As I write this I am looking at my kit laid out on the living room floor, ready to go out on the rabbits this evening. And I feel a pang of disappointment that I'm not getting ready to go out decoying pigeons.
I'm missing my pigeon shooting very much; there's not much about at the moment on my permissions and the weather doesn't help. Plus, with so much stubble around, it's tough to find any kind of 'flight line' over the land I have permission to shoot. And often once I have set up, one bang from the gun is enough to send 300+ pigeons off to another field half a mile away, never to return.
I won't give up though. Even a bad day on the pigeons is a couple more for my freezer, as well as a few hours out in nature, and it's certainly a fun afternoon for my dog, Harry. Besides, I can hardly complain - in the meantime I'll be able to focus on driven game, stalking, rabbits and Wildfowling which is more than many shooters have the chance to partake in. But the fact remains that in only a few weeks, the leaves will start disappearing from the trees, leaving me many a wide open 'sky' pocket for roosting which will continue to stay in the back of my mind!
A few months back I filmed my first episode for Fieldsports TV on pigeon shooting. After a very wet and unsuccessful afternoon decoying on a Winter bird food strip on a local farm, we headed into the woods behind us to wait for the evening's flight of pigeons coming home to roost and saw much more action!
I mentioned in one of my pigeon shooting blog posts about the big difference between decoying and roosting when it comes to the amount of kit used. This is another reason I'm looking forward to roost shooting season. As someone who suffers from arthritis all over my body, carrying a lot of kit can make life very difficult. When it comes to roost shooting all I need are my gun, cartridges and the dog. If you've never done roost shooting before though, beware - you might get a stiff neck from staring up at the sky non stop for 2 hours!
Also, in a few more weeks the clocks will go back making roost shooting even easier - the sky will be dark by 4pm so I'll be out around 2pm, hour or so of shooting then home ready to make a decent dinner - happy days!
If you're heading out on the pigeons any time soon I wish you the best of luck! If you're looking for inspiration for quick pigeon recipes you can check the recipes section of my blog - or why not check out the amazing recipe book Feathers by Chef Jose Souto - which would make a great Christmas present by the way (oh wow, am I really saying that C word now??!)
Now - back to preparing my kit - after all there'd be no shooting at all without it...
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