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General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : only1harry December 12, 2008, 02:46:11 PM
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You shoot a lowly English Sparrow :-)
These birds are on the unprotected list in NY state so they are fair game all year round. I was off today because we were forced to use up excess vacation days by my company so I was doing things around the house and periodically checking the windows for any activity.
After looking for any signs of squirrels in the morning and had no luck, I decided to divert my attention to 4 sparrows that were in the back yard later in the day before lunch. They arrived shortly after the rain had subsided and the sun was out. They were hanging around for a good while. I went and got the RWS 850 .22 and waited until they got a little closer to about 20yds. One of them was on a stump of an older tree I had cut down a couple of years ago because its branches were interfering with the pool. The Sparrow was sitting there pretty still with only pecking on the wood every couple of secs, so I decided he would be my trophy of boredom for the day. I actually had the 850 by the radiator for about 20min. anticipating their return. It was nice and toasty so I was assured there would be no shift in the POI since it was not in the cold and the CO2 gas would have the proper pressure. I put the crosshairs on the body of the sparrow and squeezed the trigger. There was absolutely no recoil as usual and I watched the sparrow drop through the scope as the 14.3gr CPHP hit home.
I took a couple of pics under my porch because everything was wet out there from the 4" of rain we got in the last 36-48hrs. You can almost see the exit hole in the close-up pic that's slightly blurry.. it's where the red stuff is :) Once in a while I'll hit some button by accident on the camera and don't realize something changed until later.. like in this case it would not focus properly up close, because I had some "flower" looking thing added when I hit something. One of these days I 'll read the 50+ page owner's manual :)
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That sparrow had it commin! Good one!,
Rob
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i did the same thing a few months ago, i had been giving the birds a pass and was on the hunt for ground squirrel rat things or rabbits, well, nothing for 30min and i noticed som movement in a bush about 15yds away...cranked the AO down a bit and swung up to find a cute little sparrow in my sights. POP too bad sucker, i was havin a rough day and you made the mistake of landing on my bush.
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Poor thing !!!!!!! LoL...Bet a full mountwouldnt cost much !!! What did ya do with the coon??
Info on cheek piece please Harry...
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A house sparrow! (not a Hedge Sparrow or a Dunnock)
Here in England they're a protected species because they're on the decline.
C'mon mate, with your liberal laws on airguns I was, at least expectin' to see a Moose or a couple of Elk.
Good grief, that's shameful, that is.... and you go on a public forum & admit to it as well.
You bloomin' colonials got no shame?
Just jokin', reckon we've all popped a sparra' out of frustration or for the helluvit once in a while
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Thanks guys.. yep he had it coming, tempting me like that, how dare he :-)
Steve: You should go on some of the PCP forums. Guys there post pics of many dead sparrows lined up shot with .25cal slugs! hehehe
If it's big game you are looking for, go back 3-4 weeks and you will see some white tail deer taking with Springers. There is also one of a 40+lb coyote, the "biggest" small-game we are allowed to take with airguns, taken with a Gamo Whisper .177.
Brent:
Info on a cheek piece? I don't have a special cheek piece on any of my guns. Only an aftermarket butt-end/shoulder piece on one of my Condors.
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Excellent shot at that sparrow at 20 yards Harry. I think my "Point Gun Out Window" hunts are over this year.....I`ve 2 feet of snow in the backyard and haven`t seen any tracks on it. No squirrels or birds near the birdfeeder....been too cold. Maybe give them a week to get used to the cold and they might come back....
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Good shootin buddy, you must be going through some heavy critter withdrawals hehehe cause that little fella didn't stand a chance. Great pic's buddy and something will come along.:) Ed
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Thanks Stanley. If the critters are there, they 'll come out sooner or later. I have not sighted a squirrel for almost 2 weeks but that's because I shot them all :( Even the crows are staying far away from here.. the closest they come is about 150yds away. They used to hang out on my Willow tree all last winter but now they just want nothing to do with my trees.. probably because they still hold a grudge from when I shot 2 of their buddies a couple of weeks ago.
Did you guys get a lot of snow yesterday and the night before? We just got freezing rain. The snow just missed my area but 15-20mi. north they got a couple of inches. I know most of it was north and northeast of us but 2 feet of snow is a lot and the winter hasn't really started yet. I had a feeling this was going to be a brutal winter.
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Thanks Ed. The only thing I 'm counting on are a night critter because the squirrels are all gone. No sightings in 2 weeks! The alarm has been very quiet at night too since I took that coon. That other coon that hung around and saw me probably spread the word :-)
I did have a large but very skiddish possom pay me a visit a couple of nights ago. I had him on my sights but it started raining, and at the first rain drop he turned around and started running. I don't think they like the rain. I saw the rain drop hits its nose through the scope and he jumped like something hit him and took off like mad. I think he may have thought he was getting sprayed by a skunk because I know he could smell the skunk a little and thought maybe he was still in the area. I think I may have to move the bait somewhere else :)
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In Montreal we got 20cm of snow (about 8 inches)...I think it was wednesday and later at night we had slight rain for 4 hrs....so the top layer frozed. Friday afternoon we had 10cm of fluffy snow (about 4")...so in total it`s a little more than 12".....a winter wonderland.
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AH..It looked like an addon cheek pad...
I feel your pain on the nutters!!! Ive not seen one in over a month...Yesterday I heard one barking on the street over so I stood in the yard waving a corncob...(http://../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cry.gif)