First Pigeon/Starling Hunt: Results + Pics!
Okay so currently I work at an Equestrian Center (decent enough full time job to pay the bills and get the new wifey and I through school.) Pigeons and starlings have really taken over in recent months. The pigeons have been real pests and very dangerous as they have not only been crapping on everything in the barns and indoor arena, but they have been spooking a lot of the horses when riders are involved with lessons as they swoop right over horse and riders heads kamikaze style. Knowing that I am an avid rifleman and airgunner, management invited me to come take out these pests in a quiet and safe manner.
I was more than happy to oblige, so this past Friday (my Memorial Day off work) I took my new Condor up to the farm to let her stretch her legs a bit.
It was a beautiful sunny and 75 day with a light breeze all day. I loaded up the golf cart with ammo, water, and brownies 😉 range finder, and some Pandora radio.
I leisurely cruised around all day, carefully selecting my shots, as there are 60+ horses at work, and even taking numerous shots inside at the pigeons on the rafters.
The day ended with a total of 13 pigeons and about 15 starlings. Shots ranged from 10 to 50 yards, with only 2 or 3 requiring secondary shots. (Sorry, no pics of starlings. I just tossed those suckers into the ditches for the barn cats to find later on. You’ll just have to take my word for it.)
*** Here are the specs ***
24” 22. Cal Condor. Shooting from 2,800 PSI down to about 2,000.
JSB 18ers
I am at approximately 11.96 FPE.
YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT… 11.96 FPE.
Shot count is so high I have no clue how many good shots I am getting, but it’s a sh*t ton!
Mueller APT 4.5-14 X 40
I attached my bipod by drilling a hole in the forend and installing a sling stud, until the time that I can purchase the dovetail adapter.
Why only 11ish-12 FPE you might ask? Well high shot count is critical for myself, and it needed to be very quiet for the horses. I also did not need my pellets flying way out into the great blue yonder with so many horses, vehicles, people etc. in the vicinity.
I was pleased with the results all day long. My drop chart needs a little tweaking but the Condor performed admirably.
I say it again. Shot placement over FPE all day, every day.
Let me know what you think!
Cheers!
All Replies
Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
Nice work. That’s a hell of a lot of pigeons from one shoot, ten was it? Impressive. We have lots of pigeons here, I get a couple a week I’d say. They keep coming.
sounds like ur having a blast. my pw works best at ard pw6-2ish. with 1pcs tophat and 92gram hammer, i get 30ish good shot with 6 fps spread. if i changed it to pw 5 or 7… i get 10-12fps spead.
Starlings learn quick I have learned. After 5 or 6 of their buddies exploded, the rest of the day was filled with very wary, wise birds that did not let me get too close. I cannot wait to get a TTQCTH! Hopefully soon I’ll be submitting an order with inserts ranging from 12 to 50 FPE.
As for the power wheel, I leave mine all the way up at 12-12 as its mostly used for hunting. When I wish simply wish to target shoot/ plink I lower it down, conserve air, and dial in again.
Awesome! Thanks for the reply. I’m married to the TT tophat, but I think I can get there with washers underneath. I rolled the power wheel back today and went to the small TT insert with only a small change in 25 and 50 yard zero. I’d been afraid to touch anything this last week, since I was pretty regularly offered a starling, but it appears I’ve either trained the local starlings real well, or eliminated them. Shot a couple this morning, but haven’t seen a single one since about 10 a.m…
GsT
I was going to advise against shooting inside a presumably water-proof environment, but you’re probably OK at sub 12fpe. Are your shots going all the way through those doves? I don’t have a good sense for how much is really required. I’ve been thinking of tuning way down (Starlings at 60 yards are about as much oomph as I require) to see how many shots I could get.
I save my starlings (most of the time) and give them to the local wildlife rehab – they feed them to owls and vultures that are recovering from broken wings, abandonment, etc. If you’ve got such a place nearby, they might be delighted to have them.
GsT
Hey thanks GeneT… I am aware of angular shots vs straight line and the resulting high POI if you go by line of sight vs taking the angle into consideration. Many were extreme angled shots, and I did compensate for those well. My drop chart was done in a hurry and I need to fine tune it some more is all.
