GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => Hunting Gate => Topic started by: max115 on September 16, 2022, 11:04:39 AM
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Back at Farm Z looking for starlings and none to be found....at first. Luckily there were some hiding at the starling trees.
Short video but still got a few starlings and crows.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmYQ4PVC608 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmYQ4PVC608)
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I keep asking the same question about pigeons at one of my farms. Seems I got 'em all. :o
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Bird flu?
I have a photographer friend in Alaska who is concerned about the raptor population. Normally they see a lot of hawks, eagles, and owls during the year, but this year the nests are all empty. They think avian flu has killed off a large part of the population.
I wouldn't mind the starlings all dying off, but not at the expense of the native populations....
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Good shooting Alex! I don't know if starlings migrate or not?
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@superchikn. You are doing too good of a job, lol. Keep up the good work.
@Underdog. No, they were somewhere else looking for food or they just don't hang around when they see in the area.
@customcutter. Not sure either but they are still tons around. They mostly do a fly-by when I was there. They are pretty smart to know where danger areas are. I just have to find better spots to ambush them I guess.
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Sounds like WI Mourning Dove season, as soon as the season starts, rarely a dove to be seen ::)
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Not many around my place right now. I keep track of what I shoot and year to date I have shot 104 starlings. That is a drop in a bucket compared to what I see fly in here on occasion. But I have not seen a starling in 4-5 weeks.
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The starlings are still plentiful around but just not in the area where I set up. The moment I shot one, the rest would not come back for a long time. They learned pretty quick and know where danger lies.
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Saw a huge flock of them in fight today, just not where they could be shot.
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Not many hangs around my place in summer. I see them mostly when the snow is on. They get really brave when it's cold & there are scraps on the ground.
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I used to have starlings coming into my bait stations on a daily basis and they used to nest in the tree hollows in my yard and my neighbors yards each springs, however all of a sudden a couple years ago they just disappeared and to this day they haven't returned. I know it's not from me pressuring them with shooting, not quite sure why they disappeared. If I drive own the road to a couple of farm fields there are huge flocks so they're still in the area, they just don't visit my neighborhood anymore. I miss them :(
Jeff
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I used to have starlings coming into my bait stations on a daily basis and they used to nest in the tree hollows in my yard and my neighbors yards each springs, however all of a sudden a couple years ago they just disappeared and to this day they haven't returned. I know it's not from me pressuring them with shooting, not quite sure why they disappeared. If I drive own the road to a couple of farm fields there are huge flocks so they're still in the area, they just don't visit my neighborhood anymore. I miss them :(
Jeff
Apparently, you educated them. Crows will do the same thing. They recognize people. If you shoot one while they're in the company of others, they'll warn each other about you in the future, and they'll not revisit the place their sibling was killed.
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I didn't know what these were until this site. Shot this one at HD where I spotted another one, another day, and cant remember others
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All the starlings on earth are in our urban home mini orchard ravaging the Fuyu Persimmon tree.
And the fruit has not even begun to color
Even with 1 shot/1 kill they all vanish on the first shot
I need a shotgun
But it must be quiet, or the neighbors will go ballistic
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I have shot starlings so relentlessly ;D that they now keep about a one mile or better periphery from my house. Even my neighbor who is not an air gunner has noticed them missing from her feeders. I see them around but not around here :(. I almost miss the buggers, not!
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Great shooting!! Where I can buy a Starling tree to plant in my yard? ;D
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@only1harry. LOL, let me send you a branch from the "starling trees" and you can try grafting it. Maybe the starlings will come one day...
Thanks for watching.
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They come once in a while in the spring/summer with their young but hang out mostly in the front of the house and near the road where it's not safe to shoot. I did get a couple of them this summer that were on the lawn on the side of the house. I lure them in during the winter with bait but they only come when it's very cold out and usually when the ground is covered with snow. After I shoot 3 of them on average they stop coming for the day. It all depends on the weather and how desperate they are. After a 2 foot snow storm and temps in the teens and single digits a few years ago, I was getting 6 to 9 Starlings per day and if I didn't shoot Starlings for a few days the crows would come in thinking it's safe, and got a bunch of them too.
As long as the weather is really bad I do OK with the Starlings. But now with the energy prices soaring and gas/electric expected to double and worse, I think I wish for a mild winter.