The importance of proper recon
Peter Theobald looks at how to make the scouting of fields containing your intended quarry as effective as possible
Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted is a mantra repeated in every book on pigeon shooting that I have ever read. But what does it mean?
Does it mean that I should drive randomly around the countryside looking for a field where pigeons are dropping in to feed? In which case, where should I begin? For a start, I need to have some idea what pigeons are feeding on at any given time of the year, so that I can eliminate probably around 95% of the fields in the area.
Relationships
Next is the issue of consent. It is no use finding a field that is heaving with birds if you do not have permission to shoot on it. Yes, you could knock on the farmer’s door in the hope of securing that permission, and I have certainly picked up new shooting in this way, but you generally know which farms already have reliable decoyers who look after their needs and, as such, are unlikely to allow a stranger on to their land.
Our reconnaissance needs to be far more targeted, even down to what time of the day we should be looking in relation to the crop and time of year. For example, I would expect all the pigeons feeding on January rape to be on the field by 9am, but I would not expect to see a single bird feeding on laid barley in July at this time.
So, having established there are enough birds feeding to warrant an outing, only confirmed by looking when activity is at its highest, I try to set up before the flight has started, usually the next day, confident of the numbers I expect to arrive. Also, always try to watch your intended field the day before you shoot, as so much can go wrong if you try to plan too far in advance. Another decoyer may have shot the field, the farmer may have cultivated it, put bangers out, or the pigeons may have simply moved on overnight, this last scenario usually on drillings. How often have you heard someone say: “I can’t understand it, this field was blue with pigeons three days ago.”
It was mid-August and I intended to try to find a situation to have a decent day’s pigeon shooting, and by ‘decent’ I mean one that would result in a bag of 50-plus. I know that some of you will say that you should not judge the success of a day by the size of the bag alone, but to me effective crop protection generally results in large numbers of pigeon being killed and if it does not, then there probably was not much damage occurring in the first place. It matters not that the pigeons are not doing much damage to crops in the middle of August as it is your best opportunity to reduce their numbers before the drilling starts in September.
Choices
I have a mental picture of all the crops on all of my permissions, so had a good idea which farms to head for on my scouting trip. This time of year it will almost certainly be rape stubbles, assuming you still have farmers willing to grow the stuff, having suffered the scourge of flea beetle. Pigeons will focus on these stubbles until either the farmer pulls them up or wet weather chits the seeds. In any case, quite a small window of opportunity. If there is no rape but you still have a decent population, they could be on winter barley stubble. Again, you should be aware if this crop is grown on
your permission. Standing wheat is still a possibility, but usually by now there would be easier alternatives for pigeons to tuck into.
I planned my route to take in the five farms that I know grow rape, hoping that the unsettled weather had enabled some farmers to start combining but others, who might have caught a heavy shower, to have held back for a few days. This might seem a minor detail, but there is nothing worse than the birds having multiple fields to choose from
“There is nothing worse than the birds having multiple fields to choose from”
because all the farmers are getting stuck in at the same time. Much better to have just the odd field here and there.
I left home about midday, even though, if I found something, I would return at about 9am the following morning. Unfortunately, the wet weather has delayed all harvesting of rape, and none of the fields on my patch had been cut. So, down to plan B. Nothing on the wheat, beans still green, so after a two-hour drive, I only had one more situation to look at, a 150-acre block of winter barley, harvested three days previously. There had been large, flat patches and local decoyers had snatched a few bags of 50 or so, but this had not deterred the huge flock of pigeons that had managed to get into feed somewhere throughout. A few birds were dotted here and there, feeding between the rows of straw that had not been baled, but there was a distinct line heading determinedly into the distance. A short drive revealed around 20 acres that had been baled. By now it was two in the afternoon. There were as many birds coming off the field to go home as there was coming in to feed but, crucially, the traffic was non-stop.
There is nothing to compare with the adrenaline rush of finding a situation that you can predict will lead to a big bag, and I spent a restless night looking forward to it. I will let you know how I got on.