Contract Hits

[Curtis Reil]

I was over and met my neighbours(very nice folks) who live a couple miles away from me who have hosted Martins for quite a while. With our inclement weather I reached out in regards to supplemental feeding and I was well received. We covered the basics and even got one to eat some flipped crickets. Off to the races!

While over and flipping crickets I watched no less than three starlings breach SREHs and promptly offered some of my precision air rifle services. I’m currently in position and the first winged rat of the evening has had “The Hit” exercised. I’d do this for other landlords every day if time and logistics permitted.

We’ll address how they are breaching once the threat is neutralized.

[BillieJR]

Great job, Curtis! Sounds like you had a successful day!

[Archer]

Would love to have the time to be a "Hitman"! On the other hand, have taken the time mentor 2 landlords into new colonies, and the possibility of a third still exists.

[-=DKC=-]

I was over and met my neighbours(very nice folks) who live a couple miles away from me who have hosted Martins for quite a while. With our inclement weather I reached out in regards to supplemental feeding and I was well received. We covered the basics and even got one to eat some flipped crickets. Off to the races!

While over and flipping crickets I watched no less than three starlings breach SREHs and promptly offered some of my precision air rifle services. I’m currently in position and the first winged rat of the evening has had “The Hit” exercised. I’d do this for other landlords every day if time and logistics permitted.

We’ll address how they are breaching once the threat is neutralized.

Good on ya!

Today I drove by the one colony in my neighborhood that I knew about from last year. I also chanced upon 2 other active colonies within maybe 10 blocks of my colony. All three colonies had nesting House Sparrows and all had round holes so I assume Starlings are also an issue. I tell you what, if I could legally set up and shoot invasives at my neighborhood colonies I would be happy to do it. My babies from this year need a place to nest next year.

[PMDavid]

Hey Curtis,you oughta see a chee chee explode with a CCI 22 hollowpoint! Poof your gone!

[Curtis Reil]

I ended up getting three there in 45 min or so. Good on you for helping others out Archer. I’d like to do a bit more of that myself but finding people receptive to a new or better way to host Martins proves more difficult than I’d ever thought. I’m only batting about .250 in that regard but will keep trying. Making a platform feeder for my neighbours so they can feed oyster/egg shell and have a spot to transition to for passive feeding.

CCI Maxi Mag 40gr JHPs are pretty dramatic alight and always a favourite. If you can get your hands on some Winchester Supreme in a 34gr JHP, they have less than a 10% weight retention and make anything you hit go POOF. Pretty much zero chance for a ricochet as they just disintegrate.

[PTKS]

Hi. I started with a very lucky year last year. My 1st S&K barn house. Had mating pair with fledglings. Pretty novice for sure! No starling breaches or sparrows. Well, this year has been a beast. Have lost numerous PM pairs and eggs to the deadly beasts. Didn't want to, shall we say, dispose of any bird until I saw the yolk on the floor of the house. Game on! I have a nice (expensive) Goliad up this year but I had modified my barn and left it up. PMs went for that 1st. Terriorized by the starlings they left. So I bought nest traps. Felt bad for days doing what had to be done for the PMs. Found traps only work so well but the little creeps are very smart! One day the male HOSP was defending all remaining 11 cavities on the Lonestar when a potential female PM tried to enter and he pulled her wing and dragged her down. I finally bought a pellet gun and practiced. I'm much better with starlings but sparrows are hard to hit. Any ideas/suggestions to improve my shot?

[-=DKC=-]

Any ideas/suggestions to improve my shot?

Scope & blind. Without these I wouldn't be able to hit House Sparrows every time like I do. And basic breath and trigger control.

[Curtis Reil]

Hi. I started with a very lucky year last year. My 1st S&K barn house. Had mating pair with fledglings. Pretty novice for sure! No starling breaches or sparrows. Well, this year has been a beast. Have lost numerous PM pairs and eggs to the deadly beasts. Didn't want to, shall we say, dispose of any bird until I saw the yolk on the floor of the house. Game on! I have a nice (expensive) Goliad up this year but I had modified my barn and left it up. PMs went for that 1st. Terriorized by the starlings they left. So I bought nest traps. Felt bad for days doing what had to be done for the PMs. Found traps only work so well but the little creeps are very smart! One day the male HOSP was defending all remaining 11 cavities on the Lonestar when a potential female PM tried to enter and he pulled her wing and dragged her down. I finally bought a pellet gun and practiced. I'm much better with starlings but sparrows are hard to hit. Any ideas/suggestions to improve my shot?

Hey there. Without knowing what type(brand, model, action) of air rifle you’re shooting we can’t give specific advice but some things hold true across the board. Breathing has been said already and is very important. Your sighting system needs to hold zero. A wandering zero will have you chasing your tail for days but if you’re hitting starlings regularly I’d say it’s probably fine in your case. Try shooting MANY different brands, weights and styles of pellets. Chances are you’ll find one or two that shoot far and away more accurate than the others. Once you find a candidate, check it through the distances you plan to be shooting. A pellet that shoots incredible at 10 yards might be awful at 25. If you’re shooting a springer, how you hold it can really influence how it shoots accuracy wise. Again, you’re hitting starlings so part of the misses on sparrows could be a result of smaller inconsistencies in how you’re holding the rifle. If the trigger can be modified at all - what I mean by this would be can you replace the trigger with a lighter weight of pull design? Or modify the existing trigger to a lighter weight of pull? Lighter will generally help attain a clean break and keep you more relaxed through the shot, promoting a better follow through.

