Pigeons 2021

[GreenDrake]

Wheat is finally getting cut. Tomorrow is our opening hunt. Added 2 more rotary pigeons, this time from Lucky Duck, brining our spread to 6 rotaries…and 2 bouncers..added a dozen more incredible silhouette dekes. All in…with all my other decoys…its going to look like central park!!!  Got 10 cases of shells to start the season. Now only if the birds are on the cuttings yet. May take them a few days but we can’t wait any longer. Our goal is 1,500-2,000 birds this summer…provided the birds are flying and we are able to get  6-8 hood shoots in. 

[suburbanfarmer]

Sounds like loads of fun, taking in volunteers for shoot ?

[ny hunter]

Sounds like some great fun ahead ..Good luck

[GreenDrake]

We got 60 this morning. We didn’t expect huge numbers as the cutting just started this week. If they are able to keep cutting this week then next week we should hopefully get the 250-300 bird shoots. But it was great to get out. I will monitor the wheat fields heavily this week and see what happens. 

[ny hunter]

Nice!!!

[Lawdwaz]

1 hour ago, GreenDrake said:

We got 60 this morning. We didn’t expect huge numbers as the cutting just started this week. If they are able to keep cutting this week then next week we should hopefully get the 250-300 bird shoots. But it was great to get out. I will monitor the wheat fields heavily this week and see what happens. 

Post some pics of your setup and success.   

[GreenDrake]

We didn’t take any pictures this morning. Here are couple from last summer. I will take some if our set up and post next hunt

 

 

[mowin]

Good lord that looks like fun. 

[suburbanfarmer]

What do you do with all that meat?

[GreenDrake]

The farm hands at one of the farms takes some. Most of these birds are city birds going out to the farms to feed. Rats with wings. I wont eat them. We strictly shoot for pest control for the farmers. 

[dbHunterNY]

We used to have them bad. They'd crap all over everything. Don't seem to be any at all now that cattle are gone.

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[LET EM GROW]

My wifes family does this in local cow barns. The pigeons eat all the mineral feed and sh!t on it and the cows backs etc.. The farmers gladly welcome them to shoot right next to the cows and all. They take several dozen or more every sunday morning. Theyll stop at a farm or 2 then call it a day. 

But this looks like some fun for sure. 

[GreenDrake]

Hunting over decoys is really insane shooting. You can watch videos on You Tube from Soar No More. That is exactly the kind of shooting we have. Most of our shoots are just me any my nephew, so we rarely shoot more than 250-300 birds as it it is over by 8:30 a.m. More than 3 shooters gets a little hard to manage. He and I have a good rhythm and understanding how we want to shoot a group as they are coming in and we work good together. We took a couple friends who were a bit selfish and would shoot too fast or not wait for the call and then ruin it for everyone. Although it is fun to see 200 birds descend at once over the decoys, we prefer 8-10 in a group and pick our shots. Many times we will shoot the entire group.

[GreenDrake]

120 this morning.  Still not flying in big numbers. Picture of the mojo’s. Had already picked up the hard bodies, flick s flicks and  and bouncers 

[GreenDrake]

Have some good videos taken from Saturday's shoot I will be posting soon.

[Lucky118]

Had a racing pigeon stop off on my deck one time. He was let loose in Rochester  and was racing back to NJ. Had a leg band with a number you could look up. Stopped at my house to rest for a few days. Gave him some bird feed and water for a few days then he left. Pretty bird was really friendly, liked to be petted.

[GreenDrake]

I know of a racing pigeon or two that went feral and mixed with the city birds that have met their demise. I have never shot one but I know a couple of people who have. Once they go feral they never go back to the owner's brood anyway. We are careful to see, the best we can, that there are no pigeon races in the area scheduled before we hunt. I was surprised to see how many people in a 25 mile radius of me train racing pigeons.

This weekend we are hoping for big numbers. We will have 4 shooters and will attempt morning and afternoon hunts. Brother in law is on his way in from CT to join us.

[ny hunter]

Big money in pigeon racing.......My dad did it for a long time...

[GreenDrake]

Terrible shoot this morning. 25 birds. The wheat on our main farm is already getting overgrown with weeds so they have been going to other fields. Trying one of the back up fields in the morning that looks promising. Hope our season isn’t going downhill so soon. 

[GreenDrake]

Another slow morning.  Killed 30. Certainly not the big shoots we were spoiled with last year

[Lawdwaz]

3 minutes ago, GreenDrake said:

Another slow morning.  Killed 30. Certainly not the big shoots we were spoiled with last year

Just when you think it going to be a slam dunk...it ain't!

Do you have other potential hunting fields on the back burner?

[mowin]

Landowner where I hunt is planting rye and wheat for a rye distillery he is building. I'm going to assume he'll have a pigeon issue. Might be something I could do to help control the critters.