FarmerB Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Hi there, Me and a couple of mates finally got permission to shoot a large blueberry field with our air rifles. There is approx 30-50 woodies raiding the thousands of blueberry bushes in the morning and evening when the fruit pickers are not there. Its not your normal situation though. There are rows of bushes and wooden posts. (see photos). There is surrounding trees around the field, and the pigeons dont seem to favour any of them in particular. They will strafe the skys, not following any obvious flight lines and then a few of them will sit on the posts in the area theyve decided to hit. A few minutes later there is 30 -50 pigeons in amongst the bushes and on the posts. Now, we have tried using 5-6 decoys placed on the posts (flocked full bodied, sitting) in a 'U' shape, whilst (fully camo'd) hiding in the edges of the field in the bushes/trees etc.. This only tend to bring in 2 pigeons at a time and they always sit farthest away (~50yrds or so) at the far end of our decoy pattern. So far on 2 3 hour sessions - decoys have bagged us '0' woodies! Do we need more decoys as it is a larger field? We have also stalked the pigeons, they will never congregate anywhere near where we are hiding. However, we can use the bushes to our favour by crouching besides them and slowly approaching the sitting/feeding woodies. This approach bagged me 2 woodies in 2 hours and it was hard bloody work on the knees and back. Really this is a job for a shotgun imo. But I'm sure we can out smart these little ******* with our air rifles. Does anyone else have any ideas as how to get a little closer to these woodies or any tricks with decoys. I have a couple of those sillosock decoys on the way, but in between the blueberry bushes its hard for the pigeons to see a feeding decoy from the air. To elimate the the pigeons at our current rate it would take ages and I really want to please this landowner as he has other fields with rabbits that we spoke of briefly... Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hezbear Posted July 22, 2009 Report Share Posted July 22, 2009 Can you not get them roost shooting with the air rifles, it does sound like a shotgun job though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSS Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 Sounds like a shotgun job to me too. see if they land in any particular trees and get them when they go in them. Regards, Sam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerB Posted July 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 Thanks for your replies. Sorry, I forgot to mention that getting them while they were roosting was my first approach - However it seems they roost just off-site in some trees across a main road in the gardens of some large homes. Is there such a thing as too many decoys? I have access to appox 18 or so... if 5 decoys pull 2 woodies close, maybe 15 decoys could grab the attention of far more??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1zzle Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 I have managed to get one kill here with Farmer B but that was with no decoys and just laying in wait for the odd pigeon to land which then brings in loads more! I think stalking them would be really hard! As soon as you get within 50-60 yrds of them they fly off no matter how camo'ed up you are! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick miller Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 I have managed to get one kill here with Farmer B but that was with no decoys and just laying in wait for the odd pigeon to land which then brings in loads more!I think stalking them would be really hard! As soon as you get within 50-60 yrds of them they fly off no matter how camo'ed up you are! depends on your camo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D1zzle Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 LOL nice suit mate maybe we should try getting one of them Farmer B then the pigeons will think we are one of them! So any ideas on camo peeps? Would standard UK or US army camo do the job or is it all about real tree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntercarbine Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 LOL nice suit mate maybe we should try getting one of them Farmer B then the pigeons will think we are one of them!So any ideas on camo peeps? Would standard UK or US army camo do the job or is it all about real tree? looking at the photos of the field and the height of the bushes and length of grass i would try a ghillie suit mate, sit bang in the middle and when they come in make my way slowly towards that part of the field. lots of belly crawling i'm afraid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerB Posted July 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 Funnily enough, we have been pricing up guillie suits this afternoon for this exact purpose!! Great minds and all that!! Does anyone know if the jack pyke ''leaf concealment'' suit is silent? or do those leaves rustle when moving? leaf suit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzy Fudd Posted July 23, 2009 Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 sounds like a shotgun job, but... i take it you all arent hiding in the same place, youre spread out all over the field? if so would it be any use having one person stay visible at one sode of the field, hopefully making the woodies settle at the other side, where youll be waiting to take them out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerB Posted July 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 23, 2009 No, we sort of manage a section of the field each. When someone lets a shot off, the pigeons then move to a different part of the field where (hopefully) another one of us is hiding, waiting to take a shot. And so on and so forth. I quite like the idea of a guillie suit... The pigeons wont know whats hit them and I'll be sorted for halloween every year too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HW77 Hunter Posted July 24, 2009 Report Share Posted July 24, 2009 Try camouflaging your gun and fully camo your self and slowly belly crawl to stalk them , use every scrap of cover there is and be silent , slow , stealth and patient. Hope this helps!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerB Posted July 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2009 Thanks again, We all tried stalking the woodies today and acting very still/stealthy also. Great results - bagged a good few birds in the couple of hours we were there. Ordered a gullie suit today aswell, which should make life a little easier too! Will be good for the rabbits at another permission we have too! Thanks and --- HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND EVERYONE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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