Pigeon Release

This peculiar contraption is made of a metal ‘house’ affixed to a wooden base, ingeniously engineered with a series of hinges and levers. Its sole purpose was to cause a sudden collapse, releasing a captive pigeon. But ‘released’ definitely isn’t the same as free! Once released, most pigeons met an unfortunate fate in the form of gunfire.

Our pigeon-release trap would likely have been used during shooting practice. By the 1880s, this controversial pastime had garnered popularity, only to be banned in the UK by 1922, though the sport carried over to modern clay pigeon shooting.