PIGEONS V CORVIDS

[marsh man]

Unlike P C , I very rarely get a call from a farmer , farm manager or keeper telling me there are pigeons on the peas or whatever takes there fancy for the simple fact I normally see them before they do .

 

Well yesterday I did get one of those rare calls , the farm manager asked the tractor driver to give me call about pigeons and corvids giving a field of winter barley a bit of stick and can I have a go sooner than later , with it being early afternoon I decided to look first instead of rushing about for a couple of shooting , so off I went .

 

Pulling into the gateway the first thing I noticed was the field was more knocked about than being laid and the pigeons and corvids were used to going on there undisturbed as they paid no attention to me walking about to see if there were any area worth setting up under two trees that are ideally placed in the middle of the field . the area around one the trees was shootable and had the added advantage of shelter from the sun and to shoot in any wind direction , by now there were birds flying about in all directions and under the tree will be where I will greet them

 

Unlike P C again , I am not a great lover of shooting large amounts of corvids , ( a ) I don't like throwing away what I shoot and ( b ) I cant afford to shoot large numbers of shells on something I cant sell.

Time I made two trips across to the tree with the gear and the liquid refreshments it was around 2pm , and within a minute of setting up the first pigeon was accounted for and not long after the first Rook was laying on the barley , I now decided to concentrate on the pigeons as my shooting would keep the corvids off without using to many of my hard earnt shells.

 

Pigeons came in nicely throughout the afternoon and my young dog was marking well , I was picking up after I shot 3 or 4 and managed to pick up all bar a couple that dropped out close to a main road ,

 

A few weeks ago I was asked if I could supply the estate up to 40 fresh pigeons a week , this I have managed to do , although some smaller bags have had to go into a old fridge in the garage until the number have been achieved , well today I managed to get them by about 5 30 and I thought for the last hour I will put two Rooks on the magnet and limit myself to one box of shells .

 

I know there were a lot of young uns about but to tell yer the truth , they were not as hard as the pigeons and before I used the box I got fed up and stopped shooting them as they wernt the hardest birds in the world to shoot,

 

So how do you find shooting Corvids compared to Pigeons ? , and maybe a silly question ,but what would be your choice.?

 

 

 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

When I was out on Saturday there were many corvids that were shot at long range, I enjoy that as it makes them more of a challenge.

[aga man]

I think there is an art to decoying corvids well and shooting good bags regularly which is no doubt a thrill and sense of achievment. For me though nothing comes close to shooting Woodpigeons, either decoying, flighting, roosting whatever. Fantastic birds and even better in the wind.

 

Having said that i will often leave a decoying pigeon to take a Carrion crow, i never tire of killing those.

 

Well done on the afternoon session marsh man sounds great.

[Wilts#Dave]

Pigeons 100% for me, offer a much more sporting variety of shots I think and I just don't get the same satisfaction I do when I get a good bag of pigeons.

I don't mind shooting corvids when the need arises though but would only shoot odd ones if I'm on a good pigeon day.

As said above, big old carrion crows are my preference!

Sounds like a cracking afternoon you had there marsh man, well deserved.

Edited June 21, 2017 by Wilts#Dave

[marsh man]

THANKS to the above replies , First of all I am not knocking those chaps who mainly shoot corvids , to shoot constant good bags you would need a fair bit of field craft and be able to shoot reasonably straight , and good luck to them

 

The advantage I had , or disadvantage , whatever way you look at it was this field hadn't been touched since we had storms here about three weeks ago and walking around the flattened patches you could see a lot of Black feathers , empty ears on the barley stems and plenty of White droppings under the trees in the middle of the field.

 

Putting dead Rooks on a magnet was something I hadn't done before and I wasn't sure how they would react , well , weather this is the norm I couldn't tell you, but at 5.30pm the breeze we had had died down to nothing and the corvids were keen to inspect the set up, with the majority calling away and hovering over the magnet and landing amongst the few dead ones I had laid out . like I say , if this is the way they react on a normal day , I cant say , as this was a one off and something I don't make a habit of .

 

Anyhow , I will go back later on today and put some of the dead ones out on sticks to show I shot a few and hope that will keep them off , which I think will be wishful thinking .

[pigeon controller]

Thanks for a great report and well done. I prefer to shoot pigeons 100%, I've posted it before corvids are my nemesis I find them difficult to hit either too much lead or decoy them too close and have little spread on 1/4 and 1/2 chokes. I shoot corvids to keep farms for my pigeon shooting. I have a number of farms who have butterfly shooters who appear at stubble time and will not shoot corvids due to cost. I have always stated that I will not shoot any quarry unless I can find a use for it, the exception being the corvids as I'm unable to find a free market for them. I have found dumped pigeons in the passed and it grieves me that a bird that is a pest to farmers but gives me sport can then be processed into the food chain. If I had to dump pigeons I would not shoot them, it concerns me that due to the number of shooters about the market appears to be flooded and some dealers are not taking pigeon. Due to my location we have a good number of Asians and I have found a limited market with them but fresh only.

 

The one thing that has improved with my corvid shooting is the decoying but I have never use a magnet yet. This time of the year with the young birds they are not decoy shy and boost numbers. I always text a picture of my corvid bags and I get requests from new farms as they say " I hear that you can do the business " which gives me new pigeon farms.

[marsh man]

Thanks for a great report and well done. I prefer to shoot pigeons 100%, I've posted it before corvids are my nemesis I find them difficult to hit either too much lead or decoy them too close and have little spread on 1/4 and 1/2 chokes. I shoot corvids to keep farms for my pigeon shooting. I have a number of farms who have butterfly shooters who appear at stubble time and will not shoot corvids due to cost. I have always stated that I will not shoot any quarry unless I can find a use for it, the exception being the corvids as I'm unable to find a free market for them. I have found dumped pigeons in the passed and it grieves me that a bird that is a pest to farmers but gives me sport can then be processed into the food chain. If I had to dump pigeons I would not shoot them, it concerns me that due to the number of shooters about the market appears to be flooded and some dealers are not taking pigeon. Due to my location we have a good number of Asians and I have found a limited market with them but fresh only.

 

The one thing that has improved with my corvid shooting is the decoying but I have never use a magnet yet. This time of the year with the young birds they are not decoy shy and boost numbers. I always text a picture of my corvid bags and I get requests from new farms as they say " I hear that you can do the business " which gives me new pigeon farms.

THANKS.... P C....... Good to hear from you , when I first read your reply I thought you had a market for your corvids with your local population of Asians , although having said that , they might welcome them with open arms

 

I think the majority of us who shoot pigeons on a regular basis will only shoot corvids if they had to , purely to keep the land owners happy , in the past I mainly shot them for practice , now at my age the peak was reached years ago and I doubt a few boxes shot at Rooks now is going to make much difference to my little skill with a shotgun , in the pre magnet days when the gear was basic we would put two rubber ones out with a dead pigeon a few feet away with half his feathers pulled out and scattered about , this was more than enough for a start , then the dead ones were propped up like we would do now.

 

Two places where I go now had invested in a Crow cage and I am sure they account for more than I will ever shoot.