starling hunting

T

tiercel45

New member
anybody do any starling hunting, if so what would be the best way to go about it, seems like it would be hard to shoot more than once at a flock with a shotgun without scarin em, and they seem like they would be impossible to decoy, well any tips would be cool thanks
 
I have shot thousands of them with a pellet gun & shotgun. You need to get near a food source for the best shooting. Like an orchard, livestock feed yard, agricultural process. Pellet gun lets you pick them off at a distance they think is safe 40-75 yds. As fruit becomes ripe they become brazen & almost drunk landing almost in your lap. Getting the young fresh right out of the nest when they are uneducated. I have had great results with #9 shot in a 12 guage auto for pass shooting them on trips to and from the nest feeding young.
 
I use an air rifle
i killed 8 yesterday it was a blast,

i have a gamo shadow 1000 and it is pretty darn accurate, yesterday a starling flew into a hole in a tree when i was gettin ready to shoot him, but then about 3minutes he popped his chest and head out , from about 20yards away with open sights i drilled him right under the neck. Just thot i would share the story (use an air rifle)
 
I just crack open the kitchen window and shoot them off of the birdfeeder with a pellet gun. I've shot a couple with a blowgun, but they keep flying off with the dart...not good.
 
When I was a kid I took my 22 into the barn and started kill then when my father followed me in it was his new roof that was getting holes in it Kill them out side Mauser
 
Quote:
When I was a kid I took my 22 into the barn and started kill then when my father followed me in it was his new roof that was getting holes in it Kill them out side Mauser


What??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Smith thats what i was thinkin i got lost
I think he meant his father let him shoot thme in the barn, then one day he followed him in but it was a new roof and the bullets went throught the birds or he missed then his father told him to kill them outside

I think
 
When a clutch is coming out of the nest and the food source is good I have scored fifty or more kills in one sitting many times. It can be alot of fun.
 
I love to shoot starlings. I mainly use a .22 rimfire or .17 HMR. I will stake out a popular nesting site and when the adults fly in to feed the young I'll pick them off. Like tripod3, I like to get the young just as they start out on their own also. It's a good opportunity to get numerous kills because starlings wise up very quick.
 
When I was a kid my dad was so sick of them in the barn he told us he would pay us boys a nickle a piece for them plus pay for the amuntion. Well, we soon figured out how to herd them into a small feed room at night and slaughter them by the hundreds. I don't think my old man ever figured on having to pay off that big a bounty. We ran out of ammo right away and went to the house for a couple of bad mitton rackets to finish them off. If you shined the flash light at them they would fly right at you. Dad never did pay us, but we had a blast that winter. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Now I just like to shoot them with what ever I have handy. What a useless bird the cats won't even eat them.

SOR

SOR
 
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Start a compost pile! It won't take them long to find it!
You'll get plenty of shooting time!

Around here, they only bother in Spring and Fall!
They do learn fast!
I start out with a 22LR then when they smartin' up a little, I switch to my single shot 410 and after that I go for my 12 gauge Rem 870!

I do most of my shootin' out of a window!

Starlings are one thing we shouldn't have brought back from Europe!
 
I love to shoot starlings to.
I'm working in florida right now and there are droves of them here.
Initially i bought a 20 caliber benje.and it shot well but was loud,one shot a bye bye birds.
I read up on some of the magnum springer rifles and got a gamo cfx royal w/a 4x leapers scope that catch skeeters!],of coarse starlings prefer french fries and hamburgers.I'm glad i can do my part. Mike
 
a long long time ago in a land far away, when I was young, everyone had a garbage pile where you threw all the kitchen waste... we used to go on safari, out behind the garage, shooting starlings with shotguns, 22 or whatever else we could find ammo for...

if you have a place you can safely shoot, throw out garbage, bird seed, dry dog food anything that'll attract them, make a small blind and have at it... they'll come in, you shoot they fly off, before long another batch will show up... easy shooting, and good practice too... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
I know a falconer or two that uses kestrels to catch starlings. Those little falcons are murder on starlings and sparrows. Of course, you'll only get a two or three each outing, at the most. After that the bird will be tired. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I've never hunting starlings, myself. Sounds like fun. My only pellet/air rifle is not too accurate, though.
 
About a decade & a half ago I lived in a farm house in the country. Grackles would every morning come to the back of the house & get into the dog's food & crap on what they wouldn't eat. I hate grackles. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Well, one fine morning I put the dog in the shed, went into the house, & opened the window facing the dog box & closed the curtians to w/in 2". Covered the other window up so I wouldn't be back lit. Grabbed the kids Marlin Buckaroo 22lr & the box of birdshot. (All I had at the time were 22lr autos, okay? Besides birdshot & 22autos don't work) I'd shoot, go out & throw it under the upsidedown water bucket, go back in & repeat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif This worked great until muzzleblast shinged one of the curtains. So I quit before momma got up & I wouldn't be able to blame it on the kids. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
There were big pines in the front & grackles love pines for nesting, & I hate grackles. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif I used my great little Nylon 66 to nail 'em in the trees & when I could find a nest I would riddle it. Oh, did I mention I hate grackles? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif It was great when you would wound one or find a chick on the ground. Bwah, ha, ha, ha. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
Just for the record. I love your quote. great minds think alike! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Have you read any of his books. He's gotten a little outta control!!
 


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