The correct drill

As spring arrives it brings back happy memories for Geoff Garrod as It is his favourite time of year to do battle with the woodies

The game shooting season may be over, but this is my favourite time of year for pigeon control.

Shooting over spring drilling is the crème de la crème of pigeon shooting, and also where the foundation of my shooting was laid. It’s when I reflect on my childhood shooting with my father on the farm he worked on. Back then, the drilling took a fair few weeks to go in, so we could watch and wait for the best opportunities; we also had inside information on where and when the drilling would be done next.

In my early teens, after my dad was happy that I knew what I was doing with a shotgun, most weekends and school holidays I was dropped off in the morning on a hedgerow by a likely spot and picked up again in the afternoon. So many great memories were made as I learned my fieldcraft.

Early

The mild and dry weather in February brought the drilling forward by a few weeks, and it was all done and dusted on the estate where I work as head gamekeeper in less than five days. The modern drills we have today are so much more efficient than the ones used in my youth and do a far better job. In most years previously a few fields were drilled when the weather allowed, but then it would rain and the fields would be too wet to work on for a day or two. That said, some years drilling can start in early March and finish in mid-April, especially if there is heavy ground.

Staggering the drilling gives you far more opportunities, and also keeps the pigeons interested for longer. What was frustrating about the early and fast drilling this year was that it coincided with me being at the British Shooting Show at the NEC in Birmingham.