Sparrow issues made difficult by gramma!

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davelarson

davelarson

Member
Feb 11, 2019
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Montana, United States
I’ve got sparrow problems, and it’s only because of a 80 year old gramma that freaking loves all birds.
Long story short I have put up swallow nesting boxes and successfully defended them from all comers, starlings and sparrows.
You can see the male sparrow on the wire near the pole.
They have displaced two families of swallows so far, and there’s only six boxes.
For three years I’ve made it possible for the swallows to gain a foot hold here.
Then the dilemma… the landlord’s parents have moved in next door.
And the mom doesn’t understand that invasive species are decimating the song bird population.
I shot a starling and she went ballistic… have you ever been the target of a stream of F-bombs coming from gramma?
At one point she briskly walked up to me like she was going to slap me lol.
I asked her if she was going to hit me and she said “ someone should “
I have full permission to do what I want here as far as pesting, the landlord loves shooting and so I’m pretty safe.
The mom has dementia and is driving everyone nuts, including family.
So I’m being extremely careful about sniping the sparrows to not disturb her if possible.
So a few minutes ago I saw her go into the house and I quickly and quietly RedWolfed the female of a pair of sparrows!
And got it into the dumpster without being discovered.
Successful pesting is so satisfying!
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L.Leon, Ha ha! I figured that as it gets hotter she will be inside more 😀.
It’s big time hurts on the sparrows now, my neighbor just fired up his loud jeep and it was the perfect cover for another shot lol.
And I got the other female as she was exiting the house, so that’s two families with only dads to feed the little pests.
I don’t like to cause suffering, but each spring I empty the nesting boxes and I always find a family of swallow nestlings killed by sparrows.
Look at the size of this old hen, she’s huge and bulky.
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Since you have a red wolf try go for headshots, it’s MUCH quieter! It’s all about covert operations!!! My sparrow gun is a 3 FPE crosman 1701P with 5.5 grain leadfree pellet flying at 500fps and it still pops the sparrows really good at 25 yards if I hit them in the chest. At35 yards the pop is much quieter but still very audible. Good luck!


Second setting up a a feed station on the ground out of view! Much safer to!
 
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I had a very similar experience in dealing with raccoons. This elderly lady loved to feed them with her leftover food which was not allowed.
A friend of mine would on occasion find the screen on his lanai torn because the raccoons would make a hole in the lanai screen porch looking for food.
Every evening when he would fire up his barbecue pit or cook over his stove they would come looking for scraps etc.
He contacted the H.O.A(Home Owners Association) and the Game Warden to warn her not to feed the raccoons but she did it anyway. She considered them as 'her raccoons' as she called them.
My neighbor who had the problem with the raccoons tearing open the screen on his lanai asked me to take care of them which I did.
The elderly lady said that if I would not stop shooting 'her raccoons' she would call the police which she eventually did.
Long story short she was cited for feeding 'wild animals' and not following H.O.A rules.
The elderly lady was none too happy that she got fined and my friend paid me to take care of 'her raccoons'.

Davelarson..........I feel your pain and I can relate.;)
 
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Great advice on the feeding station guys. The RedWolf is really quiet on mid power and it loves the JSB redesign 13.43 pellet.
And here’s a picture of gramma L.Leon lol!
The first thing she ever said to me was
“ you are catching grasshoppers the wrong way, you do it in the morning “!
(I was catching one to feed my praying mantis)
When I tried to explain to her about invasive species I didn’t even finish the sentence when she went into the F-bomb episode.
“I don’t mess with nature she said as she pulled weeds out of the driveway…innocent weeds.”
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shambozzie said:
Dave, you need to give grandma some catnip to chill her out.
Click to expand...
Ha ha catnip! Her husband would like that, he’s a quiet nice guy who’s completely run by gramma…I call him OK, because that’s all he ever says lol! Sad really, but he let it happen.
When I tried to stand my ground with my wife, she found someone else and moved on! lol! It hurt, but now I’m not like poor OK!
 
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USAFANG67 said:
I had a very similar experience in dealing with raccoons. This elderly lady loved to feed them with her leftover food which was not allowed.
A friend of mine would on occasion find the screen on his lanai torn because the raccoons would make a hole in the lanai screen porch looking for food.
Every evening when he would fire up his barbecue pit or cook over his stove they would come looking for scraps etc.
He contacted the H.O.A(Home Owners Association) and the Game Warden to warn her not to feed the raccoons but she did it anyway. She considered them as 'her raccoons' as she called them.
My neighbor who had the problem with the raccoons tearing open the screen on his lanai asked me to take care of them which I did.
The elderly lady said that if I would not stop shooting 'her raccoons' she would call the police which she eventually did.
Long story short she was cited for feeding 'wild animals' and not following H.O.A rules.
The elderly lady was none too happy that she got fined and my friend paid me to take care of 'her raccoons'.

Davelarson..........I feel your pain and I can relate.;)
Click to expand...
I feel bad for the folks who love animals but don’t understand how it really works.
The worst thing she could do is feed the raccoons, she caused the death of many because they got used to the unnatural food source.
 
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davelarson said:
Great advice on the feeding station guys. The RedWolf is really quiet on mid power and it loves the JSB redesign 13.43 pellet.
And here’s a picture of gramma L.Leon lol!
The first thing she ever said to me was
“ you are catching grasshoppers the wrong way, you do it in the morning “!
(I was catching one to feed my praying mantis)
When I tried to explain to her about invasive species I didn’t even finish the sentence when she went into the F-bomb episode.
“I don’t mess with nature she said as she pulled weeds out of the driveway…innocent weeds.”View attachment 271568
Click to expand...
thats to funny
 
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I have a neighbor like this that doesn't understand how bad sparrows and starlings really are. Always gets mad and has words with me when I shoot them for stealing my chicken feed. I shoot them anyways, she can go f*ck herself lol. And yes, it is a very distinct and fulfilling sound when you hit a sparrow center mass with a 25 cal des pellet!
 
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my neighbor has a mullberry tree thats pretty busy in the monrning it seems. tuesday morning it was hopping with starlings and robins, we both got pools and the sh----t is all over the rail and cars, i told himim taking them out he laughed, so he had one of his families kids not sure which or whom come to mow the grass 11 birds down with my hw and the young boy had a fertilizer spreader and was throwing the dead birds into it to take to burn pile, i stopped to talk to the young man ,hes like lotta dead birds here they stink, i said well better than you washing all the cars for Alan the owner, he knows i shoot them and is glad, i usually hop over the 4ft chainlink fence as wood piles alow me to not really have to jump or anything, 13.43 jsb going right at 900fps makes a really nice pop on them 35-40 yards away funny to see them look over when they hear the bird get whacked then drop, lol
 
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feeding station with millet. and the sound of a JSB hitting a sparrow is very satisfying.. I'd love to have a microphone and record that pop for 3 feet away.. I'd set it up as my text alert. haha Maybe one of these youtuber boys, Matt, Ted, Gerhard ( nope he's busy with H&N) the guy in the barn killing starlings ( forgot his name) anyway maybe one of these guys could capture the sound without the muzzle report and share with all the guys here?
 
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