My Pigeons wont Die !

[reedbradshaw]

Heres the story, i go shooting along with the farmer on his land shooting pidgeons on foot. We mainly walk round the edge of his high corn fields and the edge of the woods which are also on his land. When they "spook" we take shots at them. Never have a big bag mainly 5-8 birds in a hour or two but still a good laugh. We are both using S/S 12 gau ( unsure of fixed choke! ) with 18 inch barrels.

 

When i shoot birds in flight some are often pretty far away, i only ever tend to wound the bird hardly ever kill it in the sky. This is happening for both of us. When i go clay shooting ( the "odd" time ) i tend to hit clays square and they turn to dust so i am not doubting my aim......or should i be

 

The cartridges i am using are 70mm 32grm size 6... are these ok for shooting pigeons

 

Or is this part of pigeon shooting as they are pretty hardy im thinking this because when i shoot magpies they just drop out of the sky in a plume of feathers...id like this to happen to pigeons rather than put them through pain

 

ps i have seen pigeon shooting on you tube and they are all dead in the air...what am i doing wrong ?

 

Advice appreciated

 

Reed

[Zapp]

Heres the story, i go shooting along with the farmer on his land shooting pidgeons on foot. We mainly walk round the edge of his high corn fields and the edge of the woods which are also on his land. When they "spook" we take shots at them. Never have a big bag mainly 5-8 birds in a hour or two but still a good laugh. We are both using S/S 12 gau ( unsure of fixed choke! ) with 18 inch barrels.

 

When i shoot birds in flight some are often pretty far away, i only ever tend to wound the bird hardly ever kill it in the sky. This is happening for both of us. When i go clay shooting ( the "odd" time ) i tend to hit clays square and they turn to dust so i am not doubting my aim......or should i be

 

The cartridges i am using are 70mm 32grm size 6... are these ok for shooting pigeons

 

Or is this part of pigeon shooting as they are pretty hardy im thinking this because when i shoot magpies they just drop out of the sky in a plume of feathers...id like this to happen to pigeons rather than put them through pain :(

 

ps i have seen pigeon shooting on you tube and they are all dead in the air...what am i doing wrong ?

 

Advice appreciated

 

Reed

 

Carts sound fine, gun sounds fine (apart from the barrels, I assume you meant 28 inch and not 18 ) It would be worth checking the chokes on the gun though, flushed birds are often going directly away from the shooter fast and therefore need quite a "whack" to bring them down.

 

It sounds to me like it might be too "open" for longer range receding targets. Have you tried using the choke barrel on these targets? If so have you noticed a difference in clean kills/pricked birds?

 

ZB

[Cranfield]

If you are using 12 bore 32 gm cartridges with No6 shot, the reason you are not killing the pigeons, is that you are not hitting them with enough pellets.

That means they are either out of range, or you are not shooting in the right place.

 

If you can hit clays consistently, then it usually means that "range judgement" is out.

Try pacing out 30 long strides and seeing just how close it is.

[reedbradshaw]

ok thanks, i must admit distances in the field compared to the clay ground can be a little disorrientating. This is probably what im doing. in future ill take shots at a lot closer range.

 

so the cartridges are fine for the pigeons

[David BASC]

Cranfield is spot on - range judging is the big issue here.

 

BASC ran some range judging exercises at the Midland game fair and other game fairs in 2005-2006. We set decoys on poles at 25m and asked people to judge the range. Answers came back from 10m to over 60m!

 

However, most people thought they were well less than 25m away, I know (and I count me in this as well) it is so easy to mis judge range – the bird you think is 30m away could easily by 40+ so given that the maximum effective range of the shotgun is only around 30m = high wounding rates.

 

The trouble is in the filed there are often far fewer visible markers to help us judge range.

 

So yes what you have said is right, shoot at much closer range, and of course get plenty of practice in at your local clay ground!

 

I would argue that No5’s are a better pigeon load- more ‘whack’ per pellet, but there are fewer pellets so at longer range there will be a lower pattern density, and we are back to a greater wounding loss.

 

The answer is, that 6’s are probably fine after all pigeon shooters and pheasant shooters have been using 6’s for donkey’s years- provided you only shoot well in killing range.

 

David

[reedbradshaw]

thanks for the detailed reply David, glad to here its just not me ! im pretty new to SG shooting ( about 3-4 months now @ twice a week ) but i have been shooting air rifle for ages now, i know what you mean about distance markers. When im shooting rabbits with air rifle i normally put a stick in the ground every 20 yard out to mark 20 & 40 yards

[bob300w]

thanks for the detailed reply David, glad to here its just not me ! im pretty new to SG shooting ( about 3-4 months now @ twice a week ) but i have been shooting air rifle for ages now, i know what you mean about distance markers. When im shooting rabbits with air rifle i normally put a stick in the ground every 20 yard out to mark 20 & 40 yards

Do as David says that BASC did, put a decoy up at known ranges. You will be surprised.(one way or the other).

Judging range comes with experience, a friend who maintained that he regularly takes shots at 100 yds with a punt gun did not believe his eyes when I put a mallard decoy out at 100 yards.

[MC]

Bob,

 

Was he under or over?

 

I know that most people cannot judge distance, that is why range finders are so popular.

[reedbradshaw]

i imagine range finding a bird in mid flight hard though

 

good point though say laser a fence post or something etc

[Dunkield]

i imagine range finding a bird in mid flight hard though

I did this this for Mr Pavman, he wanted to see if it can be done - and it can

[casts_by_fly]

and keep in mind that you only need one pellet to break a clay that hits anywhere on the clay. A #6 pellet at 60 yd will break a clay. A #6 at 60 yd won't kill a pigeon on the spot unless you hit the head.

 

Take out your loads and pattern them at known range. You'd be surprised what a 1/2 or full choke will do sometimes. They aren't always what they say on the tin!

 

Thanks

Rick

[malkiserow]

I would suggest you try some decoying of the pigeons as you can then set a marker in the ground and get used to pigeons that are in range.

[Country_est]

Also with going away birds the effective kill zone is hidden by s lot of meat feathers and Ar$e so possibly a move to 5's may be better for the going away ones.

 

When doing this are you getting any side on crossers that are being killed straight up.

 

At least when you are hitting them they are comming down and not just giving off a cloud of feathers and continuing.

 

trev