Today I’ve spent most of my time with the family but I did have just a few minutes to sneak away and check the dairy for any pest activity. I was actually sent to go pick up the kids at the park but I took the long way, so to speak. It’s been really slow for Starlings down there lately, but the pigeon flocks seem to be getting a litter bigger. The hardest thing about shooting them is try to find one in the clear. They have a habit of landing right in the middle of the cows and just walk around in the middle of the herd. I keep telling my self I need to buy a pop up ground blind and just go down there with a thermos full of coffee and wait them out. But today as I was driving by I watched 3 or 4 land so I grabbed the 350 and went on a quick walk. I was able to find one that was far enough away from the cows for a shot, I got him in the scope and waited for him to stop long enough to get a shot off. But it just kept walking around and on the uneven ground it was bobbing up and down. When I decided it wasn’t going to stop and it was getting closer to the safety of the cows I had to take a moving shot. I flipped the safety off and touched off the shot, feathers flew and so did the bird, but I noticed he had some trouble catching up to the rest of the flock, and he was unable to pull his feet up. I watched him as long as I could and he I think he finally went down in a big hay field about 300 yards away. I was a little more than disappointed as I headed back to the car. When I got to the car I decided to drive down the dirt road and glass a little to see if my some small chance I could see him either dead or walking around. I parked at the gate and started glassing but he was nowhere to found. I thought I better get up to park and retrieve the kids before I got a call from either them or my wife, but when I was on my way back to the paved road I saw a few more in the same pen as I took the first shot in. I quickly loaded the 350 and went to the fence. I ranged the birds at 48 yards and again waited for one to stop long enough to shoot. Again the were busy feeding and covering a lot of ground. I noticed this bird dancing around and strutting for a female that seemed less then interested. I can tell you that he had his chest all puffed up and was doing a tail drag facing straight at me when I pulled the trigger. This one simply rolled over and didn’t so much a flab a wing, success finally. I hurriedly jumped the fence to go to the bird and take a few photos. Enjoy.
Oh, by the way, by the time I got to the kids they had already called their mom to tell her I wasn’t there yet. When I got home I got the “lookâ€. I’ll be busy kissing you know what to make up for my perceived bad behavior.
