Whats wrong with my pigeons?

[jamesspencer_2001]

We shoot near york and over the last couple of weeks we have shot over stubble.

This is a general day -

Arrive at field 300+ pigeon get up of the stubble and a further 200+ from the trees surrounding the stubble. :yp:

We sit and watch for a while and the birds seem to want to come back and some are landing. :yp:

We decide to set up and as soon as we get sat down the birds stop flying and only the odd bird comes in.

End of the day finish up with 2 pigeon and a magpie :*) (not very good).

Go home annoyed because it could have been a red letter day.

Dont know if this happens to you but its starting to get on my tits.

We've tried everything but the birds just dont seem to fly once theyve had a feed in the morning. :<

 

Just wanted to see if this happens to anyone else!!!!

 

Thanks gentlemen

[Cranfield]

Could be due to lots of reasons. :yp:

 

Should you be arriving before first light, if they are feeding very early ?

 

Are you walking them right off, before setting up ?

If they are sitting in the trees watching you set up, they are unlikely to come into the decoys.

 

You say they appear to want to come in, but don't.

Is your hide good, can they see you ?

Vary the decoy layout.

If you are using a rotary , take it in.

 

Its not unusual at this time of plenty, for it to be difficult to hold pigeons on a field, as they have so many options.

Your problem doesn't seem to come under this category.

I think the answer may lay in one of the points I made above. :yp:

[lurcherboy]

James,

 

Reconnaissance. Visit the pitch for 5-7 days and you will see where, when and how long they feed.

Also good to see the entry points they use in varying winds

 

 

You never waste time when doing a reccy.

 

 

 

 

LB :yp:

[Fisherman Mike]

James The birds are probably "FED UP" if they have full crops from an early feed they probably wont feed again until later in the day.

 

They need time to digest and all that grain in the crop has to be churned up and ground down by the grit in the gut. They will sit about for hours on end.

 

I think Cranfield is right get there a bit earlier before the first feed and you will get better results.

 

Also there is a glut of food around at the moment and my Shooting pals and I call this time of year the "Doldrums" what ever you do when decoying doesnt get any results. I have been in a similar situation to you when there have been almost 2000 birds in the trees surrounding the feed fields and nothing will bring them down, a couple of shots in the air just moves them on. Other times you dont even need to get the deeks out properly.

 

The key to it is some decent COLD weather.. which is why most of my serious Pigeon shooting is done in December, January and February.

 

FM.

[apbuild]

James,

I think we are all in the same boat at the moment. Decoying is hard work with the abundance of food for the pigeons to eat.

 

We desperately need a cold snap to trigger the birds into feeding more.

 

Regards,

Rob.

[Axel]

Just been reading these notices and so glad its not my bad technique but an abundnance of food thats giving me small bags! As some of you say, we need a cold spell to get them eating in volume again before we can hope to get any 'red letter days' but at least it beats work! Axel