This afternoon we hunted pigeons over decoys. Jose set us up in a wide hedge row just across the fence from a harvested field. The row was almost 12 feet deep and ran perhaps 400 yards alongside the field. Lee was on my right and Doug was on my left. Jose had all but gotten everything set up when we had to move. We had inadvertently picked a spot about 10 feet from a very large hornet’s nest. I would have hated to see what happened if the frequent muzzle blasts had set the whole nest in motion at one time. It most certainly would not have been pleasant. With an early discovery, there was no harm done other than we had to move the blind. When Jose had finished with it, the new blind was truly a Cadillac. I was up near the fence with plenty of room for my gear and shooting stool, and Jose was standing in the ditch behind me. I thought it odd at first, but I soon discovered there was method to his madness.
I cannot say emphatically enough that this was a blast. It has been my favorite hunt so far. Too much shooting will run the pigeons off a field. This necessitates selective shooting of pigeons and only pigeons. In other words, you have to let the parakeets and doves go by without shooting them. Even though they are larger than the other birds, it was still quite difficult for the novice to pick them out a distance adequate for a planned shot. If you are a good snap shot this was not a problem, but for those of us that are not, it was quite frustrating. Until I got the hang of it Jose kneeled down beside me and helped me pick out the pigeons. After I got the hang of it, he stepped off into the ditch and started scanning the field behind me. If a bird was approaching from behind, he would tap me on the shoulder on the side on which the bird was going to pass. All I had to do was stand turn around and take the shot. Since he was standing three feet below me in the ditch, I did not have to worry about him being in the way. As long as there was blue sky behind the bird, it was virtually impossible for him to be in the line of fire.
-
- My view out of the front of the blind.
-
- The fence row where Doug, Lee, and I were concealed.
