doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Tower Pigeon Shoot in Marion, MI This Weekend

In my state of Pennsylvania they still have live pigeon shoots. Here in the estern part they are held on private property. They shoot the boxed birds and have the tower shoots for pigeons as well as pheasants. I have watched the boxed pigeon shoot and Destry is right, it is hard, you don't know which of the 9 traps the bird is going to be released and you have to use 2 shots whether it's a kill on the first or not.
The only wild game bird in level flight that is faster than a pigeons speed is a few of the duck species, teal and canvasback.

A squab is a young pigeon that has not left the nest yet, and like any other bird, what they eat determines how they taste.

Shooting barn pigeons is one thing, but shooting at or into a flock of mostly racing pigeons is wrong. Those birds are not to be compared to barn birds. The are raised mostly for racing and a fair amount of money is placed on them. All of these birds are banded, and if they are in a race will have a rubber slip on numbered band on the opposite leg and that goes into a clock when they reach their loft. Some of these birds have been clocked at a mile a minute. Also some of these birds get confused, lost, and wind up with feral pigeons. Some will only stay until they re-coop and some won't go home at all.

As even with my reasonable sharp vision I can't see the bands on the flying rats-only know if they are racers or homers after they land in the ploughed fields spread with cow poop-and our State game laws classify them all as Feral-if they fly they die-this isn't 1916 and carrier pigeons were used for warfare messaging- even then the Germans had some shotgunners along with their snipers in the trenches-and shot down many of them. My Doctor knows I am a serious shooter of the *&^%birds, I give him the bands from the % of the dead ones I find so they can be recycled-and my love of *&^%bird shooting doesn't keep him from being my duck hunting partner each Oct-Nov. The farms where I shoot welcome me- as it means fewer *&^%birds poopin' on their buildings, equipment and plugging up the silos- and even if I didn't reload, I pick up my empties and the dead ones I can find-Good reason for that- cattle will try to eat an empty plastic shell casing, and it can cause all kinds of problems in their multi-stomached plumbing- I have dropped pigeons in cattle feed lots, fun to watch the Holsteins wander over and "nudge" a fluttering *&^%bird in the mud and poop-you can almost see the question in their vacant eyes- WFT is this??-

Not to make a big long deal of this, but a flock of racing pigeons aren't going to be landing in a field looking for food. The only thing on their minds is to get home. It could be a race of 100 miles or a full sanction 500 mile race where thousands of birds are released, three circles and then they are heading home.

yOu know these guys like to dream of things.

I would love a slab of my mums pigeon pie & a pint of farmhouse cider right now....but they were Woodies (Don't say it)that I provided with my trusty BSA air rifle...and they were ground swatted in the grain field over our hedge, or the odd one I stalked on the branch .
good grub mate
franc

"The type of live pigeon match to which you refer is long gone and cannot be compared to pushing cheap birds out of a box, which is the comparison I made."

Kerryman, Actually, while rare, traditional box-bird shoots are not "long gone." They are shot exactly as they were at the turn of the century and as they are in Latin America. And unlike dog and cock fighting, they are still legal in some of our states. They are also a target of the PETA crowd, and in our current political environment, I suspect the sport is on life support. Still, I have had the opportunity to participate in shoots monthly, and for me, it is the most difficult competitive shooting I have ever experienced - that would include skeet, trap and clays.

As for game shooting, I would agree that driven birds are very challenging, particularly with a bit of wind and over trees. I simply find the ring more so. Others may have a different personal experiences and observations. And for a real challenge, try thrown pigeons where a whirling human dervish throws the bird.

Yup- Joe is that also known as "Columbaire"- say some fotos, believe in a Bob Brister book-a real wiry Chi Chi Rodriguez lookin' hombre, bet he could put that "paloma" on the moon. Reason I mentioned Chi Chi- John Daly and the "Big Bertha" group nonwithstanding, in his career no one could equal his distance off the tee- all springs, muscle and "whang leather"- Also appreciate the comment from the other gent-never raced pigeons, so have to experience there, but his remark about their not landing in the cowpoop, but staying airborne at Lord knows Mach 3?- makes sense. I also hunt Winter/Spring crows in those same farm areas, use decoys in the pooped snowy fields, and the barn pigeons will land right next to the "K-Mart Krows"- well, some of them land and stay, if you get my drift.

Another miss-fire thread.....by Maa'Paaka.

You are 10% right Joe- about the mis-fire. I paired up with Destry at the shoot today and he shared a fine 10 bore Hammer Parker with me- I had a box of Remington paper 10's (no. 2) pre-war according to him, and one shell didn't fire- although the primer was dinged- what a sweet handling and well balanced piece. I shot my 12 Smith with ejectors and 32" ventilated rib Full and Full-lotsa wind, grey puttied skies, 25 guys for 14 stations, we killed way over 850 of the 1000 birds-had a great tower shoot, super lunch and fellowship, and then with the dog handlers went back down (Via John Deere Gator-courtesy of our host)and did a pick up hunt- there I shot another 12 Smith a grade 2 30" M&F and "Maaaw-Paarkar" shot a beautiful DHE 12 32"-both his fine older Parkers balanced and shot beautifully, and I know you like to "poke him" a bit-but I'll tell you- Destry walks the walk and talks the talk when it comes to shotguns and shotgunning- we both prefer live birds to clays, and love good side-bys, so when he posts and talks about his vast shooting experiences, he ain't "Whistlin' Dixie", he's for real. Chuck, our fine host, hopes to have another one in late April, believe Destry mentioned his friend Eric from the PGCA might be able to attend that one with him, and I plan to bring my son-in-law. One of the best and well organized shooting events I have been involved in, good gun manners and safety stressed, great dog handlers and fine retrievers. I belong to the FruitRidge Farms Hunt Club in West Kent Co., but Chuck's "Tail's A Waggin" set-up near Marion (mid MI)impressed me greatly. Fine group of guys there, and- Michigan State won and is in the Final Four-a real "Red Letter Day" indeed.

Was a real nice day to be out, cold and windy, little snow blowing, almost like a goose hunting day. Felt good to put my old duck hunting jacket on one more time before hanging it up for the summer.

A really nice club, nice folks, plenty of birds, and a great bunch of guys. I shot five different guns through the course of the day, four of mine and one of Fox's. Did better average wise with the 8 gauge Churchill than I did with my standard Parker duck gun oddly enough. I think I shot it 7 times and killed 6 pigeons including cracking high one which made me feel good. Tried my Model 11 Remington twelve shot repeater but I wasn't hitting well with it so went back to the Parker after a couple stations.

Fox is a hell of a shooter, they doubled us up on the pegs so we shot together through the day. When that big L.C. Smith double trap of his went off something hit the ground most every time. I shot half as$, killed some and missed quite a few too. Fox wiped my eye for me a couple times which always makes for a chuckle.

The owner said we were welcome to go out for a pickup hunt after lunch but I really couldn't imagine that pigeons would make for much pickup shooting. Boy was I wrong, that was the most fun of the whole thing. Some of the dog handlers went along and ran their dogs through the low trees and brush moving the leftover birds out. I ran through a box of shells in short order and was borrowing more from anybody that came past.

Unless something keeps me from it, I'll be back for the April shoot and I'll bet most of the guys there will be too. If any of you Michigan boys wanna go I'd call Chuck and get a reservation in right away.

I took quite a few pictures that I'll post as soon as I get them developed.

See ya there Fox.


Destry