[Music]
Today we are going to make some noise before we get anywhere near a shotgun.
This string of bangers is hopefully going to keep those pigeons moving around the farm
and deny them a quiet place to settle away from our hide.
You can buy these we get them from our local agricultural supplier they usually go off
every 20 minutes half hour, depends on the wind and where you put them really.
I usually put them back out of the wind so they don't burn too quick.
Sometimes I even cut them in half, cut the strings in half, I cut the strings in half
and hang them up together so that they go off more regularly or have 2 strings running.
But today we are not going to need the whole string so I shall probably cut off the bottom,
the 4 off the bottom and that will keep us going for the 3 hours we'll be shooting, but
you must remember to keep them dry otherwise they don't start.
You just want to hold it into the wind to make sure it does get going.
You can see it's glowing now it's getting up there it's getting a bit of ash on there.
The plan is to get over the other side and get set up before the bangers start going
off.
Of course you should never hang a string of explosives near any footpaths or public rights
of way.
Andy recommends you never use them in the summer when the vegetation is dry.
He has enough to deal with without setting his crops on fire.
When the charge is set it is time to get ready on the wheat field beneath some favoured city
trees and for a change he is using a mix of decoys.
I tend to use fresh, not all the time cause I haven't always got fresh, but I have been
given these by A1 Decoys they are flock coated and to tell you the truth they don't look
too bad.
The problem with old plastic decoys they used to shine all the time, but as you can see
with these they have got like a velvety feel to them.
One thing I will say you wouldn't want to get them dirty like chuck them in a bag with
dirty stick and that you want to look after them.
They are the sort of decoy you want to look after.
But they do look real, I put some out amongst the real ones cause they are a bit lighter
than the real ones, hopefully they will see them a bit better.
No I'm quite impressed with them.
With a distant boom going off every 30 minutes or so the woodies are being pushed around,
but so far they are not decoying well the stock doves on the other hand are coming in
a treat.
Yeah there are quite a lot of stock doves coming in here they probably just see the
eating birds and are probably coming in to pick the last chips of these acorns there's
been quite a few of them here, there's been lots of pigeons here.
Pity the pigeons have been a bit scarce today.
Bit of a Mark Gilchrist day today haven't shot too many.
Rock doves is another one which is protected, I dare say there would be someone who would
tell me otherwise but they are protected.
But there aren't the number of those as there are wood pigeons.
Where wood pigeons you get 1000's of them you'll probably get 20 or 30 stock doves.
Andy doesn't just shoot he enjoys another great passion of mine, fishing and he's off
for the first day of the trout season at nearby Bewl Water, the reservoir of choice if the
news wants to show how little rain we have had.
Hopefully we shouldn't get pestered by bank anglers because they won't be able to wade
through the mud.
No.
It's more drought than trout.
Yeah.
Do you do you fish up there often?
No, it's too expensive, I'm not rich like you.
£65 for a boat isn't it?
Yeah.
That's a fair old wodge of dosh.
Yeah.
When you think my favourite water up north is £3 for a day ticket and me and a mate
have caught over a 100 trout before lunch there before.
What was that with a net?
No he was called Alistair.
[Laughter]
There is plenty more where that came from.
Anyway back to the pigeons and Cor shifts up a gear the speed and agility of these birds
means most shots are a challenge, especially when you are leaving them late for the camera.
Andy nearly takes this one on the chin and when they are coming in at that speed they
can really hurt.
With birds on the ground but with no dog by his side, Andy unleashes his other pedigree
retreaver, incredibly pigeons are still feeding on acorns which would normally be hovered
up before Christmas.
At least at the moment it is diverting their attention away from the crops, but that won't
last for very much longer.