A Lifetime of Pigeon Decoying | By Geoff Garrod
Written by Geoff Garrod, with images by Richard Faulks
In this blog, veteran gamekeeper Geoff Garrod shares how a childhood passion for pigeon decoying grew into a lifelong pursuit, along with the traditional fieldcraft and techniques that have shaped his approach over decades. Watch the video below to see Geoff in action during a day of pigeon shooting in the UK, filmed with the ShotKam Gen 4 from the shooter's perspective.
How I Discovered My Passion for Pigeon Decoying
Pigeon decoying has been a lifetime’s passion for me. It all started when I was a young boy - my father would take me out to sit in a pigeon hide with him on the farm where he worked and we lived. I must have only been seven years old at the time and my father occasionally allowed me to have a few shots with on old single-barrelled, bolt action, Webbley and Scott .410 he had. I just loved spending time out with my father as all young boys do and he began to trust me more with the gun.
I have very clear memories of one particular day when my father was going out decoying and I badgered him to let me go with him. He didn’t have any .410 cartridges though and I was too small at the time to manage his gun. I was bitterly disappointed but still plagued him to let me go out for the day. I remember putting on my navy blue duffel coat with the big toggles on for fastening - just like Paddington Bear’s coat - like most kids had at the time. I put my hand into the pocket and it was like finding a pot of gold; there were seventeen cartridges left over from a previous trip out and I remember my excitement to this day.
We walked up to Parkwood, which was about three quarters of a mile from the house and surrounded by drilled sugar beet which was just coming through. I must have been about ten years old by this time, and it was a very different world back then in the early seventies. My father set me up in a little hide on one side of the wood and he set up at the other end. I’d done a fair bit of shooting by this time, but I can’t imagine that happening in this day-and-age! I had a hole in the netting which I watched and shot through. I don’t think I shot many over the hide and the majority of the pigeons were shot on the ground when they had landed in the decoys. I managed to shoot seventeen pigeons with the 17 cartridges I’d found, and from that moment on, my love affair for pigeon shooting flourished.
Traditional Pigeon Decoying vs. Modern Methods
Back in those days, pigeon shooting was primarily done for the sport and to put a pigeon or two in the pot - obviously the farms were as keen then as now to reduce the numbers of pigeons, as they were just as much an agricultural pest then as they are now. There are more restrictions and far more people out pigeon shooting now though and it has become a bit of an industry. I think there were only three people in my area who went out pigeon shooting and we all made do with a set of decoys, field craft and an ex-army camo net. There are no end of gadgets and mechanical kit on the market now and I’m sure they all help in some way, but I made a conscious decision very early on in my pigeon shooting journey, that I preferred and wanted to continue to shoot in the way I was taught by my father and and by a local gamekeeper and my mentor, Martin Taylor.
I can’t deny that I have tried using a whirlie/rotary a couple of times. The first time it did seem to help and the second time I’m not convinced that it made any difference at all. So I prefer to stick to my traditional methods with a bag of plastic decoys or preferably dead birds on cradles or suspended on sticks to make a pattern. I have even been known to go out with just one dead bird to put out as a decoy and still make a good bag. I’m a firm believer that reconnaissance, field craft, local knowledge and good hide placement are the fundamentals to a successful day out decoying. Watch the flight lines, learn about crops, check the wind direction, put out a natural-looking decoy pattern and place your hide carefully. Gadgets will always have a place for most decoyers and I’m certainly not criticising anybody who likes to use them, but I’m going to stick to my traditional approach as it’s just the way I like to go about decoying. Nothing excites me more than seeing a pigeon fly across a field, spot my decoys and head straight for them. You know that that is the culmination of good reconnaissance and fieldcraft - you know that you’ve earned the shot and that makes it all the more rewarding.
I also believe that getting the pigeons in close is all part of the challenge of decoying. We are out primarily to control a pest species and long passing shots can be great fun when they present themselves, but the aim is to dispatch the pigeons cleanly and efficiently and that means getting them in close to the hide. I rarely have any decoys more than twenty five metres away from me and I’m aiming to get most of the pigeons in the fifteen to twenty five metre range. Getting them in close is challenge and shooting them cleanly is the-icing-on-the-cake.
From Gamekeeper to ShotKam
I became a full-time game keeper at the age of sixteen and have not regretted that choice for a moment. Thanks to mentoring from Martin Taylor I have a rewarding career and crop protection is even part of my job on the four thousand acre estate. It's a big arable farm, and we grow all sorts of crops and we always have pigeons in the area. So now, part of my job is part of my life’s hobby. I now have a YouTube channel which is where the ShotKam camera is so valuable for me. It enables me to get some fantastic footage, especially with the Gen 4 ShotKam. It’s also a great training tool to put me straight when I’ve had an off day as we all do. I don’t review the footage on my phone in the hide, but it do scan through the footage back at home and it shows me instantly where I’ve been missing - usually in front! You can see the bird, lead and shot placement all from the shooter’s point-of-view.
Why I Still Love Wood Pigeon Shooting Today
I still get as much pleasure pigeon decoying in my sixties as I did as a boy and the humble wood pigeon is the best sporting bird in Britain. You just can’t beat the variety of shots it presents and it’s agility in the air is unmatched in my opinion. If you’ve never tried it, you really should if if you’re a keen shot.
Find Geoff Garrod Online
- YouTube: Geoff Garrod Shooting
- Instagram: @geoff_garrod63
- Website: https://www.geoffgarrod.co.uk/
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