Pigeons

[peter_s]

Folks,

Aware some of you control pigeons with your air rifles and am wondering what strategy you use.

I have a large number of feral pigeons on my property that I am trying to control and have had variable success.

If I shoot them chest on or with a head shot they hit the deck, but if I shoot them side on they frequently fly off leaving a few feathers behind (I'm assuming the pellet 'ice picks' off the feathers).

I have been using round nose pellets via my HW100 at ~ 15m

Any ideas?

PeterS

[RayG]

Folks,

Aware some of you control pigeons with your air rifles and am wondering what strategy you use.

I have a large number of feral pigeons on my property that I am trying to control and have had variable success.

If I shoot them chest on or with a head shot they hit the deck, but if I shoot them side on they frequently fly off leaving a few feathers behind (I'm assuming the pellet 'ice picks' off the feathers).

I have been using round nose pellets via my HW100 at ~ 15m

Any ideas?

PeterS

Howdy Peter, The best guy I know with major expertise in this area is Pest Bird.
He is on this forum so post him and be enlightened.
Cheers Ray.

[chris thomas]

It's not Rocket Science shooting Pigeons and a base of the neck or head shot wil do it everytime. Shooting a Pigeon side on wil most time's result in the bird flying away as you are trying to shoot though a wing and tightly packed feathers on the body.

Go for head shots . A Pigeon's head even at 40m is not that hard to hit with a accurate PCP and it's either a clean kill or a clean miss and no wounded Birds

Regards

Chris Thomas

[Chris L]

I find that they tend to look at your light (mounted on the scope), and the top of the chest/base of neck kills them 100% of the time.

I can't shoot anywhere near as well as Chris (I have watched him in action), so only go for head shots if they are side on.

Chris

[ogre6br]

what chris said
P

[ausferals]

i use the gamo viper max which i hve scoped
i aim for armpits up

[fenring]

Pointed pellets will help get through feathers on body shots. A pigeon has a lot of feathers to cushion blunt trauma, lots of breast meat and a breast bone under the lot.

[native hunter]

G"Day
I Hate to rain on you all but a HW100 @15 mtrs should be a lot more lethal than that.
PCP AR are the big thumpers.!!
There could be lots of variables.
Regards
Damien Webb.

[Hilly]

I have to agree with Damien on this one. I have a HW100T and at 15M it does an awfull lot of damage to our telephone directory, more than enough, I would have thought, to make the average pigeon very deceased provided the hit was somewhere in the chest area. The wings are tough but not that tough, or do your pigeons wear some sort of armour? Didn't anyone tell them that bullet proof vests were illegal in most parts of OZ?
This problem may need the expert assistance of Dr. Lewis to get the very best out of your HW100. Blimey, my old Gecado used to drop pigeons, Starlings and Mynahas really easily about 50 years ago in Vaucluse. I used to 6pence per starling or mynah from the bloke next door because they were nesting inside the roof of his house. Spent it all on lollies, no wonder I'm overweight now.
Dennis

[plantboy]

my old Gecado used to drop pigeons, Starlings and Mynahas really easily about 50 years ago

+1, and my Gecado (unscoped of course) was/is only a .177. More often than not, Marksman pellets were the only brand available from the local newsagent. Head/neck shots on pigeons were easy @25yds and never anything but clean kills.

[fenring]

If you ever happen to recover a pellet from a body shot pigeon you will notice it's wrapped in feathers - particularly if it's a blunter shape. It's called "feather balling" - you go from hitting a pigeon with a small, hard lead pellet to hitting him with a pellet wrapped in feathers now twice as fat - when that softball hits the breast muscle or breast bone it works exactly the same way a soft kevlar ballistic vest works - converts it to blunt trauma and spreads the energy out. It happens less with .177 due to the puncture power of the smaller pellet. It happens less with sharply pointed pellets too.

[RayG]

Hi all,
Yeah Fenring that sounds like a good case for using those JSB Predators,
Or maybe its too much pellet?

[fenring]

Hi all,
Yeah Fenring that sounds like a good case for using those JSB Predators,
Or maybe its too much pellet?

Just regular pointed lead are worth a try - Beeman / H+N have a couple of good pointed pellets, also the RWS Superpoint, etc.

On smaller birds like starlings and Indian mynahs you find they might fly off after being hit with a pointed pellet - then drop dead mid air after 30 feet.

[Lewis Reinhold]

Folks,

Aware some of you control pigeons with your air rifles and am wondering what strategy you use.

I have a large number of feral pigeons on my property that I am trying to control and have had variable success.

If I shoot them chest on or with a head shot they hit the deck, but if I shoot them side on they frequently fly off leaving a few feathers behind (I'm assuming the pellet 'ice picks' off the feathers).

I have been using round nose pellets via my HW100 at ~ 15m

Any ideas?

Peter,
Are you using JSB Exact's?THey perform beautifully and many pest controllers use them.
For emphatic performance,Crow Magnums are incredible up to 30M.
Can I send you a tin to try?
Lewis

PeterS

[peter_s]

Thanks all for the advice and opinion.

I'm of the opinion that my trouble was transitioning from a powder burner mentality (hit it more or less anywhere and it's dead) versus the finesse and art of the air gun hunter.

Have stopped using the RWS superpoints and started on the JSB's (they are a work of art) with much better results.

Interestingly the pigeons seemed to have wised up and they have all packed up and moved on to greener pastures, so it's on to the rabbits for me now!

Cheers,
PeterS