Pigeon Shooting with a DIY straw hide

Last season I had trouble finding camouflage netting in the right configuration, so decided I needed a portable hide that was straw coloured. I bought a cane screen from my local garden centre — it is 2m high and 4m long, just right for a one-man hide. I set it up on my lawn and from inside I drew a line with a felt pen from just by my right shoulder down to the front corner and across the front at shooting height, then back up to my left shoulder. Then, with a pair of secateurs, I cut along my line removing the upper front. With a bit of fine-tuning to tidy up the loose ends I had the perfect stubble-coloured hide that cost less than £30 and was light to carry. It even comes in its own purpose-made holdall with handles.

Quickly packing up and loading everything into the truck, I drove round to the bigger 
of the fields and watched a trickle of birds dropping into the far end about 400 yards out into the field. There was no hedge nearby, so it meant I had to set up out in the open. This would give me the perfect opportunity to use the cane hide I made last harvest.
I put up my hide and set out my decoys with just the flapper to provide movement. By this time it was late in the day and most of the birds had moved on; it was only ever going to be a set-up-and-hope situation. By 7pm I had only added a further 10 birds to my bag, to give a grand total of 17 birds, not the sort of bag that you expect to read about in Shooting Times magazine. However, this is the reality of pigeon shooting for those of us who are out in the field week-in, week-out.