Where EXACTLY do i aim on a pigeon?

[Newbie]

This may well win the 'dumb a5s newbie question of the year award' but.....

With a shottie, one aims in the general direction of the bird.

With a round, the forces involved are liable to cause quick death.

With an air rifle pellet, to get a humane kill, am I aiming for a head / brain stem shot?

 

I'm a rabbit killing mo-fo at the minute and Head shots at air rifle range are relatively easy. But head bobbing, tree sitting rats are a bit more randomly moving. I've had a couple of flappers which necessitated breaking cover to deliver quietus, is that par for the course?

I'm not at all sqeamish but I feel it's only fair to make it quick.

 

N

[lurcherboy]

This may well win the 'dumb a5s newbie question of the year award' but.....

With a shottie, one aims in the general direction of the bird.

With a round, the forces involved are liable to cause quick death.

With an air rifle pellet, to get a humane kill, am I aiming for a head / brain stem shot?

 

I'm a rabbit killing mo-fo at the minute and Head shots at air rifle range are relatively easy. But head bobbing, tree sitting rats are a bit more randomly moving. I've had a couple of flappers which necessitated breaking cover to deliver quietus, is that par for the course?

I'm not at all sqeamish but I feel it's only fair to make it quick.

 

N

 

 

For the air rifle you need to contain yourself to head shots only.

 

 

 

LB

[Newbie]

Thought so, I aim for headshots which are either a solid hit or a miss.

A non fatal shot has only happened a couple out of a hundred shots but its not something I get with rabbits, apart from a bit of twitching. I dispatched them within 10 secs or so but feel a bit bad.

N

[pin]

Head or neck, in the right place they drop.

 

I'm not proud of it but I hit a piggy in the chest, within a 5p bit of centre with a 17grn hornady v-max and watched it fly. They can have bullet proof crops, avoid!

[Newbie]

Cheers Pin,

Fortunately these didn't fly. Just the rest of the flock flew when i dashed out to wring it's neck.

It felt a bit odd first time but the second time I began to wonder if it was me, inaccurate shooting to blame or whether the odd flapper was par for the course with pigeons and air rifles.

 

How do the rest of you fare?

 

N

[Devilishdave]

I have never had a problem droping pigeons with an air rifle with either head neck or chest shots. I dont shoot with an air rifle any more but I used to aim for the neck my left and right was always spot on but as any realist with an air rifle will know it is not always easy to judge the trajectory of the. When going for the neck if you are spot on you will drop it. if it goes high in to the head you will drop it and if it goes low in to the chest you will drop it. I would say it all depends on what range the birds are at and what you are shooting with. me and my mate used to regularly drop pigeons at 60m with legal limit air rifles. I cant remember ever wounding any although like any one who is honest and shoots for long enough it will happen from time to time.

 

Dave

[decroyffe]

i've only ever gone for the head, didnt know a neck shot would do the job. Had a strange one last week tho, pigeon at 25y, head shot clean over. rabbit at 35y, head shot clean over. moved out of cover the retreve both, 2 foot from mr pigeon and he flys off whats all that about.

 

That day 14 rabbits, all clean kills to the head. i was sure as i can be that i was on target.

[SNAKEBITE]

I would agree with head shots only.

 

With a neck shot you will drop it but it might not die straight away. I have had them where they fall down and on the retrieve they start flapping or just huddle down and try to look invisible. Not on as it takes a second shot or a neck pull to finish them off.

[ROBLATCH]

Thought so, I aim for headshots which are either a solid hit or a miss.

A non fatal shot has only happened a couple out of a hundred shots but its not something I get with rabbits, apart from a bit of twitching. I dispatched them within 10 secs or so but feel a bit bad.

N

 

no reason to feel bad,if you dont make a clean kill your doing the right thing by dispatching them quickly.

[SNAKEBITE]

A couple of weeks ago I was clearing doves from an equestrian school, well I say clearing only managed two due to the location of the birds and the safety of shots.

I borrowed a laser range finder so I could be 100% on distance and took both down with perfect head shots. Apart from the pellet going right through (I heard it hit the backtop) damage seemed minimal. One dove was still flapping as it hit the deck and needed despatching with a second shot. (Pellet fired at head, gun pointing down and backstop was the sand in the sand school).

my point is that the brain cavity is so small on a bird that even a head shot can result in a flapper.

[Theskyfox]

I wouldnt worry, thats normal with woodies I find. I normally aim for the back of the head/neck...I notice that even the cleanest headshot can result in flapping about, but the bird is dead. Its to do with nerves too...I totally agree that head/neck shots are the only way to bring them down. Wing/body shots just result in them flying off.

 

-Andrew

[killer rabbit (r1000)]

i tend to go for the second shot regardless, just to make sure (at least when it's lying there you have a much easier shot, sometimes take my co2 beretta as a finisher). probably best to use wadcutters or semi-dome for birds as they are more likely to give a quick kill rather than 'drill' a neat hole & miss all the vitals (try not to use pointed pellets as they're usually not very accurate at range).

[steve3562]

i've only ever gone for the head, didnt know a neck shot would do the job. Had a strange one last week tho, pigeon at 25y, head shot clean over. rabbit at 35y, head shot clean over. moved out of cover the retreve both, 2 foot from mr pigeon and he flys off whats all that about.

 

That day 14 rabbits, all clean kills to the head. i was sure as i can be that i was on target.

 

i can beat that one had one in my garden about a month back bang hin the head when i went to retreive it, it was still struggling to breath? one more pellet did the job

 

steve

[Devilishdave]

If you hit a pigeon in the chest you will damage both the muscles on the chest and back that it needs for flying also and more fataly you will hit it in the lungs and heart or arteries. Either way it will be dead by the time it reaches the ground. I have shot hundreds of pigeons squre through the head that have had a good old flap to them selves so dont use that as a measure as to wheather the creature is fataly wounded. We have all heard of chickens running about for ages even after the head is completely severd.

