shooting raptors

two men in a hide at the side of a field, short crop in field, plastic and other/dead pigeons used as decoy. They tell me they are shooting pigeon – are they? Or should I call the police?

Pigeons are so stupid so why would they need a hide? Sounds suspicious to me

Short of hard evidence, such as the guys being in possession of a dead raptor, what would the Police be able to do?

Dead pigeon as a decoy?? if I was a pigeon and saw another one dead I don’t think it would encourage me to drop down for a feed.

you would use pigeons to attract other pigeons, a fairly standard thing to do being as they are a flocking type bird.

Short crop, again pigeons would be attracted to eat it,

A hide, the pigeons will flee if they see people.

Is it what they are actually doing, well that is a different question. If in doubt report, but probably telling the truth.

OP Shooting pigeons is what they are doing, what you describe is pretty much the way it’s done. Given the crop damage that flocks of pigeons can do, there is a constant level control going on. The skill is getting passing flocks to start to feed on the field you are at. Just because they were there yesterday or in the morning there is no Guarrantee they will be back, unless the food in the field is to much to miss out on. A few other birds seemingly feeding can bring them in. Tasty stuff pigeon breast fried in hot pan, a little balsamic and placed on bed rocket. If we don’t get out and shoot em how are going to eat them.

Sure there not after Pheasants?

They’re pigeon shooting over rape I’d imagine. Leave them be. Cos it won’t be a lOcal plod job it’ll be armed response

Terror wrist training camp?

Yup, pigeons are incredibly suspicious, and using decoys or dead pigeons propped up, plus being well out of site in a hide is the only way to shoot pigeons successfully.

Pigeons are a huge pest as they consume large amounts of crop, and their numbers are increasing so controlling them in this way is essential

Sounds right to me. Dead pigeons (properly set out) are very often used as decoys

Read all about it!!! Folk go out to shoot some pigeons and get accused of all kinds shocker!
Why would you think they’re shooting raptors? You’ve already said that there’s a shot crop in the field.
Pigeons in the wild are very skittish, a hide is always needed when shooting them. Using ones you have shot as decoys is standard practice too.

And you wonder why the shooting community feel persecuted 😯

And why country people are dismissive of Townies!

At times like this, I like to pass the education that our schools seem incapable of delivering over to Jack

And for what its worth, yes, woodpigeons are a very serious pest to crops

two men in a hide at the side of a field, short crop in field, plastic and other/dead pigeons used as decoy. They tell me they are shooting pigeon – are they? Or should I mind my own business?

Fify

They do Pigeon shooting in the field opposite me. There was a shot buzzard found the road nearby a few months back. Probably townies come out do a drive by buzzard shooting to try and implicate those nature loving country folk.
Not that I’m connecting the two, but maybe there’s been a spate of raptor shootings near where karine lives.
Most of the shoots in the area have been pretty pissed off with the rise of buzzard population, and at best wouldn’t shed a tear at the sight of a dead one.

Right, now I’m annoyed. I asked a very simple question. I did not at any point pass judgment on pigeon shooting. I know they are a serious pest, just like cute little bunny rabbits. Mind my own business? Actually, **** you – far too many people just walk by and let bad things happen. I’m satisfied they are indeed carrying out pest control – no problem. What though if they WERE shooting hawks, falcons, kites or buzzards? All of which we get hereabouts. And I let it happen? Bet you would have criticised me for that eh? Have a little think before you get on your high horses.

Right, now I’m annoyed. I asked a very simple question. I did not at any point pass judgment on pigeon shooting. I know they are a serious pest, just like cute little bunny rabbits. Mind my own business? Actually, **** you – far too many people just walk by and let bad things happen. I’m satisfied they are indeed carrying out pest control – no problem. What though if they WERE shooting hawks, falcons, kites or buzzards? All of which we get hereabouts. And I let it happen? Bet you would have criticised me for that eh? Have a little think before you get on your high horses.

You are, of course, right. However, this IS singletrack world: The home of the high horse 😉

two men in a hide at the side of a field, short crop in field, plastic and other/dead pigeons used as decoy. They tell me they are shooting pigeon – are they? Or should I mind my own business?

and if see a group of blokes with spades and terriers in the woods i guess you would ignore that as well? Or maybe blokes fiddling with bike locks, ignore that too?

nothing wrong with asking questions if your in any doubt.

I did not at any point pass judgment on pigeon shooting

No, you immediately jumped to a conclusion (from god knows where!) that they might be shooting raptors, and despite them telling you otherwise, disbelieved them and asked on here.

So you didn’t pass judgement on pigeon shooting, you passed a judgement that the most likely scenario was that two people with guns were probably breaking the law and lying to you about it, and that you needed to check up on them!

The only high horse here is yours!

If I did not understand something, my first port of call would be this;

Google

I did try to search for ‘How to steal bikes’ but that didn’t return any useful results.

