Pigeon elimination - night shots in the barn

[Joe Smith]

Air rifles are great for shooting pigeons in barns and enclosed spaces. This is pest elimination, not hunting.
Just came in from nailing all 7 in a neighbors quonset. Big storage quonset that handles Combines and large tractors. Had nailed three the other day while there shooting ground squirrels in a field where he grazes some of his cattle as they wean calves from the mothers. Getting the rest of these pigeons was "Night Work".
Go in with a good light, in this case a Fenix LD44 flashlight. Using the TX200 MkIII I would light up a pigeon, shoot and then turn off the light to reload. Successfuly dispatched all 7 pigeons and his dogs had a field day with the snacks.
Yes, it is like shooting fish in a barrel. The pellet rifle allows shooting without the worry of poking holes in the quonset and is much more effective than a .22 rifle with rat shot. The light and scope makes for accurate shooting - as in "one shot, one kill". Only downside is the finicky loading with the TX 200 rifles in the dark.
Accuracy of the rifle at 20 to 60 foot distances is good and the light bright enough to light up the whole place.
In the dark the pigeons don't like flying. Once hit they may launch but don't go far and the dogs finish the job.

Bonus is the neighbor even pays a bit for the shooting. Getting rid of them makes for cleaner machinery. No one likes Pigeon &^^& on their stuff.

Next up - a few raccoons.

[chico]

good shooting!

if i was a little closer, i would volunteer to be your assistant . . . i miss shooting in the barn - especially the pigeons !

[ER00z]

Great story, thanks for sharing. Airguns are very valuable tools when it comes to pest elimination. Underlevers are harder to reload than break barrels, but the added weight tends to be more steady and accurate in my experience.

[mrbulk]

Great pigeon shooting story, and it sure sounds great to have dogs along who know what their jobs are.

[Blowpipe Sam]

Lucky dog!  I shot pigeons on my apartment roof with an old B-3  years ago.  It was challenging because I had to shoot from concealment. Never thought of shooting at night. Duh!

[EdinGa]

We did that 35 years ago with 22 shotshells. That got expensive in a hurry. The lack of internet meant I had no idea what was out there in the airgun world and pumpers were too slow for all the action we had.

[ranchibi]

Joe, great fun pesting with your TX200 and, you get a little coin for your efforts! Fun stuff 😉.