# How to trap pigeons?



## Tatyana (Nov 6, 2007)

I'd like to trap some pigeons for training from a farm where we track. There are several cow barns, and the pigeons love to sit on top of them. Is there a contraption that I can buy or make to trap them? What should I use as a bait?


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## Joel Thorstad (Nov 10, 2007)

On the farm that I used to work on there are two ways to catch em, you can buy or make a pigeon trap, put it in the rafters where you see them the most, and put corn in it, it helps if you have a live pigeon on hand to put in the trap to help decoy the others. The other way is to go in to their roost at night and net them. Either way your dealing with heights and usually a concrete floor. Be Careful or better yet, find some charming guy to catch em for ya! I'd help but I specialize only in purebred Minnesota Barn Pigeons...


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## Steve Grant (Dec 12, 2005)

You can buy pigeon traps. They are relatively cheap. I'm sure you can make one just as easy with the right material (chicken wire). However, I have tried to trap pigeons on a farm with cows and there is so much feed available, they have no interest in what I had to offer (popcorn). You could always try to get them at night in the barn with a net, if you can reach them. Then can be trapped in mall parking lots and underpasses. Good luck.


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## greg ye (Nov 28, 2007)

Try www.scottsdog.com. Look under Pigeon Supplies button. They make a one way door. Mount door to a wire cage. Bait cage with 1 pigeon, corn and water. Sounds simple? It really isn't. If birds have adequate food, it's hard to get them interested in the cage. When I was younger, easiest way is to locate roost and go get'em with flashlight and fish net. Think you'd be better off putting the word out that there's a bounty on them critters.


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## JusticeDog (Jul 3, 2003)

I used to go down to Lincoln Park in Chicago by the lagoon with crackers.... crunch up the crackers, pour out on sidewalk and sit and wait. Throw a towel over them.... can usually get 2-3 at a time.... put them in dog crate. Tell yuppies you are re-locating them to a pigeon sanctuary in Wisconsin!


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## 30 caliber (Jan 28, 2008)

I live in a city, so food sources for pigeons are more scarce than on a farm. I put the pigeon trap on the ground (pigeons are ground feeders) and bait it with chicken scratch. Put it in an area where you see a lot of pigeons sitting on electric wires, gas station roofs, etc. but where it won't be disturbed by passersby. I have a friend that owns a car wash. I have put the trap there and had some success.


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## Tatyana (Nov 6, 2007)

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Sounds like I'd be better off buying the pigeons from someone else.


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## Rick_C (Dec 12, 2007)

JusticeDog said:


> I used to go down to Lincoln Park in Chicago by the lagoon with crackers.... crunch up the crackers, pour out on sidewalk and sit and wait. Throw a towel over them.... can usually get 2-3 at a time.... put them in dog crate. * Tell yuppies you are re-locating them to a pigeon sanctuary in Wisconsin!*



That's fantastic!


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## Rick Hall (Jan 21, 2003)

Pigeons given a place to stand and work at it (ie: the trap floor) will often learn to flip up and escape through the traditional "bobs" most traps use for doors, so if I were to decide to trap them, I'd study the door design on the first trap in THIS LINK - and build my own much cheaper version.


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## buckeyegundogs (Feb 27, 2007)

Tatyana said:


> Thanks for all the great suggestions. Sounds like I'd be better off buying the pigeons from someone else.


If you have pigeons hanging around in barns...pigeon trap with cracked corn and water. Catch one and leave it in there "with food" and it will bring others in.

Brad


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## Howard N (Jan 3, 2003)

JusticeDog said:


> Tell yuppies you are re-locating them to a pigeon sanctuary in Wisconsin! :grin:


I love it Susan. You're devious.


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## brian breuer (Jul 12, 2003)

I'd go with a flashlight and a dip net on a long pole. Catching them at night is almost as much fun as training. Especially if you are in a barn where you can take a beer break. 

I did it in downtown Spokane, so I had to stay sober to answer the nice officer's questions as to what in the hell I was doing under a bridge with a net on a pole. 

Some nights we had a dozen in a half hour. Others we'd only get one or two after checking 5 or 6 different spots. It was always good for a laugh.


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## Boondux (Feb 10, 2006)

You need my in-laws dog. She goes into their barn and catches them on the fly. Brings them to hand unharmed. Did the same with a rabbit a few days ago, but rabbit got away...


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