Quietness deception

[LDP]

Neil I think thats what I just said A missed shot with a suppressor allows for another shot but in my experience a solid hit on a starling with others standing by causes them to spook almost every time. I have had the odd group of starlings not take notice but its rare. House sparrows seem to be less effected by the pop of the hit and ground squirrels dont seem to be bother either but starlings will bolt every time. I also agree having a suppressor on any rifle makes it more enjoyable to shoot. I forget how loud my firearms are after shooting my airguns for awhile and it always surprises me the first couple shots.

 

[NeilClague]

LDP maybe birds are more easily spooked than some of the things my customers shoot, not sure about rats and prairie dogs but I have heard back from some of my customers that they can shoot several of their targets before they get spooked and realize something bad is happening. As someone who does not hunt I really have no idea how different subjects react to pellets whistling past them, but I do know that it takes very little to spook birds and it would not surprise me in the least if a pellet hitting another bird close by would spook them, maybe my customers were hunting a completely different prey? 

 

[Alan]

I think it depends on the bird genus. Collared doves sometimes will just sit there if you miss them, as if waiting for their doom. Grackles on the other hand, often fly before the pellet hits them. This convinces me that they can indeed see the pellet coming, or the sound of the gun makes them fly, silencer or not. 

 

[LDP]

Neil thats what I have experienced as well. It seems starlings are jumpy birds at least where they are regularly shot at. They also group up close to each other so the sound of the hit sends them flying most of the time. I shoot allot of ground squirrels and they will just sit there and watch and not spook from the impact giving you multiple targets. I have pdawgs in my state but never shot them with my air rifles but I would think they would react the same as ground squirrels. I think birds in general spook much easier than other pests. The pest birds on my property know if my window is cracked open or not and wont land if it is. Its kinda funny to watch them land in a nearby tree and case the joint looking for anything odd that says I am watching lol. Some times I have to get creative to get the wary birds that know trespassing on my property will end badly if they slip up and get caught. 

 

[DiabloSniper]

I have shot Crows ( one of the smartest birds, if not thee smartest!)...with my .22 Marauder ,factory air stripper drilled out, depinger and shooting 21.30 grain barracudas @ 860 feet per second.

And they did not know what was happening... Seriously that Marauder killed countless crows! One time I dropped a pair of crows back to back at 50 yards off a telephone pole.. while my neighbor was working in their yard two houses over.

I shot the first crow, then reloaded...the second crow just sat their because its friend just fell to the ground without a sound! Then I heard my neighbor say " that crow just fell down" lol, that is when I dropped the second crow... From the cover of my garage...proof the Marauder is a silent killer!

Both were chest shots! But with the ambient noise of the city/town, My neighbor/Crows could not hear me shooting my 36 fpe Mrod!

 

[NeilClague]

That's pretty funny, that your neighbor just thought the crow fell down, lol It is proof indeed that some guns are indeed silent to people not right next to them. LDP I find it interesting that the birds won't land in your yard with the window cracked open, maybe they are smarter than we give them credit for?

 

[LDP]

Like I said the educated birds know whats going on when their buddy just got popped 3 feet away. If I get the window fully open before any come in it fools them since they cant see the edge of the window frame like they do when its partially open. Even then I have to sit back a few feet from the open window so the smart ones dont catch a glimpse of me. Diablosniper its interesting that a crow just sat there after one of his own was killed. Any corvid I have ever seen goes ballistic when one of them get killed. 

 

[Daxx]

That is hilarious you heard your neighbor say the bird just fell down! I can hear them telling the story to friends... "The other day I saw two crows land on a wire. One just died of old age and fell off the wire, a few moments later the other must have died from a broken heart and fell off too!"

 

[DiabloSniper]

Yes LDP, They normally do go crazy and start alerting, but not all the time...(silent gun)


Sometimes if their buddy was in a different tree limb or just didnt see what happened it may take minutes before they realize their friend is dead!

Then they fly around screaming bloody murder, for 5-10 minutes and leave... Unless you kill a very important crow in the family, then you might have 50-100 crows all show up!

You guys ever see the Russian crow snipers on Youtube? Those guys were driving around town shooting crows from a car with an Edgun! LOL, people on the street were wondering why the heck crows were falling from the sky.... Btw these guys were using an Edgun waaaayy before people even knew what they were, years before Ted.

Check for yourself:
https://youtu.be/C2aCD7lpCQg