How do you spot flight lines? Are they necessary?

[George1990]

Been shooting clays for a while and am reasonably accurate, and started walking round the field before shooting with some 32g cartridges of size 6 to bag the odd pigeon. From what I've read on here people seem to have varying amounts of luck with their flight lines and decoy patterns. Could I just get away with setting out a horseshoe pattern about 40 yards in front of the woods where i'd be hiding and hoping for the best?

 

From what i've noticed there doesn't really seem to be a flight line, just a few groups of pigeons flying over every five minutes or so in any direction. The crop is currently maize, but would this be all right when harvested?

 

Thanks for any help, I need it!

[Harnser]

George ,

A flight line is generally the direction that pigeons will fly across a farm . They will generally stick to this flight line as a means of navigation . Many will say that thease flight lines follow natural lay lines in the earth that pigeons (and other birds and animals ) can atune to and then use to navigate from one place to another . Some times flight lines can become apparant very quickly ,other times it can take quite a while to suss out . The most succesful pigeon shooter will pay great attention to these flight lines and all ways try to set up directly under the flight line if possible . You will do well to sit and watch were the pigeons are flying to and from in you area and try to establish the flight lines . Hope this helps . Harnser .

Edited September 7, 2008 by Harnser

[p-a-s]

george it depends on the height of the trees if the trees are too tall and the pigeons are in flight to roost up in them it will take an awful lot to persuade them to almost kamikaze into your patern.you might get them to fly from the trees to your patern but you would have to be well camo`d and keep still.but that would mean them flying over the top of your hide and shooting going away birds you might do better if you were more tha 40yards from the trees say half way between then set up on a hedge just try and give them plenty of time to see the decoys without being to high in the sky hope this helps paul

[George1990]

Thanks for that chaps.

The field, then might be unsuitable. It is large but feels small because it is a sort of bowl shape, as the south, west and north sides are short sharp hills covered in woodland, so perhaps the pigeons are likely to fly right over it. As you say Paul, they are nearly always in the woods roosting and when you fire the first shot they all ****** off.

What do you reckon?

Edited September 9, 2008 by George1990

[Lancs Lad]

Mate, be wary of posting piccies of your land.......................

 

There are some ********* around that will use the info for other means..........

 

There have been some tales of people loosing land to less than "friendly" shooters before......

[p-a-s]

george could you not try setting up on the opposite end of the wood and try to pull them into you.you should realy be out there giving any method a try and something that works today might not work tommorow try and make things as natural as you can dont flood the area with floaters, magnets,decoys start off with decoys then give it an hour if no joy add something else to the patern and experiment.at the end of the day george all it will cost you is your time and effort. try going out of an afternoon a pigeon wont go to roost on a empty belly so if he`s hungry he will come to a decent patern dont get me wrong mate i am no expert when it comes to decoying and i can only advise you on my own findings hth paul

[George1990]

Ok I'll try it out, thanks :look: I'll edit that out now then Lancs Lad, thanks for the advice.