Where to shoot a pigeon ( shot placement ) Warning bit gorey but infor

[demonwolf444]

 

[chrisjpainter]

Cheers for that DW; that's a useful clip. I've always shied away from heart shots because of the shot placement issue. With a head shot, it's far more black and white: either you hit and it's almost certainly dead, or you miss completely. With a heart shot, if something goes wrong, wounding is far more likely, but that vid's given me some good tips! I might do what he's done for myself, get a few pigeons with head shots, and then practice on them with heart shots.

[deputy dog]

I've nearly always shot for the head where pigeons an other winged pests are concerned. Aim small miss small I started to practice and as yourself has stated, when aiming for the head, you either hit an kill or miss completely, to which I would rather do rather then wound.

Not trying to come across holier then though as I have shot at the chests of pigeons and crows with limited success when I was just starting out many years ago know. But I soon changed my attitude to those shots and started only going for the head when taking my shots. My success rate went up greatly downing birds with one shot kills and the ones I've missed live to fight another day. As they say in most sports, you can't get them all.

 

 

DD

Edited June 10, 2013 by deputy dog

[Hunter 001]

I always go for head or upper neck. So clean kill or clean miss.

See my channel

http://m.youtube.com/#/user/basbosi123?&desktop_uri=%2Fuser%2Fbasbosi123

[stoogey]

its one of those exsperience issues, untill you've been there it all seems easy this hard that but on pigeon a bod shot is suffice in a bigger 'error' area, but as always..........yu gotta know where.

 

crops are a bad zone, and do you want the meat? if you can place a shot on a bobbing head then a bod shot is easy.. if.

[Salop Matt]

With my .177 sub 12 ftlb i always go for head shots unless in the cattle sheds shooting ferals where i cant afford over penetration.

 

With my FAC .22 @ 30ftlb i will take head or body !

 

ATB

 

Matt

[ChAoS]

Having made a post by accident - I have to "quote", edit the text, copy and paste the link in order to *view* the video [sigh] - how does one *delete* a post?

 

Regards,

 

Mark.

Edited June 13, 2013 by ChAoS

[alex.mc]

Today I shot a pigeon, through the head, Bisley Magnum .177. The pigeon literally fell over dead there and then.

 

Yesterday I shot a pigeon, through the head, AA field .22. It flapped a couple of times and keeled over. I left it for a minute or so before retrieving. When I decided to go and get it I looked and it was upright and just like you might decoy a dead bird. Great I thought! Ideal! After a minute I noticed a strange wobble to it's head. I thought I'd better go and check it, and despite the hole in it's head through which I could see....... It was alive! I picked it up quickly to which it struggled, and killed it with quick blow to the back of the head and neck with a nearby small log. I didn't fancy wringing it's neck as it's too easy to pull the heads off I think

As far as I could see, it had little or no brain left, but was alive. I am reminded of the American Farmer who cut the head off a chicken and the bird lived for some 18 months thereafter, being fed down it's neck by the farmer. The hypothesis was that enough of the brain stem still existed for it to control the basic functions of the chicken? I wonder if pigeons are similar?

 

The heart/lung shot if succesful should stop any bloodflow to the brain. The bird is then dead within a few moments. It's conceivable to me that destroying part of the brain will not affect the heart's function, and that might allow the bird to live on, at least until blood loss stops the heart?

 

It appears to me that despite their generall dimness, pigeons can be tough little critters?

[Hamster]

Don't know about feeding a headless chicken through the neck for 18 months (sounds well beyond a shred of feasibility/credibility) but I do agree with the gist of your post that head shots do not always equate to certain or quick demises. Even humans have been known to recover from bullet wounds to the head sometimes with loss of grey matter.

 

Having personally experienced non fatal shots such as you describe with both rabbits and pigeon (12g as well as pellet guns) I cringe whenever I read confident knowall one liners like: it don't matter whether it's .22 or .177, hit it in the head and it's lights out.................it isn't.

Edited June 14, 2013 by Hamster

[alex.mc]

I looked it up, the headless chicken was called Mike!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken

 

I would not have believed it had I not seen the hole in it's head myself, daylight through it, and brain material down it's back.

 

I guess non fatal shots will happen, and there's no disgrace in owning up to one if you did the best practice in the first place, and followed it up with a definite despatch afterwards. I have found squirrels on occasion quite tough too. With Squirrels I have always reloaded straight away and been prepared to stick another shot in quickly.

 

Magpies however.... seem to go down no matter what.

[demonwolf444]

I guess non fatal shots will happen, and there's no disgrace in owning up to one if you did the best practice in the first place, and followed it up with a definite despatch afterwards.

Well said, there are so many factors to consider when hunting it would be unrealistic to suggest that everything goes lights out instantly when you pull the trigger though with modern equipment and knowledge we can eliminate these bad shot 99.9% of the time with best practice.. The situation dictates. From a rest when a pigeon is sat in a tree side on the head or neck shot is easy. when your standing and a pigeon is feeding its head is always moving, but its body remains relatively still, and the body shot comes into its own in these situations. I think to me at least the video shows that just because you are taking a chest/ heat/lung shot there is no more or less margin for error than a head shot.

 

One of the first pigeons i ever shot was a heart/ lung shot and it took off climbed rapidly then came crashing down about 100 yards away, never had anything like that happen since.

[deputy dog]

Although i agree that even with head shots we are not always guarentied a clean kill. I still maintain that instant death over wounding is still over the 95% mark, may be more with headshots. And i will still rather go for the head rather then any body in the future. And if by chance one does survive a good smack in the head off a pellet, although i would be disappointed that it suffered before eventual death. I will feel a lot better knowing that iv tried my very very best to insure the best way i could of trying to get the cleanest kill i possibly could.

 

DD

Edited June 15, 2013 by deputy dog

[demonwolf444]

Good hunting ethics here guys

[evo]

think its one of those "how long is a piece of string "

 

I have hit pigeons in the chest and they have took off only to drop 100yrds away, I personally think that's where experience comes into it,which shot should you take in which situation,but I have to be honest I do prefer the chest shot while there on the deck and head shot whilst in a tree