down on the ground. Our bird feeders are not in a good line of fire. And the starlings come every day and clean them and the suet out. I got a couple big loaves of bread and a 50 pound bag of cracked corn and spread it all over the ground about 30 ft from the feeders and where I can shoot. . They will "not" come down to any of the bread or corn. What are the after at your location.? I hate to stop feeding all the wood peckers, blue birds and other beautiful birds that come to our feeders. TNX. Brian
So how do you get stupid starlings
- Thread starter briansmith
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Starling are great at avoiding the kill zone!! I have starlings all around my house, but they rarely visit my feeders cause they know better. After years of killing everyone I can they avoid my house like the plague.
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Starlings are clever, I must admit that. As much as I hate them, I will admit that I enjoy hunting them. Kind of like backyard turkey hunting. Here's a few tips I've used over the years that help to pile up a body count without spooking them off for good.
1- Get a squirrel-proof birdfeeder (the kind with the drop-down hatch or such). That will prevent them from stealing directly from the feeder (if you set the trip weight low enough), but other birds will still spill enough seed on the ground to attract them. This sets up a killing field on the ground. If you have multiple feeders, so much the better. Laying out feed corn on the ground works for squirrels, but starlings and grackles seem to know something is up.
2- Use some kind of silenced rifle. If a PCP, get an LDC; If you prefer springers, use a suppressed version. My Gamo Silent Cat is dedicated for just this purpose. Either way, stick to sub-sonic ammunition. Pointed pellets are the best in my experience; broadside shots with hollowpoints and domes have a tendency to bounce off their feathers.
3- Shoot from different spots. If you have to go out your back door and sneak around the side of the house, do it. You might get one or two kill shots from the same position, but they soon learn where the lead is coming from and avoid getting in the line of fire from that spot. Switch it up! Using a quiet rifle may help to hide your location, but even then you won't get many shots without moving.
4- Police your bodies immediately. If you can get a quick two-fer volley, that's great. But be sure to get the fallen out and away from the area as soon as possible. I throw them into a ditch to feed the local feral cats, but a trashcan is probably the more civilized option.
Happy Hunting!
1- Get a squirrel-proof birdfeeder (the kind with the drop-down hatch or such). That will prevent them from stealing directly from the feeder (if you set the trip weight low enough), but other birds will still spill enough seed on the ground to attract them. This sets up a killing field on the ground. If you have multiple feeders, so much the better. Laying out feed corn on the ground works for squirrels, but starlings and grackles seem to know something is up.
2- Use some kind of silenced rifle. If a PCP, get an LDC; If you prefer springers, use a suppressed version. My Gamo Silent Cat is dedicated for just this purpose. Either way, stick to sub-sonic ammunition. Pointed pellets are the best in my experience; broadside shots with hollowpoints and domes have a tendency to bounce off their feathers.
3- Shoot from different spots. If you have to go out your back door and sneak around the side of the house, do it. You might get one or two kill shots from the same position, but they soon learn where the lead is coming from and avoid getting in the line of fire from that spot. Switch it up! Using a quiet rifle may help to hide your location, but even then you won't get many shots without moving.
4- Police your bodies immediately. If you can get a quick two-fer volley, that's great. But be sure to get the fallen out and away from the area as soon as possible. I throw them into a ditch to feed the local feral cats, but a trashcan is probably the more civilized option.
Happy Hunting!
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Thanks for that. One thing I see I'm doing wrong is if I do get one I knocked out of the big oak trees we have, I placed them by the bread and corn thinking it would attract more. Not so I guess. I'm sure gunnin' fer em'. I'll tell you that. ;o) Brian
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Dont use a dead bird as a decoy unless you put a wire frame on them so they look natural. Why not move the feeders so you can have a clear shot? If you cant move the feeders then buy suet baskets that you can hang from limbs in places that allow you to get a shot. If thats still not possible then put black oil sunflower seeds on something like a board or other platform thats close to the ground or sitting on the ground. The sunflower seeds will bring them in by the dozens.
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Something others haven't mentioned is its easier to get shots off on the young starlings. Also starlings will feed in the same area as grackles because they feel safer with the grackles being on watch.
All else fails you could change the feeder types you use an start using safflower seed.
All else fails you could change the feeder types you use an start using safflower seed.
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Thanks guys...
