Wood vs Feral

[Percy78]

Does anyone else find that ferals come into decoys a lot more than woods?
Sometimes I’m still setting up and they are coming in. There is a good flock of them but there’s plenty of woodies around too. 
Just curious as to others experience?
 

 

[strimmer_13]

Yes, in fact I shoot more ferals than woodies, but thats probably because I'm right next to a very large town. 

They come in very easily if they are about, and if truth be told, every time I have the magnet out I only ever shoot ferals. Never had a woodie come in with magnet out (which is probably my lousy fieldcrafts fault). Complete waste of money. 

[Walker570]

They're pretty dumb. Have to be very careful not to shoot those wild pigeons which look very similar and also come in a bit stupid like, usually in pairs,

[Percy78]

And there was me thinking I was some sort of feral pigeon whisperer that had unbelievable Decoying skills!!! 😂

[GingerCat]

I like feral coming into the pattern, I feel they make far better decoys flying about and circling like they do then any magnet or flapper.

[Percy78]

7 hours ago, GingerCat said:

I like feral coming into the pattern, I feel they make far better decoys flying about and circling like they do then any magnet or flapper.

100% agree. Once they start coming in they make every pigeon in the area take notice.

[WalkedUp]

Watch out for stock doves, very easy to identify from flight and shape but I have seen so many shot by accident. 

[Percy78]

9 minutes ago, WalkedUp said:

Watch out for stock doves, very easy to identify from flight and shape but I have seen so many shot by accident. 

Absolutely. I’ve let quite a few ferals go as I wasn’t 100% sure. We have a lot of collared doves around too so it pays to be careful.

I haven’t seen any stock doves but out of interest, what makes them stand out in shape and flight?

[WalkedUp]

In my experience:

Shape - when flying Stock doves have a rounded head that is conical on the body with no discernible neck. 

Flight - they have a more rounded wing and don’t seem to flap as much 

Colour - stock doves are always darker in the wing tip and lack banding. Their colouration is more similar to a dark juvenile word pigeon. Blue rather than grey if you can picture it. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by WalkedUp

[Percy78]

1 minute ago, WalkedUp said:

In my experience:

Shape - when flying Stock doves have a rounded head that is conical on the body with no discernible neck. 

Flight - they have a more rounded wing and don’t seem to flap as much 

Colour - stock doves are always darker in the wing tip 

Great info, thanks 👍🏼

[Fellside]

In my area there’s a lot of ferals near any large cattle sheds - but also a good population of stock doves. Sometimes they can look virtually identical in profile. I have therefore taken to only shooting birds with a significant amount of white in their plumage. This means that some ferals slip through the net - but I still manage a good number of ‘flying rats’ in with the woodies. 

[Percy78]

13 minutes ago, Fellside said:

In my area there’s a lot of ferals near any large cattle sheds - but also a good population of stock doves. Sometimes they can look virtually identical in profile. I have therefore taken to only shooting birds with a significant amount of white in their plumage. This means that some ferals slip through the net - but I still manage a good number of ‘flying rats’ in with the woodies. 

Very similar here. The ferals come off of nearby grain silos. Maybe I’ve been lucky not seeing any stock doves as they do seem abundant in other areas. That’s a very good idea about the plumage and something I’ll probably stick to as it’s definitely not a mistake I’d want to make. 

[Fellside]

👍