And why country people are dismissive of Townies!

i think that attitude got more to do with incredibly narrow world views and a raging sense of injustice because they have to live in a democracy where they are a minority.

zulu-eleven I CHECKED on here, using the combined knowledge of the forum. Reasoning that if they were breaking the law, they would probably lie about it. No high horse. I am laughing, you don’t know me. But a bit sad too, that the detractors have chosen to dismiss my intention to possibly save a rare and beautiful (and protected) species. We have problems here with hare coursing, pony and trap racing on the roads and other activities.
In the week I rode past a group of men in London who were pushing, shouting at and threatening a man on his own. I stopped and made it clear that I was not going to ignore this (hoping that the presence of a member of the public would stop them attacking the man). By the time I had fumbled my phone out of my bag to call the cops, they dispersed. Should I have just kept going? Perhaps the next day I could have responded to one of those yellow boards the cops put up asking for witnesses?

Zulu-Eleven – Member

No, you immediately jumped to a conclusion (from god knows where!) that they might be shooting raptors,

Not much of a conclusion is it, more of a pre-amble.

I live in the country, always have, but as its not arable land we don’t get pidgeon shooting round here, so I would not be able to say for sure if I saw what the OP saw. And we loose rapters round here, most recently with a dead female Hen Harrier found on the moor near Masham, after it’s transmitter stopped moving. So if I was further east near the vale of york, I might ask the same thing. Not wanting to waste plod, or innocent pest controller’s time, but caring about the world around me. I’d rather live in the land of the conciensous than the land of the smug critic.

/rant

as for google, I was walking along with the two dogs on leads, trying to post with one hand – you get too many answers on google – plus I know there are some gamekeepers on here who could answer me quickly.

I asked a very simple question.

and by calling this thread ‘shooting raptors’ rather than ‘shooting question’ or even ‘shooting pigeon’ you demonstrated a preconception that others have chosen to challenge. If you want a simple question answering, don’t couch it with a misleading title.

Karin – perhaps if your thread was titled “Pigeon Shooting” and asking for clarification, you’d have a point

But I just really still don’t get where you managed to put two and two together and leap to the conclusion they might have been shooting raptors. I just don’t get it!

(edit – post crossed with TooTall)

I call them the ‘clean welly brigade’
Anyone who shoots will know what I mean.

^ this.

My ‘mind your own business’ post may have been slightly ott, but this type of post will polarize opinion immediately, specifically if you choose to err on the side that they were wrong uns before you understood the facts.

Were they wearing camo netting over their faces?
Definately terrorists if they were.

Nah, thats blowing up crows, not shooting pigeons

and by calling this thread ‘shooting raptors’ rather than ‘shooting question’ or even ‘shooting pigeon’ you demonstrated a preconception that others have chosen to challenge. If you want a simple question answering, don’t couch it with a misleading title.

was walking along with the two dogs on leads, trying to post with one hand

There you go…….or maybe she should have had her lawyer /secretary/thought police check before posting just in case there was any misunderstanding?

Jeez on a bike, sometimes this place defies belief 🙄

Yeah, and maybe the shooters should have been checked out by the police to consider whether they were likely to break the law before being given guns, just in case there was any misunderstanding?

Oh…

after I posted I realised I should have put a question mark or different title BUT I was walking with two dogs. I had very little battery. I wanted to be quick. I wanted to attract attention so I got a quick response. LOL.
As for the clean welly brigade remark, don’t be so rude, you don’t know me and you know nothing of my life, experience or the other factors which prompted me to check. Do you take everything said to you as the truth?

Zulu-Eleven – Member

But I just really still don’t get where you managed to put two and two together and leap to the conclusion they might have been shooting raptors. I just don’t get it!

Is it really hard? People in hides, with dead pigeon decoys that could be mistaken for bait… It’s a reasonable wrong conclusion. And to be blunt, if you were to see a buzzard shoot, it’d also look much like this, just probably without the pre-built hide.

^^^^ This

How people on here can pick up flack for being concerned about possible damage to local wildlife, amazes me.

The OP asked a question before acting. Not unreasonable.

I take it they were on private property?
There was no sign of dead raptors??

How did you come to the conclusion they were shooting raptors and not shooting horses, sheep or cows?
Why not phone landowner before police if you were that worried?

mooman:
criminals have no regard for private property.
if they had shot a buzzard they wouldn’t have left it lying for all to see.
no sheep, horses or cows within sight.
I haven’t got the landowner’s number in my phone.
I checked with them and on here to see if I should be worried.
the answer was (amongst all the negativity and dismissiveness) that I should not be worried.
by the way, I was also further reassured by the calm, polite and reasonable way that the two men answered my question. (Calm, polite and reasonable – unlike some on here).
thus I will not be phoning anyone.
I know some of the landowners round here (but don’t have their phone numbers) and I can tell you that they would be absolutely and utterly delighted that a member of the public was keeping an eye out. Wrongly, yes, I am happy to admit that. But keeping an eye out just the same.

If what the GLC said is true, shoot them ‘drugs don’t kill people Raptors do’