Grackles are back!

Had a rainy yet productive day. 6 grackles down, 3 were recovered. Had one crawl off and die in the neighbor's junk pile, and 2 dropped into the brushline I call the abyss. Those 2 were from a treetop 60 yards out, about 30 yards up. Perfect distance to get the full sound effect of the pop!

My rifle of choice, is my home brew carbine I now call Frankie.

25 cal kral mega/jumbo/np01/np03 mix. All birds taken with polymags going 800 fps.View attachment 343078
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Brother man, that carbine is righteous cool!

That ain't store bought, got all the gadgets cool. That is 'look at this rig I built' cool.

Maintaining minute of Grackle at 60 with Polys ain't nothing to sneeze at either man.

Well done!
 
I started clearing grackles out of my yard a couple years ago. They show up and I am around they go down. Since I started that a nesting pair of blue jays have shown up, and all sorts of finches. English sparrows are also on my kill list. Since removing both I get more cool birds like a Northern Flicker which I had never seen before.
 
I started clearing grackles out of my yard a couple years ago. They show up and I am around they go down. Since I started that a nesting pair of blue jays have shown up, and all sorts of finches. English sparrows are also on my kill list. Since removing both I get more cool birds like a Northern Flicker which I had never seen before.
I had flickers try to nest in my house. Very noisy. I corrected them.
 
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I had flickers try to nest in my house. Very noisy. I corrected them.
They are definitely noisy and destructive birds. Pretty, and comical to watch when they square off and the way they fly, but decimate older trees. We have them and downy peckers all over here.

Once had a flicker get stuck in my van in the back. Flew in I guess while my windows were down. Didn't see it at first and heard it flapping around in back. I got back there and it literally climbed onto my hand and just sat there for a few minutes, then flew out the open sliding door. Pretty awesome moment.
 
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I learned today that moderate wind isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as it's fairly steady. The grackles were staging in the evergreens about 80 meters out and there was a mostly steady 5-10 mph wind from east to west. I was holding 1.5 mils elevation and .3-.5 mils windage. It was cake work except when they hide in the foliage. There seems to be a never ending stream of grackles in this area.

The grackles have a weakness that I've exploited...they love to land on the highest branch of the tallest trees to survey the area. "Sniper" puts it right in the boiler room when I do my part.

Wait, is that more grackle racket I'm hearing outside? I'm out!
 
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I learned today that moderate wind isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as it's fairly steady. The grackles were staging in the evergreens about 80 meters out and there was a mostly steady 5-10 mph wind from east to west. I was holding 1.5 mils elevation and .3-.5 mils windage. It was cake work except when they hide in the foliage. There seems to be a never ending stream of grackles in this area.

The grackles have a weakness that I've exploited...they love to land on the highest branch of the tallest trees to survey the area. "Sniper" puts it right in the boiler room when I do my part.

Wait, is that more grackle racket I'm hearing outside? I'm out!

Man, that is a nice spot to set up on. Those birds have that false sense of security in those trees.
Punching their tickets to the great Gracklepalooza in the sky !
 
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