Just Bought a Pair of Air Pro's

[Hewey]

Hi All,

 

I took the plunge at lunchtime today and purchased a pair of Air Pro's.

 

Mrs. too stuburn to let me keep a couple of birds in the freezer and always seem to waste a bit of time when I first set-up trying to draw them in close enough to get those first couple of birds for the magnet. (Even with 50 shell Decoys out on the field)

 

I am hoping to get back on the field I shot 307 on last Saturday (See Pictures section) this weekend so will hopefully be able to give a report on how I think they do.

 

I have 2 Magnets so will be interesting to see if the Air Pro's are better or worse than having "real" birds (that is if I manage to shoot any) on the magnet.

 

Do people usual replace their Air Pro's with real birds once they have some?

 

I also have 4 Electronic Flappers, 2 Homemade Gliders, and a Floater.

 

If I do shoot some have people found it better to move the Air Pro's onto a Floater or other stand.

 

All help appreciated.

 

Hewey

Edited June 23, 2008 by Hewey

[Teal]

I prefer the action of the hypaflaps, but will be interested to hear how you get on with them.

 

But at the end of the day if the pigeons want to hit the field then you can decoy them with nearly anything. Good luck!

[Country Boy]

But at the end of the day if the pigeons want to hit the field then you can decoy them with nearly anything.

 

....and yet armed with that knowledge you still went out and bought hypa-flaps someone sure decoyed you

 

CB

[Teal]

But at the end of the day if the pigeons want to hit the field then you can decoy them with nearly anything.

 

....and yet armed with that knowledge you still went out and bought hypa-flaps someone sure decoyed you

 

CB

 

The point is that I think these gadgets can improve your shooting, because distant pigeons which you may not even see with come to the pattern. What I don't think is reasonable is to shoot a bag of 307 pigeons (congrats again!), and then go out to the same field and shoot another large bag and say yes this new gadget is brilliant.

 

You can say if it didn't work, but even that might be down to other factors, weather, disturbance etc.. Unless you see birds shying away from it, it is hard to judge how well a product works.

[chrispti]

I have never had a woody come into my deecs with the airpros out! they pull ferels in very well.... a little tip, put a strip of tape across the white side of the wing, and spray the rest grey, this will then flash a white bar when spinning All the best with them.

 

As with real birds on the rotary..... get em on ASAP!!

Edited June 19, 2008 by chrispti

[malkiserow]

I have never had a woody come into my deecs with the airpros out! they pull ferels in very well.... a little tip, put a strip of tape across the white side of the wing, and spray the rest grey, this will then flash a white bar when spinning All the best with them.

 

As with real birds on the rotary..... get em on ASAP!!

 

 

A bit like this then about 3 posts down >>> clicky here <<<

Edited June 19, 2008 by malkiserow

[nelsonbernardo]

i've got a pair of air pros

they only work well over winter rape.

they make to much noise.

they are ok but dead birds are much better.

the price (£45), i pay £50, is crazy.

if you shoot 307 with dead birds, why you going to change it?

like in football, if your team is wining, don't change it.

good luck

 

nelson

[Country Boy]

But how do you know that the pigeons coming into the airpro-hypa flaps are distant pigeons which you could'nt see before they decided to check out your set-up?

 

More to the point, surely many pigeons that 'come into deeks' have left some distant unseen flight line, or do you have binocular vision Teal

 

CB

Edited June 20, 2008 by Country Boy

[Teal]

The point is that I think these gadgets can improve your shooting, because distant pigeons which you may not even see with come to the pattern. What I don't think is reasonable is to shoot a bag of 307 pigeons (congrats again!), and then go out to the same field and shoot another large bag and say yes this new gadget is brilliant.

 

You can say if it didn't work, but even that might be down to other factors, weather, disturbance etc.. Unless you see birds shying away from it, it is hard to judge how well a product works.

But how do you know that the pigeons coming into the airpro-hypa flaps are distant pigeons which you could'nt see before they decided to check out your set-up?

 

More to the point, surely many pigeons that 'come into deeks' have left some distant unseen flight line, or do you have binocular vision Teal

 

CB

 

Those were exactly the points I was making.

 

1) You can't base one days shooting (especially if the pigeons are really hitting the field) on whether a product works or does not.

2) At the same time even if you have a string of days on pigeons, you can't say with any accuracy the degree improvement which came down to your new product over your previous pattern.

 

What you do build up over time is a guide and feeling as to whether a product helps or not. My feeling as I said in my previous post is that, hypaflaps can improve your shooting. I am interested to see how the air-pro's do, but I don't think an instant decision on their effectiveness is a good idea.

