I was out crow hunting on Saturday morning and saw a pile (well..maybe 100-150) of pigeons. I am very confident that I can get permission to hunt them but I have no experience and or idea of how to hunt them. Do you call them, ambush them, decoy them, ????
Try to get where they are roosting(like on top of a silo) or where they are feeding ,set out some decoys and you will get 'em,just use the dead ones for decoys as you shoot 'em. Pick 'em up and start a decoy spread where you can be hidden( blind,corn,etc.) and still be with in shooting distance!!
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And further, pigeons need a lot of water. I have shot lots at watering holes such as dugouts and the like. You will often see them making flights from a roosting location such as a barn or town grain elevator where shooting is forbidden to these water sources. Nice part about watering holes is that the birds come in twos and threes making for constant shooting over a long period of time. Good luck!
Ted
-- Edited by M12Shooter on Tuesday 3rd of August 2010 02:49:57 PM
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Are they like crows..as in will they come back after being shot at. I usually always see them in flocks. Usually near a farm/silo, etc. If I make some homemade dekes and put them in cut wheat stubble and they fly in and we shoot at them...will that be it for the day?
Sorry for the stupid questions..just have never hunted them.
No they usually fly away and come back,but let them make a pass or two,pigeons can be skitterish or have irrotic flight habits,let em get comfortable then "LACE 'EM!!" I hunt them specifically and they are real sporty!! Having shot them in different settings, one day we gunned a PIG PEN-standing right beside the pigs400-600 pounders!! we killed over 500 with the dogs retrieving 365!! We threw the dead ones on top of the lean to the pigs were in for decoys the pigeons sucked right in!! the labs had a blast as did we and the pigs ate every pigeon we gave them!! If you don't have pigs to feed maybe you can give 'em to a chineese restraunt!!
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The pigs ate the pigeons?? Never heard of that. I did quite a bit of farming growing up and never seen a pig eat a bird. Pumpkins, corn, soybean, hay, etc....no birds...haha
I'm going to go out and give it a whirl. Like I said, I saw a decent sized flock and there looks to be one all white pigeon in among the normal colored ones. I'd like to toast that one. Added challenge.
Well get out there and toast 'em and if you get any with bands on them thats an added bonus!! My pigeon racer friend used to get mine in the mail annonomously!! boy did I laugh my AGGIES off till I finaly told him!! He said once they flock up with the barnyarders/bridge boys they are no good to any body except for guys like me +you and hawks!! Good Shooting!!
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Hey Hammer be careful!!!! Pigeon hunting is extremely addictive!! I stumbled into it and learned how to do it quick. First of all Have Shanedog hook you up with a web site to order some decoys. Lord knows hes got plenty It sounds to me like you may have a spot that will produce several hunts. I bought 6 wood pigeon deeks from a site that Shane hooked me up with and I have had a ball shootin them flyin rats. I have learned 3 things for sure. Never shoot the birds if the lot or field they are in is full. Just put your deeks out or flush the birds and DONT SHOOT!!! Let em come back a few at a time They are relatively stupid I have never spent a minute building a hide. And dont shoot the spot more than 2 or 3 times a month. You will have em everytime then. It is awsome shootin!!! You can fill in any down time with starlings or blackbirds. Its the best thing in the world for a young shooter, lots of action and good practice. Dead birds are great deeks. But if you have a spot that will produce all the time it would pay to buy a half dozen deeks. Shoot a full choke too them pigeon are tough birds
Chip - I was thinking of making my own decoys. I have a really good color printer and I found some images of pigeons on the Internet. I have a graphics program where I can flip the image so I can print out the normal one and the flipped on and then print them out. I can cut them out and glue them to some cardboard (both sides since i have a flipped image). Put coat hangers in the cardboard to hold them to the ground. Might be some work but if they don't work OR if I only hunt them a few times.. I won't feel bad.
When the crow hunting is slow I can offset it with some flying rats (that's a great term).
