Every second counts

Mat Manning heads out during the dying hours of daylight to enjoy some fine winter shooting — it’s worth it even for a couple of hours

Any airgunners who stay indoors when the weather turns cold and gloomy are missing out on some fantastic sport. Winter evenings are a wonderful time to head out into the woods with an air rifle.

Woodpigeons and grey squirrels are prime woodland quarry at this time of year and if you get it right you can make some great bags. Apart from helping landowners with vital pest control, you can also provide some excellent meat for the table.

With the pheasant shooting season wrapped up, I now have free range of most of my woodland permissions and during the coming weeks I will take full advantage of the opportunity to enjoy some exceptional shooting until warmer weather arrives.

Of course, I’ll still be heading out in the spring but it’s not easy targeting pests in the woods when they are hidden among a flush of new foliage.

Another thing I really like about winter outings is that the best of the action is usually to be had during the last couple of hours before nightfall. Grey squirrels usually embark on a dusk feeding frenzy in readiness for the night ahead and woodpigeons flight to sheltered areas as the light starts to fade. That means you still stand a good chance of making a decent bag even if you don’t have a lot of time to spare.

Prime time

My latest outing was a short session grabbed between Sunday lunch and supper. I don’t often get a weekend pass from family duties and I only had about two hours of light, but that’s usually enough time to take advantage of.

First port of call put me about 25m from a pheasant feeder that I felt confident would attract a squirrel or two but the area also looked good for a few pigeons. It is sheltered by a wide gully and has plenty of ivy-clad trees, which offer birds a cosy place to roost when winter has stripped the broadleaf trees of their foliage.