Backyard Pesting Dilemma…

[Luis Leon]

The same pest birds, English house sparrows and starlings that I kill without mercy at my permissions. I have a hard time culling out in my backyard. Here’s the gist, I have five different suet cake stations. Two at 15 yards, two at 35 yards and one at 53 yards. These past few days because of the snow, there have been at least 50+ birds out there at a time. House sparrows and starlings “do” show up and in the past? I have culled many, but of late am having a hard time picking winners and losers. Because of the fact that I am inviting birds to eat and I do enjoy watching them… Heck there were just a dozen starlings at 25 yards! So killing some over others in this instance has become harder for me… Thoughts welcomed. The toughest buggers are the Blue Birds, they are fearless of the bigger birds…

 

[pan60]

lots of birds around here I should be fully but for some reason I tend to let them alone in the winter.
no real resons I even feed them at times.

 

[Danman]

I cut back on pesting fairly hard in winter, for many reasons. I was playing with my Ghost 2 weeks ago and had just single loaded an Mrd...a monsterly fat squirrel showed up near my pellet trap and we both froze for a few seconds.... I let him pass by. The rabbits feasting on my blackberry bushes? Shoot on sight. My parents have an assortment of bird feeders out and they have non stop bird traffic. Last Sunday I had a look and I'd guess 5 starlings were stuffing themselves along with 4 blue Jay's, some sparrows and other assorted birds. Definitely crossed my mind to drag the TX or S510 along with next time I visited. Apparently bird feed isn't cheap

 

[Luis Leon]

@Danman, the cost of the bird feed is the price for the hours of entertainment. I’ve witness hawk kills by Red Tail and Red Shouldered Hawks. Countless, fights and squabbles between the birds, etc…

 

[Mike Brown]

If I get a chance for starlings, I try not to let 'em pass....the rats I used to shoot under the bird feeder have disappeared after I pulled up the ivy-they're probably still feeding there but not during day light hours...RATS!!!

 

[Luis Leon]

If I get a chance for starlings, I try not to let 'em pass....the rats I used to shoot under the bird feeder have disappeared after I pulled up the ivy-they're probably still feeding there but not during day light hours...RATS!!!

Rats have spoiled me for pesting, as they “never ever” get a pass. Just finished setting up a 12 yard zero for a rat outing this coming week. Its been too long…

 

[FL22]

If I get a chance for starlings, I try not to let 'em pass....the rats I used to shoot under the bird feeder have disappeared after I pulled up the ivy-they're probably still feeding there but not during day light hours...RATS!!!

Endless day and nighttime fun.

 

[Mike Brown]

Endless day and nighttime fun.
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I've been sorely tempted but my wife has been watching my expenditures like a HAWK!!!

 

[Luis Leon]

Endless day and nighttime fun.
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While i do like my Zulus it is far from my favorite device. It is difficult to use in fast action pesting. Yes, mine has been murder on rats. I found that i prefer optics for pesting. Luckily I have the luxury of dedicating one Atomic XR to the Zulus…

 

[FL22]

While i do like my Zulus it is far from my favorite device. It is difficult to use in fast action pesting. Yes, mine has been murder on rats. I found that i prefer optics for pesting. Luckily I have the luxury of dedicating one Atomic XR to the Zulus…
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I could definitely understand that sentiment in a dynamic and target rich environment.

@Mike Brown has the rodents localized for the most part at the birdfeeder I think.

Being able to use the video Wi-Fi to a smart phone and watch the target area without having to stay in the scope, I feel that would be very beneficial for his particular situation.

 

[Ezana4CE]

While i do like my Zulus it is far from my favorite device. It is difficult to use in fast action pesting. Yes, mine has been murder on rats. I found that i prefer optics for pesting. Luckily I have the luxury of dedicating one Atomic XR to the Zulus…
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@Luis Leon This is Interesting and seems an uncommon sentiment in our circles. Can you elaborate on your ideal ratting setup? What sort of illumination are you using?

 

[Luis Leon]

@Luis Leon This is Interesting and seems an uncommon sentiment in our circles. Can you elaborate on your ideal ratting setup? What sort of illumination are you using?

Meaning the narrow field of view in an environment, day or night, where there are multiple pests. It is difficult for me to pan from pest to pest. In an slow action overwatch situation it works great, for me its main advantage is the form factor and nighttime shooting capability. Otherwise simply too difficult for me to get on critters quickly. Prior to the Zulus a simple red light and a LPVO bagged me hundreds of rats at night.

 

[Danman]

Meaning the narrow field of view in an environment, day or night, where there are multiple pests. It is difficult for me to pan from pest to pest. In an slow action overwatch situation it works great, for me its main advantage is the form factor and nighttime shooting capability. Otherwise simply too difficult for me to get on critters quickly. Prior to the Zulus a simple red light and a LPVO bagged me hundreds of rats at night.

