NEW MEMBER QUESTIONS
Hi folks, I am a new member and am in the process of getting my houses up. I am using a 12 gourd (Big Bo) double stacker mounted on 1 3/8" pipe that will tilt to the ground. The height is approximately 12'. The houses will be mounted in the wide open about 60 feet from my home. I have a pond about 120 yards away and there are always plenty of Martins here in the summer. Two quick questions: First, should I stick with the one set of homes and wait until I establish a colony before adding more or go for broke and put up more units now. Second, I would like advice on using a .22 rifle with Aguila SSS ammo Vs a good pellet gun. I don't want to scare sparrows away (and I am loaded with them here) I want to insure that they do not return and at the same time, I don't want to shoot holes in the gourds. For the pellet gun, what FPS is best? Thanks much and I have enjoyed reading many of your posts.
dc1gator@CoyoteRidge
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CraigMo.
- Posts: 1480
- Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:30 pm
- Location: Missouri/Lone Jack
- Martin Colony History: Active since 2003
I would atleast put out 12 compartments since you got them and you say you have martins already in your area. Who knows you could fill them up the first year, then again you might not. Atleast the compartments are there and available. If you have 24 gourds I would put them out, you never know what mother nature is gonna do!!!!! Don't know a thing about guns though. Good Luck
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Guest
J.D.: First, you have come to a good place to ask questions to duplicate success.
Second: For what it's worth, do yourself a favor and count your losses on the pole. Engineer a pole with which you can raise and lower the gourds or houses vertically.
If you will do this, your sparrow problem will not be nearly as big of a hassle as you will be able to kick them out as soon as they build.
You do not want to kick them out after they have layed eggs. Your only resort then is to trap them.
Again, get yourself a pole that you can raise and lower vertically,
Read as much as you can about martin management, and welcome to the forum,
Les
Second: For what it's worth, do yourself a favor and count your losses on the pole. Engineer a pole with which you can raise and lower the gourds or houses vertically.
If you will do this, your sparrow problem will not be nearly as big of a hassle as you will be able to kick them out as soon as they build.
You do not want to kick them out after they have layed eggs. Your only resort then is to trap them.
Again, get yourself a pole that you can raise and lower vertically,
Read as much as you can about martin management, and welcome to the forum,
Les
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
With any gun, whether its a 22, pellet rifle, or shotgun, you can very easily shoot holes into the housing. If you are an extremely good shot, and if you practice enough, you may not end up holes in the housing but very few people can hit that good.
Any gun will temporarly scare away the martins, so basically on a pellet rifle, the higher the speed, the louder the airgun will be. A quieter airgun will have pellet speeds around 500 to 600 ft sec, and the real loud airguns have speeds around 1000 fps..For sparrows, it somewhat depends on the distance that you shoot. At 30 to 50 ft, a slower airgun works great, but if you want to get out to 100 to 125 ft you many want a bit faster airgun so your accuracy is better.
I have a Beeman R9 pellet airrifle with the .20 size pellet, and a scope, and I like that combination. It is strong enough to shoot a squirrel out of a tree and kill it. The Beeman airrifles are expensive but very accurate and reliable...
The best airrifle is the one that you can afford to buy, but you may not be able to hit anything with a cheap gun, you get what you pay for in most cases. Sometimes you luck out and get a cheap very good airgun
Any gun will temporarly scare away the martins, so basically on a pellet rifle, the higher the speed, the louder the airgun will be. A quieter airgun will have pellet speeds around 500 to 600 ft sec, and the real loud airguns have speeds around 1000 fps..For sparrows, it somewhat depends on the distance that you shoot. At 30 to 50 ft, a slower airgun works great, but if you want to get out to 100 to 125 ft you many want a bit faster airgun so your accuracy is better.
I have a Beeman R9 pellet airrifle with the .20 size pellet, and a scope, and I like that combination. It is strong enough to shoot a squirrel out of a tree and kill it. The Beeman airrifles are expensive but very accurate and reliable...
