Time well spent

Peter Theobald says that experience has taught him that intelligence gathering will enhance your chances of success with pigeon

- Peter Theobald

Since I was a young lad growing up on the family farm in Essex, I have been fixated with the pursuit of woodpigeon. They were few and far between on our farm in those days but it did not stop me from trying to get a shot at them with my clapped-out air rifle. I soon learned that it was extremely difficult to get close as they always seemed to be on high alert — bearing in mind I needed to be within 15 yards to be reasonably sure of a kill.

It was soon obvious that waiting for them to come to me carried a better chance of success than trying to stalk a bird that had already landed. For this to work I needed to know where to wait. At 11 years old the mysteries of decoying were still in the future, so I watched pigeon coming and going round the farm to see if they favoured certain fields and the trees they frequented. I did not realise it at the time, but I was learning that to be a successful pigeon shooter you need to spend more time watching them than you do shooting them.

Knowledge