Pigeon and Crow Shooting - Spring Drillings Day 1

Join us for our first day Pigeon Shooting on the 2019 Spring Drillings, This video show's a typical day on a Barley Drilling with a mix of Crow Shooting and Pigeon Shooting over decoys.
A difficult day Pigeon Decoying and we later found that having scouted the field ourselves the previous morning it had been shot late that same afternoon which explained why the birds were decoy shy. Nevertheless 70+ Pigeons and Crows over the decoys was an enjoyable and varied day.
Check our website: justshootingshop.com/
Questions we get asked:
Gun: Winchester SX3 and SX4
Choke: Kicks Hy-Flyer Modified
Cartridges: Hull Superfast Pigeon 29g Fibre Wadded 's
www.hullcartridge.co.uk/game/...
Flapper: FF6 from Flightline Decoys
www.flightlinedecoys.co.uk/
Crow Decoys: Sillosock Velour Crows from Sports and Sporting
/ sportsandsporting
Pigeon Decoys: Dead Birds on Cradles. Cradles from Sports and Sporting
/ sportsandsporting
Camera: GoPro's and Tachyon Guncam
Clothing: Sam is using Deerhunter Clothing
www.deerhunter.eu/en/
Guided Pigeon, Game and Wildfowl Shooting available from SG Shooting
/ sgshooting
Magnet: Cheapest one that works!

[@ricotheworkingcockerspaniel]

Another great vid 🙂

[@angelopalomba6583]

Love the banter between you 2 keep the videos coming fellas look forward to them 🤙🏻

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks Angelo, we appreciate that.

[@casperboo5465]

Another great video Robert thanks for sharing, the slow mow is Awesome, thanks guys Cheers

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Cheers Casper, good to hear that and all the best, Robert

[@davidsanders3114]

Another great video Robert, keep them coming please.

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks David, much appreciated.

[@bruce6341]

Good stuff. Enjoyed that

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks for watching and commenting, we do appreciate it.

[@davidbrennan869]

What a totally brilliant video ROB @ SAM Plus your most enjoyable Dogs , a fully entertaining and educating video thank you one and all. ATB Dave

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks David, always appreciate you watching and commenting.

[@stephenhastie3801]

Great video, good to see the professionals at work.

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@abemcbeard6290]

Another brilliant video guys, nice editing, fantastic banter between you both and some good shooting. Keep the videos coming.

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks Abe, as ever we do appreciate you commenting. Nothing for you today though, spent 6 hours out scouting over 120 miles and only just found birds at about 1330 but too late to set up as need to get back to do crow traps....and its mother's day so summonsed there!!

[@richg6485]

Spot on Nice one

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Cheers Rich, appreciate you watching and commenting

[@remskicodhead1]

great video lads

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks for watching and commenting, much appreciated.

[@davyt1090]

Well done lads , all in all seemed like a cracking day , good crack and some nice shooting even remmie behaved , always look forward to your videos

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Cheers Davy, yes it was a nice day. Not that often me and Sam shoot together although we've had 2 days recently but still makes a nice change and makes for better filming.

[@carlwashbrooke8678]

Looking forward Robin to the next video miss the craic hopefully the general licence is sorted now all the best. Carl

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Hopefully back out at Pigeons this week on some laid Barley. Just been mega busy last 3 months 'keepering our 2 estates and Sam has just taken on a further 3000 acre estate so a slow down in Pigeons fell at a good time. We have been shooting a lot of crows, rooks and jackdaws but in the climate around the GL's it wasn't prudent to do a video. Bonus is we have trapped more Carrions this year than any previous years!

