# Ran into a guy catching pigeons



## andre3k (Dec 3, 2012)

I was en route to a call last summer and noticed a guy with a spotlight and a long net (probably 10 foot long) catching pigeons under a freeway overpass. He was pulling a broke down old trailer with cages for the birds. I stopped and chatted it up with him for a minute to make sure he wasn't going to rob the homeless guys that were sleeping under said bridge. He mentioned that he sold the pigeons to bird hunters in South Texas. He probably had over a hundred birds in that trailer when I rolled up on him. I had more pressing business at the time and didn't investigate it further. I've seen him around several times since then still going after them. Mainly at night but I have seen him in downtown Houston once in the daytime. 

Anyone have any ideas on what this is about or the legality of it?

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## hog_down (Jan 11, 2010)

I've got no problem with him catching and transporting those flying rats OUT of the city.


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## sotexhookset (Jun 4, 2011)

Are they considered game birds? If not I'd think it'd be legal.

Be safe out there bud and thank you.


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## jetbuilt (May 4, 2010)

I eat pigeon regularly, it's one of my favorite flying rats!


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## andre3k (Dec 3, 2012)

I'm not a bird hunter and honestly I'm not too concerned about it. I'm not a game warden. Just wondering what he does with the pigeons. I'm thinking they might end up as target practice or food. 

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## Part Timer (Jul 2, 2012)

Pigeon shoots are pretty common. Probably what he is selling them for. Like shooting clays, but with live targets. Probably illegal what he is doing in the sense of permitting issues. Pigeons are not a game animal so no issue there. Would be comparable to someone in the public sewers catching rats. Im sure no one is eating these birds. 

That being said i have ate a pigeon out of the city. Its the same family as Dove and taste the same.


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## batmaninja (Jul 15, 2010)

Pigeon shoot or to train dogs. 

Or maybe homing pigeons.


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## Whitebassfisher (May 4, 2007)

Target practice or food is possible, but I don't know of any laws protecting pigeons. The plant I used to work in sometimes put out poisoned grain to kill pigeons, they can really make a mess. Maybe my employer (huge corp) was breaking a law, but ......


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## andre3k (Dec 3, 2012)

That sounds about right. Thanks for the info. 

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## daddyeaux (Nov 18, 2007)

Most likely he is selling the pigeons for pigeon shoots. Very popular sport similar to sporting clays but with real pigeons.


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## Drundel (Feb 6, 2006)

Part Timer said:


> Pigeon shoots are pretty common. Probably what he is selling them for. Like shooting clays, but with live targets. .


Not that common, pretty hard to find one now.

Back when I was shooting clays much more I wanted to try my hand at a pigeon shoot. See if I was as good a shot as I thought I was.


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## mrsh978 (Apr 24, 2006)

Pigeon shoots. $5 a bird. There's the reason he's up there doing it. Done it before too. Perfectly legal. Most cities allow because of bird population. Filling stations canopies have been a great area to collect birds . It's under the radar because of the tree huggers


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## Part Timer (Jul 2, 2012)

Drundel said:


> Not that common, pretty hard to find one now.
> 
> Back when I was shooting clays much more I wanted to try my hand at a pigeon shoot. See if I was as good a shot as I thought I was.


From a quick google search they are still around. You just have to know someone that knows someone. Its not advertised out in the open anymore. Like mrsh978 said, there would be way too much social backlash from PETA type groups.


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## [email protected] (May 24, 2004)

Not sure how much live pigeon competition still exists but dog trainers are always looking for birds. I never tried that net thing but trapped quite a few. Highway overpasses are always good, ditto feedlots and grain silos. Farm co-op and feed stores in general usually welcome pigeon trappers.


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## Sgrem (Oct 5, 2005)

Wind em up. Throw em into the brush cover. Let the dog flush em up. Click off safety and follow thru with your swing. "Good girl!" On the retrieve....


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## fy0834 (Jan 18, 2011)

If you see him again, I would like his contact. 
Would like to do a tower shoot with a couple hundred birds.


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## Bozo (Jun 16, 2004)

I would guess as long as he had a hunting license and land owner permission he would be golden with tpwd to father all he wanted. I don't know of selling them would require done sorry of licensing like a bait dealer has to have.

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## daddyeaux (Nov 18, 2007)

Part Timer said:


> From a quick google search they are still around. You just have to know someone that knows someone. Its not advertised out in the open anymore. Like mrsh978 said, there would be way too much social backlash from PETA type groups.


