Is It Me Or Is It Getting More Difficult?

[johnthebrit 0]

Hi Gents, I'm new to Hunting Life, so please excuse me if this topic has been done to death already.

I've been pigeon shooting on and off, for 45 years, seriously for the last 15. In my area, Essex/Herts, I'm finding it more and more difficult to get things to work.

The birds seem magnet shy, flapper shy, even decoy shy sometimes. Bale hides don't work any more. So you hide yourself 100%, get a couple of shots, them they all go elsewhere.

I can't find solid flightlines, just "flock-strings" where birds follow each other along until you shoot one, then the chain breaks and reforms somewhere else.

Farmers plough the field after harvest on the same day, so bird numbers cannot build up on stubbles.

Gamekeepers are obsessive with stopping you shooting during the game season, even though sensibly located pigeon shooters can actually stop the pheasants from wandering off. I've even been thrown out of a wood I had permission on, on the grounds that the poults were coming NEXT WEEK, and he wanted it to be nice and quiet!!

I must point out that I mainly shoot in the winter, when crops need protecting but accept that is the most tricky time of year.

Or am I just becoming a Grumpy Old Man???

[slipper 116]

I kmow how you feel mate its been the same for me for a few years now

[leslie harold gedge 1,390]

have you tried nick taits ff5s the best thing on the market . we start off with 3- 4 dead pigeons 3 nick taits flappers 4 mi

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y floaters3 birds on the flappers in a V shape a floater at the front then keep adding the birds to the patten on the mini floaters or on the ground with a kabab stick to hold the head up .always works for us hope it does for you .

[luckyplum 50]

hi folks i must say that i am not someone who takes their pigeon shooting as seriously as some but i have noticed this year that i can,t find the number of birds i have in the past. monday of this week i spent the morning painting at home because of the rain, but as soon as it dried up i grabbed the "20", half a dozen decoys, a flapper and me and the dog drove the twenty minutes up the road to a stubble feild. both me and the dog enjoyed the fresh air and wildlife ( buzzard & hare) from the hide and i managed to shoot 5 pigeon and a crow, no great numbers but better than being stuck indoors ! cheers plum !

[Lee Dixon 0]

There dosent seam to be as meny about this year but i have maneged to get pomission on land this year and u can sit in a hide with no decoys and they just keep comin in the same direction all day its clearly a bizzy flightline was just amazed were there all coming from.