pigeon behaviour

[bigman]

Being a complete noob to pigeon shooting iv still loads to learn but trying to pick up as much info as i can , this may sound stupid but when decoying pigeons do they normally come in to land ?

only reason i ask is when im out doing it i find ill get a lot of birds crossing from side to side but not coming in to land , most of the time there moving at quite a pace , iv had a few come right in over the top and come in to land there nice confidance boasters as i can normally drop them no problems ,

 

seem to be having little bit more sucess since added a loan rook to the small 6 bird pattern

[karpman]

Hey mate if everything is going right and there having it they will land between the decoys, funny time of year at the minute for pigeons and the few times I have been out they have been twitchy.

 

I like to shoot em when there just putting the brakes onto land instead of being on the floor but if they come in range there having it.

 

Karpman

[Cranfield]

This time of the year, pigeons are busy and not just with feeding.

A lot of those birds passing by could be going to feed young, looking for water, got a better place to feed and at least 99 other reasons.

 

Its normally when birds appear to be coming in and then spook at the last minute, that means something is wrong with the pattern, the hide, or you.

 

I am doing well with a 12 shell decoy pattern on peas at the moment.

No spectacular bags, but averaging a shot bird every 5-10 minutes ain't too bad.

[Fisherman Mike]

Ninety times out of a hundred if they are not actually feeding on the crop you are decoying then they will jsut buzz the decoys without stopping..they are not stupid and very wary birds.

 

try decoying where the bird have been dropping in to feed. They will often set down on the same spot days at a time.

[proTOM1]

I would say a good 80% of the birds that are shot when decoying are just looking rather than landing birds tho some of the time if left they would land .It can depend on the crop aswell as the time of year as to how they will decoy .You will soon pick up on this with the more you get out but you will never predict the birds or atleast ive not done so totally as yet and ive been shooting them for over 18 years

[KFC]

I've learned to take pretty much whatever in range shot is presented. At first it meant loads of missed shots but, with practice, my shot count has increased.

 

The reason that I say this is because if I don't at least have a shot at them then they'll buzz my pattern then go and settle on another part of the field that I'm supposed to be protecting, even if it's just for that day. Quite embarrassing when the farmer turns up to see how I'm doing.

 

Watch George Digweed on Youtube. He'll have the birds coming in then he'll stand up and whack them as they scare off to the side. I often do the same and it makes for great shooting.

 

Have a good listen though because most of the misses on Youtube get edited out and the actual hit rate can be as low as 40%. Mark Gilchrist for example. If you hit half of what you shoot at then that's ok.

Edited May 22, 2012 by KFC

[motty]

I've learned to take pretty much whatever in range shot is presented. At first it meant loads of missed shots but, with practice, my shot count has increased.

 

The reason that I say this is because if I don't at least have a shot at them then they'll buzz my pattern then go and settle on another part of the field that I'm supposed to be protecting, even if it's just for that day. Quite embarrassing when the farmer turns up to see how I'm doing.

 

Watch George Digweed on Youtube. He'll have the birds coming in then he'll stand up and whack them as they scare off to the side. I often do the same and it makes for great shooting.

 

Have a good listen though because most of the misses on Youtube get edited out and the actual hit rate can be as low as 40%. Mark Gilchrist for example. If you hit half of what you shoot at then that's ok.

I've watched a video of Mark Gilchrist. He took 500 cartridges to shoot 200 pigeons. That's awful shooting in my opinion.

[KFC]

I've watched a video of Mark Gilchrist. He took 500 cartridges to shoot 200 pigeons. That's awful shooting in my opinion.

 

Yep, I watched the same vid. I'm not saying 40% is good shooting but, for a noobie as the OP is, it's ok to build on and not to be dispirited if he's not getting 200 bird days.

When I was out last week I only got 5 shots with 4 kills but those shots were all good challenges. The crop has no cover around the edge so it's difficult to place a hide and, because the birds have hammered it, it's getting shot quite often at the moment so the Pigeons are very cautious and didn't come in too close. Just being there helped to protect the crop.

200 bird days are great but they don't happen all the time.

 

P.S. I also add a couple of Crow deeks on the edge of the pattern. It seems to give the Pigeons more confidence.

Edited May 22, 2012 by KFC

[ditchman]

I would say a good 80% of the birds that are shot when decoying are just looking rather than landing birds tho some of the time if left they would land .It can depend on the crop aswell as the time of year as to how they will decoy .You will soon pick up on this with the more you get out but you will never predict the birds or atleast ive not done so totally as yet and ive been shooting them for over 18 years

 

 

 

 

 

totally agree with that....i much prefer to shoot birds that have been pulled close because of a flapper in the pattern, rather than birds that are about to land, the best part of pigeon shooting is to find out that the pattern and flapper or rotary you have set out for that day, pulls birds in to be presented to the gun, i generally find that only 1 in 6/7 are actully commited to landing, and the fun is controlling your excitment to let a bird go past you and knowing or hoping that it will make a second pass from behind. Shooting over a rotary on a current feeding area is a totally different kettle of fish, if the birds have a mind to , they just drop out of the sky into the decoys...sort of like a feeding frenzy !

[yickdaz]

I've learned to take pretty much whatever in range shot is presented. At first it meant loads of missed shots but, with practice, my shot count has increased.

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thats what i do every decoying session just take on anything that is passing high wide or straight at me,a certain percentage will always decoy,but when they don,t commit to decoys, i ready meself to take a passing shot, and its those birds you can knock down at distance that makes what would of been a small bag into a decent one.

then you have the days when they are playing ball its the totall opposite most will decoy,and a percentage pass wide also just to echo what motty said, 200 for 500 is not good at all, well you can work the average out, 2 birds every 5 carts, or 10 birds per box of carts