Pigeon Days

With pigoen shooting, some say the best type of shotgun shooting you can have and mainly we at Field and Moor agree, however I am yet to have a day shooting on the excellent Grouse Moor, we all live in hope!!. Whilst having a good day out on a driven shoot is a fabulous time, especially if you spend most of the season beating, having a good day out shooting over early rape and other newly planted fields is one of the best forms of sport with a shotgun.

Here in Bedfordshire we are very fortunate to have a huge amount of crops attracting many hundreds if not thousands of the wiley woody. Having shot pigeons for nearly thirty years it is amazing how you never stop learning about this wonderful quarry, it is such excellent sport that it does not seem to pay justice to call them "Vermin"! I had the pleasure in meeting a local man Tony at a business meeting who, as i found out, has shot many thousands of pigoens during his time.

When he invited me out for a day decoying over stubble this was a real eye opener for me and made me realise just how little I knew about the finer art of decoying pigeons, when we arrived at the edge of the field we sat opened the coffe and just watched where the flight line was and the amount of pigeons floating about, which is something i would have done over the previous days! When we had decide where was a good spot to set up we moved off. I was amazed the amount of kit we unloaded from the back of his MK1 Defender 90, a true shoot vehicle, 6 hide nets and poles, a selection mix of approx 50 decoys, shell, full bodied, some on springs. Once we got all the kit out a he put out the decoy pattern and i set up the hide around the huge old Oak tree we had selected.

 

Low cost Pigeon Whirly 

FUD Folding Decoy

Using a mix of green and Beige nets, making sure we had enough room for two seats. By the time I had finished Tony was walking back having set the decoy pattern, incouding the well discussed "Whirly". I had never used one before so was excited to see how well it would work.

After only being sat down all ready to go for 5 minutes the pigeons started to come in, it was amazing to see the pattern working to sheer perfection. One particular sight will stay with me forever, I looked out over to the far right hand side of the field and watched a pigeon flighting high above the hedge row some 300 yards away. and watched it turn, i could not believe that he had seen the whirly and pattern from that distance, but sure enough he had. As i watched it come in, wings set, i felt quite bad at even the thought of shooting it, but thats what we where there for, having said that watching it fold up from a first barrel was some what pleasing.

the total bag for the day was approx 140 with only 212 shots between us. I learned alot from that day and many more afterwards and will answer that most discussed topic, "Should i use a Whirly, without hesitation or question the answer is a definate "YES" it is part of your decoying kit. not always can it be used and unfortunately the weather, time of year and lay of the land will determine if it works, but you must have one with you as it can be the different between a ok day and a "Red Letter day"

Me with just some of the pigeons from that day.

Hope you enjoyed and hers to the next time, very soon i hope

Phil

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To See or Not to see?? whats the answer

We are pleased here at Field and Moor that we have been approved as an Affilliate to the Easy Hit product. I have been using one of these for approx 2 years and whilst i dont have an eye dominance problem it certainly does help you mount the gun correctly time after time after time thus ensuring better and more kills whether it be clays, driven game or wildfowl.

I do think that it is pushed a lot for eye dominane only and therefore lots of people say they dont need it, but believe me it is the best £30 shooting product i have ever invested in. If you do suffer from an eye dominance problem then you should not be reading any further and clicking the link here and placing your order. Especially seeing that we are offering a free delivery special offer, providing that you enter the code of E00717 at time of ordering via the Easy Hit website ONLY

Just a short one today, but one i think will benefit hundreds and hundreds of shooters, men, ladies and youngsters.

Let me know your thoughts

Phil

First Aid on a Shoot

Having just read an article in a shooting magazine there was a very interesting comment made about the health of some of the shooters and that on a shoot one person had passed away and one had to have CPR!!

This brings me to a subject which i feel needs to be thought of far more on all shoots throughout the country. Whilst none of us want to ever experience a fatality on a days shoot but what should we do if it every happens??

How many shoots do you know that are able to re-act quickly and effectively should the situation arise? well from my own experience none! which i feel is quite concerning when you think of where you can be at anyone time, 2,500 feet up on the Grouse Moors or 2 miles away from a main road across acres and acres of fields, which will be either snow covered or very wet.

Now, some shoots i am sure will carry a First Aid kit, wont they? no your possibly right (if they do it would be in a vehicle parked 100 of yards away!), they wont, however any first aid kit is not going to help a broken limb or even worse heart attack. Now many of us wont be trained in what to do, but what we can do?

Well, ideally having 1 or 2 people on the shoot First Aid trained, but i cant see that happening, but think it should, possibly someone from the beaters would be good. They should carry minor first aid kit to include:

Latex free gloves (Nitril)
Bandages
Plasters
Disinfectant hand gel
Disinfectant wipes
Foil blanket
2 way radio (poss already have one)
Mobile phone (poss already will have one)
Night Stick

None of the above would be to much to carry as could easily packed into a pouch and put on a belt.

Now, the next question, if you had to call the emergency services, how many people on your shoot would know exactly where you are to be able to give precise location?? i doubt no one!! so the dedicated personell would make there business to know these details to minimise the delay in the arrival time and to give vital information as to your accessibilty as you could expect paramedics to arrive in a vehicle not suited for off road and if you are out on the highlands or Grouse Moor the chances of the Air Ambulance arriving is very high.

Why not make a note of the GPS Co-Ordinates for the drives you do either via your mobile phone or Google Earth and keep these with you, at least you will be giving someone a chance.

Hope this breeds food for thought, however doubt anything will change (oohh Controversial) well tell me it will.

Look forward to hearing from you

Phil

Something for the Ladies

Hi all, when starting Field and Moor like many projects you end up doing what you want and think is what others want! However when talking to people in business, shooting colleagues and friends you start gettting lots of feed back, some good, some bad, some interesting but all worth an ear to there views and comments. One such area was mentioned to me three times in one week and it was something i had very little knowledge, only a brief outline when my parents had a clothes fashion shop in the Cotswolds, and this idea was to offer good quality proper cut Ladies Shooting Clothing i had been asked for this on a driven day by a lady who was tired of wearing small mens / large boys breeks and wanted know if i would start selling ladies shooting clothing As it happened Hoggs of Fife launched a ladies shooting jacket, the Lady Mey which has proved to be a big success. One thing that was very strange is to why there was no breeks to match?? well 12 months on we are stillwaiting for them...........

Now with the latest 2010 catalogue from the very well known and respected outdoor clothing manufacturer Deerhunter it looks as this has now been resolved. Launching in the spring 2010 is the a range of shooting clothing for ladies to match any mens outfits and without doubt the ladies will look far better than us men, sorry chaps but don't think i am wrong!! whilst also not wishing to be sexist either, Hey this has been a big learning curve for us here at Field and Moor but one which we think is very worthwhile.

This particular range comes in two colours Moss Green and Mustard (and yes they look fab) and in a fours piece consisting of Jacket, Waist Coat, Breeks and a Cape, although this is only available in Moss Green, dont ask me why?? and a selection of hats and caps,  they are made from 100% wool with the DeerTex Supreme membrane, Double water repellent material for which Deerhunter are renown for and this bit is the best, ALL are Machine washable even being 100% wool which would normallly mean a costly trip to the Dry Cleaners each week but not with this clothing. (I was advised on the washing machine bit by the lady of the house!!)

Hope you enjoyed this article and please feel free to leave a comment.

Phil