Pigeon shooting description  & advice 

There are three main forms of pigeon shooting - over decoys, on flight lines and roost shooting. For some reason, too many folk assume that there must be decoys out for pigeon shooting and that's a big mistake. Some of the best and most demanding shooting can be on flight lines. Our woodpigeon, (Columba palumbus) has acute eyesight and is a strong flier, and so makes demands on your  fieldcraft as well as shooting accuracy - often made  in a sitting position .  

There is no close season for pigeon shooting, but the best time is when the birds are feeding in flocks and their food source is more restricted. This makes February to early April a good time and also at harvest time which is late July to the end of August.

It's normally always best to shoot pigeons as part of a group of people. Each person will be positioned on their own over quite a large area and you will seldom have a guide with you. The reason for this is to keep the birds moving from one location to another and therefore increase the amount of shooting for each person . The guide spends most of his day driving around the country lanes checking for any new groups of birds feeding so that he can move the hunter who is quiet to a different location. ( A conscientious guide may drive up to 70 - 100 miles in a day checking areas and moving people). The guide will watch the shooters with binoculars and if he sees or hears you shooting steadily, then he won't come near you! I would emphasise, that for all forms of pigeon shooting, you will need patience. If sport slows down and you decide to walk about or move your position, it is sod's law that the birds decide to resume activity, but spot your movements from afar and fly off elsewhere!

For all pigeon shooting, a hat to shade the face is essential and many folk also wear gloves to shield the white of the hands. It's a good idea to have a shooting stick or a green or camouflage waterproof sheet  with you, so that if a seat is not available or handy, then you have something to sit on behind the blind. 

Decoy shooting: Your guide will place you in a hide and set out a number of decoy birds - the idea being that the pigeons will land  into the pattern of birds, landing against the wind.  The pattern is such that the birds should be landing around 25 yards in front of you. You will need to stay hidden until the bird is in range, if it is clear that the bird is going to land, wait until it sets its wings - too many pigeons are missed because an over eager hunter jumps up and blazes away at a bird too soon before it slows up to land or as it flies over the decoys to check them out and turns again to land . Watch out for birds landing in a nearby tree and sitting there for a while as they check out the decoys from a safe distance - any movement from you and they will not come in. Do not leave dead birds lying up side down or on their sides in the decoy pattern. If the birds are really coming in hard, then you will find you will only have to pick up dead birds now and again. If they are nervous, then collect the shot birds and add a few dead birds to the pattern by propping them upright and placing a short 'V' shaped twig under their chins to make them look realistic.

Flight lines: As before, you may need to shoot from a hide. You will be shooting at passing birds which are within range. Birds on their way to a feeding area often use fairly fixed routes but may change their line of flight slightly after a period of time, so you need to be prepared to shift your position if required. Pigeons in some parts of the UK are becoming so educated (especially in the spring, when all the birds may have experienced being shot at during the previous year's harvest) , that a guide may put decoys out 2 or 3 fields away and rather than place the hunter over the decoys, he is positioned on the flight line to these decoys.

Roost shooting: This is really just a variation of flight line shooting. As the light fails, the birds return to their roosting woods. You are more likely to have to keep shifting your position when roost shooting, so it is seldom worthwhile putting up a hide and in any event, the flight may only last a short time. Try to position yourself with a tree or hedge behind you so that you can merge with the background.

Some more general points: UK shot size no. 6 is preferred by most pigeon shots. Pigeons are quite tough and need to be hard hit so guns which are lightly choked are OK for shooting over decoys, but may be too open for shooting the higher birds on flightlines. The best weather for pigeon shooting is when the day is windy and dry.

Expectations. So much depends on your ability as a shot! Everyone has read or heard about single guns shooting more than 100 birds in a day, but conditions have to be absolutely right for this. Various books and magazine articles boast of huge bags, but the author may omit to mention that he does not fire a shot for several days until a feeding flock has built up to a large size - remember, that if you have booked a pigeon shooting holiday, you do not have such a luxury and just have to take the chance that you may be in the right place at the right time for that 'red letter day'.  A general average of 20-45 birds shot per day per gun is more typical. I usually find that during 4 days of shooting, two days will be average, one day will be poor and one day will be really good.

Pigeon shooting, like rabbit shooting is the cheapest form of hunting in the UK. Expect to pay a daily rate of around £300 to £380 for a group of up to 4 people (in other words, £75-£95 per gun) .