Another 3 day hunt on a very saavy HOSP

[Martintown33]

3 days ago, I started spotting a male HOSP, coming to my site, doing the mate call, and investigating a compartment still being used, at night, by a Martin family that fledged, 5 days ago. The other martins would harass and chase him off, but he stubbornly kept coming back, as they always do.. His habit was to land on the front side of house 2 , that was facing away from my blind, in a spot where he couldn’t possibly see me.. but somehow, every time I would come out of the house to get to my blind, to get a shot on him, he would fly off.. he did this for 3 days… I kept asking myself, how does this HOSP know, I’m walking to my shooting blind, when he can’t see me, from the blind side angle, of the house he’s in… for 3 days I hunted this HOSP, but never could get a shot on him… then, yesterday, I just stayed in the blind , to see if I could figure out what tactic this savvy sneak was using , to see me, when I can’t see him… then I saw the trick he was incorporating .. he came to the bottom porch, hung his body upside down !… with just half his head, looking toward my blind… I thought to myself… ok! I see your trick now! I slid my barrel through the shooting porthole, and put my crosshairs on that spot, right below the bottom porch, and waited.. he went back in the compartment for about 3 minutes, then came out… I could see his tail hanging off the bottom of the porch.. doing the mate call…I didn’t want to take a useless shot at his tail, so I made a slight clap noise with my hands… he stopped calling, and did his trick.. turned his body upside down… stuck half his head, below the porch to look and see what the sound was… I was ready.. pow! that was the last thing he saw…
I’m grateful for another successful Martin season.. Only 2 Martin families left to fledge, which should be today or tomorrow… all others have fledged, still coming back to sleep at night..
Good luck to all for a great season,
Rob

[MY FYN 79]

Nice work!

[C.C.Martins]

Good lord! Please, please whack the smart ones Rob. No kidding! Wow, upside down. That is a new one. Way to go and very nice technique.

[BillieJR]

Holy Cow! That was genious! I'm so glad you finally figured it out and are such a great sniper. Sure wish I could do that to the sparrow that's here. Congratulations on a successful season!

[C.C.Martins]

sniper.jpeg (47.88 KiB) Viewed 240 times

This is Rob.

[Phil01]

LOL!!!

[Martintown33]

Lol… I think that’s most of us, Tom!
Rob

[C.C.Martins]

Hahahaha, yes BUT sir, I shot two sparrows in the throat. Aimed center mass. Had a streak of 18 no misses, then missed. Never, not once did I hit one in the eye in a cavity, nor one hanging upside down. Did hit a starling straight on in the beak, split it like a banana. Kinda cool.
Still....your shots are awesome.
By the way, that picture I have hanging on my wall at work! Lol

[Martintown33]

Those are some great shots yourself Tom… that is a great picture! I took a screenshot of it to download and frame it later!
Rob

[Matt F.]

One thing that has helped me before when dealing with a wary house sparrow, is playing house sparrow calls on my phone with the volume up all the way.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a neat little app, that amongst other things has various recordings of bird species.
It's pretty effective at luring a skittish house sparrow back into weapons envelope.

[DeeCee]

That photo is absolutely hilarious!! Love it. I also took a screen shot and sent it to a few people who know of my dislike of sparrows. Thanks for laugh.

[C.C.Martins]

Your welcome! Rob said it...thats us...

[Thomas Maddox]

I hit one the other day between the eyes. I was aiming for his chest though, but hey, I got him. I loved your story and success!

[SE Wisc hopefull]

you could hire out for shooting lessons. My shot is not great (of course I blame it on my pellet gun). I will say on Monday morning I woke up to a male HOSP on the house, that scooted away every time I came out with the gun. Just before leaving for work I thought I would try a shot on him from the porch. He scooted off to a fence post 40 - 50 yards off. I thought I would just throw out a random shot to at least scare him off. Aimed way high - wack, cloud of feathers and one less HOSP. Moral of the story is lucky sometimes trumps skill (on very rare occasion).

[Martintown33]

Great shot! 40 to 50 yards! Those long shots are tough due to pellet drop. Nice job!
Rob

[Jones4381]

I hadn't followed this post but got caught up today... To funny and good stuff. No pardons for HOSP's in here!! Keep em up. I think I'm going to invest in a pellet gun. Not that a 22 rifle or shotgun won't do the trick but my retrievers sure do howl and wine over the guns when I bring em out...they know what's about to happen. Might not startle the neighbors but around here, everyone is shooting from time to time in the fields, woods, and back yards. Love the analogy pic from Tom depicting Rob...kinda how I was imagining it...wouldn't want any of you shooting at me...I can miss with a shotgun...practice practice I guess.

[Dave Reynolds]

…. Happy hunting.. Jones4381 ..

Dave

[C.C.Martins]

Rob,
Thought I'd share: seasons winding down here at home, 5 nests to fledge any day, and its a wrap. Getting ready to transition to serious starling and sparrow eradication.
My favorite method is shoot sparrows off the blains ground trap as they visit the bait birds and the bird feeder suspiciously filled with white millet nearby.
For 2 days a male has been coming in hot, eating and going quick, today 3 were on the feeder. Had to get him, blocked the holes in the back side of the feeder so he can only go side and front and waited...and waited. 2 hours.
Go get some coffee, check the feeder sure as $hit, two show up at once, its perfect, backs to me 20 feet easy. Sneak back to my spot, crawl and slide into my chair while reminding myself I'm almost 60 and this is ridiculous.
Put the crosshairs between his shoulderblades, relax and pull the trigger.
Click.
It was NOT pumped.
And he goes on his merry way.
Its ok to laugh.
Update: #49 and 50.

20240629_182819.jpg

49 and 50

(921.91 KiB) Not downloaded yet

[C.C.Martins]

Duplicate, not worth repeating

[Martintown33]

Hey Tom..congrats on another successful season.. well according to that photo, that’s 2 less hosps to deal with! Great shooting. Ha! Have to laugh about forgetting to pump.. I used to forget to take my safety off at times. Would aggravate the heck out of me. Now I have my routine.. when I go to put my finger on the trigger, I always check that the safety lever is forward. I’ve let a few get away myself that way, until I established this routine. Nice technique to close off the other entrances to get them where you want them, in shooting range. It can definitely be a strategic battle hunting them ..It never gets old!