Hide and seek with tasty troublemakers

Pigeon shooting provides a vital service in protecting farmers’ crops. Happily, it also offers delicious wild meat and scintillating sport. There are around five million pairs of woodpigeons in the UK and this number continues to grow. Woodies target oilseed rape and canola after drilling, grain crops at maturity and peas and brassicas at every stage of their life cycle. Pigeon-related crop losses cost the UK economy tens of millions of pounds every year. 

For the keen Shot, this gives plenty of motivation to target these tasty troublemakers. I have heard it said — and tend to agree — that a pigeon can fly higher than a pheasant, faster than a grouse and is as evasive as a snipe. 

Certainly, no bird provides more variety across a day’s sport than these agile members of the dove family. Whether flighted, roosted or decoyed, they provide an intoxicating distraction from the long months that separate the end of one shooting season and the start of the next. 

Over the summer months, decoying can be especially effective. Woodpigeons tend to feed at first light, then become more active again around midday and into the evening, depending on the weather and the available food sources. 

Although you can achieve a level of success with an old Beretta Silver Pigeon and a pocketful of random cartridges by jamming yourself into a nearby hedge or bush, a more considered approach can radically improve your results. 

Savour 

Why not invest a bit more time and effort in shooting a bag large enough to actually make a difference to local crop destruction? Decoying on a hazy summer day, or around harvest, in the warm air, with a gentle breeze rustling the foliage around your hide, is an experience to be savoured. 

Those long golden days can be a very welcome change from puffing out great clouds of condensation while waiting at your peg for a flush in the biting depths of winter. Optimising your kit for decoying can take a few outings, and the land and location you shoot at can alter what might be most effective, but I have found the following kit extremely useful across my expeditions.

BROWNING MAXUS 2 CAMO MAX-5 SEMI AUTO 28IN 

For a long time I wasn’t much of a believer in multi-shot semi-automatic shotguns and I used my side-by-side AYA 12-bore for everything. However, I have seen the light. Failing to maximise opportunities when you are shooting for functional purposes as well as pleasure is pure snobbery. I have found the Browning Maxus 2 in the camouflage livery to be a particularly useful tool for felling pigeons. The 28in barrel version is extremely manoeuvrable in the hide and having use of up to five shots — if you have a firearms licence — means you can make the most of any careless flights of pigeons that stray within range. 

The Maxus has a cheekpiece made of Reactor gel and a clever recoil-reducing pad. Both of these innovations should prevent you from getting sore, even if you are inundated with quarry over a day in the hide. 

The Maxus has been developed in part with the wildfowler in mind. So it is highly water- and mud-resistant. If you are not only using the Maxus for pigeons and are planning to shoot rabbits, hares or do corvid control, the magazine cut-off allows the chamber to be unloaded to change loads, without cycling a shell from the magazine, so you can switch cartridges instantly.

The Maxus comes in a range of camouflage patterns, including Mossy Oak and Auric, to suit your environment. If you baulk at the thought of a camo shotgun, there are also wood and composite versions available. 

Price £1,370 

Contact browning.eu 

Lots of camouflage nets are largely translucent but this one is fairly close to opaque, which means it shields you properly from view. At 4m by 1.5m, the Nitehawk is plenty large enough to cover a decent-sized hide. The thousands of earth-coloured fronds move naturally in any wind, effectively disrupting the outline of your hide and helping you to blend into the 

ELEY HAWK PIGEON SELECT 

The meaning of the various technical specifications of cartridges has finally seeped into my consciousness by osmosis, but now I have a decent understanding of what they mean, it has greatly informed my selection. 

Despite their diminutive size, pigeons are tough birds, so to save your shoulder over a long day it may be tempting to use a very light load, but this would be a mistake. Eley Hawk is a fabulous British company that has been at the top of its game for nearly two centuries. The Pigeon Select was developed in conjunction with National Gamekeepers’ Association vice-president and gamekeeper Geoff Garrod, so their provenance is pukka. 

These 30g No 6s slide through a semi-automatic with no issue, are effective up to their maximum advertised range and don’t disfigure the carcass, so the breasts will still look tidy seared on a muffin with a poached egg. Pigeon Selects are great value and with a regular or heavy gun the recoil is no issue. 

Price £324 per 1,000 

Contact eleyhawkltd.com 

NITEHAWK WOODLAND CAMO GHILLIE NET 

Lots of camouflage nets are largely translucent but this one is fairly close to opaque, which means it shields you properly from view. At 4m by 1.5m, the Nitehawk is plenty large enough to cover a decent-sized hide. The thousands of earth-coloured fronds move naturally in any wind, effectively disrupting the outline of your hide and helping you to blend into the hedgerow or cover behind. To all intents and purposes you will look like a bush. I once helped a friend who was going for the sniper selection cadre prepare his gillie suit and the Nitehawk is built just the same. 

Price £44.99 

Contact nitehawkproducts.co.uk 

CENS PROFLE X DX 1 

It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of ear defence in shooting. The majority of my friends’ fathers, who once upon a time didn’t believe in ear defence, now cup a hand round their ear if the background noise at lunch rises above a companionable burble. 

With this in mind, despite them being slightly expensive, I had no hesitation spending a bit more on the Cens ProFlex DX1. For years I used my big over-ear army-issue Peltor ear defenders for shooting. They were entirely passive and consigned you to a world of silence, as well as preventing your cheek from resting comfortably on the stock. 

Eventually I could take it no more. I held my breath and bought this offering from Cens. With its HD sound enhancement, you can hear the babbling of a brook 200m away, the song of a thrush in a tree behind you, and whisper to your pal in another butt round the duck pond, yet still be protected from the violent sound of your shots. 

These ear defenders allow you to be a part of your surroundings without forgoing protection. They are water-resistant, mould to your ear and, if you are willing to pay a bit more, have natty features such as a mute function and wind noise reduction included. 

Price £549 

Contact censdigital.com

JACK PYKE CARTRIDGE BAG 

I have never got on with cartridge belts and prefer to charge my large cartridge pocket from a bag. For smart driven days, I have a rather luxurious cartridge bag made of a kind of nubuck leather, but it is easily marked and not particularly durable. 

For durability I don’t think you can beat hardwearing canvas. Canvas cartridge and game bags are like cockroaches in the sense that they will survive nuclear war — they are indestructible. Jack Pyke bags are among the best and represent extraordinary value while still being very handsome. I bought myself a canvas Jack Pyke cartridge bag for rough shooting and pigeon shooting and I admit I abuse it terribly. 

Following a wet muddy outing, once the outer of the bag dries I brush off the muck and it is left with a touch more character, having kept the 100 cartridges within safe and dry. If you want something rugged and functional, look no further than Jack Pyke. 

Price £54.95 

Contact jackpyke.co.uk 

FF6 COMBO PIGEON FLAPPER

They might be a little macabre but to make your pattern really pop, I don’t think you can beat flappers that use real birds. The FF6 Combo Flapper is remarkably advanced with a great range of features that offer the best results. 

This latest model allows you to remotely operate the flapper from inside the hide. You can easily alter the speed of the flap, as well as switch between timer mode and remote-control operation. With a robust motor, capable of 500rpm, the FF6 Flapper looks like it might actually take off and is perfect for both pigeon and corvid decoying. And with good reason, as Flightline’s motto is “if we’ve built it – they WILL come”. 

Price £174.99 

Contact flightlinedecoys.co.uk