just at weekends .     MM

👍

[bunny_blaster]

13 hours ago, marsh man said:

I wonder what the loss of income some of the farms in BB area lose through Pigeon damage , yes he shoot a lot of Pigeons but he cannot be on every farm where Pigeons are working and a lot must be feeding away at there hearts content , It was once reported that a W / Pigeon can eat nearly it's body weight in a day , let's say they can eat lb in weight per day , in ole money you had 112lb in a cwt and 20 cwt go to a ton , Ben and P C shot nearly 300 in a day , that would be over 2 cwt of food , not sure what a ton of barley is selling for nowadays but the farms around that must be losing a fortune throughout the year 

I could shoot every day of the week at the moment as I have birds all over the place. Unfortunately work gets in the way but I do finish at 3 so I will start going out after I finish for a few hours. Ive always said if I won the lottery and could retire I’d shoot pigeons most days of the week. My Mrs says I’m obsessed but I just call it being passionate 😂.

12 hours ago, stockybasher said:

Well done BB and PC - what a day !!!

BB I see you have 3 dogs out with you - do you have any issues with the dogs picking up in standing wheat / barley ??

I am dog-less, but a friend is very wary of them picking up in standing barley ! Any thoughts ??

Best

Nick

I’ve never had any issues in wheat but I’ll only work the lab in Barley once it starts going brittle. The spaniels are too prone to problems in the Barley where as the lab is much steadier

[jimbopidg]

Very good results there PB,we need to get ours under control.