Here is the image(s) I was going to use for dekes (gotta a picture of a white one too):
Will pigs eat pigeons? I hope to tell ya! They do a great job on crows too!
Jerry Byroade whom I've been hunting crows with for the past 5 seasons told me a great hunting story. In his youth many years ago he had a gunny sack full of dead doves ( several hundred ) that he and his friend shot near a pig pen. He saw a car coming at break neck speed down the road about 400 yards from where he was shooting. Jerry had a feeling it was the game warden so he ran over to the pig pen where there were 40 or so hogs and dumped all the doves out of the gunny sack as fast as he could. By the time the warden checked his hunting licence he said, now lets check you're limit! Yup, you guessed it, Jerry was legal alright. The warden took a stroll over to the pig pen and all he could see that was left of all those doves was a few feathers here and there. The warden knew that his evidence was all gone and Jerry was sitting pretty! The warden said "I'm going to keep a close eye on you" and then they both started laughing it was so funny! True story!
Bob A.
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Hammer if you print a picture out that good and it is the size of a pigeon I can gaurantee you it will work. Go to www.soarnomore and check them babies out. Same thing you are gonna make. You will whackem. Hey pigeon is good to eat too. If they are feeding in a lot on cattle feed they eat real good!!!!
Really??? You eat pigeon? I've seen recipes for crows and there's no way I could bring myself to eat something that I saw on the road eating a dead skunk..haha. Pigeon maybe...crow NEVER.
They are feeding on nothing but grain..guaranteed. No livestock around..just a grain farm.
I just printed out 20 pigeons. They look pretty good. Just gotta cut them, glue them and stick them in the very low cut wheat fields. I think they'll work fine.
Crow decoys attract everything from starlings to sea gulls. I shot many a pigeon over crow decoys-as well as a few starlings if they are grouped together as a single shot on a single bird ain't worth it when things got slow. They will swoop in for a look and then circle and eventually land. if you nail any pigeons at this time the others will put on the brakes and do what you can; but eventually they get spooky.
I have used pigeon decoys and this works especially well too but no pigeon dekes don't worry-your crow decoys will do just fine.
Those red tails r brutes, one power bombed the decoy then sat there looking at it for a bit then flew off, as you can see if it was a live pigeon he would have been a goner.
We shoot pigeons any time we are out hunting, they love grain fields - especially peanuts. Find a peanut field being harvested and you should find plenty. Delicious to eat, grain fed - use any recipe you would use for a dove. You usually find plenty of them around a feed lot.
- my two favorite recipes for pigeon:
1. Bacon wrapped pigeon - breast the bird, slice meat away from middle chest bone but leave attached, insert a slice of onion and jalapeno between the breast bone and the breast meat, wrap in bacon, stick a toothpick through the bird to hold the bacon in place, throw on the grill until the bacon is done, be sure to turn often - mmmm, Aint Bea, Aint Bea
2. Blackened breast of pigeon - breast the bird and cut the breast meat off the bone so you end up with two morsels per bird, get a black skillet very HOT (so hot that when you drop a drop of water in the pan, it jumps back at you hot) shake a mixture of dried, ground spices into the pan - whatever, you have - cayenne, file (used in gumbo), sage, pepper, basil, coriander - when it starts to smoke, quickly dip the breast morsels in liquified butter and toss them in the pan, it only takes a minute or two on each side to cook. Better to undercook than overcook. Take them out, let them cool, put a fancy toothpick in them and serve as appetizers with a cold beverage.
These recipes work with most birds - dove, pigeon, quail, teal - have never tried them with crow.
Put out the decoys in thape of a U once you found a field they feed in. They'll land against the wind so put the open side of the u into the wind and position yourself so that you can shoot the incoming birds. Camoflage is not AS important as with crows, but still make sure you have a bit of netting in front of you. Mask, gloves and camo shirt should do. Schoot something smaller than for crows. 7s will do fine!