My War on Starlings

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Great tips, thank you! I have to admit my kills on the pigeons have not been pretty☹️ Wind did have something to do with it. Hopefully inside the barn that won’t be a factor and I can take my time to line my shot up with the best chance of hitting the vitals. I got my green knight today and I can’t wait to try it out. Again thanks for sharing the knowledge. 
 
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Well, not to make excuse, but here I go. This is a chicken farm, and I’m doing all my hunting in their equipment barns. Soooo, there were no pigeons or visible starlings at all last night (7am) or this morning (5pm). I assume I’ve gotten the resident pigeons on my earlier forays outside. I did find a bunch of starlings after the sun rose hiding between the walls, but they took off. I have to talk to our local dairy farmer, there were clouds of starlings when I drove by the other day. Good luck tonight! I look forward to the video. I hope you break your previous records. 
 
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Yeah, dairy farm is where it's at. Corn and cow crap are the main attractants the best that I can tell.

The farmer pin-dropped me the location of another barn tonight in case the barn at Area 17 doesn't pan out. I'm hoping it does being that I havent been there in a full week.

I'm going to setup decoys in the dark too and go at the crows in the first couple of hours of daylight. Our season just opened for crows on the 1st and there are a lot there still, even in winter. Here's a pic of 30 of them in some trees from last week. They were all in the road as I was leaving.

I've got a bunch of lead loads in the pouch now, which perform better than steel shot that I had to use under Federal law during the off season.
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This latest visit wasn't the most productive. I spent three hours trying to hunt crows but only had one come into range. The barn was completely empty at 2:30 a.m. And the Starlings that were there didn't hang around much after I started shooting like they usually do.

I made a video though with some filler for content. I hope you guys like it. I'll be there again next Sunday for hopefully some better results. Weather is supposed to be mild so maybe the birds will be more active.

 
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Bob - Great videos. Keep them coming. I have found that starlings are incredibly smart and quick to learn. Last week I went to my local dairy farm for some pesting. There had to be 20k starlings, pigeons and sparrows all over the place. It was incredible. With only 10 minutes of shooting the farm was empty. Some how word got out and they went to another farm. I had to work to get a hand full of kills. However, after the young are born in early June you can pound them pretty good and they still keep coming. No adults, just young.
 
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Good info Sw, I plan on keeping up with regular visits and look forward to some more steady shooting!!

Boog,

It's just the way the GoPro and GunCam work, they suppress the loud bang and I also decrease the volume a bit in editing. It is definitely loud though in real life.

This particular shot was only 25 yards. I had a full choke installed because I had been shooting crows....I needed the IC choke for this close shot and I would have gotten more for sure.
 
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I'll be heading back there in a few hours.....will be spending the whole day. It will be mild out so I might sit in a small blind in the pasture with the cows near a feed trough and hopefully bag a bunch there.

I'll be testing a new suppressor as well, the DonnyFL Tatsu. See how it compares with the Sumo. If I Iast the whole day there, I'll check the big barn at dark and see if any starlings are there. I can't stay too late though as I have to be up at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow morning for work.

I'll let you all know how it goes!!!
 
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Okay guys, I've been at the dairy since 10 a.m. Did okay, a bit on the slow side but any day shooting beats the alternative right? I got some video of some decent shots though.

But the big news is I'm headed to Area 17 as soon as I'm done with this post. It's almost dark, the gun is pumped up, got three full mags, and fresh Batts in the torch!! I stopped by there two hours ago and the place was flooded with Starlings!!

If as many as I saw are all in that barn right now, it's gonna be crazy!! Just something to pass on for those of you like me who only have one rifle, make sure you bring some essential tools in case your gun needs maintenance out on the job or field 

The trigger on my Streamline started malfunctioning, like it was locked up. Turns out it was failing to reset due to one scree coming loose. Luckily I carry some with me as i was able to tighten it and now all is well! If I didn't have these, I'd have had a complete failure of the trigger at some point today, and would have to miss out on hopefully 200 Starlings tonight.

I'll update you guys a bit later. Everything will be on scope cam from the Side-Shot. I'd be shocked if the barn isn't full judging by how many I saw there earlier this evening.
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Well, I'm about to head back there. It has been bugging me so much that I didn't shoot at them when I had the chance last visit.

Today is a similar weather day and I plan on shooting at just the one farm for a couple of hours. If they come fast and furious like the first ever visit there, and like they we're last time, I should be able to shoot one per minute for a couple of hours.

That's my hope for today. Then have to be back home early to get things prepped for a couple of days of bad weather starting tomorrow morning.
 
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