Back on the Barley

[bunny_blaster]

I’ve been away in Scotland for the last 3 days and we didn’t get back yesterday until late thanks to the traffic on the M6, this meant I hadn’t been able to keep an eye on what the pigeons had been doing. Today I was solo and decided to start at the Barley I shot last week. I arrived about 12.30 which was later than I wanted but there was a good line joining and plenty of birds down. My first cock up of the day was forgetting my decoys and the second was the fact I’d left my batteries on charge in the shed in my rush to get going. I set my hide up against a bale right under the flight line and shot a bird almost straight away. I put this on a cradle and they literally didn’t stop coming as I built a pattern up. I’d say the amount of birds coming down the line had doubled compared to last week, most headed off to the wheat fields in the distance but I managed a cracking bag without the use of any gadgets. I stopped shooting at 6 as I was on my own and had a lot of picking up to do. I left the field at 8.15 with birds still flighting to the fields. I finished the afternoon with 492 pigeon. A message to my main buyer of my birds confirmed he was full after I’d dropped the 1000+ off during the week so that will be it for this weekend. 

[marsh man]

Wow , two nearly 500 bird days on the trot , plus without decoys or gismos for todays bag , do your gun get hot with this heat and constant shooting ? and what would happen if your buyer was full to the brim , 1500+ in a week would certainly take some slick handling , so well done all concerned and not forgetting your dog , picking that lot up deserve a gold medal for the G B Pigeon shooting team . Well done , another outstanding bag .    MM

[TIGHTCHOKE]

VERY well done.  

 

Bigger Freezer needed.

 

How many cartridges did you take out and how many did you use?

Edited August 4 by TIGHTCHOKE
Question

[JDog]

There is keen, then there is Bunny Blaster.

Well done Ben.

[bunny_blaster]

7 hours ago, marsh man said:

Wow , two nearly 500 bird days on the trot , plus without decoys or gismos for todays bag , do your gun get hot with this heat and constant shooting ? and what would happen if your buyer was full to the brim , 1500+ in a week would certainly take some slick handling , so well done all concerned and not forgetting your dog , picking that lot up deserve a gold medal for the G B Pigeon shooting team . Well done , another outstanding bag .    MM

It should have been 500+ easily to be honest. I took my auto today and yes it got very hot. At times I was shooting 10-15 shots a minute. 

11 minutes ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

VERY well done.  

 

Bigger Freezer needed.

 

How many cartridges did you take out and how many did you use?

I’ve always got 1000-1250 in the truck. I used 675 cartridges today. I was using 28g 7.5s as it’s all my bloke had last week and they killed very well even on the longer birds. 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

I wonder if it could have been any better?

Well done and keep at 'em.

[mossy835]

what a good day shooting very well done.

[mellors]

How many juveniles did you see or shoot ???. 

There's also huge numbers round here. 

I've been out most days since the pigeons returned in numbers beginning of june and i haven't seen more than half a dozen so far. 

Maybe there late this year. 

 

 

[pigeon controller]

Outstanding Ben, you deserve the bags you get from the effort you put into your shooting. I think you’ve come to the point that the “ Ben’s Raptor Food Company “ needs to be registered and two freezer containers installed in the yard at minimal rent ??
 

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, Well done BB, I have posted before on using 7.5 28g Cartridges, With a little extra choke they can work well and shows you the main pigeon cartridges are not always better over decoys

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, pigeon controller said:

Outstanding Ben, you deserve the bags you get from the effort you put into your shooting. I think you’ve come to the point that the “ Ben’s Raptor Food Company “ needs to be registered and two freezer containers installed in the yard at minimal rent ??
 

Be careful P C . Ben's Raptor Food Company , there would be far to much Red tape involved to go down that road  , if other people are also supplying steel shot Pigeons for the B O P food chain , then they are getting through as many , if not more than the humans do ,  

[Wilts#Dave]

15 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Be careful P C . Ben's Raptor Food Company , there would be far to much Red tape involved to go down that road  , if other people are also supplying steel shot Pigeons for the B O P food chain , then they are getting through as many , if not more than the humans do ,  

I never realised those birds of prey get through so many pigeons, only heard of it in recent years (the large numbers they take). I see the likes of Anthony Poolman who shoots huge numbers saying they sell all theirs steel shot for birds of prey, but amazed at the demand for tens of thousands a year! 

