44-O LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



shortly return against the wind at an easy pace 

 and lower height toward the decoys. It is a golden 

 rule in woodpigeon shooting never to fire wild shots. 

 It is no douht very flattering to one's skill to pull a 

 bird down once in a way from the clouds, but it is 

 better still to bag, in course of time, the half-dozen 

 other birds that your long shot might drive away. 



There is a regulation height pigeons keep at when 

 they are merely inspecting your decoys ; and though 

 it is sometimes very tempting to have a try, this height 

 is just out of shot. If the pigeons mean business, and 

 really intend to visit the decoys, they are generally in 

 shot ; and that is the time to do your best, as the 

 birds then fly low and direct, and you may fire shot 

 after shot without alarming other birds approaching 

 you, as their comparatively low altitude conceals 

 your position, as well as the execution you are doing 

 on their fellows. 



ON SHOOTING WOODPIGEONS AS THEY FEED IN A WOOD 



Though shooting pigeons in a wood, as they fly in 

 at intervals in small numbers at a time from the 

 fields, is the more usual way of killing them, other 

 chances occasionally occur of making a bag in 

 daytime. In snow, when the fields are covered up, 

 pigeons will haunt those woods, however bare of 

 foliage, in which acorns or beechnuts are to be found. 

 They will, for the sake of this food, desert their usual 



