So, went to bed at 23:30, asleep by 00:30 and the alarm went again at 02:30
Walked my dogs, and then set off for the farm, meeting g my mate in the village where the farm was around 03:30
Got to the farm and we were set up by 04:15, waiting for first light.
Forecast was warm and dry, but an icy wind was blowing in, and it started raining too
not much flew, so at 09:00 we called it a day and started packing up, a grey crow and two jackdaws recovered and a couple of rooks plus a gull hit that came down further away was all we got :(
My mate headed home, I head off to help with testing cattle, and while at the oher farm, had a nice crossing shot on another jackdaw at a good 60/70 metres. Dropped it dead in the air, with 32gr of #5 and a modified choke in the Beretta A400
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
I finally got my "pigeon/crow magnet" ("whirly") out on a field trial during on my last hunt of our season here (29 MAR). It worked very well (it's not in motion in the photo). However, the 7ah battery I used lasted only about 1 hour, 15 minutes. Is that duration typical with your whirlys? If so, is the solution to simply go to a 9ah or 12ah battery?
No way, should get 4+ hours from a 7ah battery if fully charged.
Was the battery not charged, or were you running flat out ?
I use 7ah for flappers, and 17-20-22-26ah batteries for the whirly/magnet, as that gives me from before dawn till sunset almost.
Our whirlies use windscreen wiper motors, get a variable rheostat controller for it, or if using the fixed speed wires, slowest speed for corvids (crows), fastest speed for pigeons.
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If it moves and is legal but also moral, SHOOT IT !!
No rheostat control, so I assume it is operating at full speed, which was still only about 25-30 rpm. I am using 1/4" X 8' steel rods to hold the (very light) flapper decoys. I suspect that the battery might be flawed, as other I bought at the same time last year to operate my caller speaker system works just fine--though the speakers draw far less current. It is possible that the whirly battery pooped out from not being used/charged frequently over the past year. I'm going to run some more timed tests in the back yard, and also swap batteries to see what's going on.
Reason there is no speed control, is that I am using a remote control on/off switch.
Unless I missed something on e-bay or Amazon, all the on/off devices with speed control (rheostat) were prohibitively expensive. I did try one that was about $7, but it fried at the first application of power--I guess they were right, "For use with LED lighting." But, I had to try at least.
I anticipate I'll have this figured out by 1 AUG when our next season begins. Thanks.
Craig
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"Arms are the only true badges of liberty. The possession of arms is the distinction of a free man from a slave." -- Andrew Fletcher 1698