News Shooting

Should we use bigger decoys to draw pigeons in from a distance?

There are more effective ways to make your patterns stand out, says pigeon expert

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Q: Wildfowlers use decoys which are far bigger than the real thing to draw birds from a distance. Could we do the same thing with pigeons?

A: I think Chris Green, the West country video maker, makes outsize pigeon decoys, and in theory they should be visible for greater distances than normal sized ones. However, we have more effective ways of ensuring our patterns stand out, in the shape of rotary machines and flappers.

I imagine, if you were to use outsize decoys combined with normal sized machines, the perspective would look odd to incoming pigeons, and may even turn them away.