Just keep looking

[pigeon controller]

Last weekend I had two phone calls regarding pigeons on the rape so I set out for first light to watch for birds comming out of roost. After an hour of daylight nothing other than a few crows looking for slugs or worms. I decided to go back home and pick up the ferrets and long net the hedges. So after two or three hours ended up with 6 nice rabbits, the farmer pulled up in his disco and said I'd done a good job scaring the pigeons off the rape!!!!

 

On the Friday (07/11/08) picked up DB from work at 13.00pm and we picked up on a flightline to an area if approx half an acre of hawthorn scrub which was full of pigeons next to an old stubble field. We set up on the stubble and ended up with 110 pick up but none of the birds decoyed into the pattern but came close enough to be cracking shots.

 

 

Last Friday (14/11/08) went with DB after work to the same field but the birds were at the other end of the field due to the wind direction. we had to set up on a small corner of the field to prevent shooting over a public footpath and away from an old farmhouse. we had about 25 birds when a woman came over to us and asked us to stop shooting as it was spooking her two horses. We informed her that we were shooting away from the house and last week she'd not complained. We agreed to stop shooting for half an hour so she could put the horse in the stable. We then carried on when the estate manager came over to us to ask us to stop as the woman in the rented farmhouse had said that we had been shooting at her house and that she was concerned that we could shoot her children when they come back from school!!!

 

We picked up 69 pigeons and then had a confrontation with a guy as we drove back through the farm yard.

 

As the estate manager said to us that why do people rent in the country if they do not understand what goes on he told us that they had complaind to the ajoining farm when he muckspread his land.

 

Sorry about the content of this acticle but I just want to get it off my chest.

 

I see the lads in the east of the country are getting birds moving on to the rape anbody in the midlans seen them bother with it yet? They all seem to be on acorns, hawthorns and chestnuts by us.

 

Pigeon Controller

[anser2]

Shooting close to livestock and especially horses is always a big NO NO. I had a field of unharvested beans last year with horses in the adjacent 15 acre field that was blue with pigeons for weeks. Though we were several hundred yards away from them I would not dream of shooting anywhere them and I do not know any countryman who would ether. Shooting must always come second if livestock are close by.

[farmboy]

Firstly, good shooting, sounds like you had a good time.

 

As for this bit...

As the estate manager said to us that why do people rent in the country if they do not understand what goes on he told us that they had complaind to the ajoining farm when he muckspread his land.

 

It happens unfortunately, last year my neighbors were whining when they had tractors from a neighboring farm dreying loads of silage past their place at the weekend. It had been raining for weeks and the farmer was getting the job done before it started raining again.

 

its daft but unfortunately is just one of those things we have to live with.

 

Gareth

[Jim Sarakun]

SHOOTING AROUND CAMBRIDGE CITY LIKE WE DO, WE GET STUDENTS STROLLING, TRESPASSING EVEN, OVER OUR SHOOT DURING THE WARMER MONTHS, LAYING DOWN IN THE CORN, AND DOING WHATEVER STUDENTS DO WHILST LAYING DOWN IN THE CORN ON A WARM DAY. THE CORN BEING TOO HIGH FOR US TO SEE WITH OUR FIELD GLASSES.

 

WE OFTEN GET THEM SHOUTING STUPID STUDENT TYPE STUFF FROM THE TREES WHEN WE SHOOT FROM THE EDGE OF THE WOODS INTO THE FIELD. TRESPASSING AGAIN THEY ARE. ONCE THEY WERE PRETENDING TO BE THE POLICE, AND WERE SHOUTING FOR US TO UNLOAD OUR WEAPONS, AND COME OUT WITH OUR GUNS BROKEN. SHOUTING TILL THEY WERE HOARSE THEY WERE. WELL AFTER ABOUT AN HOUR, WE HAD HAD ENOUGH, SO THOUGHT WE WOULD GO AND FIND THEM, AND KINDLY TELL THEM TO EFF OFF, AND STOP WASTING TAX PAYERS MONEY, AND GO AND DO THEIR HOME WORK OR SOMETHING. HOPEFULLY WE COULD BRING BACK A NICE GIRLY ONE TO PLAY WITH.

