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I decided to go for a few shots at the pigeons going to roost in a little wood, on Christmas eve. I shot a worthwhile bag there a couple of weeks ago. I asked the kids if they wanted to join me. To my surprise, the eldest of the my boys (aged 12), said yes. He would have to use the .410 pump. He has only had the odd shot here and there before, and I hoped he would be able to finally sample some fine sport as the birds came thick and fast. I've never pushed the boys to start shooting, preferring to let them find the sport when they wished. So we arrived in front of the wood at around 2pm and the pigeons were already making their way in with crops full to bursting. I showed Ryan how to operate the .410 and re-iterated the safety points. I initially gave him a half empty box of Eley 18gm 6. We both knelt in the sugar beet and started shooting. I left the lower, easier birds for Ryan, and I thought he'd be lucky to hit a pigeon. The .410 is not the easiest of guns to handle, especially for a complete novice. I gave him very few pointers on how to actually address the birds etc, only that he must swing through. I shot a couple and he missed a few. A nice 25 yard quartering incomer went to his right. I watched as he upped, swung and fired. The bird winged down into the horse field next door. I quickly jumped the gate and sent the dog. I soon returned his first ever pigeon to him. He seemed well impressed with himself. Only a couple of minutes later and he stoned one over his head that crashed through the branches of the trees. It was my turn to be impressed - what a tidy shot! So we carried on and the pigeons kept beating a path towards us across the beet. It made me chuckle as Ryan was 'firing and pumping' for all he was worth, he was really getting in to it. I had to reign him in a bit as he tried a few rangey shots, but I couldn't really blame him for that. He shot another that nearly hit me on the head, and one final bird that must have been the best part of 40 yards after it had alighted from a tree. He ran out of cartridges (I had took around 40 for him) and he then took to spotting for me. I could have shot a far bigger bag than I got, but it was far more satisfying getting a new recruit (hopefully now) hooked on the sport. We've just been to 'feed the ducks' and he asked if he could take the .410 for some duck shooting. Maybe. The picture shows Ryan with his 4 birds in the final bag of 22. Most of the birds were stuffed with berries.