I intended on being out at the crack of dawn this morning but overslept and didn't get out in the woods until around 10 am. The first place I went was my favorite squirrel spot, right down the street from my house, a large patch of woods and marshland that used to be a private estate. As I pulled into the parking spot I saw another truck, but figured 1 other guy roaming the woods wouldn't upset the squirrels to much, so I geared up and entered the woods.
Within 5 minutes I heard the one sound I didn't want to hear, a pack of beagles running rabbits and 3 or 4 hunters yelling to one another. Sure enough, out onto the trail came 4 shotgun toting rabbit hunters, their beagles barking loundly in front of them. Oh well, so much for sneaking up on squirrels in these woods.
I left and drove to another patch of woods near my house and began still hunting through the woods. After about an hour I had worked my way back to my truck and hadn't seen so much as a sparrow.
A friend of mine who own a nursery recently gave me permission to hunt on his nursery property so I figured I'd give it a try. Got there within a few minutes and began walking slowly down the rows of shrubbery, bushes and small trees trying to find some rabbits. Saw alot of rabbit droppings and some tracks in the frozen mud, but no rabbits were to be found. As a last resort I decided to drive to the duck farm that I always shoot at. I didn't know if there'd be any starlings or pigeons there but I figured I had nothing to lose.
As I pulled into the duck farm my mouth dropped open. There were literally thousands of starlings, in huge flocks, attacking the grain feeders. I figured I'd hit airgun heaven, but it didn't turn out that way. The birds were so wary that it was impossible to get close enough to take any shots. I finally crawled inside some dense bushes near a tree where the birds would land periodically, and after 20 minutes of waiting I finally got 2 shots at some starlings, but missed both shots.
There is another large duck farm next to this duck farm, and I recently got permission to shoot on that farm as well, so I took a walk down the dirt road onto the 2nd farms property. The starlings here were just as jumpy as the ones on the other farm but instead of attacking the grain feeders outside, these birds were all heading into the huge duck barns and gorging themselves on the grain feeders that this farmer has inside the barns.
On each end of the barn is a giant pair of sliding doors that were partially open. Starlings by the hundreds were flying into the open doorways and entering the barns. I peeked inside the barn I was standing next to and saw a couple thousand starlings in there,,,, I'm not exagerating.....these barns are huge!! Anyway, I decided to enter the barn and see if I could pick off birds out of the rafters. BIG MISTAKE on my part !!!
As I entered the barn through the opened hanging doors every bird in the barn decided to beat feet and get out of the barn as fast as they could, and they only way out was through the same doors I was standing in. This may sound like I'm making it up but I swear it's true,,,,,, as I stood in the doorway I got blasted by a huge wave of starlings as they rocketed out the doorway. I had so many birds fly into me they almost knocked me off my feet. I turned my back, to protect my face, and got out of the doorway as fast as I could. I stood on the outside of the hanging doors while a couple thousand birds rocketed past me out the door. The only thing I kept thinking was that if I had my shotgun and some #8 shells I could've dropped a bunch of birds with each shot. I'm thinking about going back tomorrow and doing just that.
Anyway, I got my composure back, walked back to my truck and called it a day. I didn't bag any game for lunch, but it was certainly an interesting hunt.
Jeff
