cimmaronkid
04-07-2007, 09:50 AM
Every year in Texas, a series of Live Pigeon Shoots are held in the deserts around the border cities and overnight a small meteropolis springs to life. These shoots are some of the biggest known secrets in this state since by law they are somewhat questionable. However, that doesn't stop highly known public servants from attending these shoots. My first shoot that I observed was outside El Paso, being held in the middle of nowhere and sponsored by the Issac Waltons club. This was a columbarie shoot where the bird thrower stood in the middle of the ring removing certain wing feathers from the bird to cause eratic flight, would spin around and then throw the bird into flight while diving for the ground just to be safe.
This is a very formalized from of shooting in that the bird cannot be fired on until it goes above a streamer strung aproximately 9 ft above the ground and must fall dead within the ring which has a 2 ft tall fence around it. If the bird falls outside the ring which if I remember correctly is approximately 20 yds in diameter, the bird is marked as lost. If the bird falls within the circle and you have not killed it, you are allowed to use the second shot and shoot it on the ground. If the bird is not killed, it is scored as lost.
Shooters can select a position from approximately 16 yds from the edge of the ring back to approximately 30 yds. Gun must be started at low hip. A match consists of 20 birds shot one bird per shooter per turn. No birds are wasted as all are hunted down by dogs afterwards and eaten later at the dinner.
Pigeon is a misnomer here as the birds are actually a dove with long slender wings and small body known as a rock pigeon. More money trades hands at live pigeon shoots in Italy alone than all the casinos in the world and it was no different here. Guns were highly engraved with at least one choke tube and all of the wood was to die for. Perazzi, Kemen, Parker, Bertuzzi, Beretta, Gamba, and Winchester all had tents here with guns that cost more than a SL series Benz. Calcuttas were held every morning where you could by a shooter and the pot split 60/40 between shooter/buyer if he won. No second or third place money; this was winner take all. You could even bet on straights for the shooters and on each individual birds. Several "touts" were there and it was funny to watch as the bets weren't always in agreement. Food tents abounded, maracchi bands played, and everyone talked shotguns. I talked to shooters from Saudia Arabia(Oil sheik shooting a $50,000 Bertuzzi) Japan(custom Mirikou with lots of gold), several Italians(big dollar Berettas and Perazzi) several Spaniards(basque Kemens) and a pair of guys from Germany that were very serious shooters with their Crown Grade Krieghoffs and lots of shooters from the US shooting Midas and Diana grade Brownings and other high end guns. After a while, it actually got boring looking at all these guns. The sheik was a terrible shot, but he didn't care as he was having fun and had more money than Trump. I bought him in the Calcutta for $100 and we came in dead last.
They would shoot three matches during the weekend with the first match starting out at $2000 entry fee for the twenty birds, on Saturday, the match cost $5000 to get in, and on Sunday, the boys got weeded out as the entry fee was a flat $10,000 for the 20 birds. And always in cash. In between matches you could shoot practice birds for $10/bird and the sheik treated me to a bunch and let me shoot his Bertuzzi. I finally killed 3 of 5 and knew I was thrown easy birds after what I had been watching.
Shoot is by invitation only. But these guys come from all over the world and a lot of them make their living doing this. The Columbarie keeps track of your hits on his pants and shirt with a piece of colored chalk as their pride is at stake and want to keep the shooters scores as low as possible. The sponsoring body gets 30% for expenses and hosting the event. The winner takes the rest of the pot. No second place winners here! And by Sunday night, the tents are packed and everyone leaves. I took the sheik to the Airport the next day and asked him how he did. He said he made a mere $10-$12K in side bets, but had 30 times the fun. He was off to South America for a series of shoots. Must be nice.
This is a very formalized from of shooting in that the bird cannot be fired on until it goes above a streamer strung aproximately 9 ft above the ground and must fall dead within the ring which has a 2 ft tall fence around it. If the bird falls outside the ring which if I remember correctly is approximately 20 yds in diameter, the bird is marked as lost. If the bird falls within the circle and you have not killed it, you are allowed to use the second shot and shoot it on the ground. If the bird is not killed, it is scored as lost.
Shooters can select a position from approximately 16 yds from the edge of the ring back to approximately 30 yds. Gun must be started at low hip. A match consists of 20 birds shot one bird per shooter per turn. No birds are wasted as all are hunted down by dogs afterwards and eaten later at the dinner.
Pigeon is a misnomer here as the birds are actually a dove with long slender wings and small body known as a rock pigeon. More money trades hands at live pigeon shoots in Italy alone than all the casinos in the world and it was no different here. Guns were highly engraved with at least one choke tube and all of the wood was to die for. Perazzi, Kemen, Parker, Bertuzzi, Beretta, Gamba, and Winchester all had tents here with guns that cost more than a SL series Benz. Calcuttas were held every morning where you could by a shooter and the pot split 60/40 between shooter/buyer if he won. No second or third place money; this was winner take all. You could even bet on straights for the shooters and on each individual birds. Several "touts" were there and it was funny to watch as the bets weren't always in agreement. Food tents abounded, maracchi bands played, and everyone talked shotguns. I talked to shooters from Saudia Arabia(Oil sheik shooting a $50,000 Bertuzzi) Japan(custom Mirikou with lots of gold), several Italians(big dollar Berettas and Perazzi) several Spaniards(basque Kemens) and a pair of guys from Germany that were very serious shooters with their Crown Grade Krieghoffs and lots of shooters from the US shooting Midas and Diana grade Brownings and other high end guns. After a while, it actually got boring looking at all these guns. The sheik was a terrible shot, but he didn't care as he was having fun and had more money than Trump. I bought him in the Calcutta for $100 and we came in dead last.
They would shoot three matches during the weekend with the first match starting out at $2000 entry fee for the twenty birds, on Saturday, the match cost $5000 to get in, and on Sunday, the boys got weeded out as the entry fee was a flat $10,000 for the 20 birds. And always in cash. In between matches you could shoot practice birds for $10/bird and the sheik treated me to a bunch and let me shoot his Bertuzzi. I finally killed 3 of 5 and knew I was thrown easy birds after what I had been watching.
Shoot is by invitation only. But these guys come from all over the world and a lot of them make their living doing this. The Columbarie keeps track of your hits on his pants and shirt with a piece of colored chalk as their pride is at stake and want to keep the shooters scores as low as possible. The sponsoring body gets 30% for expenses and hosting the event. The winner takes the rest of the pot. No second place winners here! And by Sunday night, the tents are packed and everyone leaves. I took the sheik to the Airport the next day and asked him how he did. He said he made a mere $10-$12K in side bets, but had 30 times the fun. He was off to South America for a series of shoots. Must be nice.