What a day.. and so little to show for it

[only1harry]

Today has been a very interesting day but it's one of those "bad" days we all have once in a while.  A lot happened so I wanted to share the story with you.

It first started with the crows around 7:30am that woke me up at least 1/2hr before I usually get up on Sunday.  
I grab the Condor half asleep and run to the window.  There are 3 of them, all within 30yds cawing because of 1 dead one that's still outside propped up on one of the lower branches on a maple tree about 20yds out.  1 seems to have spotted me and flies away.  I put the crosshairs on one quickly and pull the trigger.  Nothing happens!  The gun is not loaded and not even cocked!!  Dang, by the time I ran back to get pellets they were gone.  Ok I have an excuse, no coffee in my system, yeah that must be it! :-)

I sit and wait for a squirrel or something to appear for another hour until my family is up and it's time for breakfast.  I have not seen a squirrel in over a week and I have squirrel food out there!  So another fruiteless hour.

Towards the end of breakfast I hear crows outside again.  Looks like a new batch about 6-7 of them!  I decide to go at them from the porch which is really an extension to the back of the house and also closer to them but it might be worth a try.  I open the door and put my crosshairs on the closest one about 30yds out.  This one is broadside wtih several branches in the way so I had to aim a little high at the top of her back since a large branch ran right through the middle of her covering most of the lower half.  I squeeze the trigger and see several feathers on top of her back go up in the air upon impact!  The crow turns around and touches her back with her beak and then flies away!  The pellet just scraped her feathers on top and maybe just some skin slightly!  Dang, that's opportunity #2 I just blew.  I could have had the crow earlier and this one since it was a different group.  

Now I 'm a little annoyed.  I tell everyone to stay out of my way for a little while.. :)  I go back to the window, put the blind up, put on my camo and wait.  2hrs have passed.  It's about 9:30.  Around 10am 1/2 dozen or more Blue Jays come and start going to town on the squirrel food I have outside as they normally do every day now.  10-15min. later some small blackbirds with a white belly join them and the usual red Cardinal comes to visit.  They hang out for another good 30min. and eat a lot of the squirrel food always eating the black-oil sunflower seeds first and any shelled peanuts.  

Time about 10:30am.  Blue Jays start leaving and I then I see a small flock of blackish birds come land on the branches above the squirrel food.  I take a closer look and it's STARLINGS!!  What they hey?  I haven't seen Starlings in about 2 months!  I slowly move the camo netting away and pick one up on the tree about 25-26yds out.  But it keeps moving and hopping from branch to branch.  Finally it stopped for more than 1 sec. and got it on my crosshairs again.  My son opens the door and the camo net moved violently back & forth from the draft!  They all fly away while he 's making nosie and talkign to me!  Dang, 3d opportunity lost at 2nd bird species and one that I really loathe.  

It's about 11am and I 'm checking the windows every 5min. or so determined to get something before we leave to head out.  I notice something moving near the squirrel food.  It's a sparrow!  Well that's going to have to do!  :-)  I then see 4 or 5 other sparrows.  Wow, I have not seen sparrows since the summer!  I guess the squirrel food is bringing in all these birds, except for squirrels!  The squirrel population is definitely hurting since the season started Sept.1 when I started wiping them out.
 
The sparrows are on the ground about 21-22yds out and below the squirrel food.  They are very well camouflaged in the yellow & orange leaves and small fallen limbs.  I was thinking of getting the 850 .22 because that's my favorite bird gun, but they were walking away slowly farther out and I figured the Condor is loaded and ready to go, why not?  :-)  I take aim at one when he paused and put his head down, and the Kodiak hit him with a loud crack!(?)  I didn't expect that impact sound but it can be nothing but good.  The little sparrow dropped in its tracks and never moved.  I don't think it felt anything.  
So all those opportunities and I end up with a little Sparrow.  Not sure if this an English Sparrow though.  It may be a Song Sparrow.  Does anyone know?  It looks too nice for an English sparrow and the tail maybe a little too long?  It seems to have very little yellow behind its beak too.  It's definitely a Sparrow because of the short "fat" beak and the colors are the all familiar ones too, but which one?

[longislandhunter]

Hey Harry,,,,,  

I've had days like that,,,,,, the good thing about days like that is they help us really appreciate the days when all goes as planned  :)

Looks like an English Sparrow to me.  Good shot on such a small target....    

Good thing you used the Condor on that sucker,,, he looks like he was definitely the bull starling in the flock  :)

Seriously though,,,, fine shot on a tiny target.....

BTW...... I haven't been able to get out and hunt lately due to my herniated discs acting up, so in desperation I just finished loading up the feeders int he backyard with bird seed.  I'm hoping something comes in to dine as I'm having hunting withdrawal symptoms real bad.  Only thing that's been keeping me going are the hunts posted by you, Ed and the rest of the gang.......

Jeff

[only1harry]

Sorry to hear about your back Jeff.  Hope you 're up to another hunt very soon!  

Something will show up at the feeders for sure.  Mine took only 1-2 days before the blue bandits discovered them and have been cleaning me out ever since.  They even eat the cat food I put out there for the night critters!  

