Harnser Posted May 22, 2009 Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 Had an interesting day over the farms today . Had a drive round to see where the pigeons were and bumped into my farmer friend . We sat in my car and had a yarn about farming ,shooting and politics . He then told me that the pigeons were hitting a field of young suger beet the other side of the farm and that he hadent seen many deer about on the farm for a week or two ,but his neighbour had hit a red stag last night on his way home from work in his car . The neighbour had said that he had caught it a glancing blow and that it had carried on running across one of my friends fields . My friend asked me if i could go and see if i could find it and if necessary shoot it . I went to the spot were the neigbour said he had hit the deer and after about 10 minutes found some fresh deer slots in the sugar beet field . I followed the tracks right acoss the field to the boundry of the farm were it becomes a large forresty plantation ,if was clear that the deer had got into the forestry woodland and off my beat . As there was no signs of blood and the tracks were the tracks of a running deer and no sign of it staggering i can only think that it was not hit to badly and hopefully will recover . I digress , any how i went to the field of beet that my friend had told me about and lo and behold there were about 60 pigeons feeding the young suger beet . I decided to travel light and just took a net ,poles and 10 flocked decoys . I set up in the hedgerow between two holly bushes and put my coys out in a random pattern . After about 10 mins i shot my first bird over the coys and another within 2 minutes . I staid for about two hours and finished up with 14 picked up and about another 5 hard hit birds that managed to fly away . Keep your eye on the young beet ,pigeons love to have a go at it this time of the year while it is still young and tender . I can remember a few years ago a friend and me had a wonderful day on young beet when we shared a hide and shot just short of the magic 100 . Harnser . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosd Posted May 22, 2009 Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 Thanks for the tip Harnser. Sounds like it was a good day out all in all! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR1960 Posted May 22, 2009 Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 Yep, had some of my best days on sugar beet. They like the discarded tops soon after harvest too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pavman Posted May 22, 2009 Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 The cock Fezant are hammering my farmers, he is not happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerseaDavid Posted May 22, 2009 Report Share Posted May 22, 2009 Me and dad have both had great shooting on sugar beet fields Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted May 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2009 Had another drive round today and the pigeons are still hitting the suger beet . will have another go tomorrow ,although heavy rain is forcasted . At one end of this beet field is a pond and the birds were flighting to the pond for a drink ,its been very dry around these parts for a while now and no puddles in the fields or on the side of the road for the pigeons to get a drink from . As the summer gets warmer and we have less rainfall a good drinking water supply can be a hot spot for shooting pigeons , particulaly when the birds are feeding on the corn stubbles . Good hunting , Harnser . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si-Bore Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 I wonder if they will hit the fodder beet which is just breaking through now? Is it a similar crop to sugar beet? Cheers, Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted May 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 I wonder if they will hit the fodder beet which is just breaking through now? Is it a similar crop to sugar beet? Cheers, Si Yes they will hit the fodder beet if they fancy it and will also hit the fodder turnips a little later on . Harnser . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si-Bore Posted May 25, 2009 Report Share Posted May 25, 2009 Yes they will hit the fodder beet if they fancy it and will also hit the fodder turnips a little later on .Harnser . Thanks for the info. I will keep my eyes on it. Si Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proTOM1 Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Thanks harnser for the tip ,even tho i have been shooting pigeon for over 15 years now i have never seen many on bbet at this time of year maybe because i have not been looking but after reading harnsers thread started looking and today had a go on some new beet .Put about 70 when i got there set up just decoys to start and shot 18 then put magnet out and finished the day with 78 great sport and will be watching new beet for now on :blink: Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted May 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 Tom , Thats a good days shooting and it dosent surprise me that you shot them on young beet . I have also shot them on beet right through the growing season . I have found that the pigeons will hit the beet if we have a hot period and low rainfall . I dont know ,but think that it might be the moisture from the beet that they could be after when it is hot . A couple of years ago we had a real hot june ,july ,and august and the beet started to wilt and the beet was in a sorry condition . We had a quite severe rain storm overnight and within a couple of days the beet had picked its self up was looking good again . As soon as the beet looked fresh again the pigeons started to hammer it again and i had some wonderful shooting . No ,never ignore suger beet you just might be able to get a good days shooting that you didnt expect ,and of course the harvested chipped beet is as good as it gets . Harnser . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintail Posted May 28, 2009 Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 i noticed several crows/rooks on a field of sugarbeet today are they after insects? or the sugarbeet themselves, i will be going there saturday to see if they are still there and try and get a few blackies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted May 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2009 Pintail , I wouldnt think they are after the beet . Proberbly after the insects ,like leather jackets and any thing else or any carrion that might be on the field . They will certainly take any seed that has been drilled and can be a right pain on laid corn . Harnser . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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