The snow and it's effect on pigeon numbers

[JDog]

Before the snow came there were lots of birds on all of my ground in the Cotswolds and the shooting over rape was going well for once. Over the last ten days or so the numbers have reduced dramatically as the rape leaves have been covered in up to 100mm of snow and the alternative food sources were strictly limited.

 

Today I spent several hours travelling round the farms and estates that I shoot over and I was disappointed to find not hundreds but a few dozen pigeons in each location. Exactly where they have gone I am not sure as everywhere else for miles is covered in the same layers of snow.

 

There is a moral issue here and that is whether it is ethical to shoot pigeons which have been starving for almost a couple of weeks now. Some will say that a dead pigeon cannot eat agricultural crops now or in the summer which is perfectly true. Others will look at the thin and emaciated birds they have just shot and have some pity on them.

 

I have decided against shooting for the next week to see if the snow melts quickly enough for the pigeons to get back on the rape and rebuild their condition. If conditions do improve and the numbers return and the birds are feeding heartily I will be going out next Sarurday and there may be a space for a PW member to come out with me if anyone is interested.

[TJ91]

Plenty of pigeons on my permissions and I will NOT be leaving them alone. Shot 32 going to roost yesterday and they wrre all in normal condition, not a thin 1 amongst them.

All crops full of berrys and rape...haven't seen where they are feeding (def not on my perm) but they are finding it somewhere

 

The woods I was roosting in was well up on numbers, atleast 3x the amount we had using it this time last year.

 

Numbers have been well down throughout summer and autumn but we have had a huge increase over the last few weeks.

 

Edit...all the land I have seen has been white over here for a little while now, I havent seen any green anywhere so where they are feeding baffles me.

Edited January 26, 2013 by TJ91

[Cranfield]

There are lots of areas in the Country where there is no snow covering the crops and the birds usually move around and find them.

There has been no laying snow in my area of any consequence, so I am lucky that the pigeons I am shooting are in good condition.

Although with so much food available it is more akin to pigeon scaring , than pigeon shooting.

I am also noticing a lot of birds on the ivy berries, despite the vast fields of rape available, but the big flocks are still on the rape.

[stiggy84arsenal]

I went for a walk today and the snow was gone and the pigeons were back huge number flying every where, i found 3 big flocks, one on a neighbouring farm and two on ours, and they all went to roost in one wood (witch isnt mine) rite ******!!!! Hope fully il have a few good bags if the wind picks up and the rain stays away!!!!

[dkj7176]

I've been told pigeons don't tend to travel more than about 20 mile radiues, of course hunger can drive animals to do unusual things like migrating further afield e.g. to urban areas (seems plausible as pigeon could cover hundreds of miles per day). However I have to say I have not seen rape filed like swams of woodies on my bird feeder!.

 

To your other point, the morals of shooting when the quarry is not on top form. I think this depends on perspective, if you're just pest control then maybe it is ok, if you are sports men then probably it's not ok. Most see ourselves as a blend of the two, though do see a few guys pushing the pest control angle a bit too far to justify any kind of shooting.

[kitchrat]

They never got thin here. There's always berries etc and some rape somewhere they can find. Also, they were in such good condition before the cold spell that they never seemed to get really hungry.

Roost shot some the other night and they were LOADED with rape they had found, others I tried to decoy over rape showing through (with little sucess) were empty-cropped but healthy.

So shoot them!!

[M ROBSON]

Before the snow came there were lots of birds on all of my ground in the Cotswolds and the shooting over rape was going well for once. Over the last ten days or so the numbers have reduced dramatically as the rape leaves have been covered in up to 100mm of snow and the alternative food sources were strictly limited.

 

Today I spent several hours travelling round the farms and estates that I shoot over and I was disappointed to find not hundreds but a few dozen pigeons in each location. Exactly where they have gone I am not sure as everywhere else for miles is covered in the same layers of snow.

 

There is a moral issue here and that is whether it is ethical to shoot pigeons which have been starving for almost a couple of weeks now. Some will say that a dead pigeon cannot eat agricultural crops now or in the summer which is perfectly true. Others will look at the thin and emaciated birds they have just shot and have some pity on them.

