Today my buddy John and myself met up a a different farm to do some bird shooting. The owners wife had called me a while back and asked when we were coming over to shoot because they have an abundance of pigeons hanging around. I told her we would be there after deer season is over but the weather hasn’t been cooperating the last few weeks. We did go to a farm that was closer a couple times plus they have lots more birds to shoot, mostly starlings.
But today we were after pigeons. We met around 8:00 am and as soon as I got out to fill my guns I couldn’t find my pellets. "dang", left them on the dryer when I put my boots on. Luckily John had a tin of the 14.3 ultramags that he let me use which saved me a 40 mile round trip. But with no .177's I had to leave my Marauder in the truck and the Gamo Urban got full duty today. The more I shoot this Urban the more I like it. I retuned it to 750 fps for 50 shots and it didn’t disappoint. John used his Streamline .22 and Monsoon .22.
We shot around 15 pigeons, unknown spatsies, and a few starlings. The pigeons are tough and smart and they made us work for the shots we got. We each shot one at a lasered 75 yards to the top of the grain leg. That was pretty awesome. Three were shot at about ten feet inside the barn and the rest on top of a grain bin at 40 yards. The farmer told us to come back in the evenings as there are thousands of starlings and we can go in the barn with a flashlight.?
Looking forward to the next shoot.
Here is a pic of a few we recovered.
Thanks Steve. I just picked up another spot to shoot pigeons this morning. It helps that I work for a farm equipment dealership and the word is getting around that we do this with airguns. The farmers that watch us shoot are amazed with our airguns. Once I shot a triple on starlings with him looking over my shoulder. He said "I've seen it all now " just laughed and said have fun. People actually ask us to come and shoot them. Pretty cool.
Nice!
Pigeons are one of my three favorite targets, right ahead of starlings and behind ground squirrels. I've found a head or high chest shot anchors them the best. Center mass shots result in a lot of fly-offs and crash landings because of bleeding out mid-air.
Where are you located? Our ranchers are pretty good about letting us air rifle hunters shoot.
Awesome Guys!!!
I work in the planning department of our local electric utility and I am constantly meeting customers, many of the farmers and ranchers. Many of the have given permission to shoot pest birds from their properties. In NE Orygun we have permission to shoot ground squirrels, which there are an abundance.
My best friend, Wade, and I each have .22 Mrods that we use for outside shooting to 100+ yards and cheap, low powered .22 springers with lights attached to the fore end for our "barn guns". Wadcutters at 600ish fps and 7-10 yards is great fun.
Keep up the pesting!!!
Doug
