Free Hunting: Grackles

[canyon-ghost]

I have an opportunity to hunt, for free. It doesn't involve much money or equipment. This is something a lot of people can do and enjoy.

I'm now at war with Grackles.


http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/grackle_male.jpg

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/GreatTailedGracklePH12.jpg

And this one is for inspiration, they aren't innocent!

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/IL_CommonGrackle01.jpg

I've been getting some of my neighbors to shoot them. Woman next door had her son sit in the backyard and shoot them for a while. That lasted about two years. The man that lives behind my place bought an air rifle, never saw a lot of difference. Now, I'm going to do it myself.

These are common blackbirds to the south, they move in large flocks and take over any trees that offer cover. Their screeching and calling (particularly the males) is loud and obnoxious. These are a varmint bird that have no closed season here in Texas. Want in? Just pick up a conservation and hunting season booklet from the county courthouse or whomever sells hunting licenses.

The problem that I have is simple, I have the trees and they are here. They chase off all the scissortails, sparrows, barn swallows and doves. Even the squirrels hate them, they try to run them off too.

I don't know if you younger gents think about varmint hunting as a way to hunt, I do. It's more because I live where there is less animal control than the cities. I was using a 22 rifle and ratshot to kill them, that is, after I tried it with a 10" barreled contender. Both were pretty loud in town. The birds learn to move away from the sound real quick.

This weekend, I got up Saturday and decided it was time to get an air rifle- just for in town. I went to Walmart and picked up a Ruger Air Hawk ($100) and two tins of pellets (1000 rounds). I had to read the instructions, of course, because I'd never owned a break-barrel action. I've owned my share of BB guns though. I found the Ruger to have really nice open target sights and it comes with a scope. Mine is decorating the table so far. I set the sights, and went to stalking birds. I got three of them yesterday. Last weekend I shot 5 with the ratshot. Don't get me wrong, I missed a lot of them but, I'm slowly and patiently hunting their numbers down.

I figure this is something a poor boy can do since I've never been wealthy. But, do check out the local opportunities for varmint control. Find out which animals have no closed season and which you can hunt without anyone worrying you. It's fun and does serve a purpose. That, and you can have a rifle leaning against the hallway wall ready to go (well, maybe).

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/rugerairhawk.jpg

Good Luck,
Ron

[Rex]

Good for you! Sounds like great fun. My youngest son lived in Abilene, Tx. 3 years and you folds do have your share of those black devils.

[jmsj]

canyon-ghost,
Back in the early 70's (I was 7-10 years old), we had an infestion on my grand parents farm near Fresno CA., they would peck at the fruit and knock the english walnuts down before they were ripe.
My grandmother put a 3 cent bounty on them. I used a Red Ryder BB gun and a Crossman 760 to shoot them. Neither of this are very powerful so this helped teach me to stalk throught the orchards and tall grass and how to shoot. I would shoot them in the afternoons and on the weekends. I actually looked at this as "my job".
3 cents does not sound like a lot of money but back then a tube of BB's was 19 cents and a box of .22's was only 39 cents.
I had a great time and the bounty money seemed to keep me in ammo and candy.
Thanks for bringing back those memories.
jmsj

[bob208]

when they would invade the trees next to my house and make the yard under them look like a chicken coop floor. i would let the flock get setteled in th evening then rake the trees with a short barreled 12 ga. the goal was to get birds from all three trees with one sho

[Goatwhiskers]

Boy, you sure do bring back some bad memories. Back in my college days I lived in Bryan, Tx. and worked at the Sheriff's office in the courthouse. The darn things infested the trees around the square, screeching and pooping all over everything. Really an urban crow. Goat

[DLCTEX]

Those things can make a trip to the Mall at Abilene a bad experience. I saw one attacking people when they walked near it's nest.

[roysha]

Ron:

I too use a springer for pest shooting. I have an RWS 34 in .22 with iron sights ( my main go to pest getter) along with a half dozen or so other more expensive models

Just a couple of pointers for you if I may:

DON'T ever dry fire a springer. If you do this can lead to seal and piston damage very quickly. If you feel you must shoot the felt "cleaning" pellets, use 3-4 at a time and be SURE THE BARREL IS CLEAR when you finish shooting them. Personally, I think they are a waste of time, effort and money.

Never lube the pellets or introduce any lube into the bore or breech face since this can lead to dieseling or worse, detonation, which will ruin seals.

