Starling shootfest 06' (I have a dream)

[duckboy]

The invasive and pervasive Starling is back in big swarms on grassy swales and along fences at a field near you.

There is no closed season on these bad birds, and no bag limit either.

These little blighters are wiping out the songbirds all ov er the country, pushing out nesting bluebirds and robins and killing the young, then taking over the nest and using it to raise 2-3 broods a year.

Bad bad birds,


It is time we pickup the old crossman 760, the daisy red rider, and take back the birdhouse for the natives.

It will be a bloody battle, and many lives will be lost.

Do we have what it takes?

I do believe in total annihilation of the Black scourge.


Although it is not illegal, I do not think i will use a flamethrower this year.

I kind of burned my thumb on it last time.

Good luck in the battle.

[gottafish]

I hear they are eating babies playing in the sand box and stalking Kindegarnders. Release the HOUNDS!!!

[skein]

I wish you well, my brother.

However, the problem I face is they are smart little buggers, and don't miss a thing. One or two shots and they are gone! Not gone-gone, but they quickly choose another flyway. My wife still laughs about the day she found me in full camo, perched at the base of our poplar tree, trying to get the drop on Mr Short-tail. (I thought I was pretty invisible...)

What techniques have you developed to decoy/call/bait these little monsters? My pellet rifle is ready.

Skein

[duckboy]

You can bait them,

Castrate them,

Heck, go ahead and inflate them.

Bake them in a pie.

Shoot em down,

And let em die

[fairlane]

that is a good idea. I all but forgot about taking these little guys out. i did it a lot when i was younger. i have a scoped 760 pumpmaster that is really accurate short range with pellets! I am gonna have to break that thing out this week! some of those guys are going down!

[Drakeblake]

Starling hunting was my first true passion.

Here are my techs and tips.

1. Set up a bird box just for starlings.
Owl boxes and wood duck boxes are the best. They get smart pretty fast though but will continue to try and nest all summer. I had a blind set up near a box and anytime I would walk out to it they would see me and not come back till I left. So I got another person to walk out there in unison with me so it looked like one person. As soon as the other guy leaves they think its safe and come back.

2. Bait them.
If you live within a couple miles of a McDonalds go buy yourself a big mack and a box of fries. Place the empty cartons on the ground. Those pesky opportunistic scavengers will be on them like flies on stink.

3. Decoy them.
Make starling decoys by flattening and cutting old toilet paper roles to shape. They work! Dead birds work as decoys too.

4. Find fruit trees.
Cherry trees are the best!!! They will keep coming back till the end.

5. Get to know some grape farmers.
The best job I ever had was on a grape vineyard. The boss man gave me the keys to the four wheeler, bought me a case of shells and said have fun. Shooting a couple hundred rounds in four hours was nothing.

I’ll try and think of more.

Let the slaughter begin.

-blake

[TonTo]

They'll flock to a suet block.I take em out the kitchen window with a .22

[BrianMaguire]

I got one on thusday morning. They are smart and very skittish.

[ogrejager]

You know, I heard their numbers are down. I hear they're going put regulations on them. Last I heard it was going to be 42 males but only 4 females. Sometimes I just don't understand ODFW.

[k9jeff]

I learned to shoot a shotgun, a sxs .410, on starlings. My grandfather was a starling expert and is responsible for many family stories, including shooting the main powerline to the house in half with a 12ga while harvesting the "winged rat." (he blamed it on his bi-focals and the dumb sh*** who put the powerline too close to a prime spot to shoot starlings)

I sat out near the pumphouse near a large cherry tree and he showed me how show shoot the .410 in a safe manner (watch the power line) then reloaded two shoe boxes full of shells for me. When I got low on shells he would load some more. I was out there for hours each day. If ya get two standing close together on a branch you get get em both with one shot. I still have that sxs .410 he showed me how to shoot with.

What a way to sharpen your shooting skils. What fond memories.

[stoneflyguy]

Hey duckboy you need to let me know when your back in town and I can show you some shooting. My father in law has a dairy farm in Cathlamet and there are plenty of them. I use this as a way to keep up my shooting skills. It's alot like shooting doves and you need several boxes of shells. A crow call is a must as there are planty of them too. Anyone who would like to try this let me know and we can make it an event. My father in law loves to have us out there and the only thing he asks is that we pick up our spent shells.

[Erich_870]

Hey duckboy you need to let me know when your back in town and I can show you some shooting. My father in law has a dairy farm in Cathlamet and there are plenty of them. I use this as a way to keep up my shooting skills. It's alot like shooting doves and you need several boxes of shells. A crow call is a must as there are planty of them too. Anyone who would like to try this let me know and we can make it an event. My father in law loves to have us out there and the only thing he asks is that we pick up our spent shells.

Yeah, Dairies are the ticket. I used to sit on our bench swing under the eve of the house "guarding" our backyard cherry trees with the .410. Had the trusty lab to retrieve the fallen vermin. That summer the starling crop was the best ever, on the other hand the cherry crop was a bit lower than years past

The only thing I liked shooting more were rats (Thanks to the 96' flood pushing them out of the creek bottoms right into our chicken pens)

Erich

[Acuta]

Holly farmers...........


If you wanna get a buch together, I'm VERY game. I'll bring my boy, too.