You are correct there Part Timer, you do have to know someone that knows where they have them. 
Also from what I have been told there are some pretty hefty calcutta pots at these pigeon shoots.


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## Spec-Rig.006 (Nov 2, 2007)

This is WAY stranger than a truckload full of hunters asking if they can hunt your pond!


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Live pigeon shooting was an event in the 1900 Olympics in Paris.


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## fy0834 (Jan 18, 2011)

I think if you do a pigeon shoot / pheasant tower shoot, on your land, you have to get a bird sanctuary permit from the state. 
$80 a year.

Just another fee IMO.


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## uncle dave (Jul 27, 2008)

Drundel said:


> Not that common, pretty hard to find one now.
> 
> Back when I was shooting clays much more I wanted to try my hand at a pigeon shoot. See if I was as good a shot as I thought I was.


 I shot one on the king ranch, I wasn't as good as I thought I was. Had a friend who shot them and he said a $25,000 pot wasn't unusual.


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## daddyeaux (Nov 18, 2007)

I heard the same about the $25,000 pots. Too rich for me.


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## capthunterdude (Nov 15, 2006)

I have caught thousands of pigeons down here in South Texas. I know exactly who he is catching them for. I caught them for him also. The gentleman has 20,000 birds or more. 

The pigeons are being used for pigeon hunts. They have gone completely underground and are more common than people think. Usually by word of mouth or invite only. No advertisement of them. You have to have deep pockets now also. Birds usually sale on the first market for 3.50 to 4.00 and then resold at the shoots for 7.00 to 8.00 a bird. Or sometimes the birds are included in the price of the shoot. The shoots have turned into a rich man's game. Lots of money involved at most of them. Some guys bring their own birds to save costs. The guy here in South Texas has several guys working for him from around the state. 

We routinely got stopped by police for the couple summers we did it. Never had a problem. Most laughed. My brother in law works for the PD in the city I live in and said he heard a call on the radio one night saying 'two guys with big, long poles are fooling around under the overpass on ...... rd." He said the entire force laughed and jokes about it to this day.


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## Drundel (Feb 6, 2006)

daddyeaux said:


> Also from what I have been told there are some pretty hefty calcutta pots at these pigeon shoots.


I met a guy years back who said he was big into it in the late 80s and 90s. Said he has been at shoots where $250k changed hands over the course of a weekend by one guy.


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## Drundel (Feb 6, 2006)

capthunterdude said:


> and then resold at the shoots for 7.00 to 8.00 a bird. Or sometimes the birds are included in the price of the shoot. The shoots have turned into a rich man's game. Lots of money involved at most of them. Some guys bring their own birds to save costs. The guy here in South Texas has several guys working for him from around the state.


Ouch, so if memory serves, its a 25 bird round, so on the high side, $200 per round?


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## Lat22 (Apr 7, 2005)

capthunterdude said:


> I have caught thousands of pigeons down here in South Texas. I know exactly who he is catching them for. I caught them for him also. The gentleman has 20,000 birds or more.
> 
> The pigeons are being used for pigeon hunts. They have gone completely underground and are more common than people think. Usually by word of mouth or invite only. No advertisement of them. You have to have deep pockets now also. Birds usually sale on the first market for 3.50 to 4.00 and then resold at the shoots for 7.00 to 8.00 a bird. Or sometimes the birds are included in the price of the shoot. The shoots have turned into a rich man's game. Lots of money involved at most of them. Some guys bring their own birds to save costs. The guy here in South Texas has several guys working for him from around the state.
> 
> We routinely got stopped by police for the couple summers we did it. Never had a problem. Most laughed. My brother in law works for the PD in the city I live in and said he heard a call on the radio one night saying 'two guys with big, long poles are fooling around under the overpass on ...... rd." He said the entire force laughed and jokes about it to this day.


This.


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## duckmania (Jun 3, 2014)

I've been to a couple but it's been awhile. They are pretty hush hush these days. You better be able to shoot if you want to play.


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## Outearly (Nov 17, 2009)

One of the earlier posts mentioned eating pigeons. Done it lots of places around the world. I googled it once, just curious. First hit I got was some lady ranting about how she saw a homeless guy barf all over the sidewalk, and the pigeons were walking around in it picking out the good parts. Cured me of thinking about eating a pigeon.


