GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : longislandhunter May 01, 2010, 12:51:24 PM
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Around lunch time the wife went out shopping with her cousin so I had the entire afternoon free. I decided to grab the .177 R-9 Goldfinger and do some bird huntin at the duck farm. Grabbed the R-9, a container of CPL's and headed for the farm. There were plenty of yellow beaks there today and it appears as though they're actively nesting because all the birds I saw were gathering food and returning to their nesting cavities in the trees and buildings on the duck farm. Right near where I park my truck there is a group of old dead and dying trees that the birds love to nest in so I set up my back pack folding seat behind a couple of overturned grain feeders that were 25 yards from the trees and proceeded to wait for a target to arrive. It didn't take long before the first bird glided into the trees with his mouth full of some kind of green colored caterpillars. Put the crosshairs on his chest, fired and he flipped backwards off the branch and hit the ground like a sack of nickels. During the next 45 minutes I had 4 more shots and scored on each one. I also hit another bird but he glided to the ground and became a "runner". I chased after him but he made it inside one of the brooder barns and disappeared among a couple of thousand little ducklings. Since he got away I didn't count him in my bird total for the day. After chasing the "runner" I decided to pack up my folding seat and head out on foot to find some more targets.
As I was slinging the folding seat onto my shoulders I noticed a large flock of pigeons near a grain feeder in a duck pen not far from me. I looked around and decided their was enough cover in the area to make a stalk so I planned my stalk and got to it. 5 minutes later I had worked my way to some large metal grain storage silos that were within range of the birds. I picked out one of the larger birds, put him in my scope and waited for him to be clear of any ducks. Finally he moved to a position where I wouldn't hit any ducks if I missed so I quickly judged the range to be about 50 yards, held the crosshairs on the middle of his neck and fired. At the shot the flock of pigeons took flight except for the one in my scope :) He stood there for a short second and then just fell over onto his side and never moved again. As I walked over to retrieve him I paced off the distance..... 55 yards on the nose.... the CPL hit him in the upper breast. I placed him in the game pouch and headed off to find another target.
During the next hour 1/2 I hit a couple of different spots and got some shots and managed to nail 4 more starlings. I also missed a couple of birds but ya can't hit em all. By 3 pm I was getting hot and thirsty so I decided to head back to the truck for a drink. As I made my way back I found myself passing the duck pen that I had nailed the pigeon in earlier. As I glanced at the grain feeders I noticed that the large flock of pigeons had returned. Using the same stalking route that I used the first time I made my way into a shooting position, however this time I made my way to two large propane tanks that were near the grain silos I used as cover the last time. I peered over the top of the propane tanks and saw that the large flock of birds, about 40 in all, were still there. The birds were just a little further away then they were when I got the first bird but since the propane tanks were closer to the feeder than the grain silos the distance for this shot would be just about the same. Knowing the distance to be the same I picked out a really pretty light brown splotched bird, held the crosshairs on his neck and fired. The pellet hit true and the brown pigeon just slumped to the ground. I paced of the distance and it was exactly the same as the first bird... 55 yards. I picked up my bird and made my way back to the truck so I could take some pics of the birds to post on GTA for my hunting buddies :) On my way out of the farm I saw some g-hogs coming out to feed, but today was a bird hunt so I decided to leave the g-hogs for another day. Hope ya like the pics....
Jeff
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Nice shooting Jeff and great pictures!
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Thanks Dave.... I had a lot of fun today :)
Jeff
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great shots with the R9! I was struggling at 35 yards but you really must know how to shoot it! Good job!
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Jeff that's a great total for the day. I wish I could score that many starlings in a single outing. Nice looking shooter. How fast does that R9 shoot?
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Thanks guys :)
Dave, last time I ran her through the chrony it was shooting in the low to mid 900's depending on pellet. I love that rifle !!! She's my "SSS" (surgical starling sniper) :)
Jeff
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Nice write up and pics.
Great shooting!
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Your threads are always plenty of great pics and descriptions,they make me feel as if I'd be there with you!That duck farm seems to be a gold mine of targets.
Emi.
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Another great hunting expedition story and pic's Jeff along with some super shooting. I'm waiting for the rain to let up here to get back out, been coming down for several days now. :0 Ed
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Good shooting Jeff. Thanks for another wonderful hunting account.
I can't get over how great the pictures are from that new cell phone camera. My digital camera can't do that well.
Paul.
