Whizzo Posted August 30, 2004 Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 Hi, I just bought a pigeon floater, have yet to use it and want a few tips. 1. Should the pigeon be dead....just kidding! 2. How does the head get supported, does it flop or do you insert that spike all the way up? 3. How far back and what position from my pattern should the floater be? 4. What angle from the ground should I have it. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted August 30, 2004 Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 The spike should go right up into the pigeons head. I believe that my floaters are birds landing and so I set them near the back of the layout and to the side. So, if you have a horseshoe shape (for example), I would place a floater near the back of a "leg", on the inside, or outside of the "leg". The best thing to do is to experiment . I rarely have the same layout two days running. I fix my floaters at a 45 degree angle (facing the wind), however if its very windy, you may have to set them lower, or they will blow over backwards. You can never have too many floaters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimdfish Posted August 30, 2004 Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 Cranfield with the greatest respect when you post a sentence with the content " you can never have too many floaters" I can not help but snigger. I am a 29 year old child. Someone posted the other day withh regards to floaters about making them out of old fishing rods. I crushed one of my carp rods on the roof rack rack the other day and now have a rod spare. Info please. jimDfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizzo Posted September 6, 2004 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2004 Just used new floater yesterday. Very interesting the way it affected how the birds apprioached the decoys. Very light wind towards the hide floater 30m away on right hand leg of pattern. Birds were coming L-R across me and tended to swing left to land in same direction as floater and in same line. I actually had to move the floater in towards the pattern due to this happening. Very handy piece of kit + just used new shell decoys made by Sport Plast, very realistic (but a little bit over fed!) Can be positioned feeding or upright either fixed down frimly on stick o r wobbling in wind. Stick has a devise on the end that prevents the wind from lifting the decoy off the top. You have to squeeze it in to rls the decoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mallinson Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 about making them out of old fishing rods. I crushed one of my carp rods on the roof rack rack the other day and now have a rod spare. Info please. I tried making floaters out of fishing rods, the bottom half of the rod is to solid and won't have enough movement and the top it too thin so the dead pigeon will just bend right over. i made mine out of some old tent rods, you know the bits that interlink and are held together with elastis. i just cut them down to length and then added a cross piece to hold the wings out and they bob around and move perfect in the wind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remytherussell Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 Keeper I was with on Wednesday makes his own. A sharpened hazel twig is passed through the body under the wings. Wing "elbows" hooked over the twig and tied or taped. About a 3ft branch inserted through the rear of pigeon up into the neck. Branch then stuck into ground @ 45 degrees. Looked very realistic, faced into wind so it appeared to float. RTR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red_stag88 Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 Someone posted the other day withh regards to floaters about making them out of old fishing rods. I crushed one of my carp rods on the roof rack rack the other day and now have a rod spare. Learn how to whip rods Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digga Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 av a look at mine on shooting related stuff pic. ( d.i.y. bouncer) on page 2 . dont spend to long looking at my mrs (bouncers) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tucker Posted September 16, 2004 Report Share Posted September 16, 2004 My floaters are pretty much the same as diggers. I have used old fishing brolly spokes, very strong and flexible. You can vary the lengths as you get 8 long & 8 short spokes out of one old brolly. In actual fact I made a pigeon rotor shaft, plus an extention with a variable tilt so I can have the pigeons flying up and down as well as around. A few hacksaw blades for the shells, and you have all the movement you want. My rotor is just a fiesta wiper motor (£5) bolted onto a piece of aluminum, which is cut off the piece that makes the base plate(£1.50 scrappy) and the brolly pole weded into it. The base plate never moves once in the ground, and the whole thing weighs next to nothing. (all ally) I,ll put some photos in photo related stuff to show you. The floater with the u shape at the top is to take the plastic decoy until I get fresh birds then they go on the ones with the connector block with the wires. TUC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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