 

I have decided against shooting for the next week to see if the snow melts quickly enough for the pigeons to get back on the rape and rebuild their condition. If conditions do improve and the numbers return and the birds are feeding heartily I will be going out next Sarurday and there may be a space for a PW member to come out with me if anyone is interested.

 

 

 

I bet there's not a Pigeon in the country that has died of starvation due to the snow we've just had.

[JDog]

I bet there's not a Pigeon in the country that has died of starvation due to the snow we've just had.

 

Possibly so, but the point of my post was that the pigeons which have stayed around have lost condition. No mention was made of them dying.

Edited January 28, 2013 by JDog

[pigeon controller]

 

 

Possibly so, but the point of my post was that the pigeons which have stayed around have lost condition. No mention was made of them dying.

 

I drove round some of my rape fields last week in the snow with the wife. We picked up four birds off the road under ivy covered trees all dead and with razor breast bones. If I shoot these they will be unsaleable , been round today and not seen a bird so they have moved to pastures new.

[JDog]

Thanks for that. I have not seen any dead birds myself but I did think that it would be inevitable.

[fenboy]

I would also choose not to shoot them if possible once they have lost condition , but if my farmers ask me too I cannot say no otherwise I would be looking for new permissions .

The ones I shot on maize last week were in good enough condition that they all sold to the dealer ok,

[M ROBSON]

I drove round some of my rape fields last week in the snow with the wife. We picked up four birds off the road under ivy covered trees all dead and with razor breast bones. If I shoot these they will be unsaleable , been round today and not seen a bird so they have moved to pastures new.

 

It just goes to show how they adapt to different areas of the country, around here they breed most of the winter and in the very snowy winters of 2009 and 2010 we were shooting young birds straight after the snow lifted, these were only weeks old and had hatched out just before the first snows yet were in fine condition. In 2010 I saw a woodie on a nest in the corner of a straw barn on Christmas eve.

We have a lot of subsidised set aside with unharvested cerials and rape/kale fodder, they can keep feeding even in 2 foot of snow. I have never shot a pigeon on Ivy berries nor have I seen one eat any round here, they will spend most of the winter feeding on mainly stubbles, moving onto greens when it turns hard.

Edited January 30, 2013 by M ROBSON

[Highbird70]

Jdog....

 

Now that you have a week off...you can always come to my Portuguese zumba classes.... :whistling:

[TIGHTCHOKE]

So far I've not seen any thin pigeons and their crops have either been full of rape or the corn that one of the farmers puts down for the song birds.

 

I didn't get as good a day as I hoped for after the snow had gone, but I still got out and covered the ground and kept them moving.

 

As for not shooting due to condition I can guess what the farmers would think of that.

[olly321]

plenty on my permission

[pigeon controller]

Just to add to what I reported earlier I was walking the dog along the canal today and noticed fresh buds on the tow path. When I came back it was caused by woodies pulling off the buds . These trees are in a deep fifty foot cutting and must be warmer. When I checked some birds tha last time I shot some weeks ago one was rammed full of sycamore seeds who's is a new one on me.

[The Ghost]

I was out today and saw large amounts of Pigeon all over the Fens, most were feeding on rape.

We had very little snow here compared to some so the birds have had a few bad days and roosted in firs or ivy.

The numbers don't seem to have dropped but we now have large amounts of crows/rooks everywhere all feeding well.

"Fenlandshire Gods Bird Table"

[anser2]

We had a fair bit of snow in my part of Norfolk . Have not had the chance to shoot any , but there has been a big decline in numbers locally. A mate stopped shooting them as all were in very poor condition 2 weeks ago and he found several unable to fly and on their last legs. But we have had a week of mild weather so going to do a bit of roost shooting tomorrow night to see what they are like. Quite a few feeding as usual for the time of year on ivy berries around me.

[motty]

With some huge blocks of rape where i shoot, i wouldn't have thought any pigeons have gone hungry. I shot some coming in to roost last saturday when there was still plenty of snow on the ground. They were packed full of rape and had eaten a few berries, too. These birds were all in good condition - i ate some of them this week.