Pigeons !

[Petertherabbit]

(22 February 2024, 13:38)bigpaul Wrote: I think I'd probably shoot them but thats just me. they soon come back again afterwards.
we buy Sunflower Hearts at our local weekly market, also available at Mole Avon and Mole Valley Farmers stores.
I think a lot of people just cut them open and take the breasts out without all the plucking.
havent had a pheasant for awhile although there are plenty in this area.
get venison once in a while, I also like mutton.

I can see shooting working as well, I'd be inclined to use an air weapon but with an answer air weapon you've got to be very accurate. A shotgun is too loud.
But if you're still feeding they'll come back. Pigeons have amazingly armoured feathers though, and I've seen them shot with shotguns n still flying off.
Regarding the breasts yeah, there no point plucking pigeons, it's basically just a matter of the two breasts that are edible.
I like the idea of the old Warren and warrener style of food maintenance, it's a lost art these days, similar to the duck lure ponds that had special channels running off them, where dogs were used to herd them into nets at the end of the channels.
There was an old Warren at a cottage hospital I worked at, the hospital was originally a country house and the warren was part of the original estate.
It was teeming with rabbits, there was an estate fish lake as well.