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## 2Ws (Jun 28, 2016)

In the 70s we had a pigeon trapper come to the RR yard a cpl times a yr. He would set up just as they do trapping ducks/geese with a net, would get it ready, then he set his stool pigeons up for decoys. Some days he did well others not so good. All were used in field trials


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## sheldonasvoboda (Apr 23, 2015)

there is a milo field near my mothers house that I have gone to and killed ALOT of pigeons, their crawls are all full of grain. They are hearty birds, hard to kill and decoy almost like ducks, and taste like a really big mourning dove. 
I have heard of pigeon shoots, and it sounds like a rich mans game so Im out. I guess if they are really 10 bucks a bird.....I could have paid my house off by now all weve killed on that field HAHA


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## Drundel (Feb 6, 2006)




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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

*Pigeon Trapper*

I built these pigeon hotels for a local pigeon trapper. He was commissioned to keep boat houses free of them and also had show birds. All I know is these cages were a sumbeach to build and he was very particular when I did them. They weren't cheap either.


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## daddyeaux (Nov 18, 2007)

Dang Wado, you pretty handy with a saw.


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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

That's some good work Waldo, I'm impressed!

I used to shoot pigeons in San Antonio but now I think the only organized shoots are in the valley; I've been out of that game for 35 years lol.

I didn't pay for the bets though I was just a shooter for some wealthy people.

If any of you knew Don Jean Taylor from Bay City, he was ate up with pigeon shoots and shot in the Grand Nationals in Europe many times. He won pots that were upwards of $700,000.00 lol.

His obituary. https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth726555/m1/7/

TH


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## Wado (May 15, 2011)

daddyeaux said:


> Dang Wado, you pretty handy with a saw.


Apparently pigeon racing and trading is a profitable business. This fellow was from Oklahoma and brought me a sample cage to go by and told me it was a loaner and please take care of it. From all the posts about cash money following the pigeons it all makes sense to me now. I had a lot of time in those cages.

You can't see it but in the front there is a tray with holes that dixi cups fit in for pigeons snacks and a drink if they get thirsty.


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## capthunterdude (Nov 15, 2006)

One of my favorite kinds of hunting is wild Pigeon hunting in fields. They are a blast to hunt over mojos. A lot like ducks but a person can hunt them in the summer time. 

I learned a lot about those silly birds during the couple years we caught them. They are extremely territorial and will beat the **** out of each other. They require lots of room per each one if you are going to raise them. They wise up to being caught real quick. They are one of the toughest birds you will find. My hunting dog tortured them in their holding catches before we sold them. They held their own against him. 

We sold several Pigeons to Falcon trappers also. I learned about the system they use to catch the Falcons with the pigeons. Those guys will pay good money for pigeons. 

One summer we caught over 500 Pigeons from a local university. It was a blast.

As far as the shoots go, they are easily 200.00 a round.


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## sotexhookset (Jun 4, 2011)

Drundel said:


>


I'd pay decent money to do that. Looks like a blast.


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## kweber (Sep 20, 2005)

pidgeon shoot are like steer 
'er. roping... happend yesterday....


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## puretexn (Oct 28, 2004)

Trouthunter said:


> That's some good work Waldo, I'm impressed!
> 
> I used to shoot pigeons in San Antonio but now I think the only organized shoots are in the valley; I've been out of that game for 35 years lol.
> 
> ...


It's still going on in the S.A. area. There was a colombaire style shoot just a few weeks ago. It's all invitation only nowadays. I did my share of box birds, colombaire shooting back in the days. I worked at a gun club in that area that ran pigeon shoots and it was hush hush back then because of activists. I usually shot the $20 "miss and out" for myself and shoot the high dollar games for rich peeps who couldn't hit the inside of a barn with the doors shut.

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## Trouthunter (Dec 18, 1998)

> It's still going on in the S.A. area. There was a colombaire style shoot just a few weeks ago. It's all invitation only nowadays. I did my share of box birds, colombaire shooting back in the days. I worked at a gun club in that area that ran pigeon shoots and it was hush hush back then because of activists. I usually shot the $20 "miss and out" for myself and shoot the high dollar games for rich peeps who couldn't hit the inside of a barn with the doors shut.


Me too. Was that Alamo where you worked?

TH


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## puretexn (Oct 28, 2004)

Trouthunter said:


> Me too. Was that Alamo where you worked?
> 
> TH


I worked at Alamo for years, but no live birds there. The other club I worked at and shot for, was north of S.A. which had live birds. But the original owners are long gone.

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