SNAPSHOTS
on record as saying an acceptable kill-to-
cartridge ratio over the course of a season on
all live quarry was 4:1. His calculations took
into account days on ‘extreme’ pheasants as
well. What I fi nd interesting is that all those
years ago the hottest of all game shots in
Britain, Lord Walsingham, reckoned a ‘good
shot ’ was someone who killed 30 per cent or
so (3:1) of what he fi red at. Whether these
fi gures included ‘extreme’ birds of the sort
now featuring on some of our commercial
shoots is anyone’s guess. Somehow I doubt
it, which makes the 4:1 fi gure seem quite
realistic when judging good, bad and
indifferent form.
But what of pigeon decoying? Again, it
seems not a lot has changed in almost a
century of shooting. It appears you need
to be a 70%-plus performer to rate as a
consistently good shot.
Back in 1913, a noted pigeon shooter,
J Mason, shot a then record bag of 373
woodies in Oxfordshire with 533 cartridges,
an average of 70.42%. Twelve years later, in
Ireland, John Young killed 172 birds for 230
shots, an average close on 75%. And there
were other ‘big days’ in Edwardian times that
ran out with similar averages.
Big bags
Of course, bags this size are no real deal in
the 21st century, where agriculture, cropping
patterns and winter rape ensures the survival
of many more millions of woodpigeons than
used to be the case when great-granddad
was swinging his gun.
I’m reminded of my shooting pal,
Alan Wood from East Yorkshire, who held
the record briefl y with 705 woodies for
1,000 cartridges (70%) in a day over
wheat in Cheshire. From memory, that was
in 2005. Since then, others, including
those you have a 50% chance of killing
in the fi rst place. After that you can extend
the diffi culty of pigeons once your ability
matches your ambition.”
So what about driven game shooting?
“I enjoy a day out as much as the next
man but I simply cannot understand people
who say they have had a fantastic day on the
pheasants when they ’ve fi red maybe
15 shots to kill one bird. Where’s the point
in that?
“I have always maintained that there is no
fun in missing – whether it ’s a clay or a bird.”
Anything else? “Yes,” says Peter. “If you
want to improve at pigeon shooting, the best
place to practise is on a Skeet range – it ’s the
finest discipline of all to learn how to mount
your gun smoothly and accurately on fast
angled targets.”George Digweed, have shot more. Alan, an
excellent, all-round driven game shot, told
me he shot at everything on the day that
came within 50 yards and had he taken more
cartridges, he could have easily ratcheted up
a four-fi gure bag before the birds stopped
fl ighting.Voice of experience
So what does farmer, pigeon decoyer,
Sporting Gun contributor and former
Great Britain clay shooting team member
Pete Theobald from Essex have to say
about averages?
“These all depend on your skill as a
decoyer getting birds into the deadly 25-
yard killing zone, and not taking on pigeons
beyond the range of your ability.
“If your average dips below one for three
you are educating more pigeons than you
are killing, and that will refl ect in the size of
your bags.”
Isn’t that a bit hard on people still learning
the ropes, Peter?
“No,” he told me. “If a pigeon comes
within that zone, I expect to kill it every time,
with a second barrel accounting for those I
might miss. Don’t forget, these are not clays,
so where a ‘kill’ is scored on the shooting
ground, it might only result in a puff of
feathers from a woody.
“I only count birds that I reasonably expect
to pick-up and restrict my range to 50 yards.
On this basis, my average is remarkably
consistent over the course of a year, working
out at between 70 and 75%.
“Yes, I have had an awful lot of practice
shooting pigeons, but I do believe that a
decoyer shouldn’t be fi ring at birds if he can’t
return one pigeon for two shots.
“You may think this is harsh, but you
will kill more birds if you only shoot at“A speculative shot on your
Saturday off could cost you
half a month’s pay”
Pigeon shot Peter
Theobald – decoying
still all importantLord Walsingham,
a19th-century
top shot