It almost beggars belief that shooters have been able to take down more than 2500 pest birds in the middle of Bathurst without ruffling the feathers of local business owners and residents.

But that has the been the case with 15 separate shoots carried out over the past six years as Bathurst Regional Council carries on what seems an unwinnable war with pigeons.

A report to councillors by environmental planning and building services director Neil Southorn has given some insight into the enormous time, money and energy council has poured into tackling the issue of problem pigeons since 2013.

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Some strategies have been successful, some less so, and still more are on the drawing board to trial down the track.

No one could be surprised that contract shooters have proven the most effective method of pest control, if not the most palatable.

It's a credit to the professionalism of the shooters engaged by council that they are able to conduct their assaults on the local pigeon population virtually unnoticed by the rest of us until it's all revealed in a report to councillors.

The CBD pigeon trapping program has also been pretty successful (birds are trapped and then euthanised) but it's a less flexible program than employing shooters.

No matter how many pigeons are culled, though, there always seems to be plenty to take their place. But even if we can't ever hope to win this war, it remains one we must keep fighting.

The mess from unfettered pigeon populations can wreak terrible damage on some of Bathurst's oldest and most significant heritage buildings and that's a price we cannot afford to pay.

Key council facilities such as the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum, the old TAFE building and the Russell Street civic centre have all had to endure the disgusting mess the pigeons leave behind and so the search for any solution will go on.

Future options include the installation of "hot wire" on council buildings that emit a small electrical pulse to prevent birds from roosting and the use of birth control pills to stop pigeons breeding.

Those pills have not yet been approved for use in Australia but council looks keen to be one of the first areas to trial them as soon as the green light is given.

It seems all's fair in love and war.