Some pigeons for the pot

Somehow the more perfect and intricate the plan for emptying a field of woodies, the more certain it is that the heavens will open

- CHARLES HARTLEY

Woodpigeon control has always been a complicated process at my local permission, as they tend to be a problem all over the farm. If I set up for a decoying session, all that happens is they move to another food source and without a team of Guns, productivity is limited. I have had ups and downs on this quest, days with hardly a bird where I am as effective as a string of bangers and others where the planets align and birds come streaming in, one after another. These perfect days are once in a blue moon, when the conditions are just right and it is worth a lone reccy.

A couple of years ago I managed to break my personal decoying record bag, when (by pure accident) I had landed on a day when the farmer was cutting silage on the upper fields against the woodland boundary, upsetting the pigeons and keeping them in the air in full view of my decoys all day. Ever since that trip, I have been chasing similar circumstances and pestering the farmer to keep me in mind when such a day might arise.

So, there I was at 7am, under a dark sky but full of hope, with the farmer desperately picking up silage on the main pastures with incoming rain forecast, planned work happening to the food stores and a charity clay shoot destined for the woodland above. With such a frenzy of activity, pigeons were sure to be kept moving, and setting up on the only quiet pocket of the farm was sure to bring success — or so I hoped.

Early sport