The right partner for pigeon
Peter Theobald explains the benefits and satisfaction of teaming up with a compatible companion for the day
Apart from organised roost shooting, pigeon shooting is widely regarded as a solitary sport, one man pitting his skills against our most wily of quarry species. I, on the other hand, have usually shared my days out with another decoyer, so in this article I will explain the benefits, and the pitfalls, of that.
It is not as easy as you might think to find someone who shares your passion for the art of decoying, but also the experience to help you maximise the potential of a day’s shooting. First and foremost it should go without saying that if someone is going to sit in a hide next to you with a loaded shotgun, they must be 100% safe at all times.
Coincidence
In a coincidence of circumstances I met such a person, and he features regularly in most of my articles. His name is Paul Payne, and over the past 10 years we have shared in excess of 450 days together, averaging an astonishing 130 birds per trip, or about 60,000 in total. I met Paul after he bid successfully for a day’s pigeon shooting for two that I used to donate to BASC for its sealed bid auction. I had planned to shoot two fields of spring rape situated about a mile apart, so when Paul and his mate Adam arrived I had no idea how experienced the pair were.
Working on the assumption that both might be beginners, I explained what I hoped would happen, stressing that they should only fire at birds within their skill level, and making sure they took enough shells to the hide. This was seldom a problem as most winners of these auctions brought enough cartridges to start a war, and also assumed that I could conjure up vast flocks of woodies at the click of my fingers. Anyway, Paul played along with the innocent novice act, even insisting on me showing him how to build our hide and setting out the decoys. Played along that is until he started shooting, then it became obvious he was pulling my leg all along, as he shot bird after bird with his deliberate style.
We enjoyed a brilliant day of more than 350 birds between the two of them, and Paul and I promised to share a day as soon as circumstances allowed in the future as, coincidentally, Paul only lived 25 miles from me. Such a day presented itself on the same field after it had been harvested. Such was the instinctive trust we had in each other, we decided to build two hides 50yd apart in the middle of the field, and the decoys spread between the hides. The pigeons funnelled in beautifully and without a dangerous shot fired from either of us, we killed 150. That was how our ‘two hides, one set of decoys’ approach came into being, a tactic that we still use regularly to great effect. The point is that you must be able to trust the other Gun implicitly to be able to relax and enjoy the day.
Judgements
People might say that surely you must disagree on how you go about things on any given day? Because we both have farms that we know like the back of our hands, we will trust the other’s judgement based on hard
“You must be able to trust the other Gun implicitly to enjoy the day”
won experience. Occasionally, what our eyes tell us on a given day will be different from the previous two days of reconnaissance, in which case one of us will take a chance and set up where the evidence suggests. If it works, and both situations work, happy days. If not it takes but 20 minutes for one to pack up and join the other. Far more common, especially on winter rape, is there will be two equally promising positions, and this is where two decoyers can more than double the potential of a day. Apart from two lots of shooting keeping a large area clear of feeding birds, there will often be
two distinct flightlines feeding a field, and, if the field is a large one; one position cannot cover it.
What we do not do is split up when there is only one obvious spot, otherwise you run the risk of simply cutting off the flightline to the other position. On these occasions we will look to see how we can optimise the opportunities presented to us. It may be the two-hide tactic described earlier, but more likely it will be how we decide who shoots what bird, and when. To avoid both Guns coming up to the bird at the same time, we take it in turns to shoot first. This means that if it is my turn, Paul keeps out of the way until I have fired both my shots, after which I get out of the way, thus enabling Paul to clear up anything still in range. It works even better in a crosswind, where one of us is tasked to take control of the situation. If the wind is blowing left to right, the Gun on the left lets the first one or two birds of any decoying flocks to go past him, engaging birds at the back of the flock, whereupon the first birds flare in front of the Gun on the right. This has become so instinctive between us that we regularly kill threes and fours without the other Gun even seeing what we have fired at.
Apart from the practical advantages of sharing a day, there is the social side, the banter that goes on between friends, and it greatly enhances the day when one of you pulls off a memorable shot but can also take the leg-pulling when you miss an absolute sitter. We look at our days together as a joint effort, there being no jealousy or competitiveness as to who shoots the most birds. Incredibly, when we are both on song, there is seldom more than a couple of birds difference in our respective bags. That is when you know you have the perfect partner to share your day.