anser2 Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Yesterday i took a winner of Rockland WAs draw for a days pigeon shooting. We set up on recently cut maze and from the start we had a steady stream of pigeons comming from 8.00 to almost 3.00 pm. It was interesting that up until early afternoon the birds came in with confidence some even being shot while my dog was retrieving from the decoy patten. As the day went on the birds became more skittish and i am pretty sure they were returning birds that we had already shot at in the morning. We ended with 108 birds and a few lost in the surrounding woods. There were not huge numbers of birds about with most comming in in ones and twos , but 90% of the birds we saw came into the decoys some locking onto them from 400 yards off. Today I took a friend onto a maze stubble a few miles away from yesterdays shoot. A few hundred birds rose off the stubble and using the same decoy spread - magnet , 2 floaters and 30 decoys and same hide in a similar position we struggled to get any birds interested. 10.00 we moved with just one wood pigeon and one jackdaw in the bag. We set up on a third maze stubble 10 miles away usuing the same decoy\hide layout , after flushing several hundred birds off it. For the remainder of the day we had a steady stream of singles and small groups of pigeons passing close to the decoys. Yet only a handful showed any intrest in the decoys and we shot 9 pigeons. I have rarely had such a day when the pigeons treated out decoys with such distain and yet yesterday we could not keep the birds out of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitebridges Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 (edited) Firstly well done on providing the winner with a top day out anser2 Tha little beggars, rarely do the play ball 2 days together. I've been out and about over the patch just twice in the last three weeks. Session 1 was a comedy of errors, the birds were feeding quite well on the rape off the Guist road, we get set up and the farm decides to smash the cover crop (maize), the pigeons didn't take to the disturbance and we were about 2 days too soon. Today we walked off 500 near Holt and the running dogs and totty on horses put paid to a proper day. The wind failed despite promises of a force 4, but we did shoot eight in the woods. Promises of spring drillings this week might help the doldrums, but it's been tough of late, very tough. I'm a weekend shooter at the moment. BTW we saw six raptors up, close to the Witches Wood and Runton Paul. Edited March 7, 2009 by Whitebridges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted March 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Hi whitebridges , This is the hardest year i have had for pigeon shooting. I have not had a big shoot over rape at all. Got a decent bag last week ( 70 & 142 ) near Holt over cut maze , but they do not seem to be useing rape like usual , though the pigeon numbers have picked up a lot in the past few days. Two weekends ago i toured all my 17 rape fields and saw only one bird feeding on them. Today we had a look at 12 of them and it was the same story , what birds there were were all on cut maze strips or beet stubbles. Though on the way home tonight several thousand were stitting on bare plough along the Holt \ Fakenham road. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatcatsplat Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Am shooting over wheat at the moment (Green shoots are maybe a couple of inches long) and nothing seems to be coming in (Actually, there's ****** all flying in general 'cept for the seagulls!!). Is there a particular time of year (or stage of the growing/harvesting process) when they will come in for wheat? Have had 4 weeks of decoying and roost shooting for a grand total of 1 pigeon off maybe 6 cartridges - Saving me a fortune, but all rather pointless! Any advice warmly welcomed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 I am noticing the bigger flocks breaking up, which does make decoying a bit easier, especially on rape. Our pea drillings don't start for quite a few weeks yet, so its recovering rape that is providing the shooting. I have never known pigeons to "feed" on wheat after its been sown, once the green shoots start showing. The next time they visit is if it gets laid down a bit (by the wind), just before and after it ripens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatcatsplat Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 Thanks Cranfield - Looks like i need to convince the farmer to change crops!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proTOM1 Posted March 8, 2009 Report Share Posted March 8, 2009 it strange how birds can be so interested 1 day and dont pay a bit of notice the next . birds round me have been feeding well on the maize strips but not played ball on sat they were all on drilling pea drilling mainly some on barly . they are still hitting the rape in a few places 1 place they are still in good numbers doing a fair bit of damage hopefully tuesday when a few guys off hear join me that will slow them a bit we will see ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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