C02 Bird Hunt

[longislandhunter]

Finished all my yard work by 2:30 this afternoon so decided to spend the rest of the afternoon pest hunting.  I wasn't sure which rifle to take so I took 2 :)

I figured I'd spend the first couple hours bird hunting so I grabbed the .177 Flying Dragon QB-78D for the starlings,,, then I grabbed the .22 Talon so I could finish off the last few hours of the day stalking some G-hogs.   Loaded the truck and headed for the duck farm.   When I got there the first thing I noticed was the absence of birds.  There was a huge flock of pigeons, at least 75 or more, but other than them there wasn't a bird in sight.  I tried stalking within range of the pigeons but they were so spooky that it was just impossible.  Down the dirt road from the main farm is the breeder farm, where they have all the egg laying ducks, so I figured I'd head down there in hope of finding some starlings.  

When I parked in my usual spot at the breeder farm I was greeted by hundreds of birds flying in and out of the barns, with birds frequently landing in good numbers on a couple of old telephone pole wires near the barns.  I set up a sniping location inside one of the barns 20 yards from one of the old telephone poles.  I sat there for about an hour and while the birds kept landing on the wire they also kept seeing me immediately upon landing which caused them to take off again in a hurry.  It started to get really frustrating but then I remembered something that I knew would turn the tables.  

I remembered that I had a section of camo netting stored in the back of my truck.  I walked back to the truck and sure enough there was the netting tucked away inside one of the milk crates I use for storage.   Went back to my sniping location and draped the netting over the window.  The netting has numerous holes in just perfect for sticking the barrel of the rifle through.  I had just finished draping the netting over the window when all of a sudden a flock of about 20 starlings landed on the wires.  They didn't even notice the barrel of the QB being slowly brought into a shooting position.  I picked out the bird that gave me the best chest shot and fired.  The yellow beak crumpled and fell like a stone.  

 For the next hour or so it was the same scenario.  A flock would land, I'd pick out a bird and take my shot.  It was great,,, the birds didn't even know I was there  :)  

I had to be patient in between flocks.  Sometimes a flock would land right away, sometimes I'd have to wait 15 or 20 minutes, but the birds kept coming in.  I missed a couple of shots but I wound up nailing 10 starlings and 1 crow that swooped in and began harassing the baby ducklings.  I could've stayed in my spot and had good shooting until sunset but I really wanted to nail a G-hog for the bar-b-q so I packed up my stuff and drove back to the main farm.  

I loaded up the Talon and set off in search of a G-hog.  I slowly roamed the farm for an hour, staying in the shadows and out of sight as much as possible but I only saw 2 G-hogs that unfortunately saw me first.  I decided to call it a day and headed home to take some pics for my GTA huntin buddies....  

That Flying Dragon QB-78D is such a pleasure to hunt with...  Nice and light, fast on target and deadly accurate.  This rifle and the .22 QB that Mike tuned for me are both sweet shooters.   I'm  gonna try and head back tomorrow afternoon if I can and get in some more starling hunting and I think I'll take the QB again.  

Anyway,,, here a couple of pics I snapped of the days take.  Hope ya like em......

Jeff

[only1harry]

Now that's a very successful hunt Jeff!  Nice shooting and you nailed a crow too!  Way to go!  That little CO2 sure got the job done.  I favor CO2 over any other gun for Starlings and small birds too.  

I 've been meaning to get some camo netting for a while now but keep putting it off.  Where did you get yours Jeff?  Does it come by the yard or pre-determined sizes?  Great pic btw.  I don't think I 've seen so many Starlings all in 1 pic before :-)  I would 've been happy with just the crow :)

[longislandhunter]

Thanks Harry,,,,  

I got the camo netting a few years ago,, I think I got it from Cabelas.  I haven't looked at the ads for them in quite some time but I believe they come in different sizes.  One of the best things I ever bought.  I've used it to quickly set up blinds while duck hunting, deer hunting, turkey hunting and of course starling hunting  :)  

Here's a link I just pulled off of Cabelas.  This is the type I bought.  It's very tough and durable, it's plastic so it doesn't rot, it actually stretches a bit which is nice when making a blind and it comes in 2 different sizes to suit your needs.     Here's the link

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0021457228230a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=camo+netting&Ntk=Products&sort=all&Go.y=12&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=10&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1


Jeff

[Timmyj1959@yahoo.com]

WOW Jeff,, GREAT hunt!! That QB of yours reminds me of my 2260 so much!! With the Cros. steel breech & B&A valve I get 610 fps. w/ CP 14.3,s. More importantly,, once you learn the limiting factors of c-o2,, it will put every pellet into the same hole out to 25 yrds.!! Its so ironic you made this post today,, I have been playin round with my 2260 this last week alot!! Kinda like a poor mans PCP?? He He!! With a custom Brl. shroud it is so quiet I have taken 3 Doves @ 20 yrds,, the other Doves just looked at thier Buddys, like,, why you takin a nap now?? Course I have LOTS of camo cloth,, LOL!! GREAT hunt Jeff,, keep up the great work!!  Seems retirement is working out just fine for Ya!! Tim. P.S.,, Hey Harry,, you seeing what Im seeing,, Jeff got a Crow with O-2!!!!!!!

