Starling Decoy Rig

[longislandhunter]

Got in some more time today on the starling decoy rig I'm working on.  Didn't get to finish it,,,, had to go to work   :(     but should have it completed in a day or so and will post some pics..   So far it's coming out pretty good.  :)

Jeff

[shadow]

The suspence is killing me buddy......are you done yet ? hehe. Ed

[longislandhunter]

Hunting at the duck farm I've noticed that starlings are extremely social birds.  I would sit in hiding near a duck grain feeder for what seemed like eternity and not a single starling would land.  However as soon as one bird landed within seconds other starlings flock to the feeder and start feeding.  For a long time I've been trying to come up with a good idea for a starling decoy rig to lure birds  to a feeder that I'm set up on.   I knew that if I could come up with some sort of decoy rig that would fool the birds  I'd be able to lure birds to me at will and increase my starling kill dramatically.

Well, I finally finished my first starling decoy rig today and I think it's gonna work out great.  I still have to test it at the duck farm, but I really think this will work well.  Next trip to the duck farm I'm going to bring the decoy rig with me, set it up on one of the grain feeders and see what happens.  The design is very simple, light weight, and since it bolts together in a matter of minutes it's easy to transport.  I designed it so I can lay it on top of one of the feeders or I can add the extender pole (shown in the photo) to give the rig some height. If this works like I think it will I plan on experimenting with some other variations of the rig to use in varied shooting applications.  Anyway, here's a few pics.  I set up the rig next to a couple of my backyard bird feeders for the pics  (to give it some realism).

Jeff

[NMCA_Ron]

That is some pretty handy work!

Ron

[shadow]

Now that should draw em in, great idea Jeff. Those bird's will figure that those guy's are down there so all should be ok. For a minute I had to do a double take hehe, let us know how it work's. Ed

[Gene_SC]

Jeff, that is really neat. Are those starlings you have killed and stuffed?

Gene

Cool rig I just use cracked corn birdseed and stale bread and i kill them by the dozens daily. along with 6 squirrels and a gazillion sparrows just in the past 2 weeks.

[JMG]

LOL I would shoot at em!!!

John

[Splash]

Real nice set up Jeff. I Bet you could put a 2" peg on one foot and stick them in the ground as well, or both, just scatter a few around below.
Mike

[Big_Bill]

Hey Jeff,

You did too good a job buddy, I wouldn't know which bird to shoot !

I guess you could just shoot the ones that move a little, hope it don't get windy..:)

Great job !!!

Wow! Now we know what you've been doing with those kills LOL
Really nice job on that, I would certainly shoot one of them.

Russ S.

[longislandhunter]

Thanks guys,,,,,,I'm happy with it, lookin forward to taking it to the duck farm.  

Gene,,,, to answer yourquestion,,,, they are actually fake birds.  Quite by accident last week I happened to find a local store that had these in stock so I bought every one he had.  Best part was they were really cheap too  :)

Jeff

[dw33]

They look pretty real.  Good luck with this project.  Hope to hear about it, (with pictures!).

[CharlieDaTuna]

all you need to do now is make up a few squirrels and you would never need to leave the house.

[longislandhunter]

That's not a 1/2 bad idea Bob,,,, I may have to look into that   :)

Jeff