I picked up behind it, followed through pulled the trigger and “smack

Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
I
t was the middle of September and a 4:30am rise to wind and rain. I was all packed and ready for the trek
across to Cheshire for a spot of wood pigeon shooting. After having a hearty breakfast and checking the met
office weather forecast which was boasting an 80% chance of rain for the area, I can honestly say I was not
brimming with confidence for the day ahead, but with the car all packed I headed on my merry way to the
early morning sounds of radio two. Luckily, the roads were quite quiet, with the odd pheasant and rabbit road
user, and of course the mobile speed camera vans poised to catch early morning motorcyclists and eager
pigeon shooters on their way full of anticipation to the stubble fields.
I picked up behind it, followed through pulled the trigger and
“smack”, down it came.
I was twenty minutes down the road from home and like the numpty I am, I had to turn around because I’d
forgotten to pack one of the vital parts of this feature – the stove for cooking the pigeons! After returning
home to pick up the cooker I was on my way once again.
As I headed through Mid Wales the weather looked like it was picking up and it was lovely to see the sunlight
bursting through the black clouds and shining on the hillsides, but that was to be short lived. By the time I
reached the Shropshire boarder the heavens opened, but finally, after running the gauntlet of the many speed
vans and RTA’s due to the bad weather I finally arrived, albeit 45 minutes late, at Checkley hall shoot.
I was greeted by Darren, who was already in the field. We had a quick chat, agreeing on the best place to go,
and headed over to unload the truck. After a quick set up our semi-autos were fully loaded and we were ready
for action. Five or ten minutes passed and birds started coming in to the pattern, I dropped one and Darren
dropped one from his hide too. One pigeon came over me that was so high it had ice on its wings, but I picked
up behind it, followed through, pulled the trigger and “smack”, down it came. That was my highest pigeon of
the season and totally made my day.
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
Darren scans the skies for incoming woodies
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
A pigeon swoops in to take a look at the pattern
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
“BANG”, another dead bird falls to the ground
After a quiet spell for 35–40 minutes Darren shot a nice high bird out to his left. Just after the bird was picked
the wind started to pick up again and with it came the rain. We sat in the hides in torrential rain for the next
two hours. The rain eased for a little and the wind changed direction moving 180 degrees to the right, so I
stepped out and rearranged the pattern.
Shortly after, pigeons started to slowly come in again. A lot of the birds that followed would not willingly
commit so were taken in flight. Another hour pasted with no birds flying around or committing to the pattern,
so I decided to pack down the rotary magnet to see if that would bring the odd one back in. I gave it another
hour and still nothing. By this time the wind had changed direction again and gone back to where it was
originally. I stepped out the hide again reinstated the pigeon magnet and rearranged the pattern. Seconds
after I was back in the hide two birds came over; I dropped the first pigeon and then the second with a quick
follow up shot. The birds were quickly retrieved. The rain was still lashing down and by now Darren and myself
were soaked through to the skin, but still undeterred.
Another hour or so went past without a bird dropping in or passing over head and by now our morale was at
zero. It was such a long and hard day’s pigeon shooting; one of the hardest I have ever experienced. Every now
and then we glanced at each other trying to work out who was going to give in first and call it a day. We
continued to stick it out. I was lucky enough to shoot a couple more nice, high birds before Darren decided
enough was enough.
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
I walked over to get the truck and by now the field was absolutely sodden with the amount of water that had
been pouring down throughout the day. As I was driving around the field the truck started to pull some mad
shapes, but I managed to get to our hides. Halfway through packing the gear away the rain stopped and to our
dismay the rain clouds cleared and the sun came out. Within twenty minutes it was absolutely glorious. The
sun was beating down and we both began to steam like freshly laid cow pats.
Darren turned around to me and said, “are we going to do this cooking thing then or what?” Even though I had
a fair drive home, now that the sun had come out we both saw things in a different light. We drove our trucks
over to the corner of the field and started setting up the stove and preparing all the food ready to be cooked.
The kitchen is set up and ready to go
“What’s on the menu tonight then”, Darren said? My reply was, “freshly shot wood pigeon shallow fried in sea
salt, olive oil and Worcester sauce. Finely cut caramelised red onion on a bed of mixed greens, water cress,
and English mustard, all between two pieces of freshly toasted ciabatta bread and washed down with Henry
Westons strong apple cider”.
With preparation and cooking time it took all of twenty minutes. We both sat there on the tailgate of my truck
filling our faces with a well-deserved glass of cider, listening to pheasants calling whilst watching the sunset.
What a perfect end to the day and one that we will both never forget.
nce again, I would like to thank Darren for the invite. It was a really hard day from beginning to end. It’s not
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
always about big bag numbers, it’s about getting out enjoying the day and the company that you are keeping.
Like Darren so rightly said, “a hard or bad day’s pigeon shooting is better than a good day at work”. Indeed!
Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcester Sauce
Serves 2
Ingredients
4 wood pigeon breasts
2 ciabatta breads
1 red onion
mixed greens
Olive oil
Sea salt
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce
Colman’s English mustard
Method
1. Remove some of the feathers from the pigeon breasts to reveal the skin. Lay the pigeon on its back and
locate the breast bone. Slowly slice down through the breast. Make sure that the blade remains up
against the breast bone.
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
Carefully pluck the feathers from the pigeon breast
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
Carefully cut close to the breast bone
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
Breast meat removed from two pigeons
2. Once the breast meat has been removed from the birds place them on a plate and season with salt and
pepper.
3. Pour a little olive oil into a pan and warm over a moderate heat.
4. Finely chop the red onion, place in the pan and cook until soft. Remove the onion from the pan and set
aside.
5. Place the pigeon breasts in the pan and cook on each side for two minutes. This ensures that meat will
be soft and still slightly pink in the middle.
Place the breasts in the hot pan
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
Cook for 2 minutes on each side
6. Remove the breasts from the pan and rest on a plate.
7. Arrange your mixed greens on one half of the ciabatta bread and spread mustard on the other.
8. Slice the breast into smaller portions and place back in the pan. Splash Worcester sauce over the top
and sizzle for 30 seconds.
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
Ciabatta breads ready to go
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
Sizzle in Worcestershire sauce for 30 seconds
9. Equally distribute the breast portions onto the ciabatta, top with the caramelised onion and enjoy with a
fine cider.
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
And there you have it folks
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Cheshire Wood Pigeon in Worcestershire sauce
Happy days
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