Ringeltaube Hesse

The wood pigeon (Columba palumbus) reaches around 40 to 42 centimetres in length, noticeably larger and longer-tailed than the stock dove, the feral pigeon and the collared dove. The plumage is predominantly blue-grey with a pink to wine-red wash on the breast. The reliable identification features are the large white neck patch carried by adult birds and the broad white wing bar that flashes conspicuously in flight. From the slightly smaller, uniformly blue-grey stock dove (Hohltaube) the wood pigeon is told by its calmer wingbeat, longer tail and the white wing bar; from the sandy-buff collared dove (Tuerkentaube) it is separated by the lack of a narrow black hind-neck collar and by the striking white wing flash.

The wood pigeon uses essentially all wooded and semi-open landscapes. Traditionally it inhabits deciduous and mixed forests, field copses and hedgerows in the cultural landscape, but since the early nineteenth century it has also adapted very successfully to urban habitats and now regularly breeds in avenues, parks, cemeteries and right into city centres. The species is gregarious and forms larger parties and flocks outside the breeding season that can range widely depending on food supply. On attractive fields several hundred birds may gather in a single feeding flock. The diet is dominated by seeds, cereals, pulses, buds, young leaves, berries, acorns and beech mast.

In the cultural landscape the wood pigeon is therefore a recurrent point of conflict with agriculture. Flocks cause damage mainly in oilseed rape, in ripening cereal stands and in vegetable crops, peas, market gardening and young drillings, both by feeding on seed and by tearing off young leaves and shoots. Against this background, wood pigeon shooting is established practice across large parts of the DACH region and serves as a contribution to crop protection.

In hunting terms the wood pigeon is the headline species of dove shooting. The dominant method is decoying from a hide or from a camouflaged position in a hedge, combined with a decoy pattern of roughly fifteen to twenty static decoys complemented by a rotary or magnet. The decoys are set in a U-shape facing into the wind so that approaching birds drop into the centre of the pattern within controllable shooting distance. Because wood pigeons are extremely sharp-eyed and wary, clean concealment, a steady mount of the gun and the avoidance of any uncovered movement are the decisive success factors. Classic locations are over feeding fields, on flight lines between feeding and roosting sites and at evening roosts; the most productive period is normally the first hours after sunrise, when flocks move out to feed. Beyond decoying, ambush along established flight lines and shooting at roosts also play a role. Reliable identification in flight is essential, so that stock doves, which are year-round protected, and collared doves, which carry protection in some jurisdictions, are not confused with the wood pigeon.