Pigeons 2019

[GreenDrake]

Getting anxious for the pigeon shoots to start. Decoys are all freshened up. Added a couple more mojos...some flappers ....a carousel...and wind socks to the aresenal. Been scouting the wheat fields and they are turning nicely. I am as excited for pigeons as I used to be for deer season.  Its become a bit of a sickness. 

[Marion]

Anyone willing to teach me how to Pigeon hunt I'll be happy to be the dog for the day

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[GreenDrake]

Bill there are tons of YouTube videos. Soar No More has the best. All you need is a couple mojo pigeons and half dozen fullbody decoys to get started. Find a wheat field and wait till it gets cut. Put your mojos out FACING THE WIND...about 25 yards...full body behind them. I set up around 6:00 a m.  Action can start fast and furious. Acoupke miles from a city ir abandoned buildings or bridges are great. Those birds come out in flocks to feed in the morning. 

Where are you located???

[Marion]

Bill there are tons of YouTube videos. Soar No More has the best. All you need is a couple mojo pigeons and half dozen fullbody decoys to get started. Find a wheat field and wait till it gets cut. Put your mojos out FACING THE WIND...about 25 yards...full body behind them. I set up around 6:00 a m.  Action can start fast and furious. Acoupke miles from a city ir abandoned buildings or bridges are great. Those birds come out in flocks to feed in the morning. 
Where are you located???

I'm in 3s also I'm the real The Jerkman I became Bill as a joke a couple weeks ago. Now I'm just waiting till I can switch back lol

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[GreenDrake]

Went out for a wuick hunt this morning. Got out by 6:30 but was a little too late. Big flock of birds were already feeling in a cut hayfield. Managed to kill 7 in just less than an hour. Nothing like cut wheat action but was fun nonetheless. 

[GreenDrake]

Unexpectedly good shoot this morning over a cut alfalfa field. Birds were flying steady. Killed 27. Was able to kill 2 birds with one shot 3 times on passing doubles. One group of 5 came in and none left. Was a really fun shoot

[wolc123]

How do they taste ?

[turkeyfeathers]

7 minutes ago, wolc123 said:

How do they taste ?

My guess is better than SM bass and buttonbuck balls

[GreenDrake]

I do not eat them. Tried them once and they were aweful. These are coty snd bridge birds which come out to the farms to feed. I give them a Burmese family on one dairy I hunt. 

[TACC]

Great deal, good shooting, and am glad you can pass them off to someone that will eat them.

I do not eat them. Tried them once and they were aweful. These are coty snd bridge birds which come out to the farms to feed. I give them a Burmese family on one dairy I hunt. 

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[Pygmy]

I personally like them very much....They are a dark meat similar to dove, wild duck, or woodcock....

Very easy to clean...Just peel he skin off the breast and cut it loose from the body and you have a nice, heart shaped piece of meat..   The older ones need long slow cooking or they tend to be tough..Crockpotting  or other slow , moist cooking methods work well... One good way is to simmer them slowly in spaghetti sauce..

Of course, tastes vary , but I prefer  darker meats like pigeon, dove or wild duck to lighter meats like grouse or pheasant any day...

Same goes for domestic meat like chicken or turkey..You can have the white meat, I'll take the legs and thighs any day...

I don't know about birds that live around city buildings and bridges...The pigeons I have eaten live and feed around mostly farm buildings, such as barns and silos...

Edited July 13, 2019 by Pygmy

[Lawdwaz]

Killed a few while dove hunting but my friend usually kept them.  He called them “squab” but that refers to young pigeons. 

[bruno1]

Going early to check my pigeon trap tomorrow. I use them for dog training 

[Hunter007]

3 hours ago, wolc123 said:

How do they taste ?

Like chicken what else ?