[old'un]

That's a cracking bag of pigeons, well done, been using 28g 7.5 for few years now, perfect cartridge for a big day like that and easy on the shoulder, especially out of an auto.

Bet you did not take much rocking after a day like that.

Well done.

were the cartridges steel?

 

Edited August 4 by old'un

[Old Boggy]

Wow, that`s some bag and as said similar bags over previous days.

That certainly takes persistence, stamina and determination.

It does demonstrate that knowing your ground, flight lines etc the gismos become irrelevant.

Very well done and thanks for posting.

OB

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Wilts#Dave said:

I never realised those birds of prey get through so many pigeons, only heard of it in recent years (the large numbers they take). I see the likes of Anthony Poolman who shoots huge numbers saying they sell all theirs steel shot for birds of prey, but amazed at the demand for tens of thousands a year! 

It could be the demand from the B O P guys is now bigger than the demand for human consumption in the UK as very few people I know would like some free Pigeons in the feather .

I used to take a butcher in the market place a dozen Pigeons each week , after a few weeks it dropped down to every two weeks and most of the ones I was taking were ending up in the various pies he was selling , he had loads of people going past his shop every day but very few , if any wanted processed Pigeons , he have now passed on and nowadays it would cost me more for fuel than what I would be getting for a dozen Pigeons      MM

[yickdaz]

i;ll just pop out for a spot of pigeon shooting shoot 500 then come home 🤣unreal yet again 

[Wilts#Dave]

36 minutes ago, marsh man said:

It could be the demand from the B O P guys is now bigger than the demand for human consumption in the UK as very few people I know would like some free Pigeons in the feather .

I used to take a butcher in the market place a dozen Pigeons each week , after a few weeks it dropped down to every two weeks and most of the ones I was taking were ending up in the various pies he was selling , he had loads of people going past his shop every day but very few , if any wanted processed Pigeons , he have now passed on and nowadays it would cost me more for fuel than what I would be getting for a dozen Pigeons      MM

What I’m getting at is, I didn’t realise the demand for BOP food was anything like as high as it is! It’s a good thing as I personally wouldn’t shoot large numbers (or any really) and chuck them under the hedge. 
I haven’t pursued finding any BOP outlets locally but would certainly be handy at certain times of the year when I’m shooting plenty…..I can get rid of fresh but frozen in the feather no demand for really. 

[bunny_blaster]

7 hours ago, mellors said:

How many juveniles did you see or shoot ???. 

There's also huge numbers round here. 

I've been out most days since the pigeons returned in numbers beginning of june and i haven't seen more than half a dozen so far. 

Maybe there late this year. 

 

 

There were quite a few young birds but not as many as you’d think for the time of year

4 hours ago, old'un said:

That's a cracking bag of pigeons, well done, been using 28g 7.5 for few years now, perfect cartridge for a big day like that and easy on the shoulder, especially out of an auto.

Bet you did not take much rocking after a day like that.

Well done.

were the cartridges steel?

 

Yes they were steel, I’ve shot steel for the last 7/8 years

[Old Boggy]

4 hours ago, yickdaz said:

i;ll just pop out for a spot of pigeon shooting shoot 500 then come home 🤣unreal yet again 

I would not have the stamina to shoot a fifth of that bag these days, but don`t begrudge BB his excellent bags and good luck to him. Not that luck comes into it, it`s sheer determination and knowledge of his ground.

OB

[clangerman]

well done your properly getting amongst them lately wish we had those sort of numbers here 

Edited August 4 by clangerman
mispel

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Old Boggy said:

I would not have the stamina to shoot a fifth of that bag these days, but don`t begrudge BB his excellent bags and good luck to him. Not that luck comes into it, it`s sheer determination and knowledge of his ground.

