Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns Pigeons galore…

I visited an old farmer friend last week intending to shoot some woodchucks with my 17 Fireball. I also took my FX Impact M3 .25 cal with a full bottle of air. Good thing! I never took the Fireball out of the case but the Impact saw LOTS of action.

After my visit at the farmers house I headed up to the farm. When I arrived there were 15-20 pigeons on his 80ft silo. I parked on the opposite side of the road and below the silo so I had a rather steep angle and could only shoot the pigeons on my side. Forgot my range finder so I was guessing on range (about 70 yards) but at the angle it was pretty much a dead on hold other than holding about an inch right for the wind. I knocked down 8 in about 20 minutes missing a few head shots. I was shooting 25gr FX pellets. I should note that the pigeons kept flying after each shot but they came back pretty quick and kept landing on the silo. 40-50 pigeons in 2 or 3 different little flocks.

The farmer showed up and insisted I get in the field behind barn giving my a better angle. It was still about the same range, maybe 75 yards now and wind affecting more making it about a 2 inch left hold. Got 17 or 18 from this position and lost count because of the fast action. Just for the heck of it I tried the 34gr JSB’s and 40gr Apollo slugs and shot 2 each with these. I really need to get some more Hades for better instant knockdown. Some really loud solid hits allowed the birds to fly off and drop in the surrounding fields. I think the Hades would anchor them better. I wish they made these heavier than 25 grain, 34 gr, like the heavier JSB’s would be the ticket!

I also got 2 starlings, estimated 85 & 60 yards and 2 English sparrows at about 45 yards. The 85 yard starling really surprised me. There were 10 or so in a shortish tree upwind from me about 150 yards out. I walked towards them to a calf pen in the field and used that for a rest. My range at home is 94 yards and it didn’t look quite that far so I held one line above my 94 yard line and knocked it out of the tree. Having only owned .177 cal air guns before this .25 Impact I never would have believed a pellet gun would shoot that far accurately. The rifle is unbelievably accurate but I know the heavier .25 pellets make much of that happen.

I did shoot my first woodchuck with this gun in the back yard 2 weeks ago. It was only about 25 yards away and broadside. A shot to the head flattened him but it was still trying to move down the hill back to his hole. I put a few more into for good measure but he was basically dead on his feet.

I might head back to the farm Monday morning. Farmer said to be there by 7am for some real action. Might take my FWB 124 with wad cutters to shoot the English sparrows along with the Impact for pigeons of course.

Dang !!!

Sounds like a fun time !!!

I got my first .25 cal (Hatsan break barrrel) just a couple years ago. Those big pellets ain't messin' !! Had a war with the rabbits over my asparagus patch. 40-50 yards, mostly. One at 80. That big, meaty "WHOP" at impact tells the tale.

there are so many pigeons in my area, but its in the city limits so no shooting here. I believe you could shoot 50 pigeons a day and not make a dent in the population.

Years ago we used to sneak into an old abandoned downtown warehouse and shoot pigeons. The warehouse had a few broken windows and the pigeons were in there thick. Floor was painted with pigeon poop. We were young and dumb at a time when people were not so crazy if they saw a kid with a pellet gun. Boy did were flatten a lot of pigeons.

I raised them for years to train pointing dogs. Dogs point them as well as quail, had traps that would launch them up in the air when dogs pointed them.

25 has been almost a secret for a long time. Keep up the good fight.RZ.

Do any of you guys have a good recipe for pigeons? I don't mean BBQ on a board, throw away the pigeon, and eat the board! RZ.

The few I've shot were cooked the same as
the doves they were flying with.
Bacon wrapped- slice of jalapeno- zesty Italian
for marinade- grill over mesquite/pecan/hickory
coals. Whatever hardwood you have that's decent.

The ones I've cooked and eaten were just fine.
Only regrets was that I only had a few

Good Luck

Pigeon is fine eating.

I have to confess to shooting not one, but two carrier pigeons while dove hunting. Imagine my surprise when I picked the first one up and saw the band. The second was an even bigger surprise.