[turkeyfeathers]

Fun fact : daughter just white water rafted in Colorado. They had to take a bus shuttle from main lodge way back into the mountain where they put in. Because of the long time consuming winding roads and terrible cell service the camera man on shore taking pics of the rafts for you to buy drops the SD card into a little pouch of a carrier pigeon who then flies back to the main lodge where they upload them.

[Pygmy]

4 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

Killed a few while dove hunting but my friend usually kept them.  He called them “squab” but that refers to young pigeons. 

Squab refers to young pigeons that have not left the nest....I have had some experience with them...Harvested some from my barn....Fully feathered but not yet quite ready to fly...They were EXTREMELY tender and flavorfull...You could simply sauutee them in a pan and they were fork tender...However, once they start flying on a daily basis and those breast muscles  strengthen, they need a bit more cooking to make them tender...

[GreenDrake]

I could probably find a way to prepare them that would be good, but there are several Burmese families that live on this farm and they LOVE Pigeon. The farmer appreciates  me ridding of the pest birds and thinking of his farm hands at the same time. 

[TACC]

This I would like to see some videos of

Going early to check my pigeon trap tomorrow. I use them for dog training 

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[Marion]

Jeff the jerk might turn out to be a good pigeon dog.

Who's the jerk chicken little?

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[Pygmy]

11 hours ago, wolc123 said:

How do they taste ?

To me, the flavor is similar GOOD wild duck (mallard, teal, early season blacks or wood duck)  as opposed to crappy wild duck, ( like most common diver species)...

If you like good  liver, like venison liver or calves liver you would probably like them...If you like bland crap like chicken breast, you  may not care for them....

 

[wolc123]

5 hours ago, Pygmy said:

To me, the flavor is similar GOOD wild duck (mallard, teal, early season blacks or wood duck)  as opposed to crappy wild duck, ( like most common diver species)...

If you like good  liver, like venison liver or calves liver you would probably like them...If you like bland crap like chicken breast, you  may not care for them....

 

I will have to give them a try some time.   When it comes to bird, the only white meat that I really like is ruffed grouse breast.  All the rest tastes rather bland to me, sort of like eating cardboard.  Turkey beast (especially from mature wild toms) is the worst.  My wife and kids do like white meat though. Young, wild hen turkey breast was ok for me last fall, and those drumsticks were very good in the crock pot.  I like button buck liver, but I don't care for it from older deer, and I do love baby beef liver.   My sister's family raises beef cattle and I can usually score all of that I want because no one else in the family cares for it.  I have done Canada goose breast in the crock-pot a few times, and that turns out pretty good.  That is probably how I would do the pigeon breasts.    

We try to live a subsistance lifestyle, getting nearly all of our protein "free", from NY state wild fish and game.   Venison always makes up the bulk of that, but I like to mix it up a bit so that the kids don't get sick of it.  While I was growing up, chicken was mostly what the folks fed us kids.   I still won't order chicken while dining out.  I might eat a few wings now and then, but only if someone else is buying and nothing else is available.   The nightmares of being handed scalding hot chickens to pluck, from the time I was less than 10 years old, are still too vivid.   Every now and then, one would flop into the creek behind the barn, after my dad whacked its head off with an axe on a stump, and I would have to swim after it. 

[bruno1]

9 hours ago, TACC said:

This I would like to see some videos of

 

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Sorry just got back from grabbing my trap. Caught 13 in the trap. Next time I go I’ll do a short video on me setting it and checking it

[TACC]

Great, also would like to see some videos of you using these birds as trainers

Thanks

Sorry just got back from grabbing my trap. Caught 13 in the trap. Next time I go I’ll do a short video on me setting it and checking it

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[bruno1]

5 hours ago, TACC said:

Great, also would like to see some videos of you using these birds as trainers

Thanks

 

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Not a problem. Harder doing the pigeon trap video than the dog training video lol

[GreenDrake]

Nephew and I went out after work. Tried to beat the weather. He killed the only 4 that came in before we had to hightail it out of there. Broke the ice with his new A5 pigeon gun.