Pigeon shooting
38 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE
birdscrossedthefrontofthewood,
buttodaythewindwaslighter,and
insteadtheyjustfunnelledstraight
overthetop.I managedtogettothe
fieldsforabout12.15pm,whichwasn’t
idealasI didn’tgeta proper chance to
assessthesituation.
Brilliantdesign
Wehada fantastic,largelaidpatch
infrontofus.Weusedtwomagnets
andthesuperbFlightLineDecoy’s
risingflapper,brilliantlydesignedby
NickTaitanda seriousbitofkit— well
madeandwellthoughtout.Dead
birdsoncradlesweresetouttolook
asif theywerebusyoverthecrop.
Wesatdowntogetgoing,albeit
frustratinglylatethankstothe
M25,butasI watchedtoseehow
thepigeonswouldbehave,myfears
becamea reality.Therewerea few
birdsthattooka look,butseeingthe
picturelateat height,it wasonly just
b i i th ithi h t
er aps rustrate at eing
late,I wasn’tonnormalform.Matt
shotsomenicebirdsearlyonandI
startedtofindformonthelongstuff,
butwhatshouldhavebeena very
straightforwardcrop-protection
outing, with numbers being killed,
wasn’tgoingtoplan.Thesethings
happen,butI wasfallingwayshort
ofmyinitialexpectationsat the
beginningoftheweek.
I washopingtheymightjuststart
toplayball,butdeepdownI knewthe
d h d b l t Th f wpigeonst at eci e to ecoy, ut
onlya handful.Aftera while,a lotof
birdsstartedcomingbacktothefar
left-handedgeofthewood.AsMatt
workedawayat challengingbirds,I
decidedtoseeif I couldgetunder the
line of birds coming back.Theydidn’tletmedown.
I managedtorollovermorethan 25
inabouthalfanhour.Eachandevery
onewasabsolutelyfullofbarley
whentheircropsburstopenasthey
clattereddeadthroughthetrees.
It wasgreatshootingand my spirits
startedtopickup.
I hada phonecallfromMattto
tellmehewasstoppingplay.Matt’sa
newfatherandthepoorguywasalso
movinghousethenextday,sothe
pressurewason.I gotbacktothehide
tohelppackup,Mattbusyworking his
twoLabradorspicking-up.Evilbarleyears
A wordofwarning— checkyourdog’s
eyes,earsandfeetwhentheyfinish
onlaidbarley.It’simpossibletoshoot
withoutthem,butbarleyearsare
evil;thegrainscanbecomelodged.
Luckily,thepick-upinthecropwas
easyasit wassoflat,andtheboys did
asterlingjobinthewood.
AsMattdeparted,I decidedtohead
backtoseeif I couldflighta fewmore.
I shota fewmore,andwiththoseI had
flightedearlierwemanaged to push
toa totalinthe90s.
It’sa goodbagbutpigeonshooting
is aboutmaximisingyouroutings
and,fromtheamountoftraffic and
birdsaroundit waswayshortof.You
can’twinthemall,butthisfarmneeds
someseriouspigeonmanagement.
Thingsdon’talwaysgotoplan,
evenforthepros— buteveryday
is a schooldayandyouneverstop
learning.Let’sbehonest,onlya few
dayspriortothisoutingallwasdoom
andgloomwiththegenerallicence
fi asco, so I can’t be too disappointed.SeeVintageTimes, p.80,fora
period look at the same issue.“Whenpigeonsswitchontobarley,it’s
likea drugtothem,regardlessof what
other food source is available”
Pigeonsreturningfor
anotherfeastcome
into rangeMattaddsa bitofreal
vegetationtohishidesetupto
dupe even the wiliest woodies