Why do people shoot Crows but not Starlings?
- Thread starter albanian
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If I had a nickle for every sparrow and starling I have shot I could retire tommorrow and never have to worry about cash again. During season me and my father would use his contender 44 mag on crows mostly cuz it was the only bird we were allowed to shoot with a pistol with the exception of the other two I mentioned but even in small town midwest the law frowns on you shooting firearms in your back yard.But my Crossman airguns were allowed.
one shot one kill
one shot one kill
Mark Whiteman
Member
Talking about explosives: Awhile back there was a segment on a show where people would send in their videos. No, not that one. This involved a huge flock of birds roosting during a particular time of day, raising a huge ruckus, attacking pets, and generally disrupting life. Various techniques were tried to scare them away. None worked. Eventually, someone laced the huge tree they used as a perch with DetCord. Several hundred feet of it. The whole tree. When those birds returned, they set it off. Only a stump survived, and bits of bird rained down, over at least a square mile area, for 5 minutes. I can't remember where it was, (other than it was away from town) or what kind of birds they were, but I've never seen a better method to create a huge number of ex-birds all at once in my life. 
sturmruger
Member
My in-laws have a nice little hobby farm down in SE Iowa. Whenever I visit I shoot two things Starlings, and Rabbits. They are pests and need to be put down. I sometimes shoot 20-30 starlings in a weekend. Usually by Sunday they are a lot harder to find those birds wise up quick.
"Anybody have an idea for a quiet, powerful, & reasonably priced air pistol? Pumps need not apply...my neighbor has suffered a brain injury & a shoulder injury."
I know you said no pumps but my Benjamin .177cal took MANY Starlings and other pests. It was accurate and powerful enough. Use flat head pellets and forget the pointed or hollow point nonsense. In .177cal, flat heads work best on all game I have ever shot. In .22cal, I don't know since I have never owned one.
If you want a pistol that is not a pump, there are two main groups that you should look into. Foget CO2 since I have yet to see one that was as powerful as the Benjamin. You need to look into single stroke pnuematics and spring air pistols. A good single stroke is the Beeman P-1 but it is pricy. A good spring air would be one of the RWS pistols. Try to find a recoiless and you will be much happier. The normal recoil of a spring piston will ruin a pistol's accuracy.
I also had an RWS 45 that I wish I had never sold. It was powerful and accurate but at close range it was too powerful. When I would shoot a Starling in the body with a pointed pellet with the RWS, it would fly off like it hadn't been hit. When I would take the same shot with the Benjamin and flat nosed pellets, it would more often put them down than not. This is specific to the .177cal I think. I think a .22 would be better out of a high powered rifle than a .177. I think a .22 at 600FPS is more deadly than a .177 at 900FPS. Personally, I think you want the pellet to be traveling between 400-600 FPS when it hits the target for maximun shock.
I say this and I know it is true from what I have seen over many years of killing many pests with pellets but I still prefer 9mm over .45acp. Why is that?
I know you said no pumps but my Benjamin .177cal took MANY Starlings and other pests. It was accurate and powerful enough. Use flat head pellets and forget the pointed or hollow point nonsense. In .177cal, flat heads work best on all game I have ever shot. In .22cal, I don't know since I have never owned one.
If you want a pistol that is not a pump, there are two main groups that you should look into. Foget CO2 since I have yet to see one that was as powerful as the Benjamin. You need to look into single stroke pnuematics and spring air pistols. A good single stroke is the Beeman P-1 but it is pricy. A good spring air would be one of the RWS pistols. Try to find a recoiless and you will be much happier. The normal recoil of a spring piston will ruin a pistol's accuracy.
I also had an RWS 45 that I wish I had never sold. It was powerful and accurate but at close range it was too powerful. When I would shoot a Starling in the body with a pointed pellet with the RWS, it would fly off like it hadn't been hit. When I would take the same shot with the Benjamin and flat nosed pellets, it would more often put them down than not. This is specific to the .177cal I think. I think a .22 would be better out of a high powered rifle than a .177. I think a .22 at 600FPS is more deadly than a .177 at 900FPS. Personally, I think you want the pellet to be traveling between 400-600 FPS when it hits the target for maximun shock.
