pigeon shooting over standing crops

vermin99

Well so I'm lucky enough to know many of the farmers around here since I was only a tot.....Have a shotgun about 2 months now and I have about 800 acres of permissions to shoot both vermin and game on...Both tillage and grazing anyway a neighbour of mine has about 30 acres of oats wheat and barley.I do shoot vermin for him no bother and he let's me in for pheasants then but he lost a fair bit of barley this year to crows and pigeons and he asked me could I have a good go at them this year so what are you're tactics for shooting over flattened parts of standing barley....equipment ie : floaters ,whirlys, flappers etc etc. And is there anyway to minimise flattening more crops retrieving shot birds and goin to and from the hide,would you consider a dog vital for this job ?.Keen to impress the farmer thanks in advance

snipe02

Absolutely ya would never find all your birds its a nightmare although a big lab or springer would do a bit of damage not like us but still...
id say ,,only speculating a cocker would be perfect for the job

cookimonster

We've being doing some crop protection over the last few months on fallen crops. Our rule of thumb is no dogs, no point doing more harm.

Use tramlines and headlands for access. Find an area of fallen crop that the birds are frequenting and set up your decoys on it. Use one track to move between hide and decoy pattern and then keep strictly to it. I use floaters to attrach them in and find them very effective in standing crops.

We retrieve as much as we can, but again no point doing more damage then the birds. I always tell the farmer that there will be a certain amount lost in the crop.

Went back to one permission last week that we had shot over standing crop the week previously. The farmer had cut the crop and it was funny to see all the random patterns of feathers where we had dropped birds right into the middle of the standing crop. Not a carcuss or bone to be seen only a circle of feathers.

vermin99

cookimonster wrote: »

We've being doing some crop protection over the last few months on fallen crops. Our rule of thumb is no dogs, no point doing more harm.

Use tramlines and headlands for access. Find an area of fallen crop that the birds are frequenting and set up your decoys on it. Use one track to move between hide and decoy pattern and then keep strictly to it. I use floaters to attrach them in and find them very effective in standing crops.

We retrieve as much as we can, but again no point doing more damage then the birds. I always tell the farmer that there will be a certain amount lost in the crop.

Went back to one permission last week that we had shot over standing crop the week previously. The farmer had cut the crop and it was funny to see all the random patterns of feathers where we had dropped birds right into the middle of the standing crop. Not a carcuss or bone to be seen only a circle of feathers.

how many floaters would you use and would you raise your normal decoys up a bit aswell? Do you only shoot when the farmer asks or do you keep an eye on the fields anyway? also to clear things up can I shoot on stubble ?( legally)
Thanks

cookimonster

I just use two floaters, one out a good bit bit from decoy pattern, up high and one just out side of the pattern, all facing into the wind. I have found if you crowd thier approrach line you can put them off from landing (other times no rules apply and they come in regardless)

I use the normal pegs for the shells just to keep them tidy and as we go on we replace decoys with real birds proped on bicycle spokes.

I try to organise a shoot on a regular basis, some of the permissions I can turn up unanounaced others I must ring ahead. So it depends, some farmers may direct us to certain areas others just wave you on. When the crops are not cut I keep an eye out for damage due to high winds or heavy rains. Other good areas are patchs where crops that are struggling to trive (typical with rape).

Yes you can shoot over stubble in the off season, there are several arguments in favour of this-

- all year round pest control over land used for tillage.

- the proximety of other unharvested crops.

There are case studies that have legitimatised the practice (no doubht this statement has the potential to open the flood gates of discussion:rolleyes:).