Decoying woodies

[mcmjohnson]

Want to try decoying wood pigeons. I would appreciate any advice as to what kind of terrain is best,(grass field or crops- not a lot of those near me!), How to set up( hides etc ) and what sort of deeks you use and how you set them out. Many thanks,Mark

[granville]

first thing is to find where they feed , and the direction they come from .
then see which way wind is .
hide any good net will do so long as you can not see your outline through it.
horse shoe patten the deeks flock are good ,real birds are best imo .
face deeks into wind on the flight line center of patten at 30 yards .
its what they are feeding on this time of year clover is a good bet .

[Blackbaronfish]

As above...look for the flight line or find the sitters

BBF

[Longbow Nick]

If you can set up near a drinking trough. You can pop pigeons off all day long on hot days wanting a tipple. Especially if there's no other water sources nearby.

[robertt]

Funny you should mention that as I shot one on an ornamental bird bath on Sunday. Propped it up as a decoy and had 3 more in 10 mins. Would like to have stayed longer but other things needed doing. Potential for a good bag!

[Raj]

Give our resident scarecrow, forum name Timmytree, a bell. What he doesnt know about shooting decoyed woodies with an air rifle is not worth knowing ....

[mcmjohnson]

Hi Raj, thanks for that. Can I search for him on the forum? Best wishes,Mark

[eboswan]

Timmys is on here just send him a pm.

[Timmytree]

I've been in touch with Mark via PM about decoying and will try to help him as best as I can. I do like to do things within the GL if possible so I won't shoot woodies unless they are directly threatening crops or causing a problem. I do not condone shooting birds from troughs or bird baths, sorry if others don't agree but for me a woodie having a drink is no more a problem than a robin, thrush or blackbird.