[longislandhunter]

Thanks Tim,,,,, yeah,,, I love that rifle,,,, kinda makes me sad cold weather is comin......

Jeff

[only1harry]

Yeah Tim, I was trying to think earlier when I read Jeff's post, if I have ever come across another CO2 kill on a crow before, and I can't think of one!  

About how much energy (or velocity) does your QB .177 CO2 gun have at the muzzle Jeff?  This gun is tuned right?  I bet it's at least 700fps, maybe 750.  

Oh thanks for the info on the camo net Jeff!  It's like you read my mind. I was looking for the plastic/polyurethane all-weather one!  Much appreciated buddy.

[Timmyj1959@yahoo.com]

Harry,, My "guess" would be Jeffs QB is putting out bout 12 Ft.Lbs.?? When it comes to Crows Harry,, Its best you & I start around 20 Ft.Lbs. & go UP UP!! LOL!!  Course,, I suspect Jeff would be ok with bout 8 Ft. Lbs. from an XX pistol,, & then there is Ed,,,, GEEEEZZZZEEE!!!! Just Funnin Harry,, just trying to lure the Crows into a false sence of security!!He He!! Tim.

[JOHNNY QUEST]

WAY ta go bro.. what a day..  that sounded like a fun expedition to me. I need to get out of this backyard and get out  there a do some serious hunting..

 good job..

[longislandhunter]

Harry,,,, I just read your post and ran down into my shop to pull out the folder on the rifle  (I keep one for each rifle).

On my last chrony test the rifle was shooting an average of 803 FPS for the "full power" shots........  

Yes,, I bought both the .177 and .22 from Flying Dragon and had Mike tune them.  

Jeff

[Progun]

Great shootin' Jeff. Yep,CO2 definitely has a place in our arsenal as long as we respect it's limitations.That might be the first crow I've ever seen or heard about falling to co2.You are in high cotton Sir!

[GoodOlRWS45]

That's a pretty rifle, and pretty good shooting!  Thanks for posting!

[gamo2hammerli]

That's a big harvest buddy. Keep on nailing them. Now I know where our northern grackles went....most of them went south preparing for winter!!!! In the summer there used to be at 4 or 5 flocks of 15 to 20 grackles each near my place....the last 3 weeks or so I haven't seen one grackle land in the field across from my home. If there's no grackles there...there's none in my backyard. When I bike on the bike path....I occasionally see 1 or 2 flocks of a dozen, but they're quite a distance from my home.....and they look similar to the one's in your photo...lots so specks in their shiny feathers and with a black/brown beak. In the summer the one's I usually see are mostly shiny black with a hint of blue with yellow beaks.

btw, another good account of your hunt...displaying alot of patience as usual. Nice spread with the birds with your QB-78b.

[Big_Bill]

Your outdoing yourself buddy,

Better pace yourself, before you run outta game up there, hehe-eh

What a harvest !!! Great shootin Jeff, as usual !

Thanks for sharing :)

Bill

[shadow]

Fine shootin and great pic's buddy, those little guy's sure are colorful. We gotta jump on these G-hog's, they'll be heading for their holes for winter real soon. Thank's for taking us along on the farm hunt Jeff.:) Ed

[only1harry]

803fps is pretty good for a CO2 gun.  That's 11.3fpe assuming you used a 7.9gr pellet that gets 803fps.  I 'm sure the .22 is a little more powerful.  
What was the distance on that crow & what pellet did you use?  I honestly have not heard of a crow kill with CO2 before although I 'm sure there 's a few out there but must be rare.  
I 'm pretty sure my 850 .22 (12+fpe) can take a crow with a chest shot out to 25yds.  Only problem is getting that close.  I 'd probably aim for its head, but like Tim said I prefer a little more power (at least my 14fpe 36) for crows but wouldn't be happy unless I was aiming a 20+fpe gun at them :-)  I 've had 1 or 2 bad experiences with them and thought I needed a little more power :)  I 've been traumatized since I was 14 when I shot a crow with my 760 at 11yds in the chest dead center :)  It looked at me, and then flew away like nothing had happened.  At 11yds or more that 760 pumper would blow through a DelMonte fruit-can and go into a 2nd one behind hit without exiting that one.  So I know how tough crows can be, but with my 350 last winter, the CP's went right through them every time :)