The Great NYC Pigeon Hunt: Short Version

Photo copyright 2012 by Jackson Landers

"It is legal to kill pigeons in NYC provided that one does not use any type of gun or arrow. First we tried grabbing them by hand but the pigeons were on to us. Then we found an apple tree in Central Park and while eating the apples we realized that these could make for fine ammunition. The problem with beaning pigeons with apples was that the apples tended to go sort of explodey when they hit a target. So we switched to throwing rocks. John Durant finally nailed one (I think with a rock?), which sort of stunned it but it started flapping away and I had to chase it down to finish it by hand. Unfortunately, the pigeon flapped over to a crowded playground near an Upper West Side park entrance. I quickly beheaded our prey in front of a horrified group of people sitting on park benches, stuffed the bird (and head) into a backpack and then we got the hell out of Dodge before anyone could fully comprehend what had happened."

Cribbed from my Facebook comment after the hunt, this pretty well sums up my experience hunting pigeons in Central Park with Prevention Magazine a few days ago. Long version of the story to follow shortly.