Charley C
Member
I was just reading the replies on the thread about a wolf that was killed by an airgun. I really don't know why, but reading about this story made me think about a very "unlikely" incident that happened many years ago, that involved a .22 rifle.
Back in the early 1960's I worked for seven years for Texaco, Inc. at their old (and now closed ) bulk terminal, which wa located on the Ohio River several miles west of Downtown Cincinnati. For the first two years I worked there, I drove a 7,000 gal tank truck; then I transferred into the yard, and for the next five years or so, I ran a loading rack, filling tank trucks with various petroleum products. We worked a four day week, ten hour shifts. Then, about every fifth or sixth day, the tow boat with three of four barges of "product"would return from it's round trip down river (from near Cairo, Ill.), and I would always get anywhere from eight to sixteen hours of overtime, pumping the product from the barges into the big storage tanks in our tank farm.
During the week, Mon. thru Fri. Texaco was a very" regulation" place to work! On the weekends, when all of the "bosses" were at home, it was considerably "different"! (To say the least! )
For what ever reason, it always seemed to me that all tank farms always seemed to have a huge "pigeon problem"; it seems that pigeons always seem to just LOVE to roost and "congregate" on the big storage tanks found in all tank farms; there are several reasons that this is a "big problem" for the people who have to work among big petroleum storage tanks. The main problem being......pigeons, especially when they always number in the hundreds, always result in a lot of "pigeon droppings"; To people who are pumping a million or so gallons of petroleum products from barges into these tanks, it's necessary to climb each tank that's being pumped into, on an hourly basis and drop a big brass plumb bob attached to a measuring tape in order to keep track of the quantity being pumped into each tank; by this time, most of the storage tanks had spiral "stairway" type steps going up to the top, but a few of the smaller tanks still had "straight-up" steel ladders, and several hundred pigeons can easily make a steel ladder not only "nasty" to climb, but also down right dangerous!
On one fine sunny Saturday morning, i had been working with a fellow all night pumping barges named "Bobby F." Bobby was something of a .22 rifle "enthusiast", and on this particular Friday night / Saturday morning, he had brought a .22 rifle with a small scope to work with him, to "shoot a few pigeons"; (this was a fairly common practice at the time ); about 10 AM, Bobby had gone to his car and brought his .22 scoped rifle back to tank # 18296, a 30 or 35 ft. high, 650,000 gal. domed-roof storage tank. There were probably at least 30 to 50 pigeons strutting around on the roof of the tank; Bobby had his rifle rested on something, and was getting a pigeon in his cross hairs; eyes still glued to the scope, he says, "see that one, walking to the left"? as soon as he takes a few more steps, he's TOAST! But just as "pidgeon" #1 was about to cross the "kill zone" from the right, several feet further up the rounded dome roof was pigeon #2. coming from the left! Bobby then says, "I think they will both "line up" at the same time"! Then, "wouldn't it be cool to kill TWO pigeons wiuth one bullet"? That was the "new plan"! Several seconds passed...then "BANG"......a split second before Bobby squeezed the trigger, and about 3 ft farther up the domed roof, pigeon #3 suddenly marched to the right, the bullet was "on it's way".........and we stood there in utter amazement, as not two, but THREE dead pigeons rolled down and off of the roof of the tank! All three wre quite dead when they hit the ground, 35 ft below! (all three killed by ONE .22 bullet )
After app. sixty years or so, I really don't recall if Bobby was shooting L.R.s or "shorts", but I'm guessing probably L.R.s? My question is.........has anyone ever seen one bullet "hit", much less "kill" more than three of "anything"?
Back in the early 1960's I worked for seven years for Texaco, Inc. at their old (and now closed ) bulk terminal, which wa located on the Ohio River several miles west of Downtown Cincinnati. For the first two years I worked there, I drove a 7,000 gal tank truck; then I transferred into the yard, and for the next five years or so, I ran a loading rack, filling tank trucks with various petroleum products. We worked a four day week, ten hour shifts. Then, about every fifth or sixth day, the tow boat with three of four barges of "product"would return from it's round trip down river (from near Cairo, Ill.), and I would always get anywhere from eight to sixteen hours of overtime, pumping the product from the barges into the big storage tanks in our tank farm.
During the week, Mon. thru Fri. Texaco was a very" regulation" place to work! On the weekends, when all of the "bosses" were at home, it was considerably "different"! (To say the least! )
For what ever reason, it always seemed to me that all tank farms always seemed to have a huge "pigeon problem"; it seems that pigeons always seem to just LOVE to roost and "congregate" on the big storage tanks found in all tank farms; there are several reasons that this is a "big problem" for the people who have to work among big petroleum storage tanks. The main problem being......pigeons, especially when they always number in the hundreds, always result in a lot of "pigeon droppings"; To people who are pumping a million or so gallons of petroleum products from barges into these tanks, it's necessary to climb each tank that's being pumped into, on an hourly basis and drop a big brass plumb bob attached to a measuring tape in order to keep track of the quantity being pumped into each tank; by this time, most of the storage tanks had spiral "stairway" type steps going up to the top, but a few of the smaller tanks still had "straight-up" steel ladders, and several hundred pigeons can easily make a steel ladder not only "nasty" to climb, but also down right dangerous!
On one fine sunny Saturday morning, i had been working with a fellow all night pumping barges named "Bobby F." Bobby was something of a .22 rifle "enthusiast", and on this particular Friday night / Saturday morning, he had brought a .22 rifle with a small scope to work with him, to "shoot a few pigeons"; (this was a fairly common practice at the time ); about 10 AM, Bobby had gone to his car and brought his .22 scoped rifle back to tank # 18296, a 30 or 35 ft. high, 650,000 gal. domed-roof storage tank. There were probably at least 30 to 50 pigeons strutting around on the roof of the tank; Bobby had his rifle rested on something, and was getting a pigeon in his cross hairs; eyes still glued to the scope, he says, "see that one, walking to the left"? as soon as he takes a few more steps, he's TOAST! But just as "pidgeon" #1 was about to cross the "kill zone" from the right, several feet further up the rounded dome roof was pigeon #2. coming from the left! Bobby then says, "I think they will both "line up" at the same time"! Then, "wouldn't it be cool to kill TWO pigeons wiuth one bullet"? That was the "new plan"! Several seconds passed...then "BANG"......a split second before Bobby squeezed the trigger, and about 3 ft farther up the domed roof, pigeon #3 suddenly marched to the right, the bullet was "on it's way".........and we stood there in utter amazement, as not two, but THREE dead pigeons rolled down and off of the roof of the tank! All three wre quite dead when they hit the ground, 35 ft below! (all three killed by ONE .22 bullet )
After app. sixty years or so, I really don't recall if Bobby was shooting L.R.s or "shorts", but I'm guessing probably L.R.s? My question is.........has anyone ever seen one bullet "hit", much less "kill" more than three of "anything"?
