Decoying is the art of setting up a picture of birds feeding which looks totally natural and appealing to the intended quarry. Anything out of place, no matter how trivial it may seem,  will scare the birds away instantly. 

In this site we do not claim to be experts on the art of decoying. Neither do we claim to have all the answers. What we are doing is relating our own experiences, over many seasons,  on what has worked for us. An average day for us is 35 - 60 birds and we have had a few exceptionally good days where figures reached the 180+ mark.

Position of the pattern:

The hide and decoy pattern must be situated in an area being attacked. It can be tempting to site the hide under a thick hedge with the wind at your back, not far from the car and hoping the birds will come. There is no point in erecting a brilliant hide and decoy pattern in an area not being attacked and then trying to entice the birds from their feeding area to your pattern. A few inquisitive birds may stray in but the final result, more often than not, will be disappointing and frustrating. 

When an area being attacked is located one must then decide where to situate the hide. It does not matter if the wind is at your back, front or crossing the field. Each scenario is dealt with under Decoy Patterns. What is important is to be well hidden on a flightline. As Archie Coats, the famous professional pigeon shooter,  so rightly stated in his book  - reconnaissance is of utmost importance and is not time wasted.

Reconnaissance:

Reconnaissance is time spent gaining information about flightlines and where the birds are attacking / feeding. It can involve travelling around an area on evenings checking different fields for activity. When a field being attacked is located the next step is to determine the flightlines the birds use in order to gain access. Birds seem to stick to certain flightlines - usually along a particular hedge or may cross the field over a certain tree. Time spent on this activity can save frustration and extra work on the day of the shoot. There is nothing as annoying as having to move a hide and decoys to the opposite end of a field.

Methodology:

In our experience it is best to erect the hide first, spending time until it looks perfect. Only then do you set out your decoy pattern. As soon as the decoy pattern is set out you should be ready to enter the hide ready to shoot. It can be surprising how quickly some birds will come in to the pattern. If the pattern is set out firstly and you are working on the hide then you are sure to spook the early attackers, certain never to return.

Equipment:

As decoying can involve a long walk through large grain fields ( or ploughed fields in spring / late autumn) it is important to keep the load to a minimum and as light as possible. The problem is you also want a first class set up and some comfort throughout the hours you may spend in the hide. Two of us  usually go together as it makes it feasible to carry all the necessary equipment we need.

On each trip we carry:

As one can see it is quite an amount of equipment which we feel is the minimum we need for a successful, comfortable shoot. We carry it in large rucksack bags purchased from army surplus store.

Now you can see why it is important to get position right first time to avoid packing and moving all of this to another location in the field.

Guns:

We have used semi- auto, pump- action and over / under shotguns in the hide and find  the semi-auto shotgun the most suitable  for hide shooting. The semi-auto is available to suit left or right -handed shooters. When birds approach and you fire 1 or 2 shots you are ready to shoot again if more approach, with the semi-auto. While scanning the skies for more approaching birds one can load the semi-auto while being in the alert shooting position, loading from below,  ready to fire if more approach. The same principle applies to the pump-action but one needs to be familiar with the pumping action for the shooting to be smooth and consistent. A shooter who is used to a pump action shotgun can be just as fast as one with a semi - auto!

Semi - automatic

Many people seem to shy away from the semi-auto fearing it needs a lot of maintenance or that they jam easily. This is certainly not true. If a semi-auto is purchased from a reputable manufacturer there should be no problems. The gun needs to be cleaned and oiled after each trip, just like any other shotgun. Once a year the firing and piston mechanism needs to be removed and cleaned which is a simple, straight forward task if the manufacturer's manual is followed. This operation takes about 20 minutes once / twice a year (depending on number of cartridges shot - we thoroughly clean after every 1,000 shots!). Both of our semi-autos have never jammed, both firing 3,000 to 3,500 cartridges a season!

Over / under

With an over / under  or side by side shotgun one  needs to 'break' the gun to reload and this is often the moment more birds approach, denying you of the shooting opportunity, as the gun is open. Often the gun at this stage can get caught in the netting due to the restricted space.  Also, when birds approach and you fire one shot you often wonder should I open and reload (risking losing a shot if another approaches) or wait with just one live shell in the gun. This predicament does not exist with the semi-auto. If using an over / under in a hide one will reload quicker if you fire the top barrel first. If you fire just one shot then the top cartridge, on opening, is ejected quickly, and is an easier one to insert, making reloading a faster operation.

Cartridges:

We have found 32 gram no. 6 to be the best all rounder cartridge for pigeon and crow shooting. Clay pigeon rounds of 28 gram no. 7 or no. 7½  are okay if the birds are coming well into range (25 - 30m) but for the second shot (35 - 40m), or if the birds are shy,  we prefer the 32 gram no. 6 for the extra 'punch' which results in clean instant kills.

pigeon attack