[@carlwashbrooke8678]

Thanks for replying Robert hope all goes well look forward to the next video all the best. Carl

[@kevinshepherd1188]

as I was not there I may be seeing it wrong, anyway you lads make great videos , the camera work is excellent and also the shooting . plus the banter is great keep it up and I will keep my suggestions to myself

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Comments are welcome, that’s no problem. As you say you weren’t there so I’ve just filled the gaps in for you as there were obviously some incorrect assumptions about the wind direction (which was at 15-20mph so significant) and decoy placement. The GoPro with the wide angle lens also distorts and from that it’s probably hard to see that the dropping area is only 25 yards out. I think you also mentioned that you thought we were set up in a corner whereas the hedge was straight for 200+ yards each side so obviously the camera is deceptive

[@SPC234]

Has same problem on drilling’s last weekend hundreds of birds on it days before virtually nothing 2 days later

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

It happens and sometimes hard to know why. Sam's out today on a field that's been grey with woodies for the last few days with a really good turnover of birds. He's taken a friend along and they have seen 1 bird. Difficult as it's a spot we know shoots well late in the day so do you stay or do you go scouting for tomorrow? Some days you can't win. Mind you we still salvaged a reasonable day last week and we only later found that after Sam scouted it at 1400 someone shot it from 1530 onwards the day before we shot.

[@keithhaynes8079]

Good one Robert like yourself nothing would decoy properly but managed to get 22 crows and jackdaws but only 15 pigeons a very hard 5 hour yesterday.

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks Keith. 37, that's a decent little day you had. Thanks again for watching and commenting. All the best

[@terrymortimer4402]

Great video as usual guys. It did look to me though, that the gun cam seemed to be a bit out. Is this possible?

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Yes that's correct Terry, Sam did calibrate it for the previous video but he didn't have time to before we did this film and it was out. It's difficult as he takes the camera off between filming so it doesn't get damaged when he's on his daily 'keepering round on our estate so it constantly needs to be re-set although he's getting better at doing it by eye. Thanks for watching and commenting, we do appreciate it. Have a great weekend.

[@antonygardner250]

great videos guys thankyou... just wondering what choke size you use

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks Antony, we both shoot a modified Kicks Hy-Flyer but they do pattern up very tight and shoot more like a full.

[@kevinshepherd1188]

thank you for the reply , in my prime I controlled crows and pigeons over many thousands of acres , I was out five and six days a week , alas now that I am 70 and suffer with arthritis I am unable to cover that amount of land . you are right the crows do not like flappers or magnets with pigeons on them but will decoy readily if you mount crows . when I looked at your video I noticed that the crows where having to overfly your pigeon decoys to get in and as all birds of that size prefer to land into the wind you must be mistaken regarding the wind direction , unless the direction changed . however it is a good video keep it up .

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

I'm not sure what you are seeing in the video Kevin as the crow spread is to the left of the Pigeon spread and the crows are not overflying the pigeon deecs and the wind never changed from off our backs. Normally I would never set up with a mixed crow and pigeon spread as it's slightly detrimental to both. Normally we would split up and both have a dedicated spread but on that spot the road, village, overhead power lines and wind direction forced a decision. When shooting crows we use a loose random spread usually with a flapper but on that day we had both FF6's in the pigeons, magnets do not work on Carrions. I'd normally also use a bouncer on Crow's about 80 yards out but I find crow bouncers flare Pigeons so it wasn't used. I don't find a shaped (horseshoe or similar) has any benefit on crows and the loose pattern works best and they will just hover over it as was the case in that video. All the crows came in from the left or ahead directly to their spread and to be honest they decoyed as well as I'd expect the day after someone else had shot them on the same field. Pigeons presented the issue, they were decoy shy and a challenge which we addressed late in the day by resorting to the "chucky bird"....a dead bird thrown from the hide.

[@markknapper2113]

Great video, what are your thoughts on the current situation with general licences?

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

This is an odd one! I found this comment in our KZbin Spam and not sure how they come up with that? I then did you a lengthy reply and KZbin have instantly removed it!! Seems like Big Brother is watching us?? Anyway, I won't go back over it now but let's just hope that our shooting organisations finally wake up and start a proactive approach to all threats.

[@tonyashton780]

What are your views on Chris Packham and Natural England. I am furious and disappointed. Banning Pigeon and Crow shooting un believable.

