GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : only1harry March 28, 2010, 04:34:40 AM
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It's pretty cold today and I was thinking of putting some cat food out to see if the Starlings come, when I spot a couple of Grackles on my front lawn. I get closer to the living room window and see another 200 more all over the front lawn covering about a 35-40yd stretch!
I go to the side of the house and slide a window up. Man that screeching noise from 200-300 of these birds was so loud, it was almost unbearable. I figured they will eventually come this way. As soon as I opened the window I see a few fly away that were on the ground on my left near the garage in the driveway. They gave the alarm and the Grackles in the front took to the trees. When they did that about a dozen flew to the tall Spruce right in front of me about 12-13yds out. I backed away from the window about 6-7ft into the room and was trying to pick one out but the pine needles gave them great cover. Finally I spotted some "black" through all the branches about 20-25ft up and got to my keens and took the shot with the 850 .22. The CPHP found its mark and I saw the bird fall only for a sec. and then lost it in the thick brush.
Now I hear them in the back of the house. I relocate to the porch where I had left a window open with the bamboo blind down. I see about a dozen of them on 3 or 4 different trees and picked out a big one that was behind only 1 little branch. The rest of them had more cover. Its head, neck and most of the chest were kind of blocked by the branch but I had a good view of most of its belly. I adjusted the A/O to about 25yds and slowly pushed the blind aside with the 850's barrel. The blind will move horizontaly for about 1-1.5". That was enough for me to see the Grackle through the scope. He looked ready to take off so I squeezed and the CPHP found its target. It dropped dead from 35ft up and never moved. The rest of them now headed for the hills and I could no longer hear them.
After a good 2-3min. of searching I spotted the first one on the ground right next to the trunk of the Spruce about 12ft in from the outter branches. I could not get in there to retreat it. The brush was too thick. He 'll become dinner to the night critters. I am going to cut all those branches at the bottom this Spring. This tree needs a good pruning. It has become too messy and the branches are now covering too much of the grass which eventually dies with no sun. I took a couple of pics of the 2nd big male and then started doing some spring cleaning. I picked up at least a couple of hundred branches so now I am tired and breaking for lunch :)
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great shooting harry!
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I feel ya Harry,it`s sunny and in the 60`s here one day then the next it`s rainy and in the 30`s,patience isn`t one of my qualities :)Just have to keep tellin myself that pnemonia isn`t worth it! 8)
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Nice shooting as usual Harry! ;-) Glad you have some targets!
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Thanks guys.
Barry - I agree. This weather going from 70deg one day to 20deg the next (last night) is not good for your health. At least I got to see a couple of groundhogs a few blocks away a couple of days ago when it was 60-70deg out, so that made me happy :) Now we are back in the 30's with a high of 40-45 if we 're lucky.
I avoid pneumonia by shooting from inside the house, but I pay for it dealy and litterally. My electric bill was $980 (!!) for the last 2 months January and February. That's the price you pay for leaving a window open all the time to shoot from or wait for that big critter to arrive, with the heat working overtime so I can use my CO2 gun :( It was a lot of fun though but it's getting to be a very expensive hobby. I can't wait for some normal Spring temps.
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WOW,almoist a grand in 2 mo.?That`d kill me.............I don`t think I paid that much for the last year,but I don`t have elec. heat and that`s the chief reason,guess I`ll just keep on pollutin :oI havn`t saw a single piggie this year,but it`s still early,we just had snow 2 nights ago...........B
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Good shootin buddy :)
Jeff
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Jeff, have you been at the farm lately? I 've been seeing G-hogs and I know it's a little warmer down by you.
Barry, yeah electric heat is too expensive it's usually about 150-200 bucks less. It's all those dang windows I was leaving open during the winter shooting Starlings and in hopes of getting a coon or a fox at night, and it paid off with a nice "red one" :)
Got another one about 1.5-2hrs ago on the same Spruce. Only about 14yds away. Had a clear shot to the chest or center-body. 850 .22 again with a CPHP. They love that tree. There were 15-20 birds on it all well hidden. This was the only one I could see. They are masters of disguise :) I didn't retrieve it right away in hopes they return but they never did. It was frozen stiff when I got it. The high was only 41-42 today.
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I've checked the duck farm a couple of times and while I have seen signs of fresh digging around a few of the g-hog burrows I haven't actually seen any of them above ground. We've plunged back into cold temps here so I suspect I'm going to have a bit of a wait before I can target any g-hogs....
Jeff
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Here to Jeff,still a little cold for`em I guess,got the Trail NP,ready to go.....just waitin on some sun :0
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Great shooting Harry. Those are some fine looking vermin, kinda like Starlings on steroids. We don't get to many of those out here in Utah but we do see a few every now and then. Problem is everytime I see them they like to hang out in heavely populated areas. Drive in parking lot kind of places. Keep on em, I look forward to more pictures.
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Fine shooting and pic's Harry and I'm still looking for em to show up at my feeder's. Ed
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Wow Harry, great going with your 850....3 Grackles in just a few hours time.