Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Starling hunting in summer

In the hotter summer months, Starlings are quite active, if you know where to find them. Personally, I have not found much time this summer to search them out, with work and studying, but if you do, this is definitely a challenging type of hunting.

Hunting during this time is nothing like Spring or Winter, when the main concept is to wait for a Starling to perch in a tree. Without searching, the only ones that you'll see will  be those in the air. The cause for this is that when Summer rolls around, the parents merge with others and their young, forming compact bands which are constantly on the move from one feeding ground to another, attempting to satisfy the brown immatures endless hunger, leaving them little time for sitting in trees!

So how to find them? The feeding grounds which Starlings utilize at this time are usually fields bordered by protective brush, to enable the clumsy young to reach safety s rapidly as possible. When one such location is found, the flock descends, and begins to search for invertebrates. When the field is covered, they move on in search of another such location.

Trying to sneak up on a flock of this sort can be tricky, with several parents on the alert, but even if you do spook them, the first place they'll fly to is into the brush. Here, you can get quite close and search for the young ones hiding within. This kind of hunting works best with a smaller gun, such as my Umarex Steelstorm, as you will need space to maneuver in the brush.

As for me, I am still busy trying to wrap up Precal. These past few weeks have certainly been busy ones! Last Sat. was Chad and Angie's wedding, of which you have a sneak peak on Mazzou's Memories. This Friday is my little sisters birthday, as well as a friends B-day party, and many other similar events are creeping up fast. I also was working at the Larimore plantation of course. Besides grass cutting, I did a lot of driveway sealing, buried a wire, planted some grass, and cut down some brush.
A little while back, I got permission from Meagan Wanschura (Carpe Diem Photography) to draw Ella, a cute little 4 year old with amazing eyes! :) I will start that as soon as I finish Rena.

11 comments:

Alex Burns said...

Would you recommend a specific type of Airgun or Shotgun to use for maximum effect? I have a few days off before school starts, and was thinking of doing a little crusading.

Alex Burns said...

Also, is it legal to hunt them with a shotgun?

Starling Man Sam said...

Hi Alex, answering your questions on my blog, the best type of airgun would be one that shoots .177 pellets about 800 fps, or more, the faster the better. There are severel dif. I woud get a break barrel type, preferably by Gamo ( http://www.gamousa.com/ ). If I was going to get another one besides my Gamo Big Cat, I would get the Gamo Whiisper. There are several types of Airgun pellets, but the basic Gamo target type works fine, no need of anything too fancy there. Shotguns obviosly make way more noise, but are good for flying Starlings, and flocks in trees. The smallest size BBs that make the largest pattern is what you want to look for with shotguns. There are usually not too many limits on the methods to get them, just not with illegal methods. (i.e. machine guns, explosive bullets etc.!) :) Shooting them with shotguns is quite common.

Alexander Burns said...

Thanks! I haven't managed to get one yet, but I shot a bat that was holed up in Mom's garden shed! :)

Andrew said...

Wow, here in Canada any airgun that shoots over 500 feet per second is considered a firearm and you need a licence. What are the laws there?

Starling Man Sam said...

Here, if it's an airgun...it's an airgun, no matter how fast!:)

Anonymous said...

Hi Sam. I was wondering if you or your sister was going to post about your vacation? Just curious. BTW I started a new blog on 3D graphics if your interested.

Starling Man Sam said...

You can count on it David! As soon as we get time, we'll both be posting on it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Sam! Are you going to be at the next dance practice? We weren't able to be there today (the 23rd) but we should be able to make it the next time.

Starling Man Sam said...

We were planning on some of us going to one dance practice, prob. one of the last 2, since this Fri. will be pretty busy.

Anonymous said...

Cool. Well I hope to see you there. BTW I'm really exited about "Beyond the Mask" It sounds like it's going to be an awesome movie! Do you know how Pendragon is doing? (Financially speaking)