This Choke Is No Joke

Andy is trying out a new patternmaster pigeon choke as he hits the stubbles.

When you are busy with work, you have to take your sporting opportunities as they come along. For Andy Crow that is especially true during the harvest period when most days seem to be a couple of hours short of the required number.

But there is a slight lull, at least occasionally, between finishing the combining of his rape fields and the start of the later wheat, lupin or pea crops. And that means only one thing, of course: pigeons.

“The early rape and barley stubbles are a huge draw for the pigeons and it is a great time to be out. The barley stubbles – if they are left, which is increasingly rare these days – can provide sport for months as the barley seed doesn’t germinate quickly at all. It is a different story for rape seed, though. A shower of rain and a drop of warmth and it’ll be growing like mad. And the pigeons don’t really like the seed once it has started to germinate.”

But they absolutely love it before it sprouts, which is why Andy is making the most of things. He had a great outing at the weekend with a couple of other pigeon shooters and between them they snaffled in excess of 400 birds in a few short hours. Fabulous sport.

Today he is grabbing another hour or two. Young clay shot and trainee farmhand Brody Woollard is on one side of the farm, while Andys senior and junior are tucked under the edge of a shaw. Crow’s decoys are set in his favoured two groups with a gap in the middle. He is using Enforcer Pros from DJ Decoys to which he will add shot birds. The plastics look really good in the pale stubbles and so far are wearing well. A whirly sits out in the middle of the statics, about 20 yards out, drawing landing birds in front of the hide.