Should I shoot birds flighting to oilseed rape or decoy them on the field?

This way, he says, the pigeon don’t get frightened off the crop and you can have several goes at shooting them during winter as long as the wind conditions are right.

It makes some sense to me, but what do you think?

PIGEON SHOOTING
Peter Theobald
I’m not sure the farmers will think this tactic is a good idea, as, presumably, the pigeons that do reach the field will be able to scoff his crops in peace.

However as an advanced pigeon shooting tactic, it can be effective.

To make it work, your reconnaissance has to be spot on, and you will need to be far enough away from the target field for your shots not to disturb the feeding flock.

Also, once the feeding population has flighted past, it will be game over.

In the winter the flight time is usually short so you might only get less than an hour’s pigeon shooting.

Inevitably, without decoys to narrow the line, more birds will get passed without being shot at, but it’s certainly worth trying when all else has failed, and conditions are favourable.