What's the general opinion of this article?

[kitchrat]

Pigeon decoy patterns for shooting over winter oilseed rape | ShootingUK

I read this and think it is naive, if not arrogant to think it is as simple as just getting the pattern exactly as the author describes.

No.1, you have to be in the right place at the right time, with the right conditions. No 2 , the pigeons must want to come and play. Then the pattern details might come into play but an elaborate set up described shows the author has not had to carry all his stuff 100's of yards across the crop.

Today I had points No 1 and No 2 more or less right but a long carry. Gloomy weather but had my mate (Yes!) who could only make Sunday over on the other side of the 155-acre block of rape which helped to keep things moving. Took the magnet, hide stuff and just 5 full-bodied, flocked decoys. Shot 45 before rain stopped play. QED!

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, I seem to remember going back many years a Pigeon shooter writing he just threw the decoys standing by the hide and set up where landed, I always have to laugh at some of these writers, One i knew who wrote in the Shooting Times , My First Hundred, complete with photos yet never left his Study !!!!

Edited yesterday at 15:02 by oldypigeonpopper

[enfieldspares]

Is this the starting point for all those decoy pattern Hitler "Downfall" video spoofs?

[old'un]

Pigeon decoy patterns for shooting over winter oilseed rape | ShootingUK 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

2 hours ago, kitchrat said:

Pigeon decoy patterns for shooting over winter oilseed rape | ShootingUK

I read this and think it is naive, if not arrogant to think it is as simple as just getting the pattern exactly as the author describes.

No.1, you have to be in the right place at the right time, with the right conditions. No 2 , the pigeons must want to come and play. Then the pattern details might come into play but an elaborate set up described shows the author has not had to carry all his stuff 100's of yards across the crop.

Today I had points No 1 and No 2 more or less right but a long carry. Gloomy weather but had my mate (Yes!) who could only make Sunday over on the other side of the 155-acre block of rape which helped to keep things moving. Took the magnet, hide stuff and just 5 full-bodied, flocked decoys. Shot 45 before rain stopped play. QED!

But you're not getting your pattern quite right are you?   

[marsh man]

Who actually follow any pattern you read about in the many books that have been wrote on Pigeon shooting ? , to name a few they talked about , a L shape , a U shape , a V shape , a Tick shape that go either right or left depending on the wind and many , many more , I have never followed all these different patterns and I remember a ole video of Jack Charlton and the great Archie Coates where they tipped the sack of dead birds out and chucked them about in different directions and then set them up wherever they landed , I dare say this same method would still work today as it did many years ago when they were both alive , surely by god , after many years of shooting Pigeons you devise your own method and no point in seeking advice from a lot of people who spend more time reading books and watching d v ds on Pigeon shooting than they do shoot them out on the fields .    MM

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Let's be honest, the chap who wrote that article probably sells the gear, as he seems to want you to invest in lots of it and carry it all out to your chosen hide position.

Later in the winter, I will use a bigger pattern on winter rape and will want a good backdrop to the hide to keep the wind off.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Let's be honest, the chap who wrote that article probably sells the gear, as he seems to want you to invest in lots of it and carry it all out to your chosen hide position.

Later in the winter, I will use a bigger pattern on winter rape and will want a good backdrop to the hide to keep the wind off.

If the field was big enough and the farmer was concerned about his rape then he could help himself by putting a bale hide in the middle of the field , this can be left the whole of the Winter and only need removing in the early Spring if you are the sole shooter then you can leave some of your decoying stuff inside the hide to reduce carrying it there and back .

One farmer I know got all modern and left one of those big oblong bale in the middle of a fairly big field by our standard , this was the next best hide as you had a background and relief from a cold wind and could shoot in any direction , as the end of the day the farmer need to think of the persons welfare who is prepared to try and keep the Pigeons off his crop as his own expense and help out as much as the person shooting , forget about the rubbish where people say if they don't spend a load of time on his rape then he will get someone else , if he do then let him , he will find that is not as easy as he think it is and it is far better to look after the person he can trust rather than let strangers go who might well be weighing up what is lying around the farm . 

I have known my farmers long enough now to know that if I wanted them to put some bales down the marsh then they would do it , the thing is we haven't had any major damage for years and if we did then they would put some of the modern gas guns down there .    MM

Edited yesterday at 20:34 by marsh man

[Wilts#Dave]

They need to write something, so try and make it ‘different‘ to engage readers. 
In reality most of that is completely unnecessary at any time of year, shooting good bags of pigeons is largely about reconnaissance and knowing your ground (and having pigeons there to shoot at). 
You can massively overthink things to be honest, and miss the basics. 
We’ve all got our favoured decoy setups etc, which will have the same effect when used in the right place! 

[kitchrat]

2 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

But you're not getting your pattern quite right are you?   

Worked well today! Why do you guys always want to criticise? No one gets it right all the time, some times it works, sometimes it don't. I'm p****** off with this, I ask a question and get this s--t! (again)

[ehb102]

Have the pigeons read the article? Bet they haven't. 

[enfieldspares]

1 hour ago, Wilts#Dave said:

They need to write something, so try and make it ‘different‘ to engage readers. 

LOL! I used to be a keen but luckless fly fisherman years ago. And the various magazines...read free in Borders...would recycle the same article but written slightly differently every season or so it seemed praising muddlers or epoxy buzzers or the like. 

Edited yesterday at 20:57 by enfieldspares

[Wilts#Dave]

1 hour ago, enfieldspares said:

LOL! I used to be a keen but luckless fly fisherman years ago. And the various magazines...read free in Borders...would recycle the same article but written slightly differently every season or so it seemed praising muddlers or epoxy buzzers or the like. 

