Stubbles still here….

[Wilts#Dave]

After the most consistent year I’ve ever had bag wise, I’d not been out for a couple of weeks and was quite surprised to find the numbers I did on several fields of old barley stubble. 
I shot the first field 10 days ago and had a belter of an afternoon shooting 139, packing up with birds still coming after running out of shells. 
Another field I shot a couple of days later but despite numbers still being there, they didn’t return as expected and ground out a bag of 37. 
Another block that had shown a good number was still doing so this last week surprisingly with numbers almost rising again, but the most awkward field to shoot due to a footpath mainly. After chatting to the land owner he was happy for me to go ahead and shoot, although the wind needed to be right really and it happened to be the next day (Thursday just gone). 
Arriving a little later than I’d have liked there was a lot of birds where I expected them to be and having planned my hide location already (shooting away from the footpath), I was in position at 12:45 with the 28 bore to try and keep the noise down a little. 
Dad was going to sit in the truck and ‘flag off’ the field behind with the footpath and before he’d driven away from the hide a pigeon had swooped into the pattern and I’d dropped it. 
The shot put up a huge number of pigeons from all over, and they started coming back immediately. This wasn’t short lived and the action was fast and furious, I had 150 on the clicker by the two hour mark. 
They continued to come steadily for the next hour and a half and by 16:15 it was all over and I’d shot 223 pigeons. 
My best afternoon of the year, it was one of those times when you just knew you’d got it right! An 11:00 start would have seen 300 plus of that I’m sure, but more than enough to deal with and I was over the moon with what I’d shot, at the time of year when things have usually slowed right up for me. 

 

[old'un]

Sounds like it all came together and you had another cracking day on the stubbles, well done.

You have been very lucky this year with the stubbles still about, most of the stubble fields here have been sown with just the odd one here and there but not much on them, other thing I noticed is there seems very little rape on some of the farms that usually grow rape but I have not been around them all, seems a bit odd as we've had the perfect year for sowing rape.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Well done.   

[Bigbob]

Very nice bag well done 

[Wilts#Dave]

On 12/10/2024 at 15:46, old'un said:

Sounds like it all came together and you had another cracking day on the stubbles, well done.

You have been very lucky this year with the stubbles still about, most of the stubble fields here have been sown with just the odd one here and there but not much on them, other thing I noticed is there seems very little rape on some of the farms that usually grow rape but I have not been around them all, seems a bit odd as we've had the perfect year for sowing rape.

Unusual for me to shoot any over stubbles at this time of year for the reasons you say, they’re usually all gone! With only very fields left that we cut fairly late and them attracting good numbers it obviously makes shooting a bag that bit easier, but I don’t expect to be shooting many more now and certainly not the bags I have been. 
Not a huge amount of rape here either, although I’ve not shot any decent bags over it in recent years (since the acreage grown was vastly reduced). 

[yickdaz]

That's one to remember they have dispersed around here from the fields we have been getting good bags on going to be a long autumn winter from here on in 

Edited October 16 by yickdaz

[Wilts#Dave]

2 hours ago, yickdaz said:

That's a one to remember they have dispersed around here from the the fields we have been getting good bags on going to be a long autumn winter from here on in 

It certainly was, very unexpected to see the numbers I did this late on! 
They’ve dropped off now though, as you say it’s a long autumn/winter from here on…..hate the long slog until next spring to start seeing proper numbers again. 
Have been invited out for a day on some more old stubble in a different area to where I shoot, so may get another day in if I’m lucky! 

[marsh man]

That was a superb bag of Pigeons Dave , and to click the 150 in around two hours was some pretty fast shooting , your gun barrels must have been warming up a fair ole bit after all that action, all our stubbles are now in the history books and most of them are gone by the middle of September so we would find it very unusual to find stubbles in mid October , this year for some reason the stubbles were drilled with a type of wild flower mix as soon as the bales were off and most of the fields are already about two feet high , most likely to enhance the soil .        MM

[Wilts#Dave]

2 hours ago, marsh man said:

That was a superb bag of Pigeons Dave , and to click the 150 in around two hours was some pretty fast shooting , your gun barrels must have been warming up a fair ole bit after all that action, all our stubbles are now in the history books and most of them are gone by the middle of September so we would find it very unusual to find stubbles in mid October , this year for some reason the stubbles were drilled with a type of wild flower mix as soon as the bales were off and most of the fields are already about two feet high , most likely to enhance the soil .        MM

The little 28 bore certainly got warm that’s for sure! I’ve not shot that many in such a short space of time before, didn’t really pick up in that time either apart from setting 8 up on cradles as there was just no let up! 
It’s rare for me to be shooting over old barley stubbles so late too, but these were late combined as such due to wet weather and had gone over in places so more grain left than usual to. 
Cover crops are more common here now than they used to be, so they spray them off and cultivate those crops ready for spring drilling where you are?