Sit tight in summer woods

I've been trying to do some pest control around the woods and it hasn't been easy. Targeting quarry in trees at this time of year is always difficult because of the dense summer foliage. The simple fact is that wild creatures stand a far better chance of seeing us approaching than we do of spotting them hiding among the leaves. It'll be a lot easier when the leaves start to fall in autumn.

In the meantime, the most effective method is to find an area that appears to hold some quarry - around dreys or trees that show signs of squirrel damage, or perhaps close to crops that are being targeted by pigeons and corvids - and wait. Our prey is adept at spotting movement so keeping still is one of the most effective ways of avoiding detection. Dig in and sit tight, and it's surprising what will venture out into the open.

During one of my latest outings, there were a lot of pigeons flitting around among the canopy. Their cooing could easily be heard but they were very hard to spot. I decided to use my pigeon caller in an attempt to draw them in and actually managed to bag one - though I'm not sure whether it was actually responding to my calls. It was a good day's shooting that resulted in a mixed bag - I've filed a full report for a future edition of Airgun Shooter.