Pigeons

[Steve]

An easy way to bag wood pigeons with an air rifle is to find the trees they roost in and wait nearby at dusk or in some cases late morning when they return from their first feed to digest. I don't know if it's widespread, but in my woods they always preferred to roost in trees slightly in from the edge of the wood. Easy to find by looking for droppings on the floor.

Don't forget to practice your high angle shooting, the pellet will hit higher than it would at the same distance shooting level.

In the UK it's illegal to shoot birds using artificial light, but on a moonlit night in winter you can see them as dark spots amongst the branches, looking like clumps of leaves to the naked eye. It's possible to kill 2 or 3 before the rest decide to fly away.