And I get my first post on the Hunting Gate! Had a flock of starlings hanging around the place today, visible, but too far away for any kind of shot. Awhile later, I noticed they'd moved into the cottonwoods next to the irrigation ditch behind my shop. Still a pretty long shot, plus about 60 feet above my shop floor, but decided to give the CFX first crack. Clean miss, but the flock stayed put. So I grabbed the 350, loaded a Predator, and let fly. And missed again! Well, I really haven't had a chance to truly sight either gun in, but I've aproximated a 30 yard zero by setting the scopes to shoot about 1" low at 10 yards. After the second shot, the flock took off and I went back to work.
A little later, I looked out the window, and damned if they weren't back in the same tree. So I figured I'd give the 350 another crack. Picked out a bird close to the top of the tree, but no branches between me and it. Put the crosshairs on the top of his head, squeezed the trigger, and heard that unmistakeable THWAP! of a solid body hit. The bird dropped like a rock, never even fluttered. I'm sorry I don't have pix, it landed in a wild rose thicket. I could see it, but I wasn't about to sacrifice skin to get it. At first I was thinking 35 yards or so, but the more I looked at that tree, the farther away it seemed to be. So I got out my 200 foot tape to check it out. I'm still a little stunned, it came out to a 58 yard shot, plus about 60 feet of elevation. Looks like the Predator only dropped about 2", assuming a center body shot. Starlings, BEWARE!!!
Dave