I'm definitely jealous of all the ratting! Here it's birds. Hundreds and Hundreds of birds....mostly starlings @40-70Y and sparrows@ 20-40Y...moving quickly. If I were you i would probably zero one of the Brks and maybe take out the odd pest bird at the closer 2 bird feeders in your situation

 

[Luis Leon]

I'm definitely jealous of all the ratting! Here it's birds. Hundreds and Hundreds of birds....mostly starlings @40-70Y and sparrows@ 20-40Y...moving quickly. If I were you i would probably zero one of the Brks and maybe take out the odd pest bird at the closer 2 bird feeders in your situation

Have done just that… the suet cake stations are all gimme shots in good conditions. The two closest, the kill shots are almost unfair… Which is why I’ve backed off… Am contemplating deploying the Ghost Carbine on pests birds at the 53 yard station… TBD…

 

[ranchonodinero]

I never give the starlings a pass nor the house sparrows. The English house sparrow is easy to identify. The starlings will get pretty wise when you start shooting them though. I used to have a Purple Martin Gourd setup and the starlings and sparrows would try to setup in there before the martins arrived. 40 yard sparrows and starling shots are a lot of fun-I used a .177 for this.

 

[Pumacarl]

Never ever give the starlings or hosps a pass! Are you kidding me? Go watch Ted Bier's video that shows what the hosps do to purple Martins. Every Starling that you enjoy watching now, is going to be laying an egg in a song bird's nest in the spring, killing it's clutch. Get over it, and do the right thing! I really don't enjoy killing anything anymore either, but these things need killing. I enjoy the songbirds so much more, and if you do too, use that as your justification, if you need one. All decent shots with an airgun should be shooting the starlings, hosps and cowbirds until exhaustion or ammo depletion. I gave a pass to some woodchucks last year and and half a driveway had to be repaved as a result. I felt a lot guiltier for not taking that shot, than if I had, that's for sure. Save your feelings for things that deserve it, especially when doing nothing means the good birds die.

 

[Luis Leon]

Never ever give the starlings or hosps a pass! Are you kidding me? Go watch Ted Bier's video that shows what the hosps do to purple Martins. Every Starling that you enjoy watching now, is going to be laying an egg in a song bird's nest in the spring, killing it's clutch. Get over it, and do the right thing! I really don't enjoy killing anything anymore either, but these things need killing. I enjoy the songbirds so much more, and if you do too, use that as your justification, if you need one. All decent shots with an airgun should be shooting the starlings, hosps and cowbirds until exhaustion or ammo depletion. I gave a pass to some woodchucks last year and and half a driveway had to be repaved as a result. I felt a lot guiltier for not taking that shot, than if I had, that's for sure. Save your feelings for things that deserve it, especially when doing nothing means the good birds die.

You are sure making it easier… my issue is that at my permissions I can take a dozen or so at a time and maybe, maybe that makes a difference…? But at home maybe a starling/sparrow or two, three or five before they take off never to return. So I feel that I am not really making a dent in their numbers. As to enjoying watching the starlings “specifically”? I don’t, just am conflicted about shooting one species over another, particularly when I’m inviting the birds in to eat with my suet stations. This is not to say I won’t shoot them in the future. Just that I am feeling conflicted on it at the moment… Darn it! My next post will probably be on how my “will” was broken and I smoked a few sparrows and starlings in the yard… They are getting nice and comfortable…

 

[ranchonodinero]

I had forgotten about the cowbirds! Google is your friend! They will lay up to 12 eggs a season and not in their own nest!

 

[pan60]

maybe I should look and see what birds I should be taking out around here I like he blue birds cardnals and all the dirferant woods pecker I see I think the wild cat ( to wich I have zero love for ) infestation takes care of most the birds around here.

 

[Danman]

Never ever give the starlings or hosps a pass! Are you kidding me? Go watch Ted Bier's video that shows what the hosps do to purple Martins. Every Starling that you enjoy watching now, is going to be laying an egg in a song bird's nest in the spring, killing it's clutch. Get over it, and do the right thing! I really don't enjoy killing anything anymore either, but these things need killing. I enjoy the songbirds so much more, and if you do too, use that as your justification, if you need one. All decent shots with an airgun should be shooting the starlings, hosps and cowbirds until exhaustion or ammo depletion. I gave a pass to some woodchucks last year and and half a driveway had to be repaved as a result. I felt a lot guiltier for not taking that shot, than if I had, that's for sure. Save your feelings for things that deserve it, especially when doing nothing means the good birds die.

I believe you meant "every cowbird"? Starlings actually parent their own young (and are very good at it!) I recall from Ted's vids....shoot the parents first, the young often stick around juuuuust long enough to get another one down, has worked for me. Cowbirds are definitely on the list as well. Once my fruit trees and bushes ripen up some native birds (caught in the act) end up on the list. My .22 S510 @ 30fpe is super overkill on the sparrows...no surviving that.