Feats of clay

Geoff Garrod explains how days on clays will improve your tally from the hide

- Geoff Garrod

If you're new to pigeon shooting or just without pigeon on your permissions, how can you improve your chances of success either on your first day out or when the birds move back into the area and the farmer calls. One thing that you shouldn't do is put your gun away in the cabinet. Clay pigeon will never replicate a real bird in flight but practising shooting them can still have benefits and you won't be wasting your time. Plus it's fun shooting clays.

Anybody who's done any decoying will confirm that during an outing in a hide you will get to take pretty much every shot in the book over the course of a day. So time spent perfecting your gun mount, sight pictures of targets and developing muscle memory will pay dividends when you find yourself in a situation where birds are falling into your decoy pattern with reckless abandon. I guess the only clay target that has no relevance to pigeon shooting is a rabbit clay. Practically every other clay target will help you to improve your shooting in the field.

Moves

There are a few things you should make yourself practise. If you're a keen clay shot and fancy trying some decoying, the temptation will be to shoot in the 'clay style, with your gun partially mounted and your feet set to the direction of the target. There are obvious differences from shooting clays to shooting pigeon. The most obvious is that you don't get to shout Pull! when you're in a hide and then a pigeon appears. Also, you'll have no idea where a bird will appear from next.