Law of the jungle

I would give up all other forms of shooting if I could still flight pigeons into a wood on a February afternoon. It’s where I began; where I grasped the need for effort to understand my quarry; where I learned to watch for patterns of behaviour, for preferred roosting trees and how pigeons adjust flight lines to the wind conditions. Pigeon shooting, in general, is perhaps the best grounding for anyone looking to understand the essence of hunting with a shotgun. The added difficulty of the height, speed and angles when roost shooting pigeons make it a real examination of your ability and there are no guarantees of success.

Roost shooting is not an exercise in high self-esteem. It is difficult to shoot consistently well at this most sporting of birds. Occasionally, driving through the countryside, you will have a pigeon fly down a hedge alongside the car. Only then do you realise that