Pigeon Shooting

wood pigeon

What is the right weather for shooting pigeons?

Most articles written about pigeon shooting mention, at some stage in the proceedings, the weather conditions on the day in question. Indeed, I have written many times, how Paul and I wait for the “right” weather, when planning a sortie. So what, in order of preference, are we looking for? Wind…

Pigeon shooting: The flightline factor

Pigeon shooting: The flightline factor

Like so many pigeon shooters, I have been in pursuit of Britain’s greatest sporting bird for more years than I care to remember. My enthusiasm has not diminished with the passing of time. My first experience of having some birds to decoy, however, was more by accident than design. I was 15 and working on a farm,…

Pigeon shooting

Guns for pigeon shooting for under £500

If you’re gameshooting then you’ve got to be aware of etiquette. You have to dress the right way and say the right things. And be a safe Shot of course. Pigeon shooting is different – although you obviously still need to be a safe Shot. What you wear is dependent…

Pigeon Shooting

Pigeon shooting over beans

September is the month when the harvest comes to a close. All the farmers’ hard work is now inside and, as usual, the last crops to come off are winter and spring beans. Farmers in my area have not had a happy end to the harvest, not because of grain prices, but due to a change in the…

Pest Cotrol

Pest control on covercrops drillings

After a very early alarm call I was up and on the drillings setting the decoys up, in anticipation about what the morning pest control would bring. Shooting over the drilled crops gives me a rare chance to get stuck into our limited supply of pigeons. However, enticing both pigeons…

pigeon shooting

Peas and pigeon shooting

It has been a very strange — and disappointing — couple of months with regard to pigeon shooting. From the start of the year I was having a pigeon-shooting bonanza, with good numbers being shot over winter rape and birds decoying brilliantly. The trend continued into the spring drillings. I…

Have you booked your Shooting UK Event?

Shooting UK has now launched three exciting new events for the readers of Sporting Gun, Shooting Times, Shooting Gazette and The Field – and of course, visitors to the Shooting UK website. Whether you want to find out what jobs a gamekeeper has to do throughout the year, how you have a…

Pigeon shooting in the fog

The plan was to try a couple of hundred woodies feeding on high ground above my house, but under what were almost white-out conditions it would now surely be a waste of time. Having waited all morning for the murk to clear, I could at least give it a look,…

Sharing your hide

Peter Theobald reveals why two hides can be better than one and how to play nicely with others while sharing a hide

pigeon shooter's code

The pigeon shooter’s code

There are some occasions on which the responsible pigeon shooter must turn down outings that sound good in favour of prior arrangements or more pressing needs. I’m lucky enough to manage pigeon on many farms and estates, and I do my best to be there when there is a problem,…

How to place rotary decoys

To spin or not to spin – that is the question. Of all the questions that I get asked when I run BASCs pigeon courses, the one that crops up most frequently is: “Do rotary decoys work any more, and if so, where should I place them in the pattern?”…

Do you shoot pigeon for sport or pest control?

Here’s a question for you, do you shoot pigeon for sport or are you doing it as pest control? Under the terms of the general licences, we are only allowed to kill pigeon all year round to prevent unacceptable damage to farmers’ crops, even if that occurs during the birds’…