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Thanks guys :)
Paul,,,, the camera on the "Droid" really is amazing, I love it and it's so convenient. I don't even bother using my regular digital camera anymore, I just use the Droid camera for everything. It also takes great videos as well, but I don't use that feature much.
I was going to head back to the duck farm today for more bird shooting but it looks like rain so those plans are on hold :(
Jeff
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Great job!, Nice shooting and excellent photographs!
I'm about to get back in the swing of things here. Squirrel season starts again NEXT WEEK! WooHOO! Hopefully I'll tag my turkey before next weekend.
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Randy,,,, I'm already looking forward to the turkey post/pics and the squirrel posts :)
Sure wish my squirrel season was opening up again :(
Jeff
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Wow, you had a great bird hunt Jeff!! That R9 is deadly in your hands! And you had to stalk every one of them. Great job buddy and very nice detailed pics.
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Good shooting!!! Nice article. Whacking a pigeon in field/improvised conditions at 55 yards with a .177 take a great shot. They're tough birds. The starlings go down easier but are much smaller.
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Thanks Harry, thanks Doug.
Glad you enjoyed the hunt :)
Jeff
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Dang, that is one of the guns I want to own! Since I started in air guns I've wanted one. Great shooting! I'm surprised you didn't get a groundhog for a trifecta!
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Randy,,,, I saw some g-hogs that I could've stalked but I decided I was just going after birds on this trip. Besides, in the last couple of years I've shot an awful lot of g-hogs at the farm and while there's still good numbers of them I decided this year to cut back on my culling efforts and let them increase their numbers so as to insure a healthy "herd" for future hunting. I'll still plan on hunting them this summer but I'm just going to be more selective in which ones I shoot and how many I take. Sorta like a little "duck farm game management" if you will :)
In the meantime I found another duck farm that I'm working on getting permission to hunt on. This new farm is even closer to my home and besides having a g-hog problem the owners are having a real problem with large flocks of feral pigeons. Of course it also has the usual starling problems as well. I'm hoping to get permission to hunt here, it would be great. I've met the farm owner and his son once already, very nice people, have to go speak with them again.
Jeff
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Yeah, I can see that. "Okay Randy, you can't shoot that one it is a "management" groundhog". :)
I watch too much outdoor television. This big nice buck comes by and they don't let you shoot him because he is a "management" buck. :D
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Actually that's exactly my plan Randy :)
I'm gonna try and target the young bucks this year and leave the old grizzly breeders alone so they can "do their thing" :) and keep pumpin out little g-hogs :)
Jeff
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Another great story & pics.
Also some outstanding shots at 55 yards.
Thanks Jeff I enjoy the read.
Matthew
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Great photos and hunt story. That`s a huge haul for you and the R-9.....Congratulations.
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Man a R-9 has to be one of the nicest looking air guns. In my list of got to have guns, and R-9 and a Cometa are the ones I want.
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Man I love reading your hunt stories!Way to go!
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Great job on the nasty birds. It is great to find a farmer who want's you help them out this way.
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Nice. How do you get the farm owner to let you shoot around his ducks? Cause I want to go on a hunt in massachusetts but i dont know where to go
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My prime concern when shooting at the farm is to avoid hitting any of the ducks so when shooting at targets on the ground I always insure that my shot will not endanger any ducks. There are many times when I have pigeons or g-hogs within range but simply cannot take the shot for fear of hitting a duck. Sometimes it gets a bit frustrating but there aren't any shortage of targets at the farm so I just move on and find some other critter to shoot at . :)
Jeff
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Like you say, not always easy, even when not shooting directly toward the ducks. Nothing says a pellet is going to come out of a critter on the same line it went in !!!!
One Saturday morning at Robinson's duck farm, four other shooters showed up. Their first time there, for safety we agreed each party would stay at oposite ends of the property so that we always had several duck houses seperating us. Didn't take long before their end of the farm sounded like a war zone and we'd occationally be "rained on" by pellets !!! :D
After the shooting died down from the other end of the place, the owner came by and he was mad. We asked why. He said he just told the four of them to get out and never come back. One of the shooters saw a Black bird going by, brought his 12 ga up and started swinging on the bird. He got so fixated on nailing that bird that he didn't realize the bird was swooping down toward the ground to land near a feeder. He fired just as it passed in front of a group of ducks. The Black bird kept going and four ducks rolled over dead.
Paul.