It was a bit of a strange one though. My mom was over, and we were having tea and talking at the table. As always, I keep an eye on the feeders and about a 20 yard radius of them. I pointed out to her: "Check out the Downy Woodpecker on my feeder!" and "Oh, here's a Black-capped Chickadee" and "Now, it's a Nuthatch." Right on queue, she asked if I put out special seed for them. "No, I just pop the invasive birds and squirrels, so the native birds can flourish."
Seconds later, a flock of sparrows came to the feeder. "Hold on," says I, "I gotta pop one or two of these sparrows."
I went out there and drilled one, waited, they came back 2 minutes later, and I drilled another one. (on video, below)
Went back in and chatted some more about the problems she's having with squirrels.
Right on queue, a mature gray made his way into the yard. "Ooh, here's a squirrel. Hang on a minute, please." I went out and shot him through the elbow and through the clockwork. On adreneline, I shot up the side of the tree, but a few seconds later, it ran out of go juice and fell back into the frame.
The other one was startled by the sound, ran up the side of the tree with a seed, and sat watching me, upside down. Still eating! I blew her a kiss, then nailed her to the tree. Right in the middle of the upper back; nicked the spine, heart, and a lung. Down without a twitch. (Reminds me, I need to zoom back a little, so you all can see the aftermath a little better.)
I propped the sparrow up with a stick as a decoy for others. If not, the 'coons will have them for breakfast this evening. ;D Carried the squirrels in by their tail. Ma was a little shaken, and said: "If you're going to shoot the wildlife, I'm going to leave. That's disturbing to me." I told her, "It's OK, I'm done for the day. Do you want to wake up Stanzi and play with her while I clean these guys?" (it was 4:30 and she'd slept enough)
So she did, and I did. Now, there's two more nutters in the freezer, awaiting their chance to improve some mid-winter stew.
For your viewing pleasure, here's a little snippet of my afternoon with Ma:
...and here are the slo-mo shots, on their own:
I wish I had filmed the other two sparrow shots. They're nice to watch in slo-mo. The pellet really makes a satisfying meat slap when it hits them in slo-mo. All out of proportion to their size. But they're so flighty. Half the time, by the time I'm done setting up the camera, they've flown the coop.
Seconds later, a flock of sparrows came to the feeder. "Hold on," says I, "I gotta pop one or two of these sparrows."
I went out there and drilled one, waited, they came back 2 minutes later, and I drilled another one. (on video, below)
Went back in and chatted some more about the problems she's having with squirrels.
Right on queue, a mature gray made his way into the yard. "Ooh, here's a squirrel. Hang on a minute, please." I went out and shot him through the elbow and through the clockwork. On adreneline, I shot up the side of the tree, but a few seconds later, it ran out of go juice and fell back into the frame.
The other one was startled by the sound, ran up the side of the tree with a seed, and sat watching me, upside down. Still eating! I blew her a kiss, then nailed her to the tree. Right in the middle of the upper back; nicked the spine, heart, and a lung. Down without a twitch. (Reminds me, I need to zoom back a little, so you all can see the aftermath a little better.)
I propped the sparrow up with a stick as a decoy for others. If not, the 'coons will have them for breakfast this evening. ;D Carried the squirrels in by their tail. Ma was a little shaken, and said: "If you're going to shoot the wildlife, I'm going to leave. That's disturbing to me." I told her, "It's OK, I'm done for the day. Do you want to wake up Stanzi and play with her while I clean these guys?" (it was 4:30 and she'd slept enough)
So she did, and I did. Now, there's two more nutters in the freezer, awaiting their chance to improve some mid-winter stew.
For your viewing pleasure, here's a little snippet of my afternoon with Ma:
...and here are the slo-mo shots, on their own:
I wish I had filmed the other two sparrow shots. They're nice to watch in slo-mo. The pellet really makes a satisfying meat slap when it hits them in slo-mo. All out of proportion to their size. But they're so flighty. Half the time, by the time I'm done setting up the camera, they've flown the coop.