Pest Pigeons Are Varmints, Too Nick Sisley
Varmint hunters are doing a
genuine service to upland bird and big game hunters. Naturally, that’s because killing predators like coyotes, fox, crows and other vermin save lots of lives; i.e., ruffed grouse, all the other grouse spe- cies, pheasants, deer, quail, Hungarian partridge and more. But you already knew that. What maybe you did not know is that farmers infested with pest pigeons hate those birds, and maybe the word “hate” isn’t strong enough for many of these farmers. Pest pigeons tend to congregate
at dairy farms, but those farmers who raise beef cattle also can be plagued with these birds. I know some farmers refer to pigeons as “rats,” but the main reason pigeons are hated is because of farming practices. These days many dairy farms have barns that are totally different from barns from yesteryear. Instead of being enclosed, today’s modern dairy barns often are “open air.” These barns are one story, with individual cows feeding while they face outside – sticking their heads through individual troughs. Such an arrangement makes feeding the cows easier and less time consuming because the silage or other feed is spread just outside these individual feeding sta- tions with a front-end loader – usually attached to a piece of farm machinery most of you know as a Bobcat. However, some farmers use a tractor to pull an enclosed wagon full of silage. Through the tractor’s power drive unit the silage (or whatever) is spread in front of the dairy cow feeding stations as the tractor moves slowly along. It’s this type of feeding situa-
tion that pigeons thrive on, much to the farmer’s dismay and disgust. The pigeons soon get comfortable feeding right with the dairy cows that are stick- ing their heads out of these new-fangled barns. And guess where the pigeons leave their disease and pestilence- infested droppings? Yes, right in the silage where the cows are feeding. Over the years I’ve sought permis-
sion to hunt these pest pigeons at more than 30 farms. I’ve been refused only twice! I’m not talking about getting permission to shoot the farmer’s fi elds
The author with a few of the fruits of a morning pigeon shoot.
The decoy on the left is a “feeder” type. Via a battery, the decoy’s head moves up and down in feed mode. The movement is minimal but the decoying results can be major.
– I’m talking about shooting right at the farm buildings and silos. After ask- ing permission I often hear something like, “Kill every one of those #%*@^%$! pigeons.”
When asking permission I’ve also
learned to assure the farmer that I am totally safe, have killed virtually thou- sands of these pest pigeons, and never
have had a safety issue or a complaint. Because I am shooting very close to the farmer’s house, farm buildings, overhead power lines, etc., I am always ready to pass up shots, and I pass up a lot of them. Here’s one example. I asked Frank Morrison about hunting his place. He was sort of incredulous. “You mean you want to kill these pigeons?” He was
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