pigeon decoying question

nigelm485

hello all had a great day decoying today just wondering do you ever set up in the exact same way same place everything the next day off tomorrow again and will be out

Burning Bridges

yep, I had consecutive 80+ bird days shooting from a hide under a tree in the middle of a field.

nigelm485

mighty was just worried that it would look too familiar to them. Thanks

cookimonster

I shoot the same flight lines and locations time after time . The pigeons coming in are not necessarily from the same area, as flighting birds will pull other birds in from a distance and into view of your decoys. If the birds are usually there they are there for a reason so you should get a couple of good days before you do manage to drive them off for a while.
But alas the humble pigeon is tricky and fickle and today's grey hoard may be gone tomorrow.
Happy hunting, I will be back at it myself midweek , I'm hoping for a slightly windy, wet overcast day, as these conditions have produced some great bags.

nigelm485

ya had a good day today now and was flat cam no wind at all. there wasn't much happening in morning with my 20 decoy pattern but I added a whirly and 4 loopers and slowly improved. to the point at 5 o clock I couldn't keep catragies in the gun for a hour. hard beat that buzz

cookimonster

There's nothing like a good day decoying. I'm finding that the shooting is more consistent in the evenings, with two outings seeing us shoot up to eight o'clock in the evening. I'm usually set up just before or after lunch time and will shoot into the evening.

nigelm485

out at the moment same spot pattern everything abd very poor turn out there flying around but wont land

philmire

nigelm485 wrote: »

out at the moment same spot pattern everything abd very poor turn out there flying around but wont land

There not completely dumb if you keep shooting the same spots they will move to somewhere quiter

cookimonster

One of the lads scouted a new location, watching hundreds of pigeons dropping in to the area with consistent flight lines. When we set up on it the end result was disappointing, with approximately 60 shot. Overall they did not decoy well with many birds just flying past. The set up was tweeked but nothing improved the situation.
Compare that to another outing, another location, where only a few birds where flighting and the picked up bag was 300+ by the end of the day. There's no science in it, what works today may fail tomorrow.
I'm just back from a bit of family business and haven't seen many birds moving compared to previous days. I know from farmers that a lot of grain is being harvested about 10 or more miles out and this is probably pulling birds in from this area.

marty555

Pigeon shooting is something I look forward to every year ! And this year I just can't come across any numbers morning afternoon or evening!!! Really disappointed

nigelm485

around here there in big groups coming in 7 or 10 at a time. there is lots around here just every second field is barley or wheat and hard to pin them down

cookimonster

If you can't get other guns to shoot other areas at the same time try flagging the fields you don't want them to go to.
I use this when shooting large areas to concentrate birds back to the decoys. Old cloths or bright plastic on bamboo canes will do.

philbk

What do you do with a 100+ dead pidgeons?? I know they are good to eat and have eaten them. Last year myself and my brother had a 100+ day. We kept one or two for ourselves and a local French man with an empty freezer was delighted to take the rest. But what does everyone else do? It would be awful to waste such good meat!

cookimonster

There are loads of recipes for them.
At present anything being shot by me ends up as dog food as I have a frezzer full at this stage.

nigelm485

If it stuck with them il tais them us for pies supper b dogs can't get enough of them

Glenbulldog

What tips does anyone have for decoying over standing crops?

Bogwoppit

Glenbulldog wrote: »

What tips does anyone have for decoying over standing crops?

Either find somewhere it's lodged and put decoys in there or find a sitty tree they are using near where they are feeding and put out floaters/bouncers pointing at it.

Glenbulldog

On average how many floaters would you have out?

cookimonster

If you haven't got flattened spots utilize the wider tram lines. For standing crops I use bamboo stakes to keep decoys up over the grain and then for shot birds.
One well placed floater can be worth a dozon static shells but two will do even better. I use a flapper on a long pole up over the crop to great effect, again utilizing movement to bring them in.
Just a piece of advice, forget retrieving fallen birds from the crop as you will do mmore damage then the birds, just leave em to the critters...

nigelm485

I find 2 floaters a flapper and a whirly proped up great. as for retrieval of birds a thumb counter and a springer is how I get it done.

cookimonster

The farmer I shoot for wouldn't be happy to have dogs through his crops, I just count those days over standing crop as pure vermin control and only pick what I can with doing much damage

nigelm485

its my familys land he uses dogs when he is decoying here doesn't bother him

Burning Bridges

Watched a Shooting show, youtube video of two guys shooting in Wexford, they had a great tip, putting a 5mm rivet stud in the top of a bamboo peg and a 6mm hole in the half shell decoy.
Decoys move very realistically right and left as well as up and down.