As a child I loved walking through the squirrel woods of Indiana with my Daisy Powerline 880. Now as an adult nothing has changed as I walk through the Alaskan grouse and hare woods and mountains.
11 or 12 years ago, I had a thriving purple martin colony. It was a small colony, but it was the first time I'd had any success with attracting purple martins. I thoroughly enjoyed having martins here, and was enjoying watching them breed and raise their babies. One Saturday evening in the month of May, I looked out the window right at sunset, to see a large dark figure fly up to one of the martin cavity openings, reach in, and grab a female from the nest (she was sitting on eggs.....none had hatched yet).I was horrified! Over the next two weeks, my martin colony abandoned the site, and I was scrambling, trying to figure out what had happened!I joined a purple martin forum, and started learning all about martins and providing colony breeding sites. Over time, I learned that martins had several predators, including house sparrows and starlings, and I started trying to trap them. That became an exercise in frustration eventually, and although the thought of shooting S&S off the houses was a horrible thought to me, who'd never learned to shoot ANY gun, much less pellet guns, I decided I was going to have to get over my aversion to shooting, and tackle the job of sparrow and starling elimination.The first gun I bought was a little Airmaster 77 from Walmart, and I sat at the bench and taught myself to shoot, and became fairly accurate with the gun, but I wanted (needed?) more "power", as far as I was concerned, so in a search for the right kind of pellet rifle to buy, I ended up on this site, asking what would be the best pellet rifle for killing S&S at 25 yards. The guys here were SO friendly and SO helpful, and they made me feel welcome to be here.The initial answer/ consensus to my first question, which was the question of what gun to buy, was generally the Diana model 34 (and a couple of similar power plant models), so I began my search for a good pesting gun that would meet my needs. Quite by Providence, I happened upon an FWB124 Sporter, not realizing just what it was, and how great a gun it would be, and at that point, I WAS HOOKED.Still AM!
Quote from: lizzie on February 16, 2020, 09:28:03 PM11 or 12 years ago, I had a thriving purple martin colony. It was a small colony, but it was the first time I'd had any success with attracting purple martins. I thoroughly enjoyed having martins here, and was enjoying watching them breed and raise their babies. One Saturday evening in the month of May, I looked out the window right at sunset, to see a large dark figure fly up to one of the martin cavity openings, reach in, and grab a female from the nest (she was sitting on eggs.....none had hatched yet).I was horrified! Over the next two weeks, my martin colony abandoned the site, and I was scrambling, trying to figure out what had happened!I joined a purple martin forum, and started learning all about martins and providing colony breeding sites. Over time, I learned that martins had several predators, including house sparrows and starlings, and I started trying to trap them. That became an exercise in frustration eventually, and although the thought of shooting S&S off the houses was a horrible thought to me, who'd never learned to shoot ANY gun, much less pellet guns, I decided I was going to have to get over my aversion to shooting, and tackle the job of sparrow and starling elimination.The first gun I bought was a little Airmaster 77 from Walmart, and I sat at the bench and taught myself to shoot, and became fairly accurate with the gun, but I wanted (needed?) more "power", as far as I was concerned, so in a search for the right kind of pellet rifle to buy, I ended up on this site, asking what would be the best pellet rifle for killing S&S at 25 yards. The guys here were SO friendly and SO helpful, and they made me feel welcome to be here.The initial answer/ consensus to my first question, which was the question of what gun to buy, was generally the Diana model 34 (and a couple of similar power plant models), so I began my search for a good pesting gun that would meet my needs. Quite by Providence, I happened upon an FWB124 Sporter, not realizing just what it was, and how great a gun it would be, and at that point, I WAS HOOKED.Still AM! My aunt and uncle have a very nice purple martin colony made out of some nice gords. I don't think they have issues with predators like you had.
What was the "dark figure" that started you on your quest to save your Purple Martins? Or did you ever find out?
Lizzie, I was hoping you would chime in.I've been curious as to your story and Kris' as the most prolific lady posters here.Thank you for sharing.Oh, and don't shoot the owls! LOL
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