Suspected shoplifters trying to escape the police met their match – when they fled into a field and found themselves confronted by armed pigeon shooters.

The three men were trying to avoid arrest near Nailsea but hadn't banked on coming face to face with members of the Woodspring Pigeon Shooting & Wildfowling Club dressed in full camouflage – one of them disguised as a tree.

The four club members, who were on an organised pest control shoot targeting wood pigeons and crows, helped police track down the suspects.

The drama began at Morrisons supermarket in Clevedon, where two store workers were injured as they tried to stop suspected shoplifters getting away.

It is understood the suspects then jumped into a getaway car and were chased by police to nearby Tickenham, where the car was abandoned.

Shortly afterwards the shooting club's chairman Rob Collins spotted a man jumping into a field where he had been shooting.

Mr Collins – who was camouflaged to look like a tree – said: "There were all these sirens going off in the lanes. I went over to pick up a bird I had just shot and then I noticed this guy with a baseball cap jump over the wall.

"He came face to face with me and, when he saw that I had a gun, turned seven shades of green.

"I unloaded my gun immediately and he turned to run out of the field but there was no way out because it was surrounded by a river.

"Another guy jumped over the wall and said 'I didn't expect to see you' before running off.

"I rang our police contact in the station and asked if they had lost any dodgy looking blokes on the run because I'd seen some and I could see where they were going.

"I know these fields pretty well, so I co-ordinated their movements and they caught them exactly where I said they were heading. The police later said that they wouldn't have caught them without us.

"You should have seen the looks on these blokes' faces when they saw me because I looked like a walking tree.

"If I'd have known what they were up to, I would have pinned them down on the ground."

Mr Collins, 37, who lives in Backwell, was with his son Ryan, 16, vice-chairman of the club's junior section, landowner Roger Fowler, 50, from Backwell, and the club secretary Mike Stockwell, 36, who lives in Nailsea.

All the men were crouched behind hides made of camouflaged netting when three men burst into the fields off Clevedon Road near Tickenham Golf Club at 3pm on Thursday.

The club helps farmers by shooting wood pigeons, crows, rabbits and foxes to protect crops and livestock.

Explaining the use of camouflage, Mr Collins said: "Pigeons and crows are clever animals so it is vital that we blend into the environment.

"Camouflage clothing and hides are an important tool for the job. But it seems that pigeons and crows are not the only pests fooled by it."

A spokesman for Avon & Somerset police said officers arrested and bailed three men from Bristol aged 19, 28 and 34 in connection with shoplifting and the assaults, which left a 37-year-old man and a 56-year-old man with minor injuries.

A spokeswoman for Morrisons said: "I can confirm that there was an incident at the Clevedon store. As the incident is being investigated by the police, we cannot comment any further at this time."