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The mention of banded birds on the other thread prompted me to recount this tale which may get a few smiles.

Anja and I were living in Joburg at the time. We had some friends visiting from Germany and the four of us decided to go pigeon and dove shooting at a feed lot an hour from Joburg.

We got there around 09:00 and set up and started shooting the early morning flight lines and after an hour or so a South African PH turned up with six Italian clients. He was a bit annoyed to find us in the hot spot but we told him that they could spread out and shoot next to us, which they did.

The birds flew well and we all had good shooting and around noon we all stopped in the shade of a line of gum trees running parallel to the dirt road next to the feed lot and had a picnic lunch together and some sodas.

After an hours break, we all stood up and picked up our guns and made ready to start again when suddenly out of nowhere some hundred plus pigeons raised up in the air and started circling the road and our picnic spot.

The Italians, with their automatics and pumps, were into the pigeons straight away, dropping dozens as the birds continued to fly in circles around us. We stood and watched in amazement, when a voice started screaming and calling from the road!

It turned out to be the driver, a local black guy, of a truck holding 200 racing pigeons who had instructions to drive 100 kms from a suburb of Joburg and then release all the birds at the same time from special side boxes in his truck exactly at 13:00 hrs, which he did! And he released them right next to 6 passionate Italian wingshooters! It was a blood bath as the racing pigeons flew in circles trying to get their bearings!

The Italians picked up about 30 pigeons. Every one of the birds was banded! And the truck driver was sent on his way by the RSA PH with a few bucks in his pocket. I am sure he did not retell the story when he reported back in Joburg and I am sure that there were a number of racing pigeon breeders that wondered why their birds did not return that day!

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