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

If you go onto my Facebook Profile or the Facebook Group Shooting Sports - Fur and Feather my views are there. I have varying views on Packham but I don't hold him responsible for this debacle, he has his extreme views and I was told over a month ago that this would happen and it has. Packham is one man and he's embarrassed NE and the UK's leading Shooting Organizations....100's of well paid people, many paid to protect our interests and they have failed us. Sorry but the shooting organisations failed to take him seriously and this is the consequence...but I don't blame Packham for that. There's obviously a lot of hot air floating about and most shooting folks are what I would call "occasional and recreational" shooters for whom this is an inconvenience but to the likes of us who are running an full time game shoot with dozen's of call birds out there in traps it's been a nightmare. It's 2320hrs now and I'm just back in from sorting crow and magpie call birds out, on a normal day it takes 3 to 4 hours just to get round and check our trapping line before we do anything else so this is a burden we didn't need. I've got fantastic hatches of ducks and the highest density of paired Grey Partridge I have ever had and left as it is now Carrions will just decimate them. Hopefully we will be back up and running tomorrow but it's going to be a day wasted putting all our callers back out.

[@tonyashton780]

@@RobertGriffinshootingTV That is really harsh I am sorry to hear that. This is a serious knock on effect for you. Such a critical time of the year. Fingers crossed I hope we all get good news soon! Natural England and BASC need their heads banging together it's unforgivable betrayal.

[@kevinshepherd1188]

it has always been my experience that pigeons do not like decoying into a corner . good shooting lads hope these tips are helpful .

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

I would not disagree with that but curious to know why you thought we were decoying in a corner? It's maybe the fisheye lens of the camera creating an optical illusion? We are shooting from a straight hedge/dyke.

[@wildpursuits9427]

What choke and shot size are you using mate?

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Kicks Hy-Flyer Modified.

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

...cartridge is Hull Superfast Pigeon 29g 6's

[@carlwashbrooke8678]

Hello robin I contacted you about how good crow sillosock were a few weeks ago is your website up and running yet or are you still on eBay if so what do you go under on eBay. I am looking to buy 12 crow sillos. Looking forward to the next video always a bit of banter on there and good shooting all the best. Carl

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Hello Carl. I will give you a link here to use in my eBay shop and it should give you 15% discount www.ebay.co.uk/sme/raceandrallymemories/15-off-over-5/so.html?_soffid=5288042307&_soffType=TargetedOffer&fbclid=IwAR0bOKs3MdhZjAstDZFIEiFNKNYPefkFN5XRfmTISp3IGormkPKQEzuiemk

[@carlwashbrooke8678]

Thanks Robert much appreciated will get them ordered in the next couple of days thanks again. Carl

[@kalebpoynton4980]

2:30 da flip was that noise

[@kevinshepherd1188]

may I make a suggestion regarding the placement of you crow decoys , after many years shooting same . place your decoys down wind . when the crows over fly them they are looking back at the decoys and are less observant of movement , try it and see .

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

Thanks Kevin. The Crow Decoys are down wind in the video, the wind is directly off our backs and behind us is a stream and on the far side of that a horse paddock. I find that crows do not want to fly over the spread but prefer to drop in at the back of the decoys and we set up accordingly. Bouncers can be a pain with Crows as they can turn them away at the last minute but a flapper can do the opposite and hold them hovering in the kill zone. Another difficulty, as I'm sure you are aware, with the set up in this vide is the compromise of decoying crows and pigeons to the same killing zone and that never works well. My own preference is to have a cross wind and have the deecs to one side of the hide so that the birds are crossing and don't look into the hide. 'keepering my own two estates (plus doing the pest control on an additional 10,000 acres) at this time of year one of us tends to be shooting Crows daily. On this particular field, which is not on a farm we have exclusive rights, the problem we later found we had was that it had been shot the previous day between 3 and 5 so birds were wary

[@Swarph]

@8:20 jesus sounds like you need to check those undies

[@RobertGriffinshootingTV]

That's why we use one of those bucket type seats Nathan, just whip the lid off any you're away....happy days! Just need to remember to take your sandwiches out first. Thanks for watching and commenting, much appreciated.

[@Swarph]

@@RobertGriffinshootingTV My pleasure mate, loving the videos!