ANGOF
18-01-2011, 02:04 PM
Finally made some time to head down to the woods on one of my permissions to start building a hide under a huge "sitty tree". Pigeons are creatures of habit and use this tree at various times during the day to rest after feeding, They pretty much feed at the same sorta times we do ie breakfast,lunch.tea. This tree is well away from their roost and commands a good view so they feel safe. Ive seen upwards of thirty pigeons resting in it together but theres very little cover so getting in airgun range is impossable.
My orginal plan was to build a "bender" type hide out of Hazel rods that grow in abundance in the hedgerows around these parts but the farmers took advantage of the recent bad weather when the roads where quiet to cut the hedges with flail mowers so i lost all the hazel :mad2:
So I had to use what i could find in the immediate area and build a "frame" type hide.
These are the tools i took along, a small three legged fold up stool, gardening secateurs,sharp knife,pruning saw and some cordage. I used green para-cord as i had plenty but any sort of string will do, if its white just rub it in the mud to dirty it up. Swiss army brew kit is optional but recommended ;)
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/002-5.jpg
First things first find the spot where your going to be shooting from, sounds simple but there will always be branches,twigs etc in the way so use the stool to sit on untill you find a spot your happy with. Try and make sure the sun is behind you and that you have a decent dark backdrop behind you to conceal any movement you make. Heres the view i had from sitting on my stool after fine tuning to get the perfect spot. Theres a big tree directly behind me that will be handy to lean back against when the action is slow and a large broken limb from the sitty tree right in front that im weaving the hide into as the less work the better
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/001-9.jpg
Leave the stool in the perfect spot and build your hide around it, i got a branch about the same length as my rifle to make sure there was always enough room to shoulder the rifle to one of the viewing holes that would be cut into the finished hide.
Collect as many large dead branches as you can find to build the basic frame using the string to tie them together where needed
Heres my basic frame, note the stool in the shooting position.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/004-6.jpg
Now collect smaller branches and weave them in vertically and horizontally to make a sort of net in branches, this is so you can weave the greenery in.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/007.jpg
keep adding more small branches to make the holes smaller, DONT be tempted to cut hardwood branches from trees,use only dead branches or softwoods like Hazel,willow,elder etc ohh and dont forget to leave a door at the back so you can get in :ashamed:
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/006-3.jpg
Finally when you are happy with your frame its time to collect the green stuff to camouflage it and help it blend into the forest floor so it looks like its always been there. Not much choice of material this time of year so Ivy and a bit of holly was what i used.
The door to my abode :)
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/002-6.jpg
Finished at last. Put some dead bracken in and threw some leaf litter around to break up the green a bit
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/005-3.jpg
My orginal plan was to build a "bender" type hide out of Hazel rods that grow in abundance in the hedgerows around these parts but the farmers took advantage of the recent bad weather when the roads where quiet to cut the hedges with flail mowers so i lost all the hazel :mad2:
So I had to use what i could find in the immediate area and build a "frame" type hide.
These are the tools i took along, a small three legged fold up stool, gardening secateurs,sharp knife,pruning saw and some cordage. I used green para-cord as i had plenty but any sort of string will do, if its white just rub it in the mud to dirty it up. Swiss army brew kit is optional but recommended ;)
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/002-5.jpg
First things first find the spot where your going to be shooting from, sounds simple but there will always be branches,twigs etc in the way so use the stool to sit on untill you find a spot your happy with. Try and make sure the sun is behind you and that you have a decent dark backdrop behind you to conceal any movement you make. Heres the view i had from sitting on my stool after fine tuning to get the perfect spot. Theres a big tree directly behind me that will be handy to lean back against when the action is slow and a large broken limb from the sitty tree right in front that im weaving the hide into as the less work the better
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/001-9.jpg
Leave the stool in the perfect spot and build your hide around it, i got a branch about the same length as my rifle to make sure there was always enough room to shoulder the rifle to one of the viewing holes that would be cut into the finished hide.
Collect as many large dead branches as you can find to build the basic frame using the string to tie them together where needed
Heres my basic frame, note the stool in the shooting position.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/004-6.jpg
Now collect smaller branches and weave them in vertically and horizontally to make a sort of net in branches, this is so you can weave the greenery in.
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/007.jpg
keep adding more small branches to make the holes smaller, DONT be tempted to cut hardwood branches from trees,use only dead branches or softwoods like Hazel,willow,elder etc ohh and dont forget to leave a door at the back so you can get in :ashamed:
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/006-3.jpg
Finally when you are happy with your frame its time to collect the green stuff to camouflage it and help it blend into the forest floor so it looks like its always been there. Not much choice of material this time of year so Ivy and a bit of holly was what i used.
The door to my abode :)
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/002-6.jpg
Finished at last. Put some dead bracken in and threw some leaf litter around to break up the green a bit
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa124/angof/005-3.jpg