HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
Been of that opinion myself for years
Woodpigeon: pest or a quarry species?
- Thread starter Conor O'Gorman
- Start date
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
Can,
Can, but usually don’t in the colder months. I haven’t seen rabbits or wood pigeons breeding between mid-oct and march where I am, these would be more ethical months to permit shooting them.
A friend and his mate shot 362 pigeons out of a huge number feeding over 4 rape fields a couple of weeks ago.
You could see the flight line coming out of Benfleet Town over the A13 on a one way trip to feed, so not local birds but town birds.
Populations survive on food, I shot close to 60 on Lucerne that came out of the woods around here who hole up close by feed go back feed go back to the wood not the town.
No rape locally I can shoot so it will be all spring drill with a lot of spring barley some peas borage but some winter barley that will get hit when it is milky.
March is when the rape heads are most vulnerable so to stop then would be mad.
@Conor O'Gorman
You can plant all the wild bird mix fields you like but pigeons will feed on what is ready at the time of year.
So If you don't want good crops of.
Milling Wheat
Barley
Peas
Oats
Rape seed oil
Beans for cattle feed
And so on then don't tie people into a season.
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
How are buyers/processors of crops accepting the lead being sprayed into the fields and onto standing crops? I am seeing a move away from pigeon shooting due to this regionally to me, and a shift towards deterrents. @Heym SR20 will have views/info on this i believe
Ultimate conclusion to the end game simply protect pigeons which is where it’s heading and force other methods as a deterrent with caveat under very special circumstances not unlike night shooting licence for deer members of a approved group or org could provide
Approved shooters who have had the correct training.
Approved shooters who have had the correct training.
There were 4 gas bangers on a 100 acre field of rape turned off as the locals complained, the pigeons took no notice of the flying kite on a string flags of white tape a few scarecrows old cd's dangling on the hedge row
Also they by passed the wild bird mix planted as a feed crop.
When you get big acorn years the pigeons feed on them, to answer you question on standing crops the option is not to shoot. Remember pigeon shooters follow what the land owner asks not the other way around so when they have sprayed off a failed/fallen crop with birds still feeding you can flight them or decoy them into a dead patch.
Nickb
Well-Known Member
Hit the nail on the head. I often wonder where people get these stupid ideas from. The woodpigeon is a serious agricultural pest which needs controlling..end of.
Imagine Mr farmer calls you and says 1000s on my barley/ wheat and you say Sorry I'm not shooting them as they have young = permission lost.
BenBhoy
Well-Known Member
You can choose not to shoot them yourself at certain times of year if you so wish. But slippery slope if EVERY pest species received closed season.
Nickb
Well-Known Member
Do you actually carry out any pest control?
Benelli m2
Well-Known Member
Yes
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
Does permission come before your morals? Asking for a friend
Seen as so much of it is covered - nah drowned in pesticides - fungal dressings - pod binder and killer to kill off things like rape - i dare say they dont care
Yes...from my friend.
Indeed - and things like rats breed all the time - i actually believe pigeon do too
Been pigeon guides for many moons making a honest penny from crop protection not too dissimilar to stalking some would suggest.
Regarding pigeons if they present a “ Fouling/hygiene” issue they can be culled, the issue will be interpretation
HonestJohn
Well-Known Member
We have many pigeons that breed in our garden (approx 1.5 acres), I know their nest locations. Hit Oct it stops, they start again in March. That’s around borders, maybe warmer locations have all year breeding.
I refuse to shoot pigeon that have young on nests, or in periods where they are very likely ‘to’. Looking at when Italians came up for a week on the stubble and early crops, they’d shoot all day, but I could see the pigeons would take off, fly to another field and eat, the effectiveness of the people shooting them overall was ridiculous and purely for sport clearly. The fields must have had somewhere near 50kg lead spread over them annually from these visitors alone. Now we have bangers and flappers and such, the pigeons seem to be deterred and seek feeding on fields with no deterrents.
IMHO, shooting pigeon over crops is more us acting as a deterrent as hoc, as for reducing the population to a level it protects crops more than the impact of lead spraying, I have my doubts.
I also believe most pigeon shooters use the crop protection card to justify the sporting aspect of it alone
Lol !
Have you seen the thousands upon thousands upon thousands of pigeon some of these chaps shoot !
If not for us shooting last year - and i by no means am an expert - 4/5 fields would have been lost as the crop had got laid
Where do you start and stop
Rabbits - again breed most of the year
Rats - all year
Foxes - can breed through many months
Deer - fairly consistent but can be young at unusual times
The thing with pigeon is both parents feed the young - so the chance of shooting both in a day maybe mitigates the issue
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