We took our bird feeders down and we are putting up humming bird feeders. I heard on the ham radio yesterday some folks here have seen a few hummers in the last couple days....I moved the suet to a low hanging branch in an oak tree and the starlings found it in less than 15 minutes. I'm glad to report I have knocked off 12 of the ugly rascals in about 2 days with my 177 cal Marauder. Man I love that thing. ;o) . Brian
We took our bird feeders down and we are putting up humming bird feeders. I heard on the ham radio yesterday some folks here have seen a few hummers in the last couple days....I moved the suet to a low hanging branch in an oak tree and the starlings found it in less than 15 minutes. I'm glad to report I have knocked off 12 of the ugly rascals in about 2 days with my 177 cal Marauder. Man I love that thing. ;o) . Brian
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Where I go, I can see them in the trees as I pull up, the second I get out of the car, they are gone... they very rarely are within 50 yds of me, most of the time they are 75+ yds out.
wll2506
wll2506
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What I have found is they are very shy and will always fly off quickly if they see movement. I have to limit my attempts to those where I can setup with least possible movement.
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I had bad experiences in TN with the old dear starling. After washing two cars every single day for six months... so we didn't look like crazy people going to the grocery store with our cars covered in bird poop. You wouldn't believe the looks we got. That and they attacked a pair of mated screech owls that had two baby chicks in the end of a hollow in a giant Maple tree in my backyard...and killed the female and injured the male. Killed both babies by attacking them and spearing them with their beaks and bouncing them off the side of my truck and onto the sidewalk.
I called the TWRA and ask a game warden what was the laws on shooting Starlings. He told me they were the Cockaroaches of the bird world and asked me if I had a shotgun. I asked him why? He said because if I had a shotgun I could shoot them in groups and get more with one shot. He told me to kill every single one I could get in the crosshairs.
I called the local sheriff's department and talk to the sheriff himself and got his permission to annihilate any and all starlings within sight of my yard period. Told Me To Tell the neighbors if they had a problem with The Airgun to call him on his cell phone and he gave me his personal cell number lol. No lie!
I literally started within minutes of getting off the phone with him and proceeded to fill up a grocery bag the first day. That went on for a week or two. Then they got real wise. Those sob's would Circle my yard in Flight trying to figure out where I was before they would land in that giant maple. the only way I was able to keep my kill counts up was a few tricks I learned.
One I had to set up a blind inside of my workshop in the backyard. The other was I took the screen off of my bathroom window and replaced it with clear plastic film. I would just sit on the floor on a folded up towel and shoot them out of the bathroom. They got wise to that one too. In the end I had to feed them in.
Bottom line do whatever works. Suet hanging High and chicken scratch throwed all over works like a dream. Put out a chicken feeder and a chicken waterer and Scatter scratch all around. You should get 50 to 100 per day if you're patient.
The other thing was my maple tree had a lot of broken limb so there were a lot of hollow cavities for them to nest in. If they were able to make it past the barage of pellets I would swing towards them and finally get a set of eggs in those holes, I would wait them out until the chicks hatched and then start counting the days once I started hearing the chirping in the holes. At 10 - 12 days I would go ahead and shoot the male, then when the female would go to feed the chicks in the hole I would shoot her up the anus and roll her down in on top of the babies. That way, they'd go ahead and pop out to see what was going on. Then you can bust them and roll them down in on top of the female. I thought it would stop them from nesting in those holes. But it doesn't... they'll roll them out and two weeks later they'll have a whole new family living in there.
Just gives you more to shoot that's all. Good luck buddy. 2 points for males 3 points for fledglings, and 5 points for the females. Give us a tally tomorrow!
I called the TWRA and ask a game warden what was the laws on shooting Starlings. He told me they were the Cockaroaches of the bird world and asked me if I had a shotgun. I asked him why? He said because if I had a shotgun I could shoot them in groups and get more with one shot. He told me to kill every single one I could get in the crosshairs.
I called the local sheriff's department and talk to the sheriff himself and got his permission to annihilate any and all starlings within sight of my yard period. Told Me To Tell the neighbors if they had a problem with The Airgun to call him on his cell phone and he gave me his personal cell number lol. No lie!
I literally started within minutes of getting off the phone with him and proceeded to fill up a grocery bag the first day. That went on for a week or two. Then they got real wise. Those sob's would Circle my yard in Flight trying to figure out where I was before they would land in that giant maple. the only way I was able to keep my kill counts up was a few tricks I learned.