Getting back to the pellets and something I missed. Once you’ve settled on the most accurate pellet, make yourself a card that you can attach to the stock for quick reference of aiming points at different distance intervals. If you zero at say 10 yards, your pellet is most likely still “climbing”(this is the wrong term but works to illustrate. Any projectile starts slowing and dropping the second it leaves the muzzle) in its trajectory an may not even out or reach it’s peak until 20-30yards before it starts falling again. Having a card with aiming points noted at established distance would help you. Sparrows are a pretty darn small target so any edge you can give yourself, all the more likely to hit. A way to cheat a little is to try and wait for frontal shots. You get a taller target vs a wider which gives you a little grace for errors or unknown distance. Wind really has an influence on a pellet so calm days are obviously much better than a windy one.

Whoa..... I wrote a lot. Hope I didn’t muddy the waters and it’s understandable.

[PTKS]

Thanks for reply Curtis. I read some reviews online for pellet guns and finally decided in my budget to get the Crosman F4. The scope is not the best but making it work. I live in Kansas so wind is always a factor. Although my best shots were when it was calm out. I've been using the Crosman hollow point 7.9 grain .177 caliber. I've had to really control my breathing, breathe out before shot, and I use a support for the rifle to keep it steady. I always make certain that I don't have PMS around when I shoot due to the uncertainty exactly where the bullet is going. Sparrows move pretty quick but I've gotten some shots off I thought for sure we're going to get them so I'm sure the wind's having a factor in it. I've read some on correcting for wind but obviously very new to shooting. Thanks for the tips!

[PTKS]

Thanks dkc. Yes, I need a blind to get behind. They know as soon as I walk out the door to run for the hills!!! I have a 4x32 scope on Crosman F4 which isn't the best. Especially after getting my new nikon 16x50 binoculars. They are awesome.

[-=DKC=-]

Thanks dkc. Yes, I need a blind to get behind. They know as soon as I walk out the door to run for the hills!!! I have a 4x32 scope on Crosman F4 which isn't the best. Especially after getting my new nikon 16x50 binoculars. They are awesome.

Someone here also suggested having another person walk out to the blind with you and then go back inside after you get set up. I find that it does help with some very wary males.

[PTKS]

Good idea! I've even thought about putting a "scare sparrow" in a chair out by the martin house.

[Curtis Reil]

Thanks for reply Curtis. I read some reviews online for pellet guns and finally decided in my budget to get the Crosman F4. The scope is not the best but making it work. I live in Kansas so wind is always a factor. Although my best shots were when it was calm out. I've been using the Crosman hollow point 7.9 grain .177 caliber. I've had to really control my breathing, breathe out before shot, and I use a support for the rifle to keep it steady. I always make certain that I don't have PMS around when I shoot due to the uncertainty exactly where the bullet is going. Sparrows move pretty quick but I've gotten some shots off I thought for sure we're going to get them so I'm sure the wind's having a factor in it. I've read some on correcting for wind but obviously very new to shooting. Thanks for the tips!

You’re most welcome. Practice will be what you’ll benefit most from being new to shooting. Just takes time to learn how to shoot.

In regards to a wary sparrow. I’m usually picking them off when I first see them but everyone misses and they seem to know right away what’s going down. I’ve used a Bluetooth Speaker paired with my phone and played a female sparrow mating call near a spot that I’ve got a good hide/rest/out of the wind. I don’t recall where I downloaded from but I’m sure I could dig it up if you wanted to give it a go. It’s worked really well at pulling in a Bull Sparrow that is otherwise gone if it sees anything move.

[PTKS]

Good idea. I'll look at YouTube for calls. I've noticed they are pretty clueless at 1st. Thanks for your help!

[[email protected]]

Couple of years ago I had sparrow that claimed one apartment on my Goliad house. He then guarded all 8 rooms and chased away any Martin. I watched him closely and he would alway return to the one room. I lowered the the house and put a sticky board on the patio then raised it. Sure enough, he immediately returned and got stuck. I lowered the house and he went for a swim. Nuf said.

[C.C.Martins]

One less sparrow!
Done the same thing in a neighbors gourd, one and only time, female and male sparrow nest building, she finally laid an egg. (His wife was dead set against shooting birds).
I placed the egg right on top of the glue trap, before I could get back across the street, in she goes and nabbed. Ended up shooting that male off the gourds same day, did not want to take a chance. Just pulled my truck up and waxed it.
I admit to being real nervous about putting that trap in there but that sparrow had evicted a subbie pair and I was determined to end it. Watched that sparrow for a week, muttering death threats under my breath at it. The martin pair did come back and were sucessful.

[dcronwell]

When I was a teenager I had a few pet rat snakes. We/I didn't have money to buy live food for them, so I got mice out of the trash cans when the ladies at the ceramic shop next door left crumbs in it and found a mouse and called me. I made live catch rat traps with old plywood and hardware cloth and strings and baited using peanut butter in a screen hung on the string, and caught rats in a wood pile. But the easiest way I found to cheaply feed my rat snakes was to put a minnow net over the hole of bird houses on a pole in the yard at night. The sparrows would fly into the net and became snake food. I really felt bad back then about such a sneaky way to catch birds and then feed them to snakes, but I didn't know then that they aren't native and how destructive they are. Now that I'm a martin landlord, I no longer even cringe when I dispatch a sparrow, or starling.