I say this and I know it is true from what I have seen over many years of killing many pests with pellets but I still prefer 9mm over .45acp. Why is that?
Cosmoline
Member
I don't shoot any corvids. It's bad mojo. Besides, after having lived in a state where all the old "pest" species from coyote to brown bear still thrive, I'll take them over the hordes of vile urbanites any day. Spare the crows and ravens--shoot the Starlings and Californians!
Somthin I forgot to mention while my grandma was still around she would have me come over and pot as many starling as I could in a single day. That all came to a head when my dad went with me and took one out of the air with a 357mag.
one shot one kill
one shot one kill
Mark Whiteman
Member
Now that is a skill worthy of a salute!
I shoot starlings, grackles (a bigger form of the starling where I live), and blue jays as well. There are just way too many starlings around. I use a bb gun...shooting from my back door a lot of the time. Sad thing is, you could shoot and shoot (killing every one you shoot at) and still seem to not make a dent.
mr.trooper
Member
Cuz' you cant EAT starling.
1911 guy
Member
Two shotguns, three men and 1,000,000 starlings.
Have a friend who runs a dairy farm, starlings get inside the barns and crap all over everything. We have a solution. Two of us walk a wide path to the opposite side of the barn with topped off shotguns. #8 shot and open chokes is good. The other walks in the front of the barn and shoo's out starlings with much shouting and cursing. When the starlings get about 20 yards out we open up on them. You can get four or five at a shot by giving the pattern time to spread a little and shooting into the middle of the bunch of them.
Have a friend who runs a dairy farm, starlings get inside the barns and crap all over everything. We have a solution. Two of us walk a wide path to the opposite side of the barn with topped off shotguns. #8 shot and open chokes is good. The other walks in the front of the barn and shoo's out starlings with much shouting and cursing. When the starlings get about 20 yards out we open up on them. You can get four or five at a shot by giving the pattern time to spread a little and shooting into the middle of the bunch of them.
You need an accurate medium power airgun (so it's quiet) with a good scope.
You should be able to really make a dent, and what's better is you can shoot them while they're still in the barn.
You need to see if there are any airgunning clubs in the area. You could probably make money charging them for shooting time.
You should be able to really make a dent, and what's better is you can shoot them while they're still in the barn.
You need to see if there are any airgunning clubs in the area. You could probably make money charging them for shooting time.
1911 guy
Member
What?!
And miss that dopey grin on Kevins face as he shovels up a few dozen dead starlings? Not a chance!
Actually, I'll mention it to him.
And miss that dopey grin on Kevins face as he shovels up a few dozen dead starlings? Not a chance!
Actually, I'll mention it to him.
we used to make a little hole inthe hay bales and then throw a tarp over the top of us and hide in the barn. .22's with cb's and the starlings had no idea where we were. I tried a 28 guage with the lowest possible velocity load of #11 and that was awesome on the birds, but the pellets fell down on the hay, which we then could not feed to the cows, DOH!!!! loaded a bunch of shells with full house loads of #11 and we would smoke the starlings and pidgeons as they flew out of the hay lofts. At 15 to 25 feet, the birds just turned to mist.
Axman
Member
In my area grackles are not a problem they're around but not a problem. I'm suprised no one has mentioned the shooting of pigeons. Them things have got to go.
EatBugs
Member
There is a hole in the attic that I never seem to get around to fixing that a starling makes a nest in.. I wait till I can hear the babies then I raid the nest. Free food for my snake!
Also make sure to shoot the English brown sparrows. They are nest robbers. Some songbirds will only eat out of feeders and not off the ground and I've read they purpously will dump seeds out of bird feeders so the song birds can't get to it. They are also very agressive towards other birds and I've seen this first hand.
I've been shooting them lately and I've noticed the songbirds seem to hit the feeders more with the sparrows thinned out.
I believe the sparrows where released in America to quell a bug problem the farmers had way back when. But it didn't work and now we have this problem with these pests.
I've been shooting them lately and I've noticed the songbirds seem to hit the feeders more with the sparrows thinned out.
I believe the sparrows where released in America to quell a bug problem the farmers had way back when. But it didn't work and now we have this problem with these pests.
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