[AndrewB]

Alright guys. I've searched the forum and I can't find anything. I'm wanting to start catching pigeons. I've given up on trying to trap them because I've had two get stolen. I've done a lot of searching and it seems to be legal to use a net gun to catch pigeons. I have found commercially made net guns but they are asking about 1500 bucks for one. I'm sure I can manufacture one cheaper than that. Just wanted to ask if anyone else has attempted to make what I'm talking about and been successful. I would love to see pictures. Otherwise I will post pictures of my attempts for you all to see and maybe do yourself. It looks a lot more effective then cage traps. Thanks for any help and advice guys.

 

[Tim Culligan]

I just go out at night with fish net and catch them under bridges. I usually take my boat and go under low bridges and its very easy to net them.

 

[swliszka]

You could easily modify a net with launch base to fit into a good retriever launcher. More ambitious, convert a cheap 22 rifle into a similar power nail less firing launcher. Or , breed your own birds, that is what I do.

 

[John Lash]

I always thought 2 or 3 bumper boys fired simultaneously with a net would work well.

 

[MissSkeeter]

I just go out at night with fish net and catch them under bridges. I usually take my boat and go under low bridges and its very easy to net them.

That is what I did when I lived in New Hampshire, under street bridges. Don't turn your headlamp light on until your net is placed up near a roosting pigeon, then it is fairly easy to catch as many as you need without spooking them and use for the next day's training. I attached the fishnet to a long pole using a couple of auto radiator clamps.

 

[colinSEA]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-A-Net-Gun/

 

[DSemple]

Seems like overkill for an easy problem.

You can make a pretty good trap for $20 and if you set them up on a roof, nobody will bother them.

And, if you live close to a city and put an add on Craigslist you can find folks who will pay you to trap them.

Have also caught dozens in a night with flashlight and net. The new super bright 200 + lumen flashlights really blind them.



Don

 

[Ahooge]

When I was younger the old man and I would catch them by hand under the bridge. I like useing the instructables site. Can always find something there

 

[Terry Britton]

From an old Waterfowl book that covered market gunners in the day, try soaking corn in whiskey. Then put it out where they feed or near their roost. Watch them get drunk and go pick them up.

Market gunners did this to ducks to catch them live so they could provide the freshest ducks to the restaurants.

 

[Lynn Hanigan]

Using a bumper boy to shoot a net will probably fail as the powder charge and the bumpers are too light to carry the net any distance. I have a cannon net that is 35 feet wide that uses three guns. Each projectile weighs four and a half pounds and uses thirty to forty grains of pistol powder.

 

[John Lash]

To catch pigeons?
i was thinking a gill net or bird netting with the bumper boys...

 

[fishduck]

A cast net should work for urban pigeons. A little birdseed should bring in those that are fed regularly. One throw of the net and you should get enough for a days training.

I have yet to put this plan in motion. Rarely do I visit metropolitan areas & when I do my wife has "moved" my cast net! The plan does not work with farm pigeons.

 

[Rick Hall]

A cast net should work for urban pigeons. A little birdseed should bring in those that are fed regularly. One throw of the net and you should get enough for a days training.

I have yet to put this plan in motion. Rarely do I visit metropolitan areas & when I do my wife has "moved" my cast net! The plan does not work with farm pigeons.

Often wondered about that, particularly if you broadcast the food with a casting motion to acclimate the birds to it. But it's tough enough for most folk to throw anything but "bananas" with a good net, let alone with a cheap one, and I don't know that I'd want a mess of frightened pigeons tearing at one of my good/expensive nets...

 

[rcatron]

I just leave the windows open in the attic during the summer. This helps get some of the heat out (non-conditioned area) and I get a few foolish birds who think it makes a nice home. Sneak up the steps and grab them from the rafters. Never got a large number of them but the look on my wife's face when I walked down holding a pigeon was well worth it.

 

[David Martin]

It's funny you mentioned someone stealing your traps, yesterday I placed a trap on a spot that I've had cracked corn on for two weeks, I pulled a cheap worn out bungi cord on the door to let the birds get used to going in and out of the trap for a couple of days. This bungi was bright red and worn out. I wouldn't put it on anything I wanted to have really secure, but it was the perfect length and tension to hold the door open.
I roll up this morning and the trap is there and I can tell that birds have been in it, but some lame sob had stolen that worn out bungi off the trap, just had to laugh and be gratefull that the trap was still there.