OB

I am exactly the same Chris , BB deserve everything he gets when it come's to huge bags of pigeons , to a lot of people it just means a very high number of Pigeons , but I look at the workload that goes into achieving a bag of this size , also how many could shoot 10 / 15 shots a minute , certainly not many and even less when you get to our age , once you have shot a bag of that size you have got the daunting task of picking that lot up , next you have to load your motor up with not only all your gear but nearly 500 Pigeons as well , getting home after a shell shock day then the work load carry on , all the Pigeons have got to be laid out or go into the chiller , I doubt many people would even have enough space to lay that amount out , I know I haven't as they wouldn't look very nice on my driveway with all the neighbours coming past , after everything is sorted out Ben can finally settle down for tea , or a very late dinner , after a good nights sleep he have then got to move the whole lot again either a run to the dealers , or lay them neatly in the freezer's .

That man is certainly in a class of his own when it come to mega bags of Pigeons , even when Archie Coates got the record at the time of 550 he had the help from the farm boys to pick them all up , maybe Ben should enlist his good lady to do the picking up while he sit back and have a cool beer , only joking of course as his partner must be one of a kind as well as Ben 

[bunny_blaster]

50 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I am exactly the same Chris , BB deserve everything he gets when it come's to huge bags of pigeons , to a lot of people it just means a very high number of Pigeons , but I look at the workload that goes into achieving a bag of this size , also how many could shoot 10 / 15 shots a minute , certainly not many and even less when you get to our age , once you have shot a bag of that size you have got the daunting task of picking that lot up , next you have to load your motor up with not only all your gear but nearly 500 Pigeons as well , getting home after a shell shock day then the work load carry on , all the Pigeons have got to be laid out or go into the chiller , I doubt many people would even have enough space to lay that amount out , I know I haven't as they wouldn't look very nice on my driveway with all the neighbours coming past , after everything is sorted out Ben can finally settle down for tea , or a very late dinner , after a good nights sleep he have then got to move the whole lot again either a run to the dealers , or lay them neatly in the freezer's .

That man is certainly in a class of his own when it come to mega bags of Pigeons , even when Archie Coates got the record at the time of 550 he had the help from the farm boys to pick them all up , maybe Ben should enlist his good lady to do the picking up while he sit back and have a cool beer , only joking of course as his partner must be one of a kind as well as Ben 

My partner does occasionally bring more of our dogs down to pick up if I’m local to home but this ground is 20 odd miles away and with 2 young kids of 17 weeks and 3 1/2 it would mean getting home very late with them. On a plus note my eldest loves it when I bring the pigeons home and he insists on helping me load the freezers standing on his little plastic chair next to me. I must also mention that all the work that has gone into the dogs is totally down to my partner. I simply don’t have the patience for it 

[aga man]

A nice return for 675 cartridges. 

Well shot

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, bunny_blaster said:

My partner does occasionally bring more of our dogs down to pick up if I’m local to home but this ground is 20 odd miles away and with 2 young kids of 17 weeks and 3 1/2 it would mean getting home very late with them. On a plus note my eldest loves it when I bring the pigeons home and he insists on helping me load the freezers standing on his little plastic chair next to me. I must also mention that all the work that has gone into the dogs is totally down to my partner. I simply don’t have the patience for it 

That sound like a partnership made in heaven Ben and I am still amazed how you fit everything in to what sound like the perfect family and long may it continue .

I am always asking you questions so here is another one , on your recent big days , how often do you pick or tidy up ? , or do you leave everything till the session is over ?    MM

[bunny_blaster]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

That sound like a partnership made in heaven Ben and I am still amazed how you fit everything in to what sound like the perfect family and long may it continue .

I am always asking you questions so here is another one , on your recent big days , how often do you pick or tidy up ? , or do you leave everything till the session is over ?    MM

I normally let the birds tell me when they don’t like something, if they start to hesitate then I go out and have a tidy up. I also find that around 17.00 they tend to care less if something isn’t right, almost like they are desperate to feed before they go to roost.