Stopped by the duck farm on my way home from the chiropractor to say hello to the owners and as I pulled in I saw huge flocks of starlings perched in the trees and attacking the grain feeders. Yup,,, spring is coming,,, the starlings are back :)
After my visit with the owners I sped home grabbed my CFX and a tin of tomahawks and sped back to the duck farm. I haven't shot the CFX in quite some time, but that gun shoots those tomahawks like a laser so I knew if I could get close enough for some shots I'd bag a bird or two.
Well, tried several times sneaking within shooting range, but every single time the birds spooked and took off. Then I tried hiding in between two old trucks near one of the roosting trees, but it was so cold with the wind whipping between the truck I just couldn't stay there. Then I noticed something that I hadn't noticed before. The birds would spook at the first glimpse of me, or any of the farm workers, but when the farm vehicles would drive past a roosting tree the birds wouldn't spook, they'd just sit there. I had a brainstorm..
I parked my truck within 20 yards of one of the roosting trees and parked it so that I had a clear shot, and a good angle just by sitting in the truck and pointing the rifle out the window. I rolled down the window and waited. Didn't take long. Within 5 minutes a flock of about 100 birds landed in the tree. Slowly eased the rifle out the window, put the crosshairs on a starling near the top, squeezed,,, heard th POP of the tomahawk hitting home and the bird did a Kamikazee dive straight down into the dirt.
All the birds flew off, but 5 minutes later another large flock landed in the tree. Same routine as before, BAM another starling took a death dive. The third time a flock landed I got my third starling. I was definitely onto something here with this tactic. I didn't get to shoot at any more birds in that tree because a couple of farm workers started working on one of the large grain hoppers near the trees, so the birds stayed away. If the workers weren't there the shooting would've continued, but hey, they've got work to do.
There weren't any other roosting trees that I could park near due to the way they have the duck pens set up, so I called it a day and headed home to take pics of my trophies. I'm gonna head back tomorrow and try the tactic again.
Jeff