Yes I looked up some pics on the net and it looks more like an English Sparrow now, but song sparrow looks similar too..  I 'm glad there 's still 1 unprotected critter around that I can shoot all year round after major failures like the ones I had this morning :-)

[shadow]

As Jeff said Harry we've all been there buddy, I've had hunt's when there were critter's about but just not a clear shot or you just get a glimpse of em moving out of sight.:( You did end the day with a harvest though and that's great anytime.:) Sometimes I just head out into the sticks without a shooter just to check game trail activity and take in some of Ma Nature.:) Ed

[only1harry]

Ed,
You are describing more "common" days that all of us have had on more than one or two occasions.. but have you ever shot a critter you wanted really bad with an unloaded and uncocked gun? :-)  Then to hit a crow later but not wound it, completely blew my cover with them.  I have about 10 crows now that know me and will avoid my property like the plauge.  It's going to get a lot harder from now on to even see one through the scope.  If it were squirrels it would not bother me and most likely would not even post.. but you know how me and crows are.  They are my nemesis!! :-)  Speaking of crows, where is Tim?  It reminded me of that crow decoy he has in his back yard.

[longislandhunter]

Just get yourself an Owl decoy Harry,,,,, put it either on a pole or mount it where it can be readily seen and those crows will throw caution to the wind and come in to harass the owl.   A crow call would complete the deception, but it's not a requirement....

Jeff

[shadow]

When I first moved back to South Dakota I was rabbit hunting out at my dad's farm and I had been stalking bunnies in the big ol hay barn. I had been watching this guy for a half a hour and he came into the clear or so I thought, put the scope on him and shot. It was like I didn't even hit him but I know that I heard the impact, he then bolted for the hay stack's when he seen me move. I checked out his last location, no blood, nothing so I went back to my hide on the other end of the barn and waited for another two hour's in which time I took two more bunnies with no problem then called it a day. The next morning I was back to see if I could get him since I must have missed him the day before, he had one funky black ear so he would be easy to identify. I crept into the barn ready for movement and to my sad surprise there he was laying there in the open dead.:(  I had nailed him right in the fusebox but he wasn't ready to give up the ghost yet and I could see where he had dragged himself back out of the hay bails and made it to this spot after I had gone for the day.:( The bug's etc. had gotten to him and he was beyond dressing and  from that day forward I made a oath to myself that I would only take clean clear shot's and I would stay and search for however long it takes to find and retrieve a harvest. I didn't hunt that day just wrapped up the bunny and took the time to place him in the ground out back of my place, I owed him that if not more. Ed

[only1harry]

I think I'll try the owl trick Jeff.  I have a crow call but it doesn't work too well.  Only when they are close they 'll come in some times but they just fly overhead looking for the owl that's calling out.  Oh I forgot to mention something!  I was calling the crows this morning after my 2nd failed attempt, and guess what show up?  A hawk!  So I think I must 've been making a crow distress call.  I didn't even know he was up on a tree about 35-40yds out, until I heard a loud screach like an eagle's or something.  I knew before I had a visual what it was.  He stayed about 2min. and then took off.  

Ed:
I know what you mean, but that's not so bad..  You may remember this -  I shot the first G-hog of the season earlier this year with the 350 .22 and watched him run away when I knew I hit him in the head.  My wife found him dead (by accident) the next day laying on the leaves just 2ft beyond where the lawn ends, and forgot to tell me.  The landscaper that came to do the Spring cleanup on our yard found him and told me.  That was 1 week later!  I may not eat the g-hogs but I still felt kind of bad and stupid that I did not walk around to look for signs of him or a blood trail.  There were burrows all over the place where he ran to, and just a few feet from where he fell, but just goes to show you - you never know.  I do know that the crow I shot this morning flew away in decent shap even though it looked as it was flying "kind of funny".  I watched it until it was about 100yds away and out of sight to the south where the porch limits my view.

[shadow]

Dem crow's are tuff customer's, just ruffled his feather's and made him think twice about hanging in that tree again hehehe. Ed

[CFX Marauder]

Man I gotta have the wife reply to this thread,she'll tell ya everything you wrote is me almost to the ...LoL...Checkin all day and gettin oh so *_*_*_*_*_*ed when a cat would take my prize ,chase it off orid miss..These guns dont miss...SoI know the blames on me..LoL...

The bird sure looks like a English Sparrow to me also.. http://i.pbase.com/v3/28/566028/1/48207348.IMG_2593.jpg I used to let them be but after watching them(8-10 birds) flock around from feeder to feeder running off the Cards and Wood*_*_*_*_*_*s I started on em..Surely a hard to hit target as they rarely set still long...

[gamo2hammerli]

Harry you sure got patience!!!!!  Nice shot on that little sparrow.....

[only1harry]

Thanks Brent & Stanley.  I 'm really not that patient.. only when it comes to hunting sometimes :-)  How do you think I got 17 groundhogs this summer?  by spending hours by the window!  Well it helps working from home a couple days/wk.

Brent - it sounds like we have a lot in common, heheh  Yes, it almost always "operator error", not the machinery but I 'll tell you.. you have to be careful with PCP's.  Mine usually starts out at 1,000fps (lowest PW setting) w/Kodiaks and 940 with Eun Jins, but after a couple of dozen shots when it drops below <900fps, the POI starts shifting slowly, and the farther the shot is, the more the POI will change.   Contrary to what most people think, PCP's are not really that easy to use or figure out, that is, unless you want to re-fill every 20 shots.  Springers are a lot more predictable I think in that respect, especially a well tuned one.  The power is always the same and you pretty much know the poi at 20, 30 & 40yds with some practice.  With a PCP you have to take into consideration the pressure drop, the shot count and estimate what velocity range you are into and compensate - differently, according to distance and all those other factors.  I refuse to re-fill every 20-25shots like probably the majority of the people do, and I usually go 50 shots minimum.  So I guess I 'm making it harder for myself, but I can't justify 50fpe for a squirrel or a crow, so I use most of the 800-900fps range as well, and get plenty of shots.  One time I did 75 shots on 1 fill and it was still in the high 700's (778fps on the 75th shot with 21gr) - plenty of power left for even coon or possom at 35-40yds if you think about it...