Anthony Stodart, Managing Director of ArdMoor informs us on his experience of pigeon flighting and shooting.
As the crop of peas got riper and riper, the pigeons got fatter and fatter but flighting them within the crop was going to cause damage so we held off in anticipation of the crop being harvested. The harvest duly finished so we loaded up at the earliest opportunity to have a crack at them with a friend and his son who was out for his first experience of pigeon flighting and hoping to get his first bird.
Having loaded the car with guns, cartridges, ear defenders, binoculars, camo netting and poles, ten decoys and the trusty dog we set off and parked up to survey the three fields that were available to us. Ten minutes of watching and waiting to see where the flight lines were with the binos and we thought we had our spot. Camo netting built with our backs to the hedge and to the wind, we set out our decoy pattern in the classic U-shape with the bottom of the U nearest to us and some 20m away. The anticipation rose as the first pigeon landed in whilst we were still sorting ourselves out and we were soon into a great afternoon’s flighting which gave some testing shooting and a first bird as well so a good result all round. Plenty left for the next opportunity and we’ll set some scarers out next time in the rest of the fields to keep them focussed on where we want them as 90acres of pea stubble leaves too much ground available for them to feed on away from the decoys.
To buy ear defenders, binoculars and other equipment from this article please visit our shooting accessories page here. For more tips on pigeon shooting click here with more advice on timings, clothing, decoy placement and comfort.