1st starling in months

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Scroooface

Scroooface

Member
Nov 2, 2020
105
103
New York, United States
Caught this guy today flying in, being nosy .. I was stalking a male hosp at the feeder but he flew away.. there were and always are lots of grackles in a tree by the feeder but i give them a pass.. then as I'm about to go back inside, this guy flies over to see what the blackbirds are up to..... Got a 10 grain .177 straight to his chest.. I haven't had starlings in my vicinity in a loooong time.. there must be a no fly zone around here.. I can go 5 minutes up the street and they're in abundance.. I'm jealous of people that have them at their feeders.. and i put out all the delicious suet cakes just for them ..

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Years ago I set my rifle up on a front rest and rear bag aimed out the window of my shop at a suet block I had placed. As I worked in the shop every time I saw a starling at the suet I'd shoot it. I don't remember the actual numbers, but at the time I was keeping track and the days went something like 18, 12, 10, 6, 2, and then dwindled to 'rarely'. Occasionally I'd get a group of 'passers by' and maybe get three, but a lot of days were just quiet. The next year I didn't really see any starlings. They learn...

GsT
 
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Scroooface said:
What did you shoot them with? I used to buy damaged bags of dog food for cheap just for them.. I might try that again... Last time I did that was about 10 years ago and had a whole yard full of seagulls 🤔🤔
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MROD .22 & 18gr JSB. They been stealing our cats food and 💩 all over the bowls afterwards, so I set up another bowl just for them @ 25 yards away. I pick them off right through the living room window 😁. They love the dry cat food.
 
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Ta-Ta Toothie said:
MROD .22 & 18gr JSB. They been stealing our cats food and 💩 all over the bowls afterwards, so I set up another bowl just for them @ 25 yards away. I pick them off right through the living room window 😁. They love the dry cat food.
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You got me thinking , I'm probably around that same number of starling kills for the last two weeks . At the dairy it's impossible to bait at one location as there's food everywhere , so I picked two spots that give me shooting opportunities . One spot is a patch of old locust trees & the other is the bunker silos . I never shoot directly into the feed , rather I set up to pop them off the concrete wall . As the dead accumulate on the floor , they act as decoys to hold the birds for shots . After the session ends cleanup is easy . You are spot on about cat food , starlings hit the cats feed bowls at the "egg building " load dock, but there isn't a chance to shoot there.
 
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Shot two the other day crouched with my .30 Maverick tuned with the older style soft lead 62gn Varmint Knockers around 950FPS. First one was a body shot at a big boy just under 30y. Clean pass through with no blood whatsoever.

Second one was at the edge of my yard in tall grass 70y out. Got him with a head shot that made a loud pop that echoed. That one off the top of its skull. Photos are pretty gruesome.



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