I recently bought a pigeon trap from Cabela's, which I would not suggest to anyone. Build your own! I bought the deluxe ($90 after shipping) which is 24" wide but with the trap doors set the way they are it is more like 18" wide. Being so narrow, gives the trapped birds very little room to move around and in my case escape from "birds of prey". Anyways I got permission form the dept. head of animal sci. here at UofA to trap at the feedlot and so far I have caught three dead pigeons and one live Harris Hawk. This afternoon I pull up about 60 yards from my trap and see an 'awfully' large pigeon! I go to my trap and two pigeons lay dead and a hawk is INSIDE my trap. The Cabela's trap is poorly designed and allowed the hawk to get in, and in the process cause both of the pigeons to break their necks. I had the trap on the roof of one of the shade houses and even put a piece of plywood on top of the trap to try and keep the hawks off. Anyway, has anyone trapped pigeons to work their dogs (I have a 4 month GSP), and do you have any tips or pointers to help me here. Also since I was fed up with my overpriced trap, I decided to build another and went to the lumber yard, spent $15 and a few hours to build a bigger (not as pretty) trap which has smaller doors to keep unwanted birds out. Anyone help would be much appreciated!

Hey, so you go the the University of Arizona? My oldest daughter is probably gonna go there in the fall. Perhaps you could beat up any guys that are looking at her for me.

Use a Benjamin or Crossman and solve the pproblem once and for all!

he probably wants them alive so he can have a pigeon shoot. Shooting dead ones is no fun. Shooting them dead, however is fun.

My buddy in Washington catches them by hand at night with a flashlight in the barns where they roost to train his dogs. Started his own population at his father in laws barn until we were ordered to get rid of the sky rats.

quote:

---

Use a Benjamin or Crossman and solve the pproblem once and for all!

---

You mean for the hawks? Ha. I'd rather not go to the pen here in AZ with 60% of inmates being illegals.


Yeah, for the number I want, just a few each week I would probably be better off just catching them by hand. Hell, I could just carry a dip net on my way to class. But it has been fun and I've held two wild hawks in my hands in the last 3 months which is something most people will never get to do even once. Not that everyone would want to, but they are definitely one of my favorite wild animals.

How did you get the Harris Hawk out without becoming a pincushion?

You will want to build a large trap and use a funnel (or a couple of funnels if your trap is large enough) in place of bobs. Pigeons get trap wise very fast, so you want to catch as many as you can in a couple of days time and then remove the trap for a while. If you can get access to their roosting sites at night, the best way to catch them is to net them off of the roost.

As for the hawks, build a large trap and cover about 1/2 of the trap (top and sides).

quote:

---

How did you get the Harris Hawk out without becoming a pincushion?

---

It's funny, the 2 hawks I have caught (one trapped himself in the shadehouse here at the turf center) have been very timid. I think they are about as afraid of us, as the pigeons are of them.

Stinky T,

I built a 36"x30"x9" trap this weekend with 14g. 1"x2" galvanized wire. I started by putting 2 bob doors on it, but could still replace them with funnels. I have small ga. 1"x1" wire. Is that what you would use to build the funnels? Could you give me some rough dimensions for the funnel that you would use(i.e. ~6" tapering to 4" or so). And your absolutely right about them getting trap shy. I got my first "live" pigeon yesterday, but it seems they have gotten pretty weary of the traps. I also should be able to get permission to snag em at night at the sheep barn where they roost. Thanks.

Sorry to take so long to check back. Trap dimension is good. I would use the 1/2" X 1/2" wire for the funnel, and I would taper it down a little further than 4". Pigeons are much smaller than they appear when you get past the feathers. You can probably go down to about 3" - 3.5".

Good Luck

Cool..Thanks!!!