Boyz In The Wood

An afternoon’s pigeon shooting provides good fun and some memorable shots for a small team of Guns in Dorset, writes Rebecca Green.

- Rebecca Green

When the game season comes to an end, it can leave a bit of a gaping hole in the lives of a lot of shooters and gundog owners. But if you’re lucky enough to have access to some pigeon shooting, it marks the start of a different sort of sport: roost shooting. Of course, there is a serious side to it – the business of crop protection, as Andy Crow will know only too well – but there’s no denying that this sort of shooting is good fun and a challenge.

Both these elements look set to be on the menu for today’s outing. I’m joining a group on an estate in Dorset for a few hours’ sport. Dale, our host, has the pigeon shooting on the Iwerne Minster Estate, and has invited a few friends along for a spot of roost shooting. The team actually consists of three generations of one family: Dale, his four-year-old son, Jack, and his father, Pete. Then there’s Dale’s old schoolmate Brad, and Ivor, known to them all from his days running a duck shoot.

Between them, they’re hoping to ambush some pigeons flighting over, and later, of course, those coming in to roost, in a couple of woodland belts that divide some stubble fields from a new turf plantation. As we head off, the topography of the area becomes more evident. We are in a sort of basin, surrounded by the rolling Dorset hills, and Dale tells me that the game shoot, on the other side of the estate, is really quite spectacular, with deep hidden valleys. Looking at the hillsides, I can well believe it. Apparently, this side of the estate used to form part of the shoot, as evidenced later by an old pen in the wood, but now it is mostly just arable farmland. Perfect for pigeon shooting of course.

“Dad and I were here on Boxing Day for a few hours’ shooting,” Dale tells me. “We shot around 20 birds, but I’ve had a few 100-bird days here, decoying over the stubbles.”