Not really a question related to hunting, but I'd like to know, how to distinguish between the two genders of a wood pigeon?
A friend of mine used to hunt these things extensively and I always wondered whether he actually knew, which one was a male or otherwise a female. I myself simply couldn't tell the two apart, they're so alike, without any particular features, that would indicate their sex... and yes, I've heard that: "males have longer necks and more feathers on their body", but that simply isn't true in most cases. A fellow said, he once shot one for which he was certain, that it was a male - it had a long neck and a large beak with a yellow ring around it, indicating that it was young (young make good eating); He said, he could clearly see those features on it, through a 6-24 x 50mm scope of his springer; I'm not sure what gun he had though, but upon shooting that one and skinning it/ plucking its feathers off first, he realised, that it had an egg sticking out of its uterus. He was really sad, he said, that he wouldn't have taken the shot, if he knew it was a female carrying an egg or otherwise not carrying it - being un-pregnant. After that, he stopped hunting those things for the most part.
All I know about these things is, that the younger ones have a yellow ring around their beaks and the the males supposedly have longer, fatter necks. And that's it, that's all I'm familiar with. So, does anyone know of any special tricks to identify a male from a female?
A friend of mine used to hunt these things extensively and I always wondered whether he actually knew, which one was a male or otherwise a female. I myself simply couldn't tell the two apart, they're so alike, without any particular features, that would indicate their sex... and yes, I've heard that: "males have longer necks and more feathers on their body", but that simply isn't true in most cases. A fellow said, he once shot one for which he was certain, that it was a male - it had a long neck and a large beak with a yellow ring around it, indicating that it was young (young make good eating); He said, he could clearly see those features on it, through a 6-24 x 50mm scope of his springer; I'm not sure what gun he had though, but upon shooting that one and skinning it/ plucking its feathers off first, he realised, that it had an egg sticking out of its uterus. He was really sad, he said, that he wouldn't have taken the shot, if he knew it was a female carrying an egg or otherwise not carrying it - being un-pregnant. After that, he stopped hunting those things for the most part.
All I know about these things is, that the younger ones have a yellow ring around their beaks and the the males supposedly have longer, fatter necks. And that's it, that's all I'm familiar with. So, does anyone know of any special tricks to identify a male from a female?
