Canny pigeons , My theory .

[Harnser]

Over the last few years i have found it more and more difficult to shoot big bags of pigeons .It has seemed to me that pigeons are are becoming more and more wiley and reluctant to come to the coys . Its not the lack of experiance on my part as i have been shooting pigeons for the past 50 years . I have also noticed that most of my bags are made up of young inexperianced birds that will commit to the coys .

In the animal world we all know that the rule of survival rules . The strong and the clever survive and the weak become food for the strong ,thats nature . Is it possible that the regular shooting of pigeons has speeded up the natural selection process , the stupid get shot , And those birds birds that wont come into the coys are some sort of super intelligent pigeon that goes off and breed among other intelligent pigeons .So that we now have more intelligent pigeons than we had 50 years ago . Having said all that i still think that there are as many pigeons about as there was 50 years ago but they are definately more intelligent and it takes me more outings to shoot as many birds as i used to 50 years ago . What do you think . Harnser .

[starlight32]

Over the last few years i have found it more and more difficult to shoot big bags of pigeons .It has seemed to me that pigeons are are becoming more and more wiley and reluctant to come to the coys . Its not the lack of experiance on my part as i have been shooting pigeons for the past 50 years . I have also noticed that most of my bags are made up of young inexperianced birds that will commit to the coys .

In the animal world we all know that the rule of survival rules . The strong and the clever survive and the weak become food for the strong ,thats nature . Is it possible that the regular shooting of pigeons has speeded up the natural selection process , the stupid get shot , And those birds birds that wont come into the coys are some sort of super intelligent pigeon that goes off and breed among other intelligent pigeons .So that we now have more intelligent pigeons than we had 50 years ago . Having said all that i still think that there are as many pigeons about as there was 50 years ago but they are definately more intelligent and it takes me more outings to shoot as many birds as i used to 50 years ago . What do you think . Harnser .

 

The first time I ever went pigeon shooting was with my uncle around 25 years ago. His decoy set up was an old burlap sack as a 'net ', some sticks as hide poles and 8 old corona lemonade bottles painted grey with a two dashes of white paint across them as wing bars. We shot 55 birds in around a couple of hours. They came into the decoys with no fear.

 

Moving on into the 90's I was lucky to knock about with a guy who had a few quid and had bought one of the first commercially available magnets form pinewood at well over 300 quid. I used it with him for the first time and the results were amazing..... It was on that day I had in company my first red letter day...144 birds. It was different though.. the birds were suicidal.

Now I too struggle to shoot large amounts of birds full stop, and do have some good ground which is the same I have had for over 25 years. I have far more at my disposal nowadays than I ever did to decoy with, so what is it?

 

Harnser you have hit the nail on the head..... Pigeons are more wily these days, but I am I right in saying the mortality rate of woodpigeons is very high and that they live on average for a year?

 

So therefore the willyness in the birds is in the genes from the beginning? Bit eccentric in my thoughts maybe but there you go??

 

Another thing to mention is that when I started shooting we did not seem to be how we are now? I.e go to a shop buy a thousand cartridges-shoot them and great.... go buy another 1000?

 

I remember as a youngster shooting with my father running out or stopping shooting due to the cost when birds were still piling in. We shoot pigeons to a greater extent with less thought these days so the results are inevitable.

 

Your thoughts???? Or am I way off track???

Edited September 8, 2008 by starlight32

[anser2]

I am not so sure pigeons are getting more canny or if its more that they have so much more food available nowadays they do not need to drop in on the first set of decoys they see. When I first started to shoot rape was a rare crop nowadays its very common ( 17 fields of it on my shooting ground last year.) However i am sure pigeon are becoming more tame. I have birds wandering about my lawn that allow you to get within a few feet and then just flop up onto a branch and look at you. 20 years ago a pigeon would flee at the sight of you at 100 yards. I think its probably due to lack of hunting pressure. I have said this before , but on one estate where I satterday roost shoot at the end of the pheasant season where a few years ago there would be 15 guns out. Now days there are usually just a couple and some evenings last year i was the only gun out.

 

I know several guns who no longer shoot pigeons because of the cost of cartridges.

[pigeon controller]

I've been shooting pigeons for the last 19 years most weekends and now in the week. Over that period they have have become more wary of hides,movement and decoy patterns. I've found that you have to keep changing the pattern use real birds as decoys as soon as you have them, use flappers, magnets to see if it makes any difference. The main thing to remember is if they spook on the decoys then somthing is not right walk out into the field and look back at the hide and decoy pattern, you may have a plastic bag in the hedge or a bottle shining in the sun. The main thing is not to sit in the hide moaning keep trying don't give up!!!

 

Pigeon Controller

Edited September 8, 2008 by pigeon controller

[Admiral Von Tirpitz]

Have pigeons evolved/adapted quickly like other birds and got to a position where they see danger, whether in a person or what a person has with them. I had the pleasure of a tractor as company in a field I shoot a couple of weeks ago and pigeons were coming into range regularly and I was just standing there. Without the tractor and in cammo gear they would spot me well off and bank hard away

 

My Uncles garden is only 300 yards from another field I shoot on, pigeons sit there on his lawn quite happy with people, 300 yards away they dive, bank, turn at the very sight of me, but not there. They must be the same pigeons being that close by.

 

Geese, Ducks and Chickens recognise people, they know who feeds them and who are strangers, are pigeons the same.......do they fly into the zone and think, oh dear not him again or gun gun!!.......all pigeons...increase attitude to avoid flak and barrage.....

 

Believe this or not, my local farmer rescued a baby wood pigeon in a nest, reared it and it use to fly round the farmyard and then land on his shoulder, he had it for months, until I guess it went out for the day and discovered not all farmers are as friendly

[sambu13]

id say thatthe accelerated seletion is a very feasable theory!it happened with hogehegs!but with such fast reproduction/short lifecycles and the death of pigeons by means other than shooting it is unlikely that we will be facing a mega breed that will never be shot any time soon.

my opinion

sambu

[Harnser]

Starlight,

I think we both agree that it is harder to shoot pigeons nowadys than it was 20 years ago . Whats the reason for it ? i am convinced that the birds are more wiley than they have ever been before . My theory is just a theroy and should not be taken as gospel ,but the old woody is naturally a wiley old bird any way and with the pressure of shooting today would if they were unable to adapt to this pressure they would become an extinct species . Harnser .