judging distance outside of pattern.

[diddy]

ok so my normal patten will involve my furthest decoy at 35 yards, anything that flys over etc i will have a go at as its in range but sometimes i see a bird coming from a different angle and wonder how far out is that.

 

What range are you comftable at shooting passing pigeons at?

 

 

[fenboy]

I think if you asked 10 different people how far away something is you would likely get 10 different answers !

But I will take on pigeon to what I think is 50 yards or so quite happily .

[Bobba]

My distance guides are two floaters placed 40 yds out and ( now I try to picture it) about 30 yds between them. I leave anything outside 40 yds.

Edited August 11, 2015 by Bobba

[bakerboy]

Place short sticks, just visible above any crop or stubble at 50 yards from your hide.

 

The sticks should be positioned, (visualise a clock face) at 9-12-3 o'clock, this will help you judge the distance of birds outside of your pattern.

You may want to put a bit of coloured tape on the tip of each stick to enable easy sight of the stick.

 

I hope this helps.

[ditchman]

i rekon most of my shooting is done at 20-35yds............i will take a bird up to 50yds if its flying undistubed..(not spooked)

[Cosd]

When I was learning, I was told was that if you can see the neck or wing bars, then its within range.

Obviously there are those that will shoot beyond that range, but that's a good starting point.

 

 

Cos

[scotslad]

All the above advice is good but i'd only add stick to the range U can normally kill a bird at.

 

Just because someone else can regularly cleanly kill a bird at 'X' meters doesnae mean u can, just extend ur range if ur feeling confident or ur gaining experience/ability and clean killing far more than ur missing

 

I have shot with people far better shots than me and i wouldnae even lift my gun to some of the birds they kill so it's about knowing ur limitations

[henry931]

If I'm decoying I normally stick to quarter choke and set a limit of about 40 yards.

Having patterned the gun I know thats the max distance that will consistently kill a crossing bird.

I find if they are going straight away they need to be closer to avoid wounding them.

If I don't like the distance or the line it's taking I prefer to just keep low/hidden, and hope it comes back around. Sometimes a different one comes in at a nicer angle anyway.

 

For flighting I would take a different gun with tighter chokes and happily shoot to 50 yards. If they are crossing nicely and you can see their vitals then 55-60 is on the the table.

 

I think for longer range pigeons Continental 6s are the sweet spot. They still have the energy as long as you can see the vitals and give a better pattern than 5s.

[mel b3]

Im not fantastic with a shotgun, i prefer birds 30 yrds and under but will push it to 40yrds if im having a good day, i shoot with several guys that will happily take birds at 60 yrds.