They were delicious.

The statute of limitations has long since kicked in on those. On reflection, I think that the hint I might have taken is that they were both lined-out, flat getting it, and alone, not in a flock. I do recall that one looked over at me just before I slapped the trigger…..

I shot a carrier while shooting pigeons once.

OP- I had a day very similar to yours with my 25 Cricket. Kills out to 100yds on pigeons, starlings and English sparrows. The farmhands were all smiles & gathered up the pigeons and started plucking them as they walked away. Musta been a feast that night. At night we took out the NV-scoped Airguns and let the rats have it in the cow barn. The pile of rats below shows only about half we got that night. When the lights went out and the cows were all in their stalls, the rats came outta every crack, floor to ceiling. Oh man I gotta get back there.

I always had a love affair with shooting pigeons, and have done that both with Airguns and shotguns. My longest kill shot with a Kalibr Cricket 22 PCP was 169 yards, laser ranged. On another occasion a lifetime ago we went about “cleaning” an industrial building in Brazil and bagged two wheelbarrows in about two hours. I used a Feinwerbau Model 65 .177” recoilless pistol and my friend a CBC break barrel rifle also in .177”.

Anyhow, the link below has a receipt for pigeons or doves that is not barbecue or poppers! I found that receipt in a German hunting book that my wife gave me for Christmas when we lived in the Netherlands. Hope that you enjoy it.

http://awildbeastatheart.blogspot.com/2011/09/missed-doves-of-michigan.html

I would love to find a rat paradise! What was different about this cow barn. Any that I’ve ever been to have lots of cats but I wonder if the rats are there and just not seen.

When I was growing up it was English sparrows, starlings and grackles. Having a chance at a pigeon was rare. Those days it was a Daisy 99 and Daisy 880 pump. When I was 18 I got a FWB 124D and then we went pigeon hunting! Those were the days!

I see you’re from Traverse City. I worked with a lady from there for a few years, fwiw…. :-)

I am from Traverse City via a very tortuous route: Brazil to the Netherlands, to Southern Michigan, to Northern Italy, to metro Detroit and finally to God’s Country!

BTW, I also have a FWB 124!

OP.. The farmer told us that adjoining his property there was a prison, that had recently closed. The prison had is own garbage dump that was rat infested. When the dump dried up all the rats made a bee line through the woods to this poor farmers place, and this guy kept a neat farm. He had his cow stall lights all ganged together, so one switch and the place went %100 dark. We’d flip the switch & light up a cigar to give the rats some time. Through the NV scopes you’d see them literally pour out of the walls (old stone foundation) , floor and drop from the ceiling. Some were crawling on the cows. After our first night, we figured out our best fields of fire, as hitting a cow would be the end of it. This farm had a circular cement manure trough built into the floor, about a foot deep, with motorized blades that slowly pushed the manure out of the barn and into a manure cart, via a conveyor belt. Slick setup. Farmer said to just kick the rats into the trough, so they’d get spread out in the fields. Happily we never had to handle them too much. After a dozen nights of insanity, our last night was a bust, and only saw a few rats. The farmer was very appreciative of all our time there. Oh and we only saw one old farm cat that looked like he saw a ghost.

Wow, quite a journey! When I meet people new to our area I like to find out how they ended up here, usually interesting stories.

I looked at the pigeon recipe and might try it someday. One question about it though, it says to cook them until done, or something like that. Is that just done for the chef or is there “sign”?

My 124 is my Brown headed cowbird weapon of choice. I use 8gr wadcutters because I’m in a “rural borough” neighborhood with houses to close to be slinging 25 cal pellets around. It works well, I got 5 with it last summer.

Cool story! We had a open pit dump near where I grew up. I never got a chance to “hunt” rats there as it closed up before I was old enough. I watched a guy once shooting them with a Rem Nylon 66.

We had a few rats on our farm in the corn bin but no room to shoot them. I would gang set 1.5 coil spring traps so they had to walk across the trap to get to the food. Our pets couldn’t get into that room so I didn’t worry about making pet friendly sets.