 

THE SHOOTING WAS REALLY GOOD TOO, AND THE PIGEONS WERE DECOYING WELL, SO IT TOOK US A WHILE TO LEAVE THE SCENE. WE WERE SHOOTING ALONGSIDE THE A10 OUT OF CAMBRIDGE, A 350 YARD DEEP BELT OF TREES, THEN THE FIELD. WE WERE JUST ON THE EDGE OF THE FIELD, UNDER THE TREES. WELL WHEN WE GOT NEARER THE ROAD, WE SAW 3 ARMED RESPONSE CARS, 12 COPS WITH GUNS, AND A FIRE ENGINE. PRESUMABLY THEY WERE NOT EXPECTING TO TAKE HOSTAGES, AS THERE WAS NO AMBULANCE, AND THE FIRE ENGINE WAS THERE TO CLEAN UP THE MESS AFTER THE SHOOTOUT. THEY HAD BLOCKED THE ROAD OFF TOO. AND WHAT A TAILBACK, FRIGHTENING STUFF.

 

WELL IT WAS A BIT HOSTILE TO START WITH, COS THEY WERE A BIT CROSS THAT WE DID NOT COME OUT AN HOUR AGO, THOUGH AFTER WE EXPLAINED THAT WE THOUGHT IT WAS STUDENTS AND WE HAD EARPLUGS IN, AND SURELY AFTER AN HOUR IT WAS OBVIOUSLY NOT TERRORISTS BUT A PIGEON SHOOT, THEY TURNED INTO NICE MEN. SOMEONE HAD REPORTED GUN SHOTS FROM THE WOOD, (PROBABLY STUDENTS) A PLACE WE HAVE SHOT A THOUSAND TIMES BEFORE, WITH NO PROBLEMS, SO THEY HAD TO RESPOND. HIS WORDS I SHALL NEVER FORGET, " YOU HAVE INITIATED A SEQUENCE OF EVENTS THAT WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH". NOW IN MY MIND, THAT WAS THE PERSON WHO MADE THE PHONE CALL.

 

SO WE SHOWED THEM OUR LICENSES AND OFFERED TO BUY THEM SOME FISHERMANS FRIENDS TO SOOTH THEIR SORE THROATS FROM ALL THAT SHOUTING. THE NICE MAN EVEN GAVE US A PHONE NUMBER, TO CALL THEM JUST IN CASE JOE BLOGS MIGHT BE AT ANY OF OUR OTHER SHOOTS. "IF YOU SEE ANY PEOPLE AROUND, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FIELD OR WHERE EVER, JUST CALL US FIRST AND TELL US YOUR THERE, AS SOME ONE OTHER THAN YOURSELVES IS BOUND TO" HE SAID.

 

WELL WE HAVE IN FACT DONE THIS ON 2 OCCASIONS SINCE, WHEN WE HAVE SEEN PEOPLE TRESPASSING, AS THEM ARMED RESPONSE GUYS, DO A VALUABLE JOB THAT I DO NOT ENVY THEM FOR, AND WE DO NOT WISH TO WASTE THEIR PRECIOUS TIME, AND THEY ASSURED US THAT THEY DON'T SIT AROUND ALL DAY WATCHING DVD'S WHILST EATING DOUGHNUTS. THEY EVEN SHOWED US THEIR KIT AFTER WE ASKED THEM, REALLY NICE MEN, FRIGHTENING STUFF THEY CARRY, THOUGH DECLINED OUR WAGER THAT WE COULD SHOOT MORE PIGEONS WITH THEIR RIFLES THAN THEY COULD. AND THEY DREW THE LINE AT LETTING US SIT IN THEIR CAR TO PLAY WITH ALL THAT EXPENSIVE ELECTRONIC STUFF US TAX PAYERS HAD PAID FOR.

 

WHEN WE FINALLY GOT BACK TO OUR DECOY PATTERN, A HUGE FLOCK GOT UP FROM ALL AROUND IT, TYPICAL EH? WE ENDED UP WITH NEARLY 200 BIRDS THAT DAY, I CAN'T REMEMBER THE EXACT AMOUNT...

[Imperfection]

lol-gotta laugh at Jim's encounter! I wonder how far out you can down a pigeon with a 9mm...

 

It does make me wonder why people choose a rural life,but dont actually have any idea as to what really goes on.Me thinks they've been watching too much 'Darling bugs of may' episodes!