kitchrat Posted July 15 Report Share Posted July 15 During my time watching the rape stubble, I could see that a lot of rooks were also visiting. It also seemed that pigeons would tend to land near, but not with the rooks. Bearing in mind that this is a 50-acre field and they could go where they liked, do the rooks give the pigeons a bit of confidence? They are far more wary than pigeons, so rooks present means it is safe?? They also seemed to come back sooner. If I put the rooks off, it was quiet for a long time. (as I found yesterday, 1 shot the rooks are gone and sometimes a returning pigeon would see an empty field and drift on by)) So, would using a dozen black decoys not only help pigeons come it but by putting the blacks out a bit further, could they channel the pigeons even more to where you want them? They must stand out well, too. Just casting round for ideas to help me get stuck into the seemingly "lower-than-Warwickshire" population I have in Essex. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted July 15 Report Share Posted July 15 some people swear by doing that......i always used to put out 2 black decoys (polished with boot polish..yes its works) about 20yds away from the main pigeon decoys... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted July 15 Report Share Posted July 15 Only one way to find out and that is go along with your kind of thinking , you will get an assortment of answers by asking the massive , and it could have worked on the day they tried to outwit either , then on another day it done more harm than good and we never got a report on the failure , same with putting two dead Crows on the magnet , did it draw in more shooting , or did they seem uneasy when they started to commit , to be honest , I would concentrate on one or the other rather than try getting both Pigeons and Crows, still there is no harm in trying MM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hawkfanz Posted July 15 Report Share Posted July 15 if im on crows i put 3 or 4 pigeon decoys to one side.if im on pigeon i put crow decoys out to one side,you can allways increase pattern to whatever is coming your way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enfieldspares Posted July 15 Report Share Posted July 15 (edited) I always used to put one crow maybe fifty yards away from my pigeon decoys. In the belief that as crows are wary birds the pigeons would "think" that if it was safe for the crow it was safe for them. I have absolutely no idea if this is a load of old tosh! I don't bother know as I, alas, get so few invitations to go decoying. Edited July 15 by enfieldspares Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oowee Posted July 15 Report Share Posted July 15 I shoot mostly blacks and use the deeks all the time. I swap them out as i drop more targets. I doubt there is enough brain power to impart confidence to a pigeon but they may see the feeding and think it's worth a look. Interestingly, in the last two years the numbers of pigeons in this part of Somerset seems to be on the increase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telbert Posted July 15 Report Share Posted July 15 5 hours ago, ditchman said: some people swear by doing that......i always used to put out 2 black decoys (polished with boot polish..yes its works) about 20yds away from the main pigeon decoys... I do this ^^^^^^^^. Sometimes i get more crows in the pattern than pigeons though.🙄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted July 15 Report Share Posted July 15 We have already had an assortment of various methods used to outwit Crows , Pigeons or both at the same time . When we were going through the leaning process ( which we still are ) we had the luxury of the small bails that you could easily lift and make a decent hide , cut grass for hay making is a good draw for Crows and we would pull a hand full of feathers from a Wood Pigeon , leave it on the grass with feathers around it and two dead Crows a few feet apart , we might had been doing it all wrong but it certainly pull in plenty of the black ones , the strange thing is they would hoover above them like a hawk and call out Ark , Ark and by that time there end was nigh, Don't try it the other round for Pigeons as I can safely say it will not work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted July 16 Report Share Posted July 16 Hello, Interesting about the boot polish as all my crow deeks are flocked ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet11-87 Posted July 16 Report Share Posted July 16 a book i read once said put a crow decoy out to the side of the pattern or maybe on a fence post. the theory of added confidence is valid i guess. im personally not sure pigeons have the brain capacity to do that level of reasoning and it could just be a case of they see what they're used to seeing. But if its happening with the real birds replicate it i guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted July 16 Report Share Posted July 16 I find that spring drillings are good for mix decoys Feltwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted July 17 Report Share Posted July 17 On 16/07/2024 at 20:53, Feltwad said: I find that spring drillings are good for mix decoys Feltwad that over /under...is it by any chance Berretta presintation model...made in the mid 80's ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted July 17 Report Share Posted July 17 1 hour ago, ditchman said: that over /under...is it by any chance Berretta presintation model...made in the mid 80's ?? That's correct it is one of a pair which I bought in the 80,s which I customised because of poorly made parts but now shoot well. .I have now parted with them. Feltwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted July 17 Report Share Posted July 17 1 hour ago, Feltwad said: That's correct it is one of a pair which I bought in the 80,s which I customised because of poorly made parts but now shoot well. .I have now parted with them. Feltwad had the same......used it regulary ...pigeon shooting and down at the clay range...my daughter learnt to use a shotgun with that.... i had it for many years,,,,and i believe i never had a miss-fire..............i got into alot of trouble with the mrs ...as i washed the