Decoying around lodged crops

alex90

Hi lads, looking for a bit of advice as I'm relatively new to shooting. Having done some legwork and offered my services to some farmers to help protect crops, there's a fella with a few fields of spring barley that's lodged and getting hit hard by pigeon and crow. What's the best way to target them and reduce the population a bit to try and save the crop. I did a quick reccy yesterday and decoyed a few pigeons onto a corner of meadow just adjacent to the barley. There's a lot of crop in the area so birds are moving around a lot. Thanks for any advice. I've about 15 decoys and 2 pigeon flappers also.

keith s

Following this too Alex.

Just got asked about shooting derogation /can we shoot them this time of year. Reading the derogation I think we can between August 2022 - December 2023?

Can we use decoys before I buy some and how best to set up.

alex90

Yeah legally it's all above board, they're destroying the crop altogether

J.R.

You can shoot pigeons, feral pigeons, greycrows, magpies, rooks and jackdaws if they are attacking a crop up to 31st December.

You can use pigeon decoys but not crow decoys.

All types of pigeon decoys are allowed.

Calls are not allowed.

You can decoy from a field beside a crop if it suits - easier for seeing & setting up decoys and for gathering up.

You can shoot pigeons and crows in a stubble field after the crop is cut........if you are protecting a nearby crop.......you don't have to be set up in the crop field.

As the season goes on and more and more fields are in stubble...be careful..........you can still shoot and decoy as long as there is a crop to protect nearby.

A stubble field is not a crop...even though birds are feeding there....there must be a standing crop close by susceptible to attack.

J.R.

Setting up decoys - you could write a full book about it,

Plenty of info on line on patterns etc,

Basically, set up the decoys with their heads facing into the wind about a metre apart, starting about 25 metres out from your hide with the last decoy about 35 metres out.

You can set up in a horseshoe shape but make sure the inside of the horseshoe is wide enough for pigeons to land.......at least 12 metres wide at the end.

If birds come in and flair up as they near, not landing, then there is something wrong with the pattern.

JP22

Plus one on JR’s comments.

I would add, keep the middle of your decoy pattern within your cartridge/choke pattern range. You can use some of your shot birds as decoys (tidy them up though- wings in), do your pick-ups when there’s is a lull.

Best of luck.

J.R.

When setting out a pigeon decoy pattern all birds coming in will approach and land with their faces into the wind.

The wind direction will determine your decoy pattern and setup.

This is a very old video on pigeon shooting with Archie Coates, a professional pigeon shooter.

Halfway through the video - at around - 34:30 - he explains the decoy pattern setup and the wind.

https://youtu.be/6O1GkR_5Jpg

JP22

 Seen that one, Archie Coates knew his stuff.

alex90

Thanks for the replies lads