# Wood pigeon kill shots



## jimi (Mar 12, 2020)

Hi, So I'm hunting wood pigeons at around 20m-30m with 25/20 0.75 single bands and 10mm steel. Of course I'm aiming for head but have had a few shots hit the body and appear to just bounce off. Question is am I under-powered with my bands and steel and maybe need to go double bands heavier steel?

Thanks


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## mattwalt (Jan 5, 2017)

You may even be overpowered... Though sounds kinda in the expected power range. You could go down to 22-18 maybe...

I'd probably go with smaller ammo as well - 9.5 or 8mm minimum. Or .36 lead ball


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## Island made (Aug 14, 2019)

I’m assuming you have short draw? I think what Matt said is sound advise, I narrower cut and 9.5’s you should be able to get into the feathers. But pigeons can be very tough. My hunting setup right now is .65 elastic cut 5/8 to 3/8 (16mm to 10mm) with a 11”active length and 7/16 (11mm) steel, this maxes out at full butterfly and sends a sleeping pill. So far I’ve had nothing fly away from it after being hit.


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## jimi (Mar 12, 2020)

Thanks for the tips. My draw is ~80 cm/31" so yeah pretty short. I definitely wouldn't have considered going thinner/lighter though but I'll take the advice and give it a go


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## bingo (Oct 25, 2019)

22 15. 22 12 smaller steels 8s 9.5s with that band should take them down maybe too much distance on shots


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## BushpotChef (Oct 7, 2017)

mattwalt said:


> You may even be overpowered... Though sounds kinda in the expected power range. You could go down to 22-18 maybe...
> 
> I'd probably go with smaller ammo as well - 9.5 or 8mm minimum. Or .36 lead ball


Matt said it for me, grab yourself some .36 (9mm'ish) lead.



Island made said:


> I'm assuming you have short draw? I think what Matt said is sound advise, I narrower cut and 9.5's you should be able to get into the feathers. But pigeons can be very tough. My hunting setup right now is .65 elastic cut 5/8 to 3/8 (16mm to 10mm) with a 11"active length and 7/16 (11mm) steel, this maxes out at full butterfly and sends a sleeping pill. So far I've had nothing fly away from it after being hit.


That sounds like quite the setup mate, I'll have to give that a try. What type of elastic are you using?


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