The best airrifle is the one that you can afford to buy, but you may not be able to hit anything with a cheap gun, you get what you pay for in most cases. Sometimes you luck out and get a cheap very good airgun
To JD. Sounds like you are off to a good start as a new member and to the martins too. A little advice. Like has been said to be able to raise/lower your rack with a pulley or hand winch is very desirable to do. You said "I don't want to scare sparrows away " Most of us want to more than that !!! and do so. Others and I use a trap to get as many as we can. The pellet rifle with a scope that Emil uses is very accurate as others report . It is at the starting point for a pellet gun as to accuracy, quality and price. Not the Benjamin that I have with a 4x scope. IF, you can use a .22 rim fire without the bullet problem landing somewhere else would be a good choice too with a scope sighted in at the distance that you need to shoot. Let 'em land on a perch and not the gourds then pick 'em off but they will get wary (?) and be very wise to your presence making it harder to do soon. Not sure of your choice of ammo. Don't like the extra heavy bullet in a short case, but the powder may make up for it. Sub sonic speed will help the noise. Please try several brands for accuracy at the zero distance. Good luck and ask more if needed. *BW*
Retsub
Thanks for the help. After toying around with the tilt method I agree completely that a winch system is best. However, I have already invested too much to bail out on this one now. But, I have an ace up my sleeve. Although I am installing a tilt system, I have decided to use another way to clean out the sparrow nests and service the Martin nests as needed. I am going to get in my John Deere bucket and be lifted up to the houses. I'm sure that this is not highly recommended but what the heck, I used to sky dive so as long as my hydraulics don't go out i'll be o.k. 
Regarding the pellet gun Vs rifle question: I will be shooting about 60-70 feet most of the time. A 600 FPS pellet gun would likely prove to be erratic at that distance. I can shoot very well and coached an air rifle team not too long ago. So as long as the gun is accurate I should be able to dispatch a few of the ES. Cabela's has several good looking air rifles. I have read review on most of them and found that cheap scopes are reported to be....cheap scopes. One person is high on a rifle and the next guy says it is junk. RWS is about the only one that I haven't found a single adverse comment about. I am looking at the RWS model 48 Combo. It shoots at 1250 FPS. If this is a no no I would appreciate remarks about that. Again, thanks for the help.
Regarding the pellet gun Vs rifle question: I will be shooting about 60-70 feet most of the time. A 600 FPS pellet gun would likely prove to be erratic at that distance. I can shoot very well and coached an air rifle team not too long ago. So as long as the gun is accurate I should be able to dispatch a few of the ES. Cabela's has several good looking air rifles. I have read review on most of them and found that cheap scopes are reported to be....cheap scopes. One person is high on a rifle and the next guy says it is junk. RWS is about the only one that I haven't found a single adverse comment about. I am looking at the RWS model 48 Combo. It shoots at 1250 FPS. If this is a no no I would appreciate remarks about that. Again, thanks for the help.dc1gator@CoyoteRidge
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John & Linda - KY
- Posts: 599
- Joined: Wed Nov 12, 2003 10:19 pm
- Location: Kentucky/Hawesville
One other warning, the 1 3/8" pipe may bend in a high wind. I had a similar setup with a homemade 36 gourd rack on a 2" mild steel pole 14' high. It did fine for about 5 years, but last spring we had a major straight line wind storm that bent it over the full 90 degrees. -- John
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Bob Flam
HI JD! Welcome to the forum. Skydiving ehh haha I static lined 3 times. What a rush!
Everyones correct. Get a better pole when you can. One that raises vertically and is stronger. You can even lower the housing for incoming storms if you do it during the day. I've done it for years and the martins don't mind.
The higher it is the better, in case hawks show up so they can get a good dive and gain speed to get a head of steam built up. You don't need to go 30 feet or nothing haha but don't leave it down either.
One set up will be ok to start, 2 might be better. It may not make a difference?
Sounds like you can shoot fine...go with what you like.