Eric

[SuperX]

For those who like to hunt Staling in swarms and want to build up their arms loading their pellet guns here’s how. Starling that roost in barns won’t fly out at night, they’ll stay until the last one is on the ground. Once the shooting starts the Starling will start moving towards the back of the barn until their no room to roost and they almost becomes a black cloud. Now the best place for all this is on a Dairy Farm, every dairy has a barn that the Staling like to roost in and I don’t know a Dairy Farmer that won’t give permission unless you’re shooting hole thru the barn roof. I use a single pump gun .177 < 800 fps with wad-cuters. However, a 22 caliber works much better but need to be <600 fps. Starlings are tough they’ll suck-up a lot of lead at times. Most important, turn all the light out on any near by barns and use flashlight taped to you’re guns. I usually go thru all the barns and take out all the pigeons then, finish up on the starlings barn.

[MarlinMark]

Well I'm "O-fishally" volunteering for the big hunt(s). Let me know where and when. I even have an owl decoy, and a couple of crow decoys. All I need is someone with the CD of the fighting call and we are in business. There is a ruling in the regs for crows that allows for shooting them outside of the game bird season set for them...all we need is a willing land owner to make us "agents" for the day.

Mark

[duckboy]

the .22 caliber colibri rounds shoot about 700 fps i believe (i knowe that they are sub sonic) but they still could punch a holE in a barn.

I guess it all gets back to the question of the ages, "how thick is your barn"?

Another method that no one has mentioned is BB Pistol.

That could make for some sporting shooting,

[saber_jack]

I have used my 2 million candle power spot light and bird shot in my .22 Works like a charm. I killed 24 sparrows and starling in one night in my shop. Have to wait for a very dark night because if there is any moonlight they will try to fly closest exit.

[billc_sbio]

One of the local farmers, who lets me hunt his fields when the conditions are just "right", shoots them himself.

I was gone, on vacation, last year during the "best" weekend! :depressed:

He told me, "You shudda been here! My son in law and I shot up 12 CASES of shells in one day alone!"

I can hardly wait for this year's big shootfest!

[woolybuggerboy]

It is time we pickup the old crossman 760, the daisy red rider, and take back the birdhouse for the natives.

It will be a bloody battle, and many lives will be lost.

Do we have what it takes?

I do believe in total annihilation of the Black scourge.


Although it is not illegal, I do not think i will use a flamethrower this year.

I kind of burned my thumb on it last time.

Good luck in the battle.

Why use a crossman 760 when you could use a remington 870? i think .177 is about equal to no 7 shot

[Drakeblake]

.177 cal. aka BB works great for shooting in close quarters, in town, and near buildings. The snipper rifle of the urban hunter.

-blake

[CMallardDrake]

Let me at'm!

[skein]

Hey! Careful! You can put your eye out with that thing!
Nice safety glasses....

Skein

[CMallardDrake]

Hey! Careful! You can put your eye out with that thing!
Nice safety glasses....

Skein

Hey Skein...

If I recall the movie correctly...ol' Ralphie had one of these lenses knocked out by a ricocheting (sp?) BB on his first shot from this Red Rider. Though, he told a whopping tale to his mother about the lense being knocked out by a wayward falling icicle and thus...began his long and generally accepted ways of fabricating the truth like all of us men with rifles and guns...and fishing poles too.

:shocked:.......... :shocked:........... :shocked:.......... :shocked:

[FenceHunter]

Man, i have a pretty good way to catch starlings.

All you need is a bird cage, food (fries work good), and fishing line

First I put the chage under a bird feeder, with the door facing up. Then I take the fishing line and tie it to the bottom of the cage door. The stick needs to be wegded in the door of the cage. Then I run the line through the window thats opened a crack. The food is placed at the bottom of the cage. Now you wait.

I usally leave and check on it time to time. When the starlings are around, they will go for the food in the feeder and the food in the cage. When i get a starling in the cage, I yank the fishing line, closing the door.

Now the fun part. A cat comes in handy now, whith those small arms that fit through the cage gaps. Put the cat by the cage and let it play. Hours later If the thing hasent died of a heart failer, i have many options. The river, 22, cat in cage, metal rod ... the choices are endless!

[duckboy]

I wonder how it a live starling on a hook would work for Monster Largemouth bass.

[Rank Amateur]

You know, I heard their numbers are down. I hear they're going put regulations on them. Last I heard it was going to be 42 males but only 4 females. Sometimes I just don't understand ODFW.

If ODF&W manages them, they are doomed! Sorry guys, I just could not resist, but have you ever noticed, what does good and what is in the dumps!

[stlhdr1]

My favorite is to get up early just before sunrise and sit under my Cherry tree (when cherries are on) and pick Starlings off all day with my RWS model 48. She's a sweet killer... I've had 20-30 Starling days...

The best decoys you have are other birds that will come to the tree....

Keith :grin:

[Ethical hunter]

One day I dropped by a friends house for a short visit. He was not home but his wife had a shovel in her hand and a big smile on her face. She had just got done "planting" 7 starlings in a mass grave. She had never shot a starling before that day but they were all over the bird feeder and she just got "angry" and decided to shoot one. "the guilt I expected never set in so, I just kept shooting" she told me. We drank coffee and snuffed out a few more over the next 30 minutes.

EH

[Tvfowlhunter]

The time has come!!

Trent

[aosteelheader]

I'm doing my part every chance I get. I blasted a few last weekend with my 20ga. Have trapped them in the past I will again if they become a problem on my back porch this summer.

[Limbhanger]

Hang suit blocks through the nesting season and it can be non stop blasting until they are dead or finally wise up. Then they feed heavy on the suit again during fall. One of the funnest "in town" patio sports there is.
Tip - If you wire a dead one to the mesh cover, it can make an excellent decoy when they start getting smart.