At about 12 FPE, there was little concerns of puncturing the roof, and I never shot until the pigeons were in front of solid steel beams. No troubles there. The farthest shot was a 50 yard starling. He dropped like an anvil. There’s no reason you could not go down to 12 FPE and reach out to 60, based on my experiences. These pellets all passed through completely on every bird taken, so keep that in mind as well. If I had to guess, I probably get darn near 100-120 good shots, but thats just guessing. Its way way up there though. I just turned my tophat down until I was in that 12 FPE range then loc-tited that sucker. And thanks for the advise, I’ll check around and see if any such facilities are nearby!
Cheers! :biggrinn:
Your drop chart may be just fine – if you’re hitting high it’s quite possibly because it sounds like you’re making quite a few angled shots (pointing significantly ‘up’) – those will impact higher than a shot at the same distance taken horizontally.
I was going to advise against shooting inside a presumably water-proof environment, but you’re probably OK at sub 12fpe. Are your shots going all the way through those doves? I don’t have a good sense for how much is really required. I’ve been thinking of tuning way down (Starlings at 60 yards are about as much oomph as I require) to see how many shots I could get.
I save my starlings (most of the time) and give them to the local wildlife rehab – they feed them to owls and vultures that are recovering from broken wings, abandonment, etc. If you’ve got such a place nearby, they might be delighted to have them.
GsT
You got that right! And great minds think alike. I was disgruntled that I did not have a bipod attached before the “hunt”! In my hour of need my brains pulled through in crunch time and said “hey! Sling stud on grip! duh!” While I don’t like how it looks being located so far rearward, it does work very well as my left hand can hold one leg and stabilize the rifle much easier. As far as the scope… I love mine too! Nice “cheap” scope as you said. I do wish it had side focus but hey… it worked very well. I did feel as though something was lacking so I put on an Accushot 8-32 X 56 Swat Mil Dot Illuminated Reticle scope I’ve had laying around. It has 1/8″ MOA adjust. and side focus which is very handy. Might be overkill but I’m gunna give that a try as well 🙂 As far as pesting on the clock…. Condor will be in the truck at all times hence forth. They’ll pay me for my services once way or another! 😈
I was more than happy to oblige, so this past Friday (my Memorial Day off work) I took my new Condor up to the farm to let her stretch her legs a bit.
It was a beautiful sunny and 75 day with a light breeze all day. I loaded up the golf cart with ammo, water, and brownies 😉 range finder, and some Pandora radio.
I leisurely cruised around all day, carefully selecting my shots, as there are 60+ horses at work, and even taking numerous shots inside at the pigeons on the rafters.
The day ended with a total of 13 pigeons and about 15 starlings. Shots ranged from 10 to 50 yards, with only 2 or 3 requiring secondary shots. (Sorry, no pics of starlings. I just tossed those suckers into the ditches for the barn cats to find later on. You’ll just have to take my word for it.)
*** Here are the specs ***
24” 22. Cal Condor. Shooting from 2,800 PSI down to about 2,000.
JSB 18ers
I am at approximately 11.96 FPE.
YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT… 11.96 FPE.
Shot count is so high I have no clue how many good shots I am getting, but it’s a sh*t ton!
Mueller APT 4.5-14 X 40
I attached my bipod by drilling a hole in the forend and installing a sling stud, until the time that I can purchase the dovetail adapter.
Why only 11ish-12 FPE you might ask? Well high shot count is critical for myself, and it needed to be very quiet for the horses. I also did not need my pellets flying way out into the great blue yonder with so many horses, vehicles, people etc. in the vicinity.
I was pleased with the results all day long. My drop chart needs a little tweaking but the Condor performed admirably.
I say it again. Shot placement over FPE all day, every day.
Let me know what you think!
Cheers!
Nice day and great way to start your holiday weekend! Funny thing I just mounted my bipod the same way yesterday 😆 That Mueler is a nice “cheap” scope I love mine.
Hopefully next time you can do some Pesting while on the clock. :8:
Cally
Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)
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Hey Chrisyboy, the total came out to 13 pigeons and about a dozen starlings! I let the starlings lay so I didn’t keep an exact count. The flock of piqeons slowly diminished until there was 2 left. My valve came apart before I could get them! I was pissed. But this week a new group moved in so there’s about 10 more up there now.
A month prior they placed a bounty on a white pigeon because it was always in the way. There were too many people on the farm for Me to use my gun so I went stealth mode and took it out with my blow gun :biggrinn: you can see the darts cone near where the head should be!