DON'T leave a springer cocked for long periods of time. To do so can weaken the main spring. I keep my 34 handy by just cracking the barrel open enough to insert a pellet then closing back up. When I am ready to shoot it is just a matter of cocking the rifle, release the safety and fire. Since it is a break barrel it is easy to see the pellet in place when cocking the gun.

When loading the pellet into the barrel, hold on to the barrel so that it cannot accidently slam shut and severely hurt your thumb and or finger if the sear should fail. A very uncommon occurrence, but it has been know to happen.

Springers are REAL hard on scopes, even the so called airgun rated scopes can fail. If you mount the scope and suddenly find you are getting an inordinate amount of misses, check the zero and the scope mounting. I have had scope mounts literally slide off the rear of the rifle because of the recoil of the springer.

Springers can be, and usually are, hold sensitive, meaning if you grip the gun one way one time and another way the next time you will more than likely have a POI change. This is usually more pronounced the more powerful the rifle is. On small targets like starlings and such, this can lead to a lot of unexplained misses. Generally a fairly light, loose hold works well as long as it is consistent.

If you can, check a few brands of pellets to find the most accurate one for your rifle. It really can make a big difference, although if you purchased the Crosman Preimer pellets at WalMart, they probably will be quite satisfactory. I shoot a lot of them in a couple of my .177 caliber guns.

With all that said, I wouldn't trade my springers for any of the other systems out there. They are reliable, self contained, easy to repair, and with the exception of an occasional seal or main spring they last forever.

[williamwaco]

We used to do that back in the '60's and '70s.
It was a lot of fun and a valuable public service.

Unfortunately, we nearly got in jail over it.

They are protected in Texas. ( Like we didn't have real problems that need solving. )


.

[Ed Barrett]

Around here it's brown headed cow birds. I shoot them with a .22 and an air rifle (Gamo). Shooting a cow bird at 30 yards offhand is very good for the eye during the off season.

[starmac]

I had a game warden in tx tell me,that pretty much any bird that didn't have a season on it was protected. I'm not sure that was true.

I have never tried it, but I knew some older folks in east texas that really liked blackbird pie.
I knew an old woman that always wanted 15 to 20 at a time to make her pie.

[birddog]

Only 2 nongame birds legal to shoot here in IA are house sparrows and starlings. I wouldn't flaunt my kill to much until you are sure it is legal.
Charlie

[Moondawg]

Most places shooting within the city limits, even with an air rifle, will get you in trouble. It may be one thing in the privacy of your back yard, but grackles seem to like public places like malls, strip centers, and downtown San Antonio. Don't know if it's true or not, but I have heard it claimed that Grackles come under the Fed's classification of a migratory bird. Not a game bird, but still a migratory bird.

[Moondawg]

Grackles II I just checked and grackles are protected under the Federal migratory bird treaty act of 1918. In some states they can be hunted and killed, under limited conditions. Texas Parks and Wildlife specificaly mentioned they could not be shot within city limits. Governmental agencies may attempt to control grackles within city limits using non-lethal methods. Your friendly federal government at work, helping you.

[canyon-ghost]

No, guys, you missed my point. The local book is the one I'm using. There's no closed season on them. If there was anyone controlling the population on these birds, I'd not be doing this.

Roysha, thanks for the info on springers. I read the instructions and they concur with what you said. I didn't know they made cleaning pellets for them, however. There was no mention of some things you've done already.



Wild Birds: All wild birds that migrate through or are indigenous to Texas, along with their plumage or other parts, eggs, nests and young are protected from harming, killing and/or possession by state and federal law except that European starlings, English sparrows, and feral pigeons may be killed at any time and their nests and eggs may be destroyed. A permit is not required to control grackles; cowbirds; yellow-headed, red-winged, rusty or Brewer's blackbirds; crows or magpies when these birds are considered a nuisance or causing a public health hazard. No birds may be controlled by any means considered illegal by local city or county ordinance



They are protected in Texas. ( Like we didn't have real problems that need solving. )



I heard that, they're a big nuisance. If any law enforcement officer wants to volunteer to get rid of dozens, I'll make the coffee.


Governmental agencies may attempt to control grackles within city limits using non-lethal methods. Your friendly federal government at work, helping you.

If that was working, it would be wonderful. I'm so far out from the grid that the game warden would have to drive 30 miles to watch. As far as whether it can be done elsewhere, maybe, maybe not.