It was always common for every hobby based magazine wasn’t it (I do miss looking forward to a monthly magazine in a way though), sucks you in for a while until you realise they’re just being paid to write about/test things favourably so you will keep spending money on things you don’t need/don’t work 😂

[old'un]

12 hours ago, kitchrat said:

Worked well today! Why do you guys always want to criticise? No one gets it right all the time, some times it works, sometimes it don't. I'm p****** off with this, I ask a question and get this s--t! (again)

I think TT is mocking the article not you, i.e. you are not setting your decoys out per the article.

To be honest I dont know why you take it to heart, just laugh it off or come back with something more witty or do a Ditchman.

 

[yickdaz]

13 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

They need to write something, so try and make it ‘different‘ to engage readers. 
In reality most of that is completely unnecessary at any time of year, shooting good bags of pigeons is largely about reconnaissance and knowing your ground (and having pigeons there to shoot at). 
You can massively overthink things to be honest, and miss the basics. 
We’ve all got our favoured decoy setups etc, which will have the same effect when used in the right place! 

This

[mellors]

13 hours ago, kitchrat said:

Worked well today! Why do you guys always want to criticise? No one gets it right all the time, some times it works, sometimes it don't. I'm p****** off with this, I ask a question and get this s--t! (again)

Well done again.

Keep posting. 

Told you ignore the keyboards. 

Your doing better than most. 

[JKD]

1 hour ago, old'un said:

I think TT is mocking the article not you, i.e. you are not setting your decoys out per the article.

To be honest I dont know why you take it to heart, just laugh it off or come back with something more witty or do a Ditchman.

 

Well said 👏 I've said exactly that to kitchrat before, and I'm sure he took it on board.

Nobody knows everything about this subject,,,, every single day/outing will never be the same as any others,,,, and we'll all still be learning as we take our last breath 🙃

[clangerman]

sounds like it’s written by someone with all the gear and little idea only thing missing was the kitchen sink lol 

[yickdaz]

You can use whatever pattern you like and a 100 decoys if they don't want that particular field or  they don't want to play ball it means nothing, getting the decoys and or  gadgets right when they do play ball is more important and obviously you did by bagging 45 i just set them up any old way then see how they react then change something if its not quite working, if it works straight away all I do is add dead birds to the decoys and that's it 

[kitchrat]

Got it WRONG today! The farmer had put out scarecrows which didn't help. Pigeons had been hitting the field for nearly a week. A couple of huge flocks turned up and dropped straight onto the crop, nearer his scarecrows than my decoy pattern. They never looked at, or maybe never saw, my decoys. A shot put them off forever. A few passing birds had a little look and I shot 8 in 3 hours.

Not what I had hoped for but that's life.

I'm sure the pattern in the article would not have helped, I had the wrong field or the right field on the wrong day or something. There was no traffic worth speaking of.

[Penelope]

18 hours ago, kitchrat said:

Worked well today! Why do you guys always want to criticise? No one gets it right all the time, some times it works, sometimes it don't. I'm p****** off with this, I ask a question and get this s--t! (again)

He's joking John.

[wymberley]

23 hours ago, kitchrat said:

Pigeon decoy patterns for shooting over winter oilseed rape | ShootingUK

I read this and think it is naive, if not arrogant to think it is as simple as just getting the pattern exactly as the author describes.

No.1, you have to be in the right place at the right time, with the right conditions. No 2 , the pigeons must want to come and play. Then the pattern details might come into play but an elaborate set up described shows the author has not had to carry all his stuff 100's of yards across the crop.

Today I had points No 1 and No 2 more or less right but a long carry. Gloomy weather but had my mate (Yes!) who could only make Sunday over on the other side of the 155-acre block of rape which helped to keep things moving. Took the magnet, hide stuff and just 5 full-bodied, flocked decoys. Shot 45 before rain stopped play. QED!

I don't suppose by any chance you've recently spent time in a medical type waiting room of no particular discipline by any chance have you? 

[old'un]

45 minutes ago, kitchrat said:

Got it WRONG today! The farmer had put out scarecrows which didn't help. Pigeons had been hitting the field for nearly a week. A couple of huge flocks turned up and dropped straight onto the crop, nearer his scarecrows than my decoy pattern. They never looked at, or maybe never saw, my decoys. A shot put them off forever. A few passing birds had a little look and I shot 8 in 3 hours.

Not what I had hoped for but that's life.

I'm sure the pattern in the article would not have helped, I had the wrong field or the right field on the wrong day or something. There was no traffic worth speaking of.

This time of year I will usually walk them off two or three times before I commit to a field, that's if they come back after the first walk off that is.

The decoy setup in that article is way over the top, as been said, if you are in the right place and the pigeons come back its surprising just how little you need to pull pigeons, you could put them in a circle and so long as you leave enough landing space between your decoys they will attempt to land or at least have a look.

I have setup a few times with just the magnet and two dead birds on it, it pulled pigeons close enough to kill some and build a pattern.

I used to always take half a dozen dead birds but its a bit much for me now with all the other gear, so all I use now are six plastic decoys and two dead birds on the magnet, the key to pulling pigeons is movement.

[clangerman]

52 minutes ago, kitchrat said:

There was no traffic worth speaking of.

there’s your answer with little traffic unless stuck for birds I’m not getting out of the motor 

[old'un]

13 minutes ago, clangerman said:

there’s your answer with little traffic unless stuck for birds I’m not getting out of the motor 

Funny you say that, once I was sat in the motor watching some pigeons on a rape field but it was just not right for me to commit, just then the farmer comes past a popped his horn and gave me a wave, I sat there for nearly an hour and the pigeons were just not showing me anything, just then the farmer pulls up behind me, he gets out with a smile on his face and said...you spend more bloody time watching them pigeons than shooting the bloody things, he was of course correct, we do spend a lot of time just looking.