Ballymac Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 After a week or two of calm warm weather which wasn't ideal pigeon shooting weather, we now have had a few days of the wet stuff continuously falling down. Maybe it will dry up at the weekend, will allow me to get some work done. Here's hoping for some better decoying weather. Have bought a few bouncers/floaters and want to try them over standing barley. noticed the birds landing at the edge of the field and cutting the barley down. Another farmer has built two permanent hides in his fields of wheat and wants crows etc shot. The is very little of the wheat or barley blown down this year,but with all this rain who knows. Here's to saturday and hopefully some successful shooting, as long as the birds show up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeyboots Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 ive shot plenty of crows when its been lashing , but havent faired so well when its been sunny and warm apart from when its 1st light, ive even saw pigeons feeding threw a thunderstorm without it bothering them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweedledee Posted July 31, 2008 Report Share Posted July 31, 2008 i`m at the crow bashing at the minute,out most evenings. next attack will be saturday morning with the auto at first light. must remember my camera. forecast is not good for the next week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted August 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Was out on saturday afternoon on a new farm, they had just harvested around 160 acres of barley and the fields were full of crows and pigeons. Asked the farmers wife and she said certainly and shoot plenty . Started around 3pm and finished 5.45pm before another downpour hit us. Had my new floaters in operation, 1 pigeon and 2 crows. Also had 2 air pro decoys spinning in hte wind. Hundreds of pigeons flew past, we got 1 feral and 6 wood pigeons, 2 of which decoyed to the pattern the others were going to the tree we were under. We also got 40 crows/rooks. At least they decoyed On packing up decided to offer farmers wife some pigeon, she was delighted said she loved pigeon and loved cooking them. Best of all due to knowledge gained here on this forum I showed her how to breast the bird. She was delighted and I can come and shoot the farm any time. I hope to be out there this afternoon if work goes to plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweedledee Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 weather has been terrible all week,i hope to be out over the weekend though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazza Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 I took today off work but it's rained all day. Hasn't been a field cut here in the last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 was out on sat there as well 18 pigeons and 37 crows. weather is so bad this week Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted August 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Got out at 3.15 today (set up at this time) only had 65 carts, thought it was plenty until I got there, how wrong was I.I fired my last shot at 4.45pm a total of 31 birds 6 pigeons in that. There were literally hundreds of crows rooks and pigeons, the farmers wife is sick of them. I should still be out there but have a wedding to go to tomorrow and things to do etc. But providing the hangover is not too bad will be out on saturday afternoon (overnight stay etc) I sat in the hide for 10 mins after I had fired my last shot to watch what would happen and then I discovered something. The pigeons started decoying but only after the crows and rooks started landing in their pattern. At one time I had a small flock of about 15-20 pigeons all decoy, about 6 landed at the one time with the rest circling around again. They realised their plastic mates weren't that friendly and didn't stay long, but something for you decoyers out there who shoot crows and pigeons, have you found this to be the case? To clarify, I had a pattern set for the pigeons and one for the crows set out for them to come to with a gap of 25-30yrds between them. The crows kept coming steady and while I shot some pigeons they weren't committed to the pattern, they were flying about due to gun shots. But when I ran out of carts and birds (crows/rooks) were allowed to land in their pattern I had lots of pigeons come in. This makes me think that had I let the other birds come in and land the pigeons would feel more secure about decoying. Sorry if this is long winded and a ramble but it is something I will try again on saturday to see if it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 there must of been no rain in ur part of the country lol. well i hope 2 get out 2morrow for a shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 got out on friday for a shot 7pigeons n 14crows nt bad but need fresh crop cut. weather isnt to be good this week. anyone else get any shooting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie mac Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 i was out on friday myself got 1 crow&1pigeon weather was ok no rain,think it has to rain for most of this week,havent seen anything cut in this part of the world as yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 theres crop cut here n there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted August 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 didn't get out on saturday, slightly tired after long wedding celebrations, but two mates got out on Friday and shot 65 birds 35 of them pigeons. Saturday afternoon someone else was shooting in this field, I took a drive by and saw a guy sitting against the hedge no face mask and his face stood out so much This guy had no decoys or hide and probably didn't pick his birds up, will find out later today if I get a chance. The mates had a pigeon magnet which must of made the difference between me shooting 6 pigeons on Thurs and them shooting 35 on Friday. BTW the weather was good on saturday compared to other places until about 5.30. I had just about got the steaks cooked on the barbie when the rain came Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 i was in the south on sat n we were drivin in n out of rain. gettin springer pups lol. do any of u bother wiv the game shootin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted August 12, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2008 Noticed that Dublin or parts of it flooded on saturday. Yeah like to do a bit of game shooting. Part of a club, we have pheasants and some partridge, not many and duck, snipe and woodcock. Like taking the dog through a bit of rough ground and see what comes up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 13, 2008 Report Share Posted August 13, 2008 Yea i do the game shooting as well pheasants woodcock snipe and the ducks. Looks like there wont be many pigeons shot this weekend **** weather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted August 15, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 Yeah seen the forecast for weekend weather, not looking good, so took myself out yesterday with a mate, set up around 4.30 shot to 7 ish got total of 45 birds. Looks like that will be the only shooting for a while. Farmers are getting it hard now to get crops in, have seen some fields of barley that are ripe but farmers cant harvest as too wet. We need a week of wall to wall sunshine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 15, 2008 Report Share Posted August 15, 2008 yea we do indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 16, 2008 Report Share Posted August 16, 2008 i would say after todays rain the crops will be well washed away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted August 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2008 Well guys any of you have any probs withthe floods. Had to go to airport on Sunday and was shocked at teh amount of roads that were closed including the airport road. After a diversion or two got there, but noticed a serious amount of fields flooded and the crops ruined. Rhe ducks will have a good few places to feed. Was going to Ravenhill on Friday night and on the motorway between Lisburn and Belfast a flock of geese flew overhead they had been feeding in a barley field. Roll on 1st Sept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davie mac Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 houses and Fields flooded al over the place i have also noticed wheat/barley turning black in the Fields Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tweedledee Posted August 19, 2008 Report Share Posted August 19, 2008 got my lawn mowed today after about a little over a fortnight. the ride on with its highest setting took me nearly 2 hours no joke.it`s as well it`s not a push jobby. took the rough of it and tidied it up a little to allow me to get shooting at the weekend. lots of crop damage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballymac Posted August 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2008 Tweedledee, had the same to do with my lawn, got the daughter to cut the grass , less weight on the ride on but still left muddy tracks in the lawn :blink: Talking to a farmer yesterday about shooting over one of his fields which always gets hit by the birds. Now this farmer hates crows in particular and is usually very keen for us to shoot this field, which we have done for a number of years. He was nearly in tears as the crop is sitting ruined in the field. The latest he ever cut this field was 08/08, he saisd he always had it done by then. The crop had been coming on nicely but the bad weather left him unable to get into the field. I fear that all harvests are going to be affected badly this year again and food stuffs are going to rise and rise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth_Northern Ireland Posted August 21, 2008 Report Share Posted August 21, 2008 i hope to get out tomorrow have seen combines in operation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckfast d Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Got out myself for the 1st in a while on Tuesday, but it was disappointing to be honest, set up in a field near Warringstown about 3 ish and shot 5 crows and only one woodie they just where not decoying at all than the rain came on at about 4.30 so decided to pack up went to drive the van out of the field gate and yes of course got bloody stuck "disaster all round" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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