 

Dave

[SNAKEBITE]

Had it again this morning. Perfect head shot, jst behind the eye. Lots of flapping and messing about

 

Rather off putting

[terrier]

Head, or the back, right under the shoulders. gives a nice "plock" (and a instant kill)

[Keith]

Head is the best - I hit three pigeons y'day. 1 in the chest and 2 in the back. all using Bisley Magnums and all at about 25 yards.

 

To my horror, they all flew away. I know I hit them as I saw and heard the impact and saw the feathers fly. But then the birds flew too.

 

I'll have to stick to head shots as I don't want to just injure them and leave them to die slowly when they've flown off.

[SNAKEBITE]

Head is the best - I hit three pigeons y'day. 1 in the chest and 2 in the back. all using Bisley Magnums and all at about 25 yards.

 

To my horror, they all flew away. I know I hit them as I saw and heard the impact and saw the feathers fly. But then the birds flew too.

 

I'll have to stick to head shots as I don't want to just injure them and leave them to die slowly when they've flown off.

 

At least you have learnt your lesson

 

The "between the shoulders" shot is a little hit and miss IMHO. I have used it on crows but had too many fliers so have left it.

[Cyber]

I NEVER go for anything but a headshot on any of my quarry. That is why it is VERY important to make sure your groupings are spot on before you attempt to shoot at anything that is alive! half inch groupings are what you should be aiming for. the maximum range you can achieve a half inch grouping at, is the maximum range you should attempt a shot at quarry imo.

[P03]

Head is the best - I hit three pigeons y'day. 1 in the chest and 2 in the back. all using Bisley Magnums and all at about 25 yards.

 

To my horror, they all flew away. I know I hit them as I saw and heard the impact and saw the feathers fly. But then the birds flew too.

 

I'll have to stick to head shots as I don't want to just injure them and leave them to die slowly when they've flown off.

 

At least you have learnt your lesson :blink:

 

The "between the shoulders" shot is a little hit and miss IMHO. I have used it on crows but had too many fliers so have left it.

Pity it took three fliers before the lesson was learned.

Head shots only in my book. A pigeons head is about an inch across....if you can't hit that every time from 25 yds you should still be punching paper. Heart lung shots do work but you can't actually see a pigeons heart or lungs so you might as well be shooting blindfolded...............IMO.

[SNAKEBITE]

There is so much advise available on the shooting forums it is a shame you have to try things before they are proved wrong. Especially so on live quarry. I learnt the hard way, but not as hard as it was for the crows who flew off to die a slow death with a pellet up it's chuffer.

 

Head shots 100% of the time for me now.

[Newbie]

Thanks for all the input, it's made very informative reading. As I said in my original post I usually hunt rabbits and it was an opportunistic pigeon kill gone wrong which prompted me. This pigeon didn't just twitch, it went NUTS! I mean like somersaulting around like a dervish before i grabbed it and wrung it.

 

But when I watched a repeat of the 'river cottage' series on tv there was a snippet where pigeons were being shot by a top, female, shotgun wielding pigeon assassin. They laid out their decoys, stood in their hide and blatted away at the pigeons as they flew low. Hugh FW retrieved the birds but of the few shown none were flapping or showing sign of life. It was clear that the pigeons were hit since they were falling from flight but very doubtful that they were headshot. Nor would the height of the fall kill them, therefore most of them would have needed to be wrung.

 

Was my unfortunate 'kill' just a freak? What do the rest of you think of shotgun kills versus the accuracy of a rifle shot?

Any shotgunners here? Do your shot pigeons need to be 'finished off'?

 

Cheers all,

N

[caplock]

Lets be honest they are a tough bird what ever you use to hunt with.

How many have had a flapper when using the 12 bore??.

Most are a clean kill but I've encountered on a few occasions the odd wounded one that has hunkered down where it fell after a good hit and puff of feathers, coupled with a 'thud' on touchdown rather than a controlled landing.

[BSA Shaun]

Thanks for all the input, it's made very informative reading. As I said in my original post I usually hunt rabbits and it was an opportunistic pigeon kill gone wrong which prompted me. This pigeon didn't just twitch, it went NUTS! I mean like somersaulting around like a dervish before i grabbed it and wrung it.

 

But when I watched a repeat of the 'river cottage' series on tv there was a snippet where pigeons were being shot by a top, female, shotgun wielding pigeon assassin. They laid out their decoys, stood in their hide and blatted away at the pigeons as they flew low. Hugh FW retrieved the birds but of the few shown none were flapping or showing sign of life. It was clear that the pigeons were hit since they were falling from flight but very doubtful that they were headshot. Nor would the height of the fall kill them, therefore most of them would have needed to be wrung.

 

Was my unfortunate 'kill' just a freak? What do the rest of you think of shotgun kills versus the accuracy of a rifle shot?

Any shotgunners here? Do your shot pigeons need to be 'finished off'?

 

Cheers all,

N

 

2 Very main differences.

 

If the pigeons are in flight, never ever use an air rifle, that's shotgun territory.

 

Airgun is for perched critters.

 

As for shot placement, I have had chest and head shots and both have been instant kills, then again I try to get fairly close. Go for the head if I can given circumstance tho.

[leeboy]

Head ideally but it doesn't really matter. I shoot most of my pigeons in the chest and they die instantly. My preference is for side on shots or a shot between the shoulders from behind. If shooting for the chest, aim for dead center then shoot an inch lower. Most pigeons that fly off after being chest shot have just had the crop shot. The actual chest itself is alot lower than it looks when the bird is facing you and the crop takes up a big part of what you see.

 

 

Leeboy