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What is the correct term for this?


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Good morning all,

I am a British translator working on a French client's text about woodpigeon shooting, which will ultimately be read by enthusiasts in English-speaking countries. 

Some of the more specialised terminology has led me to appeal to the shooting community. 

I am struggling to find the correct English term for a device which pretty much looks like this:

palette_a_pigeon_cote-chasse.jpg

Its key characteristics are:

  • Its role is to cause the decoy to move so as to imitate a landing woodpigeon and attract other birds.
  • By setting your decoy on this X and pulling on the cord, the pigeon moves and flaps it wings.
  • This attracts birds from a distance.
  • Folded size: 60 cm
  • Dimensions when extended: 1 m

The French name for this item (at least in the catalogue) literally reads as 'ground pump' which seems wrong to start with.

Thank you for any input you may have.

Edited by TMiles
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As @JDog and @TIGHTCHOKEstate it’s a falling live bird tether, if I recall these were (possibly still are) common in the Pyrenees in the 20thC. Illegal in the UK, I appreciate that the book relates to French shooting but it may be worth an editor’s note. From the appearance a tug on the cord lifts the upper tube and perch plate upwards before release of the cord drops it under gravity, causing the tethered bird to flutter to regain its balance. 

Green is leg tether, grey is a wood pigeon, orange is movement. 

6BCCF650-D3A2-4DF6-8EC4-78066280A8DF.jpeg

Edited by WalkedUp
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Thank you for all your help. I have indeed come across mention of many different regulations which obviously differ from country to country (and no doubt state to state). I think that there is a case for making the client aware of this, even though this falls outside the translator's strict remit.

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Excuse my ignorance, but how does a contraption like this work? It is clearly lower than the flapper, but is the arm supposed to move? No doubt someone can instantly name this thing! The original French word ("devastator") sounds either like the brand name or a nickname.

400f_00001_Mecanisme-ravageuse-de-sol-po

Edited by TMiles
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That seems a reasonable description, as long as it is clear that it is for live birds 👍

In the UK we use live corvids as decoys, but are not allowed to agitate them and cannot use them for shooting only trapping. I believe the French trap a lot of pigeons too rather than just shoot them? 

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