big bad lindz Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 I know these may be a daft questions but how easy is it to identify ferals from woodies both in the air and once they have been shot. Can ferals be eaten or should they just be used as decoys Some of the fields that I can shoot on border close to the town and I know that there is a fair bit of a pigeon around the garden edges and then over the fields. I was checking out flight paths near an area of trees. There was around 20-30 pigeons flying into and landing on the tree tops and some power lines but there was also large flocks just flighting around the fields. The birds in the trees looked a bit bigger but I could not get close enough for a more positive colour identification. Is there a great diffrence. I have shoot a good few pigeons on the other side of the farm land about 2 miles away and I was told on good authority that there were no ferrals about in this area? Although I have been a member of the fourm for a while it has been mostly wildfowling topics that I have been following but for this year I have been given this permission for pigeon & crows as well and I want to make the most of it. Both birds I know are farmers pests but I would like to keep the pigeon for the pot I hope you guys will be able to help and not shootme down in flames. Cheers, BBL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 (edited) Wood pigeon are a much larger bird , fly with very different wing beats ( slower ) and do not show the great variation in colour ferals do. Ferals being smaller fly with fast wing beats and can be in a formation rather than the scattered flocks of wood pigeons. I would suggest you have a look in a good bird book. A shooter should have no problem splitting these two species. While ferals can be eaten personaly I would not do so if they are comming out of a town where they eat all sorts of rubbish ( I have seen them eating human vomit the morning after the pubs kick out in a city centre ). Edited February 23, 2012 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshLamb Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 While ferals can be eaten personaly I would not do so if they are comming out of a town where they eat all sorts of rubbish ( I have seen them eating human vomit the morning after the pubs kick out in a city centre ). We used to keep chickens, if you saw half of the stuff they ate, youd never eat an egg ever again!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert 888 Posted February 23, 2012 Report Share Posted February 23, 2012 Have a look on the rspb website its fairly good for identifiing birds also it has their calls on it,which is usefull if you wildfowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caeser Posted February 24, 2012 Report Share Posted February 24, 2012 You have to be very careful not to shoot Stock doves and Rock doves. It is illegal to shoot both of these species, and I suspect a lot of people have shot them, thinking that they are feral pigeon. Which of course they are not. There are quite a few of these doves about these days. If I was you, I would check the internet for pictures of all these species and try to get to know them, and , if possible, take an experienced person with you , to help to identify them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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