One I had to set up a blind inside of my workshop in the backyard. The other was I took the screen off of my bathroom window and replaced it with clear plastic film. I would just sit on the floor on a folded up towel and shoot them out of the bathroom. They got wise to that one too. In the end I had to feed them in.
Bottom line do whatever works. Suet hanging High and chicken scratch throwed all over works like a dream. Put out a chicken feeder and a chicken waterer and Scatter scratch all around. You should get 50 to 100 per day if you're patient.
The other thing was my maple tree had a lot of broken limb so there were a lot of hollow cavities for them to nest in. If they were able to make it past the barage of pellets I would swing towards them and finally get a set of eggs in those holes, I would wait them out until the chicks hatched and then start counting the days once I started hearing the chirping in the holes. At 10 - 12 days I would go ahead and shoot the male, then when the female would go to feed the chicks in the hole I would shoot her up the anus and roll her down in on top of the babies. That way, they'd go ahead and pop out to see what was going on. Then you can bust them and roll them down in on top of the female. I thought it would stop them from nesting in those holes. But it doesn't... they'll roll them out and two weeks later they'll have a whole new family living in there.
Just gives you more to shoot that's all. Good luck buddy. 2 points for males 3 points for fledglings, and 5 points for the females. Give us a tally tomorrow!
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I am knocking a few off daily, but they are learning fast and I guess moved to a safer bird feeder some where. I like shooting them but I'm glad they are gone for the most part. Brian
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Same for me, they are very smart. They will sit in the trees in my yard and I can't shoot up because there are houses around, then they will hop down in all the other yards around me, but not my yard. Then they fly back in my tree and taunt me. I can almost hear them up there going "neener-neener! haha!" One of these days....
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Obviously I'm trying for kill shots . But sometimes I used to buckwheat 'em some and they'd jump off and get like 30 yards before they would spiral into the neighbors yard. He didn't have a clue. He thought something was going around causing them to die unnaturally...and finally asked me if I knew what it might be. I told him yeah, its unnatural when sometimes the Wind Blows the limb they're on and the pellet goes up the behind. That's why they wind up over there, I told him. He was intrigued to say the least.
I also told him how detrimental his starlings were and what they were doing to the other birds nesting in those maple trees in his yard. He started telling me he had noticed that for the last 10 or 15 years and if I wanted to I could sit in his yard and shoot all of his too. He ended up getting a good Benjamin NP rifle and shot ten or Twenty a day himself and I ended up picking his up in my yard.
In the end there was 4 of us that tried to keep the numbers down. We all had blinds or hiding areas. One of them ended up getting four hens and letting them free roam in his backyard. The chickens kept the starlings calm and the chicken feeders keep the starlings coming in by the dozens. Unbelievable how many he used to get every single day, day in and day out.
I also told him how detrimental his starlings were and what they were doing to the other birds nesting in those maple trees in his yard. He started telling me he had noticed that for the last 10 or 15 years and if I wanted to I could sit in his yard and shoot all of his too. He ended up getting a good Benjamin NP rifle and shot ten or Twenty a day himself and I ended up picking his up in my yard.
In the end there was 4 of us that tried to keep the numbers down. We all had blinds or hiding areas. One of them ended up getting four hens and letting them free roam in his backyard. The chickens kept the starlings calm and the chicken feeders keep the starlings coming in by the dozens. Unbelievable how many he used to get every single day, day in and day out.
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I managed to take out one that was trying to take over a woodpecker nest this past weekend. I nicked the mate, but it flew off. Interesting is that the pcp I was using I had just installed a LDC on it. On the dead bird, I could hear the pellet hit it, the mate never flew off allowing me to get a 2nd shot off. They are extremely wary birds.
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I suspect that Starlings would be able to be lured in with a call. Last year I had some starlings in my martin gourds. I managed to shoot the adult as it came out of the gourd. When I went to clean out the nest I found 5 juveniles that were just about ready to fledge. I put them in a brush pile and they succeeded in calling more starlings.
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I buy 100 lbs of feed a month, 50 lbs of chicken scratch and 50 lbs of wild bird feed and mix it together, I have six bird feeders and in three years have shot one starling.
I see them flying around but do not go to my bird feeders, In the beginning I was shooting 45 to 65 sparrows a day, Down to 10 to 20 per day now.
Mike
I see them flying around but do not go to my bird feeders, In the beginning I was shooting 45 to 65 sparrows a day, Down to 10 to 20 per day now.
Mike
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WOW. That is amazing. Where are you located might I ask? They must have a better liked food source near. TNX. Brian
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