Patience paid off

[Dr. Kralenstein]

Been after this pair for the last 2 weekends. They nested in my tree, along with a couple other mated pairs that have already been cleared. These 2 were smart, always hiding just out of sight. They had a few babies even, they were able to evade me that long. I popped the 4 babies over the last week, but the parents stayed, even after their clutch was gone.

I stepped out to see if I had any rabbits or squirrels getting into the garden, and was admiring my brown thrasher eating the pecans and walnuts I left out for Mr squirrel. I heard the male calling and whirring in the tree and all I had was my 25 cal jumbo. Hit him with a baracuda doing 855 fps... possibly overkill?

He didn't notice thang! Dropped like a stone, hit him in the arse and out the left chest, breaking the wing too. The female came down and watched for a bit, but was too low for a shot without hitting my fence.

She flew off and I called it for a bit. Stuck my head back out to see if Mr squirrel showed up since I've seen 4 out and about already, no dice. Happen to glance up, and there she was... quiet... a little too quiet. Grieving? Well, I sent my condolences.

She had a nice twig in my way for a vital shot, and she had a forward lean. Only shot I had was a little tip of her head I could see. I decided to try my luck, and it worked!

I glanced the pellet off the back of her head and down she went. No penetration, just a little bloody spot on her head, and some weird brown liquid coming from her mouth. I assume that's liquefied brain coming out through the sinus cavity.

My tree is now nice and quiet, save for the northern flickers that put a baseball size hole in my tree top for their nest. Other than the destruction they cause, those woodys are pretty cool to watch.


Thanks for following along!

Dr. K

 

[Ranchibi]

Great shooting on both starlings! Your lobotomy skills on the female are to be commended..... Nice pics.

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

Great shooting on both starlings! Your lobotomy skills on the female are to be commended..... Nice pics.

Nothing like a frontal lobotomy from the back of the skull!

 

[Chukar60]

I was at the ranch we manage this weekend and intended to dispense some justice on the Starlings air gun style.
Took my M3 22 and the wife’s M3 22 and my Maverick Compact tuned for JSB 18.13’s.
My intent was to use the Maverick on the nasty little buggers when I caught them on or near the house and then post up on the rear deck and use it there to reach into the Cottonwoods along the creek. The M3’s were going to be used for some long range plinking and pigeons if they were on the hay stacks again.
Best laid plans of mice and men. I never put the tin of 18.13’s in my gun bag. Ended up just posting up on the rear deck with my M3 shooting NSA 27.5 slugs. Got 11 Starlings ranges varying from 40- 75 yards. I recovered none of them because the brush along the creek is crawling with ticks right now.
Those 27.5’s make a very distinct FWOP sound when they hit a Starling. I would have liked to inspect a couple to see what the terminal performance was. All of them just dropped on impact. But the thought of walking through the tick infested brush kept me out of the creek bottom.

 

[Dr. Kralenstein]

I was at the ranch we manage this weekend and intended to dispense some justice on the Starlings air gun style.
Took my M3 22 and the wife’s M3 22 and my Maverick Compact tuned for JSB 18.13’s.
My intent was to use the Maverick on the nasty little buggers when I caught them on or near the house and then post up on the rear deck and use it there to reach into the Cottonwoods along the creek. The M3’s were going to be used for some long range plinking and pigeons if they were on the hay stacks again.
Best laid plans of mice and men. I never put the tin of 18.13’s in my gun bag. Ended up just posting up on the rear deck with my M3 shooting NSA 27.5 slugs. Got 11 Starlings ranges varying from 40- 75 yards. I recovered none of them because the brush along the creek is crawling with ticks right now.
Those 27.5’s make a very distinct FWOP sound when they hit a Starling. I would have liked to inspect a couple to see what the terminal performance was. All of them just dropped on impact. But the thought of walking through the tick infested brush kept me out of the creek bottom.

Thanks for sharing! A dead starling is a good starling. I hear you on the brush crawling, I leave alot back there in mine this time of year