GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Hunting Gate => : dave2288 August 28, 2008, 09:38:31 AM
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i just turned 20, live at home with parents, and i recently have come across a problem...grackles...about 200...they are surrounding my house as we speak, only problem is, my mom is against shooting air guns(or any...even nerf)...what do i do?
Dave
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fix - 8/28/2008 4:56 PM
send mom to wally world.then have at them.
Nice to see ya postin Paul... Thats what i would do also.. Hey mom We are out of tp, can ya go get some...
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Dave,first & foremost you should respect MOMS wishes,do whatever she asks of you & live with your parents untill your 50 yrs old,it's much cheaper than living on your own...LOL!...... don't shoot the grackles & buy your mom flowers!
Joe Cuz
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Don't know if you all feed the nice bird's but these vermin drive em away, eat all the feed and are in need of a dirt nap. They also drive out other bird's from their nest and have been known to kill the young. Mom should take you there and have you pick out a good shooter for this job hehehe. Ed
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joe, she wants me to get rid of my guns...i really don't want to do that...she's against it completely...even target shooting...
Dave
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Live with mom in mom's home, mom's yard? Then mom sets the rules, young man. No further discussion or advice, sorry dude.
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Hey Dave,
Mothers have a problem with killing things, unless these thing are hurting something they like more ! Show her in a book on birds, how they kill songbirds eggs and young. She might relent and encourage your saving the lives of the young songbirds!
But as long as you enjoy living at home, I wouldn't mention it again, and hope she gives into target shooting, just target shooting !
When you establish your own domicile, you will be able to set the rules, and suffer when your wrong ...
Bill
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Dave,T-CUPS called it right moms house, moms rules ....maybe you should keep them in a safe place & keep them out of her sight & explain to her that you will not take them out in her presence or in her home & do yourself a favor & go to a range or safe shooting area around your way...........I had the same problem when I was a young buck & living home with my parents,,,,,,you gotta respect their home,you live under their roof....
Joe Cuz
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Yup,,,, I gotta agree with the "follow moms rules" crowd. It's the right thing to do,,,,, as painful as that might be....
Jeff
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...well...i may not shoot em(even though today they were tearing up her lawn), but i'm not getting rid of my guns...and you all know when you were my age, you would've done the same.
Dave
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Get a good education, a good job and then your own place.....or shack up with some of your buddies (Better if they're airgun buddies...) and pop those grackles. NOT saying you should move out because of this situation..... As others said...My Home My Rules. And print out some stats on those grackles killing songbirds and their young for your mom to read...maybe it'll change her mind. Good luck.
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Here's what you do:
Get really, really drunk, and when she's in the back yard you go out there totally naked and shoot a bird right in front of her, then pick up the body and fling the bloody corpse at her face yelling "Next time it'll be you, so LAY OFF!"
Then what you do is stomp into the house and start breaking stuff and kicking holes in the walls, screaming incoherently.
The funniest part is when the police show up.
I mean, it wouldn't be funny for YOU, but...
Just sayin'...
Seeya!
Parks
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I'm with the group on this follow your mom's rules to the letter ....but, explain the real hazards of having grackels. If you have any pets beware if the grackels are eating the dog/cat food or drinking their water. Grackels are not a native species to America and carry lots and I mean lots of parasites, because since they are not indigenous they have no resistance to our local bugs. In one case the city of Austin TX quarantined I think 4 city blocks because so many were just dying out of the blue. One of the birds had a parasite in every major organ in its body including its eyes and brain. It has been recommended strongly not to allow these birds to congregate in large numbers because their feces carries these parasites and it can infect other animals if they come in contact with it. I had much the same problem as you do with my mother because she liked the way they would chatter and dance about but when I showed her the damage they can inflict on other birds and pets she quickly relented and I've been grackel bashing ever since. Now when it comes to the gun issue, just show her the nonbiased (pronounced NRA) truth about the defensive uses of firearms in households and that the mere fact that you might have a firearm protects her and her neighbors from crime. In any case always Respect your Mother's Wishes!
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I agree with everyone else, maybe because I am a parent as many other guys here.
My mom used to be the same way. She bought my first airgun (Crosman pistol) when I was 13, but she didn't think I was going to be shooting cirtters. I respected her wishes but eventually a year later I was having too much fun and started backyard hunting when noone was home, or would visit my friend who had airguns too, a block over and shoot there. Then when I was 15 or so I 'd shoot the 760 Pump she had bought me (after I begged her) in the back yard when mom was inside, but if I shot a Starling, Grackle or squirrel, I didn't let her know about it. Just kept quiet and disposed of them in the 2-acre wooded area we had behind our back yard.
Eventually I shot a rabbit (I was maybe 16 at the most) and brought it inside. She wanted nothing to do with it so I went to my friend's house, skinned it, cut the head off and cleaned it with his father help showing us how to do it, and I brought it back. She liked it much better when it was all dressed and cleaned up and called my dad to ask him if he wanted rabbit for dinner. My dad loves all wild game meat so it all worked out fine. She or my dad still did not want me shooting any birds or squirrels but she did not mind when I brought home an occasional cottontail because she knew my dad liked it. I was lucky that I had a lake & farm land across the street and woods all around to go hunting on when I was younger before they built huge homes and wiped out all the woods later in the 90's. I was quite a rebel though and frequently went against what my parents asked me to do, but if you feel the overwhelming urge to shoot a Grackle or Starling, do it when noone is home and make sure they never find out. That means disposing of them properly and not leaving any feathers around or a pool of blood on the for evidence :-)
I hope you have Starlings too (black with yellow/green dots + yellow beak that congregate in large #'s) because you can explain to mom how most state wildlife agencies encourage their extermination since they are not indeginous to this country (Grackles are from here) and are a major threat to all song birds. Print some on-line articles and show her how destructive Starlings are. In some states officials spray chemicals to areas they congregate in to wipe them out.
I mean com'on guys it's not like he 's shooting someone's cat that trespassed, or doing drugs. It's just dang Grackles that harass and attack, sometimes kill song birds and deserve what they have coming to them. They are no different than Starlings in my book. If he disobey's mom's wishes it not like he commited a crime. The majority of the people don't like to see birds shot because they don't know all the facts.
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Correction: Grackles are from here, Sorry! I could swear I read that they came from Mexico. Here is the article about the parasites in Austin TX, http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1582197,00.html