Reap the whirlwind

The pigeons refuse to co-operate on barley stubble but when the hide is moved huge flocks of birds swirl around it, as Adam Hart discovers

The Pembrokeshire pigeon is a fickle creature. My father Simon and I have chased the grey suspect around the county for almost a decade. In our pursuit, we have listened to plenty of “failsafe” advice, studied books by Garfit, Batley and Humphreys and read many Shooting Times articles.

However, most of our fellow shooters are based in the agricultural plains of England, such as East Anglia, Hampshire, Hertfordshire and Leicestershire. The obvious differences are the scale and type of agriculture and geography. Pembrokeshire is predominantly a dairy county with limited arable land. What fields of crop it does grow pale in comparison with the vast fields of East Anglia. Presumably this lack of available food explains why there are fewer pigeons here. We have friends in Hertfordshire who gloat at the glut of woodies they have in their garden each day, let alone in their swathes of arable and keepered woodland.

It is rare to shoot a flat field in Pembrokeshire. The county’s rolling terrain and frequent hedgerows make for small, oddly shaped fields. There is an almost complete lack of oilseed rape and very few beans or peas. After the first couple of reconnaissance trips each year we have usually pinpointed all the rape and pea fields in the county. Barley, occasionally wheat and sporadically oats make up the only three crops we have consistent success over. This is not without lack of trying other crops too.

Expectations

Every year we check the few fields of rape that consistently disappoint our expectations. We have shot over bean stubble, peas, clover, even kale to no avail. Every other pigeon shooter we talk to or read about swears by oilseed rape as “the pigeon’s favourite food”. Will Garfit writes in his book that 38.1 per cent of his pigeon shooting trips are on oilseed rape. In John Batley’s book, he says “a freshly harvested field of rape is perhaps the biggest draw to a pigeon”. Not here.

The final and most stark difference shooting in Pembrokeshire has to traditional pigeon counties

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 17

“The pigeons were pulling off some incredible aerobatics, using

the wind to duck and dive”

Adam lines up a shot as the pigeons come into the decoys

A surprisingly good bag at the end of an excellent day’s pigeon shooting