[chrispti]

I have never had a woody come into my deecs with the airpros out! they pull ferels in very well.... a little tip, put a strip of tape across the white side of the wing, and spray the rest grey, this will then flash a white bar when spinning All the best with them.

 

As with real birds on the rotary..... get em on ASAP!!

 

 

A bit like this then about 3 posts down >>> clicky here <<<

 

Same sort of idea with the wings

[Hewey]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for all your comments, yes I fully appreciate it's difficult to do a full comparison but the following is mearly what I experienced this Saturday.

 

Firstly unfortunately the field I shot the 307 on the week before had already been booked by someone else.!!

 

BUT... Thankfully a neighbouring field which was also Spring Rape had not so on we went.

 

Set out the 50 Shells and put the Air-Pro's on the first Magnet. The movement certainly did attract the pigeons but they didn't really want to come that close, in fact I feel that if anything they spooked them more than enticed them once the got anywhere near.

 

Managed to get a couple shot fairly quick and put the second magnet up with "real" birds. This seemed to draw them in much better and soon had 4 more to go on my Flappers.

 

Anyway birds that came over the Air-Pro's seemed to shy away yet ones coming over the Real Birds seemed to commit themselves much more.

 

I gave it a while with the Air-Pro's out just to see how they went but then decided to replace them with real birds, this I found gave a much higher number of birds coming into the pattern.

 

One thing I would say is that I agree with Chrispti - I will be painting the wings so that they have a White Bar rather than a whole strip of white, from a distance they look good but when you get closer the wings look too white.

 

So to sum up, I feel dead birds (On this particular day) seem the better choice on a magnet, the Air=Pro's will probably be OK to start with just to draw the birds attention to help getting those first few to replace the Air-Pro's with.

 

Are they worth £45, well you'll just have to make your own mind up on that but I think on a slow day (If like me the Mrs won't let you put any in the freezer) and you don't have real birds then they might just make the difference to get you started.

 

Anyway Final result.... another 160 birds picked, which was more than the guy's got on the field I wanted to go on... .

[chrispti]

I have never had a woody come into my deecs with the airpros out! they pull ferels in very well.... a little tip, put a strip of tape across the white side of the wing, and spray the rest grey, this will then flash a white bar when spinning All the best with them.

 

As with real birds on the rotary..... get em on ASAP!!

a pic of the painted air pros http://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/ind...showtopic=62699

[henry d]

To my way of thinking the air pros are imitating a woodpigeon within inches of landing and having to "Back peddle" with it`s wings, the rotary/magnet device is designed to show a woodpigeon gliding/curling into a set of decoys, therefore the 2 are as dis-similar as chalk and cheese, a woodpigeon within inches of landing does not continue to glide, it "Back peddles" it`s wings and in the same way a woodpigeon circling into a decoy pattern doesn`t flap it`s wings, it glides in until the last few inches and then it needs to slow itself down to a full stop.

[Teal]

I like that thinking. Do you reckon that they might work best on a timer system as a flapper then HD?

[henry d]

Absolutely !

[chrispti]

To my way of thinking the air pros are imitating a woodpigeon within inches of landing and having to "Back peddle" with it`s wings, the rotary/magnet device is designed to show a woodpigeon gliding/curling into a set of decoys, therefore the 2 are as dis-similar as chalk and cheese, a woodpigeon within inches of landing does not continue to glide, it "Back peddles" it`s wings and in the same way a woodpigeon circling into a decoy pattern doesn`t flap it`s wings, it glides in until the last few inches and then it needs to slow itself down to a full stop.

 

Good point! I wonder if they would be more affective on a bouncer (as long as there is some wind about)? As I previously said, I have had no joy with them on the rotary!!

[henry d]

I like that thinking. Do you reckon that they might work best on a timer system as a flapper then HD?

 

 

I wonder if they would be more affective on a bouncer (as long as there is some wind about)? As I previously said, I have had no joy with them on the rotary!!

 

I think they have to be close to or on the ground, if you hit a woodpigeon and nail it in the head it tends to do a few back flips on the ground due to nervous energy before it is 100% dead and that, if there is a bird or two about, can be very attractive and draw them in for a shot soooooo on the deck would be my advice.

 

**Edit** Another thing to consider is a pigeon will open it`s wings and glide into a pattern only if it is well committed, a pigeon that is still paddling it`s wings over/near the decoy pattern is not committed and is ready to fly off, therefore something is not right so birds flapping, as opposed to gliding about a pattern, are seen as a thing for pigeons in the area to be wary of.

Birds flapping on the ground however are a good thing.....competition for a good food source or excitement at a good feed source, or simply trying to get in front of the greedy bu**er in front.

 

My 2p`s worth and not the woodpigeons