Thinking too much?

[kitchrat]

In my previous "record-breaking" post (4 pages of mixed comments!) B686 quoted a farmer as saying "He says they are only feeding on the grain on the surface and aren’t doing any damage".

Well during my "chasing them about" phase, I caught up with about 400 pigeons on drilled wheat. However, it had been drilled over two weeks before and had germinated, the shoots were an inch plus high. I stepped out of the truck and all pigeons left. I checked the field and there was lots of grain on top. It too had germinated and its little roots were diving into the loose soil below - it hadn't been rolled. So, I thought, what if there were no pigeons in Essex, would a good proportion of the spilled grains not make it to adulthood and boost the yield? In another week or two the plants would be well established. NB NO pigeons returned in 30 minutes.

Then I thought about the grain which gets through the combine. It germinates and produces green tracks up and down the field. This is supposed to be sub-sized grains that get blown through but they still make good, until sprayed off. If left, I'm sure you would get some yield next year, at least enough to attract pigeons! And that is on top of fairly compacted soil.

So, is this " He says they are only feeding on the grain on the surface and aren’t doing any damage " just another myth, like "pigeons have to eat every day", " they won't feed on rape that has frost on it", or "Geese taste of fish or mud"?

Just overthinking!

Cheers! 

 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Yes.

[kitchrat]

As part 2 of this, a farm near me is firing rockets to keep pigeons off a newly-drilled field of wheat. Now tell me the grain on the surface is not worth protecting!

[Wilts#Dave]

What the farmer really means by saying that is that he doesn’t want you out there but would rather say that than just tell you ‘no’.
They’re an odd breed at times, I’ve known them say no to asking for permission to shoot on winter rape being hammered even, to then see a banger out in the field and no one ever shooting……but it’s their land and their prerogative at the end of the day! 

[kitchrat]

10 minutes ago, Wilts#Dave said:

What the farmer really means by saying that is that he doesn’t want you out there but would rather say that than just tell you ‘no’.
They’re an odd breed at times, I’ve known them say no to asking for permission to shoot on winter rape being hammered even, to then see a banger out in the field and no one ever shooting……but it’s their land and their prerogative at the end of the day! 

No I actually heard and saw the rockets. Then it was his tractor driver who told me what was being "protected" when we were beating together elsewhere. The farm in question used to be OK but as the son grew up they kept the shooting for themselves. I never bother to ask these days.

However you do get come "porkies", like, "I have a shooter and he's coming tomorrow." You check tomorrow and all you can see is pigeons!

[oowee]

I have never seen rockets used. 

[marsh man]

41 minutes ago, oowee said:

I have never seen rockets used. 

No, I have never seen rockets used to scare pigeons , but I have seen them used to try and keep geese off the Winter wheats on the marshes , and believe it or not the Swans do far more damage that the Pigeons do , last year the marshes were waterlogged and far to wet for Pigeons to be feeding on the rape but the Swans were having a field day , nigh on impossible to keep them off and have more protection than just about any other bird .

I was once giving a few boxes of cartridges as a thank you for trying to keep the Swans off , I would walk down the marsh each day and as soon as they would see me and my dog they would fly off and all land in the near by river , time you walked back to your motor they were already returning to the fields , you could see them from miles away and any new arrivals that came in off the sea would decoy in to the big flock of Swans far better than any Pigeons would decoy in to a big bunch of Pigeon decoys .

Birdwatchers would be watching them on a daily basis so you had to be very carful how you went about trying to keep the Swans off , by just going for a walk and then they fly off is as much as you can hope for without upsetting to many people .    MM

Edited Sunday at 17:41 by marsh man

[oowee]

9 minutes ago, marsh man said:

No, I have never seen rockets used to scare pigeons , but I have seen them used to try and keep geese off the Winter wheats on the marshes , and believe it or not the Swans do far more damage that the Pigeons do , last year the marshes were waterlogged and far to wet for Pigeons to be feeding on the rape but the Swans were having a field day , nigh on impossible to keep them off and have more protection than just about any other bird .

I was once giving a few boxes of cartridges as a thank you for trying to keep the Swans off , I would walk down the marsh each day and as soon as they would see me and my dog they would fly off and all land in the near by river , time you walked back to your motor they were already returning to the fields , you could see them from miles away and any new arrivals that came in off the sea would decoy in to the big flock of Swans far better than any Pigeons would decoy in to a big bunch of Pigeon decoys .

Birdwatchers would be watching them on a daily basis so you had to be very carful how you went about trying to keep the Swans off , by just going for a walk and then they fly off is as much as you can hope for without upsetting to many people .    MM

I bet that was one very amusing job. 🙂 I am next to a large waterfowl site here and we are inundated with bird watchers. 

