GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : longislandhunter February 09, 2010, 12:24:35 PM
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Managed to nail 2 yellow beaks today with the .177 Disco as the birds attacked my suet feeders. The yellow beaks kept coming to the suet all day, in small groups but they were super wary and after I got the first 2 they would spot me every time I'd try and get set up for a shot. The fist one I shot took a direct hit to the breast with a CPHP and went down immediately. It laid still for a good 5 minutes but when I went to retrieve it it stood up on both legs and stared me down. Took a 2nd shot to put him down for good..... one tough yellow beak !!! I also had 6 squirrels in the yard this morning but I left them alone,,,, I'll target them another day :)
Didn't take any pics of the yellow beaks, you've already seen my Disco posing with them before so I didn't bother, but if I nail some nutters tomorrow I'll be sure to post the pics :)
We have a major snow storm rolling in tomorrow afternoon, they're predicting 14-16 inches where I live, so I'm hoping the yellow beaks will be feeding heavily tomorrow before the storm and provide me with some good shooting. I finally figured out how to stop them from spotting me.... I'm gonna fully open the bilco door and drape my camo netting over it.... that should do the trick. :)
JEff
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nice shooting jeff!
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Nice shooting! a lot of tough yellow beaks out there!
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Good shooting.
If I may, allow me to make a suggestion. Two things. Make sure you have a lot of food down for all the birds. I broadcast sunflower seed in my kill zone to bring in doves (who are fearless) and I think this both brings greedy starlings in (sense of urgency) AND serves to distract them enough to allow me to crack a window. There's always a lot going on down there, with smaller birds heading to the feeders, junco's running in and out of the kill zone, and clouds of Doves descending into and around the kill zone.
In cold weather, you're only going to make lots of bird friends anyway, but with the added distractions, you might well get a couple more shots off.
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Thanks guys :)
Yeah, I agree. Seems like the yellow beaks are startin to take steroids or something.
:)
Jeff
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Jeff,
Maybe that was an out of town Starling relative just visting from up here ? :D :D :D
The camo cover sounds like a great idea. Good hunting tomorrow.
Paul.
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Jeff good shooting. And I don't think we ever get tired of looking at pictures of DOA starlings. I've been listening to the weather reports and it sounds like you guys are getting hammered back there. Had several transprotation, delivery issues today and everyone from your side of the country was blaming the weather. Out here in Utah it's starting a little warming trend which make me have to go to the birds. So shoot a few of the close to home birds for me. Good luck man.
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Good shooting at those Starlings with your .177 Discovery. Maybe they're trying to store up fat before they're "Locked down" with all those snowstorms hitting the U.S at the moment. heh heh Man, you guys are having more snow than us Canucks this year!!!!
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Woke up this morning to heavy snow and about 3 inches on the ground so far. Weather lady on tv says the snow will continue all day and into the early evening with a total of 16 inches or more possible, with winds around 40 - 50 mph ..... All the "critter food" I put out yesterday is of course covered by snow now, but as I type this there are 5 gray nutters out there digging it up :)
No starlings this morning, guess they're hunkered down for the storm. Oh well, I'll see if I can nail a couple nutters a little bit later :)
Hopefully I'll have some pics to post later.......
Jeff
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we just had a big snow storm also
its been slow
but nice shooting on the yellow beaks. good luck on getting some nutters
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Good shooting with the Disco Jeff! I think they 'll never see yous shooting from indoors with camo in the way.
Got 4-5" here already and the storm won't be over until tomorrow morning they are saying.
Wow 6 squirrels. You 'll be busy for a while :) Looking forward to more pics!
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The Disco's at work good shooting Jeff. That snowstorm is moving out of here now and headed your way, got 10inch's between yesterday and this morning. Ed
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We started getting snow early this morning and we're still getting hammered with snow as I type this. Weather lady says it won't end until around 11 pm tonight. We had a brief lull in the storm so I spend an hour outside with the snow blower and got rid of the 10 inches that was covering my driveway and walk ways.... but that was at 12 noon and now it's gettin all filled in again :(
I had starlings visiting my suet feeders all day but it was snowing so hard I didn't even bother shooting at them. When it stops snowing tomorrow I'm hoping to kill me some yellow beaks :)
Jeff
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Sorry about the weather! We don't get tired of seeing whacked starlings! WHACKLINGS!
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Randy,,, I'm gonna definitely whack some yellow beaks tomorrow :) All this snow and cold is absolutely perfect conditions to draw them to the suet cakes. In this kind of weather they crave high calorie food to keep warm. I will definitely be posting the pics of whatever I harvest tomorrow.... plan on using the Disco .177 again, I love that rifle :)
Jeff
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You mentioned six! I happened to find this on the Game Camera! There are FOUR in this one shot! This was this morning before the snow started.
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Now that's what I call a target rich environment :)
Jeff
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If the camo net does not work may I suggest a hay bale hide!! Actually I think that the net sounds like a great idea.