[Lee]

Federal Migratory Bird Act for GRACKLES????????????
Just another example of how Big Gov, PETA, and other assorted left-wing-nuts and tree huggers are run amock!
I'm infested here suddenly at my (SWMBO) bird feeder. Forget about a songbird. These things aren't birds, they're demons with wings.
As for the pinhead gubmint protected species act? This country is getting closer to civil disobedience daily ......:Fire:GRACKLES

[jsizemore]

Instead of firing cleaning pellets to clean you can use a bore snake. There is a 17 cal bore snake without the brush. I bought one for 22 cal and removed the the brush by expanding the weave enough to slip the copper brush out. Cleans the barrel in just a couple pulls and won't mess up any seals.

[canyon-ghost]

A permit is not required to control grackles; cowbirds; yellow-headed, red-winged, rusty or Brewer's blackbirds; crows or magpies when these birds are considered a nuisance


Have at it, Lee!

[Marvin S]

Them things will be all over my mulberry trees soon.

[canyon-ghost]

That's the way it is, I have one producing mulberry tree and a couple of old apricot trees that are too tall to harvest. I may be the food source, the bird bath and the end, all at the same time.

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/3rdshooter/UmarexRugerAirHawk.jpg

Even without the scope, I found this air rifle's 1000 fps to be a formidable weapon. Out to 40 meters, it's deadly. I dropped some with one shot like a 22 rifle would. It's .177 caliber and has enough velocity and power for really good hunting. I like it.

http://www.umarexusa.com/

[geargnasher]

Good post, Canyon-ghost. My first thought was the legal issues around the various localities, folks need to check on it in their locality. I personally think they should be hunted to extinction, they serve zero positive purpose that native bird populations (like common sparrows) don't already provide, minus the destruction and noise.

A few years ago a flock finally made it out to my property from town. They seem to prefer the boxelder trees that the trailer trash 1/2 mile down the road plant for fast-growing shade. A never-ending supply of garbage and outdoor dogfood to eat keeps them populating that area. Once they migrated that far, they started showing up here. I found a 12-gauge to be a very effective deterrent, and I did read the law. I interpreted the law according to my situation, they are a destructive, invasive, exotic pest, and I will NOT allow them to exist on my land.

Gear

[rockrat]

I don't think I have ever cleaned my RWS .22 rifle, and leave it cocked all the time. Haven't had any problems with it.
There was a pellet called "crow magnum" that shot very well in my gun and all I needed was one shot on what I was after. Don't know if they make those pellets anymore, or even for the .177, but they worked very well.

[C.F.Plinker]

There was a pellet called "crow magnum" that shot very well in my gun and all I needed was one shot on what I was after. Don't know if they make those pellets anymore, or even for the .177, but they worked very well.

http://www.pyramydair.com/s/p/Beeman_Crow_Magnum_177_Cal_8_80_Grains_Hollowpoint _300ct/298

http://www.pyramydair.com/s/p/Beeman_Crow_Magnum_22_Cal_18_21_Grains_Hollowpoint _200ct/302

Were these the pellets?

[rockrat]

OK , got to looking, it was not the "crow magnum" pellet. It was the Beeman "Silver Arrow". Its a heavy pellet, so the trajectory isn't as good as others, but it did "thump" whatever I hit. I used it on long shots, sometimes out to about 50yds. Worked well.

For closer shots, sometime I used the "silver ace", which is almost the same pellet, but a rounder nose.

[Got-R-Did]

Stopped in at the Bass Pro Shops store in Garland, TX, on the way home from hunting Rio Grande Wild Turkeys in Llano Co. and they are some really aggressive birds. Made the mistake of parking near a tree for the shade and nearly had to fight my way back into the vehicle. Could have had a limit with a tennis racket.
Got-R-Did.

[Jeff Michel]

Beef suet in an onion bag, tied to a clothesline. Starlings would come by the dozens to peck the suet bag and as many more would be on the ground feeding on the particles knocked out by the other birds. 12 gauge, improved cylinder at fifty feet, you can really mop them up. Not the height of sportsmanship but incredibly effective on reducing the little devils in numbers.

[DLCTEX]

A few years ago a flock of Grackles nested in an Oak mott near here and the trees were filled with nests. Then the crows found them and really cleaned them out. There was a lot of squawking and cawing for a couple days, then the Grackles moved on.