You said theres martins there already? I'm curious if you might be seeing barn swallows or another kind of swallow. Maybe not...does someone have a martin colony close to you?
Sparrows...make sure it's English house sparrows. And don't worry about scaring them away. Use your shooting skill's and give them a quick lesson in skydiving...with no chute!
again...welcome and hope to hear from you again.
bob
Everyones correct. Get a better pole when you can. One that raises vertically and is stronger. You can even lower the housing for incoming storms if you do it during the day. I've done it for years and the martins don't mind.
The higher it is the better, in case hawks show up so they can get a good dive and gain speed to get a head of steam built up. You don't need to go 30 feet or nothing haha but don't leave it down either.
One set up will be ok to start, 2 might be better. It may not make a difference?
Sounds like you can shoot fine...go with what you like.
You said theres martins there already? I'm curious if you might be seeing barn swallows or another kind of swallow. Maybe not...does someone have a martin colony close to you?
Sparrows...make sure it's English house sparrows. And don't worry about scaring them away. Use your shooting skill's and give them a quick lesson in skydiving...with no chute!
again...welcome and hope to hear from you again.
bob
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Emil Pampell-Tx
- Posts: 6743
- Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2003 1:26 pm
- Location: Tx, Richmond (SW of Houston)
- Martin Colony History: First started in Gretna, La in 1969 with a small homemade house, have had martins ever since at 2 different homes in Texas
I also suggest a strong pole, I had way too many wooden poles break before I started mounting them on some steel angle iron.
About the skydiving, its remarkable how the guy survived the fall when his chute didn't open, he landed in some bushes, survived, and will be fine in a few weeks, and they had video to prove all of it...Saw this on the news last night.
About the skydiving, its remarkable how the guy survived the fall when his chute didn't open, he landed in some bushes, survived, and will be fine in a few weeks, and they had video to prove all of it...Saw this on the news last night.
Bob, John, Emil,
Bob,
The 1 3/8” pipe I am using is rigid pipe, not EMT. I do have VERY high winds here in the spring. When I bought this place it was called Windy Hill Plantation. I changed the name to Coyote Ridge. The pole is being mounted on a 4X4 treated post cemented about 4 feet in the ground. I am using two ½”X6” stove bolts about 30 inches apart to secure the pole. The height of racks will be close to 13 feet.
Regarding my comment about Martins being here; what I meant by that is that the sky is full of them during the season. Conditions are right for Martins here. I am located on a hill, have a pond, and a zillion bugs for food. I do know Martins when I see them. I am not a bird watcher but I watch birds. Does that make sense? I like to see gliding hawks, blue birds, dove, quail and turkeys. But it is the Martin that I have always loved to watch more than any other bird. Hearing that chortle for the first time in February always signals to me that spring is just around the corner. I always stop what I am doing to watch them.
I did not see anything about a skydiver’s chute not opening but strange things can happen in that sport.
Thanks again for your help.
Bob,
The 1 3/8” pipe I am using is rigid pipe, not EMT. I do have VERY high winds here in the spring. When I bought this place it was called Windy Hill Plantation. I changed the name to Coyote Ridge. The pole is being mounted on a 4X4 treated post cemented about 4 feet in the ground. I am using two ½”X6” stove bolts about 30 inches apart to secure the pole. The height of racks will be close to 13 feet.
Regarding my comment about Martins being here; what I meant by that is that the sky is full of them during the season. Conditions are right for Martins here. I am located on a hill, have a pond, and a zillion bugs for food. I do know Martins when I see them. I am not a bird watcher but I watch birds. Does that make sense? I like to see gliding hawks, blue birds, dove, quail and turkeys. But it is the Martin that I have always loved to watch more than any other bird. Hearing that chortle for the first time in February always signals to me that spring is just around the corner. I always stop what I am doing to watch them.
I did not see anything about a skydiver’s chute not opening but strange things can happen in that sport.
Thanks again for your help.
dc1gator@CoyoteRidge