Prey Question

[LPC]

i really don't think anything of them but dang, there are sure a lot of them. springtime in the sacramento valley, the sky would be drowned out by the flocks of them at around or just before sunset. i shoot them because i know they are abundant. now knowing that they threaten the native species just gives me more of all the reason to shoot greater quatities of them. i didn't want to say this before because i thought it would be cruel and senseless but me and my nephew dropped about 70 of them in one sitting. about 2 and half hours. we hid under a weeping willow and as they came and landed to feed on the left over chicken feed in the feild, we would pick them off and they'll fly off and fly back and forth. we filled up a radio flier wagon full of them. i just dug a big hole and burried them. i feel bad for saying this but i can't hold it back any longer. its a confession. anybody knows if they're any good eat'n? next time i'll save them and mail it to you.

[LPC]

i know some teenage kids that got busted for poaching and killing a deer with a pellet gun. after they got out of juevy, i asked them wich gun did they shoot it with. they told me, "it was with that gah-mo gun from wal-mart, the one that shoots like a thousand pounds or somethin like that." so i asked them, "really, where'd you shoot it?" the kids says back,"in the neck. it just dropped and rolled on the ground and started shakin and died."

so yeah, you'd deffinitely be able to take a deer at close range.

[PryorDaniel]

I know Jeff (longislandhunter) said that either Starling or Grackles tasted decent, but one of them also tasted bad. I forgot which is the bad one.

[USNCop]

Just noticed this topic and thought I'd add that I personally witnessed a grackle attack a robin in my back yard 2 days ago.
It got the death sentence.

[gamo2hammerli]

Wow....70 grackles in one sitting....that's a grackle hunter's dream.

I make broth out of a few grackles I terminated....the soup tasted great....I haven't eaten any of the meat yet.

[longislandhunter]

With regard to the taste of grackles and starlings...........  starlings actually taste pretty good,,,, the grackle I tried tasted rather "funky".....

But I do have to say the starlings were good.....

Jeff

[davee1]

I know this is unusual...but I wish we had grackels here in my neighborhood so I could shoot them. Around here its the bluejays that are savages. Starlings are rare and extremely cautious. I have only nailed one in ten years.

[gamo2hammerli]

I guess that's the nature of the beast.....someone's gonna be the bully.  Yeah, I've heard that the Bluejays are pretty aggressive....I've never seen a jay in the wild yet....very beautiful bird though.

One of the grackles I shot were pecked a few times  by a set of black birds that had orange feathers on their shoulders (Don't know the name of them).....payback time I guess.

[davee1]

Yep, them jays are always lurking around to rob nests and be bullies to peaceful birds like the Robins and Doves. Those blackbirds you describe are known to me as "red-winged blackbirds". They are just as bad as the grackles.

One time, on a camping trip my wife and I were continuously bombarded from sunup to sundown by freakin grackles. If we even moved our hands to take a sip of beer, holy heck broke loose, because they had a nest in a low bush that was only about 5ft up from the ground. So I just happened to be taking a nice hike and found a small community of gopher snakes in the rocks. I caught a 4 footer and brought it back to camp. I put the snake in the bush and we watched as the snake downed all the eggs right before our eyes. It was fantastic. And very quickly the grackles disappeared never to bother us again, because they had nothing to defend. At that time, I had no airguns, so I used mother nature to my advantage. Gopher snakes like pidgeon and dove eggs too...but thats a nuther story....

[LPC]

nt

[LPC]

yeah, in one sitting. i have to admit, at first it was fun to shoot them but after a while it just seemed like i did an over kill and felt back for them. i really think they had just migrated to the area and they were hungry that's is why everytime i shot one they would scatter and land again quick.

since this pass month they haven't been coming around much. i think they migrated away or something. there are a few here and there along side the freeways, but thats it. its summer down here now and the days can be anywhere from high 80's to low 100's outside. all the grass in the field are yellow and the only way for me to lure them in is filling up the concaves in the field with water. all kinds of birds will fly to the water hole to drink and sometimes i'll catch one or two of them. maybe i'll just wait for next spring.

[shadow]

The ones with the orange or red on their feather's are called redwing black bird's. Their not as aggressive and destructive. I leave em alone.:) Ed

[RatPatrol]

My .25 Falcon hunter drew it's first Grackle blood yesterday...POP! :)

[gamo2hammerli]

Congrats....did you start a new thread?

[gamo2hammerli]

Don't feel bad.....ALL GRACKLES NEED TO BE DESTROYED!!!!.....a few years ago, we didn't have too much of them in Montreal....now that I take notice....they're everywhere.