Pigeon shooting remains a popular sport in Europe while in the U.S. clay pigeon shooting is more popular.
There are two kinds of pigeon shooting: target shooting where the birds are released from cages, known as traps, and hunting bird in nature.
For the sport where the birds are released from traps, there are five traps lined up approximately 15 feet apart arrayed in a semicircle around the shooter. The shooter does not know which trap will open. The felled pigeon must land within a specified area for the hit to be counted.
Live pigeon shooting was an Olympic sport for only one Olympics, in 1900. On that occasion, the bird was released in front of the shooter. Any shooter who failed to hit two birds was eliminated. This was the only time animals were killed as part of an Olympic sport.
Hunting wood pigeons in nature is a popular sport in the UK. Wood pigeons stay in flocks and fly using routes that are like roads in the air. The successful hunter knows the flightlines and uses them to his advantage. He sets up his blind or hide under a flightline.
A blind is a camouflaged area where the shooter can wait and not be seen by the birds. It can be made of camouflaged fabric and poles or from natural materials such as branches. The shooter needs to set out a series of decoys arrayed in a U pattern downwind from the blind. The hunter will then be in a good position to shoot the pigeons when they come onto the field.