barrellls out with hot soapy water in the bath.....which eventuallly left a black ring in the bath which couldnt be removed ohh dear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted July 18 Report Share Posted July 18 I have always said that if you enjoy shooting muzzle loaders you must also enjoy cleaning them not many do the smell does not appeal to the opposite sex Feltwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted July 18 Report Share Posted July 18 6 hours ago, Feltwad said: I have always said that if you enjoy shooting muzzle loaders you must also enjoy cleaning them not many do the smell does not appeal to the opposite sex Feltwad i notice your barrells are blackish......mine were brown ...faux damascus...did you change yours ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted July 18 Report Share Posted July 18 6 minutes ago, ditchman said: i notice your barrells are blackish......mine were brown ...faux damascus...did you change yours ? I can not remember embrowning the barrel only there was a gas leak on the under side of one set of barrels which left would have burned a hole in the stock fore end.Most of the work was the stock and the locks, the stock I checked stained and oil finished the locks were very poor and had to be stripped and case harden also the main springs even the lock part screws, also the hammers were squared to hit the nipples. I would say that the workman ship of the gun s for a company like Berretta was poor which I still think that they were made by another company for Berretta. Feltwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted July 18 Report Share Posted July 18 i had no problems...like you i stripped the woodwork and did to my satisfaction.......the metal work of the locks were as you say ..poor...none of the edges had been struck off...... i used it for wildfowling...and found it patterned very well.....i used powder card papermache wad card shot card had to pinhole the cards as to let the air out when charging ..other wise it was like a bicycle pump with yer finger over it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinj Posted July 18 Report Share Posted July 18 Going back to rooks/crows for a moment gentlemen, I have done pretty much as described on these pages, some pigeon decoys (dead birds) in front and six dead crows 30 yards to the right, it worked pretty well, I was trying to shoot crows more than other black species and shot in the mid 20's a couple of times. Crows stopped coming in early afternoon while pigeons lasted another hour or two. I did find that the crows would not come near if I had a whirly out for pigeons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted July 18 Report Share Posted July 18 1 hour ago, martinj said: Going back to rooks/crows for a moment gentlemen, I have done pretty much as described on these pages, some pigeon decoys (dead birds) in front and six dead crows 30 yards to the right, it worked pretty well, I was trying to shoot crows more than other black species and shot in the mid 20's a couple of times. Crows stopped coming in early afternoon while pigeons lasted another hour or two. I did find that the crows would not come near if I had a whirly out for pigeons. i must apologise has i was straying from the subject in discussion . I have found that the flight becomes slow between eleven in the morning and two in the afternoon Feltwad, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted July 18 Report Share Posted July 18 5 hours ago, martinj said: Going back to rooks/crows for a moment gentlemen, I have done pretty much as described on these pages, some pigeon decoys (dead birds) in front and six dead crows 30 yards to the right, it worked pretty well, I was trying to shoot crows more than other black species and shot in the mid 20's a couple of times. Crows stopped coming in early afternoon while pigeons lasted another hour or two. I did find that the crows would not come near if I had a whirly out for pigeons. Just curios , have you , or anyone else used a magnet purely for Crows with no Pigeon decoys , simply concentrating on the Blackie's alone ?? MM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feltwad Posted July 19 Report Share Posted July 19 15 hours ago, marsh man said: Just curios , have you , or anyone else used a magnet purely for Crows with no Pigeon decoys , simply concentrating on the Blackie's alone ?? MM I have found on odd occasions that on standing barley young rooks have pulled to a magnet but they soon become wise that was in the days of the early magnet ,today I do not use the magnet I find for decoying they are not has good and rely on a dead pigeon' and a frock crow Feltwad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinj Posted July 23 Report Share Posted July 23 On 18/07/2024 at 21:35, marsh man said: Just curios , have you , or anyone else used a magnet purely for Crows with no Pigeon decoys , simply concentrating on the Blackie's alone ?? MM I can't say that I have used a magnet for crows although on the few occasions when I used dead birds it worked so well that I didn't feel the need for anything extra. The guy I was with is an old hand at crow shooting, he said that I didn't need to be too fussy about tidying the dead birds up but I did need to keep well hidden inside the hide, only moving to take the shot as they have much better eyesight than pigeons. I also used several layers of nets to prevent incoming birds spotting me through the mesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THEINVISIBLESCARECROW Posted August 11 Report Share Posted August 11 One at 40/50yds as a distance marker. Pigeon will land with corvids on the ground but never seen corvids land with pigeon on the land. If I'm useing crow only decoys just 2 or 3 work as good as anything, extras not needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jall25 Posted August 11 Report Share Posted August 11 On 18/07/2024 at 21:35, marsh man said: Just curios , have you , or anyone else used a magnet purely for Crows with no Pigeon decoys , simply concentrating on the Blackie's alone ?? MM We do MM - and have had over 1700 crows / jacks this last 12 months Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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