ROOSTING

When the game season comes to an end, you will find the woods of rural Britain alive with people roost shooting. While it is an effective way of controlling numbers, especially in areas where fields are vast or tricky to decoy, for many it is simply about shooting a few birds for the pot. It is also an opportunity for keepers to get their hard-working teams out for a few shots as a “thank you”.

If you get the chance to get out with friends, family or shoot members, have a brilliant time — I will certainly be joining in somewhere. But if you are shooting ground or farms that aren’t shot, this is how I would plan my shooting.

At the end of January/ beginning of February:

Rest the woods for a few days at the end of the season. It gives the pigeons a chance to settle down.

On the evenings you choose, the stronger the wind the better. It helps to keep birds moving, reduces the height of birds coming to wood and masks gunshot.

Do not overshoot your roosting woods. Once a week is best.

Reconnaissance is still important. Watch the direction birds approach the woods on different winds. Pigeon excrement on the floor will give away their favourite spots.

Going out as a team if the area is large can be incredibly effective.

There are places I shoot where roosting the only management method I can use in the winter. I control pigeons on some farms in Oxfordshire which are surrounded by horse yards. It is a sensitive spot. However, a mile up the valley is a huge fir wood on another farm and I focus my attentions here as it is a feeder to many of the farms I shoot on. I have found this quite effective.