Pigeon shooting

Pigeon shooting is a type of live bird wing shooting competition. Traditionally, there are two types of competition: box birds and columbaire. In box birds, the pigeons are held in a mechanical device that releases them when the shooter calls out. In columbaire, the birds are hand thrown by a person when called upon. The pigeons are bred for speed. The most common species of pigeon used in regulated shooting contests being known as a Zurito (Columba Oenas). In the shooting competition, large sums of money are gambled and winners can have purses exceeding USD$50,000. The equipment for the sport can be specialized and purpose built.

In the past, the sport was worldwide. It was for the leisure class and was held at resort locations such as Monaco and Havana. Popular magazines covered the sport—for example, Field & Stream and Sports Illustrated. But, over time, the sport has fallen out of widespread favor due to costs, alternative shooting sports such as trap, skeet, and sporting clays, and of course, animal rights activism over a blood sport.

In the past, events used to be publicly posted.The sport still exists in pockets around the world, but generally, it's not well advertised and it's only hosted in select locations and by invitation only. Usually, this is to avoid the protests inevitably attracted by the event.

Tournaments and competition during beginning to mid twentieth century were worldwide. In the 1900 Paris Olympic, live pigeon shooting was one of the events. The prize for the winner was 20,000 French Francs (more than USD$82,000 in 2017), though the top four finishers agreed to split the prize money.

A brief list of some of the active venues in the 1950s:

Pigeon shooting in Monaco dates back to 1872. The ring was located behind the casino and was in continuous use with live pigeons until 1960, when robotic devices went into use. Slowly, shooting faded out of fashion, and the shooting range was demolished in 1972. After the ring was demolished, a mosaic titled "From the Earth to the Sea" ("De la Terre a la Mer") was installed by Victor Vasarely.

The popularity of pigeon shooting at Monte Carlo included creation of new types of gun stocks; the .

Traditionally, live pigeon shooting guns were heavier than a regular field gun (greater than 7 pounds). Characteristics of them were longer barrels (30 inch with ventilated ribs give better sight plane), tighter chokes (full/fuller), no safety, beavertail forend, single triggers, clipped fences, a third bite, 2 3/4 12 gauge shells (as opposed to the more common 2 1/2 inch shells). These extra features were in place to handle the higher pressure loads used for live pigeon competitions where the bird had to be dropped inside the ring. Today, these pigeon guns command a higher premium at auction.

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