[Wilts#Dave]

3 hours ago, kitchrat said:

No I actually heard and saw the rockets. Then it was his tractor driver who told me what was being "protected" when we were beating together elsewhere. The farm in question used to be OK but as the son grew up they kept the shooting for themselves. I never bother to ask these days.

However you do get come "porkies", like, "I have a shooter and he's coming tomorrow." You check tomorrow and all you can see is pigeons!

I was referring to your initial post about the farmer saying the pigeons weren’t doing any harm eating the grain on the surface so didn’t want them shot. 

[B686]

14 hours ago, oowee said:

I have never seen rockets used. 

The farmers love a rocket around here. 

 

14 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

What the farmer really means by saying that is that he doesn’t want you out there but would rather say that than just tell you ‘no’.
They’re an odd breed at times, I’ve known them say no to asking for permission to shoot on winter rape being hammered even, to then see a banger out in the field and no one ever shooting……but it’s their land and their prerogative at the end of the day! 

Some certainly are a funny breed . I had shot on his drilled fields for the last five years. Neighbouring farmer said he’s a funny ******  but he is Welsh . 🤣

[kitchrat]

13 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

I was referring to your initial post about the farmer saying the pigeons weren’t doing any harm eating the grain on the surface so didn’t want them shot. 

Oh, that came from a reply to one of my earlier posts. However, I have heard it said but I'm not convinced now...

17 hours ago, oowee said:

I have never seen rockets used. 

They love them round here, to protect rape. They are super loud, almost military grade but "are very expensive". Sadly,  they do work!

[kitchrat]

So it COULD matter then? The reason I ask is that I've just got back from a commercial goose shoot in Jockland. The weather was very warm and there was loads of food around for the geese so they weren't that hungry. Well, the guide had two groups of decoys, on one side were a load of Greylag silhouettes, on the other side were a couple of hundred Silosock Whitefront decoys. The Pinkfoots were supposed to want to land in the gap between. It seemed to me that nearly all the skeins that approached with an intent to land went for the Whitefront side but often they pulled back just in time (for them) I saw that the decoys had a white stripe down the side, which the geese didn't have. Also, the wind made them look a little "regimented". Just wondered if that or the stripe might have warned them off? All the Guns were very well hidden and not looking over the top of the hide! Incidentally, enough geese decoyed well enough for a decent amount of shooting, so this isn't a complaint, just me overthinking again!

Edited yesterday at 10:26 by kitchrat

[oowee]

When we are shooting them we are often so well hidden we miss them coming in. The bigger the flocks the more eyes looking. A couple of years ago two of us shot around 80 or so in an hour and they were coming in as soon as we stopped firing whilst we were tucking back in. 

Seems to me they can pull back for a host of reasons not just the deeks. Maybe they smell blood?

[kitchrat]

4 hours ago, kitchrat said:

So it COULD matter then? The reason I ask is that I've just got back from a commercial goose shoot in Jockland. The weather was very warm and there was loads of food around for the geese so they weren't that hungry. Well, the guide had two groups of decoys, on one side were a load of Greylag silhouettes, on the other side were a couple of hundred Silosock Whitefront decoys. The Pinkfoots were supposed to want to land in the gap between. It seemed to me that nearly all the skeins that approached with an intent to land went for the Whitefront side but often they pulled back just in time (for them) I saw that the decoys had a white stripe down the side, which the geese didn't have. Also, the wind made them look a little "regimented". Just wondered if that or the stripe might have warned them off? All the Guns were very well hidden and not looking over the top of the hide! Incidentally, enough geese decoyed well enough for a decent amount of shooting, so this isn't a complaint, just me overthinking again!

This should have been in wildfowling but can back here when I edited it!

 

[Penelope]

23 hours ago, kitchrat said:

So it COULD matter then? The reason I ask is that I've just got back from a commercial goose shoot in Jockland. The weather was very warm and there was loads of food around for the geese so they weren't that hungry. Well, the guide had two groups of decoys, on one side were a load of Greylag silhouettes, on the other side were a couple of hundred Silosock Whitefront decoys. The Pinkfoots were supposed to want to land in the gap between. It seemed to me that nearly all the skeins that approached with an intent to land went for the Whitefront side but often they pulled back just in time (for them) I saw that the decoys had a white stripe down the side, which the geese didn't have. Also, the wind made them look a little "regimented". Just wondered if that or the stripe might have warned them off? All the Guns were very well hidden and not looking over the top of the hide! Incidentally, enough geese decoyed well enough for a decent amount of shooting, so this isn't a complaint, just me overthinking again!

Over thinking, John.