The wifey had a hair appointment today at our house. So being the good husband I am I grabbed some guns and left the house to the ladies. Today I learned the meaning behind the old adage “to much of good thingâ€. There were liberally thousands of starlings down at the dairy and when the flocks get that big they get extremely spooky. I could get close enough for a shot the first few minutes I was there but after a few shots I couldn’t get closer then about 75 yards. So that’s when the waiting game begins. I would just sit in the truck and wait for them to return, and they did, problem was they would come in a couple a hundred at a time. Then I would load the gun and slowly get out a take a shot, and watch them all fly off again.
That worked for while, but then they started to avoid the area near my truck. So I parked it and took up a position near some big hay stacks. When they returned they were always on high alert and the slightest movement would send them off again. I’m thinking I’m going to have to come up with a new game plan. I did talk to the operator of the farm and he mentioned that the state has been down there poisoning the birds. That was evident because I noticed some non target species dead around the farm. Red Wing Black birds mostly but there were also some other species.
I had more fly off today then I’ve had in a long time, but I guess I can chalk that off to longer shots. But I’m still surprised at how tough these birds can be. I hit a few at a little better then 40 yards, heard the pellet strike, watched the feathers fly and still they were able to take flight. I hit one big pigeon form about 60 yards and he was able to take flight but could get the speed or altitude that the rest of the flock had. I watched him fly 4 feet off the ground until he disappeared from few four fields away. Sorry for the long rambling post, below is the picture of a few I was able to anchor.
