Air Gun Home :: View topic

mojo rising · Member

So i'm home today and i see a couple of quick kills (pigeons) hanging around my backyard. I so i snuck out and took the shot so my neighbor don't see me. the problem is that everytime i shoot at something (pigeon/dove/anything that moves) i always gotta go back and take a second shot to put it out. i recently bought a hw 97k .22 cal. i had an rws scope on it and my hits were accurate. now that i UPGRADED my scope to a hawke map 6 (4-12x40 ao ir not sure what that means but thats my scope) i've had chase the f@#kerz down and put em out. not cool. oh i also use crossman premier pellets. Now i know im new to the airgun scene and this is my first air gun. could it be that my shot placement is that horrible? the average distance of the shots i take is 25-30yrds. plz help. Question

rsterne · Moderator

Unless you hit them in the heart, they are likely to try and fly away.... sometimes that doesn't work too well with a broken wing, but they will still run.... I've seen Grouse fly 50 yards with the heart completely blown up.... that's why I always use head shots....

When you shoot a bird in the head they will almost always drop and flop around while the nervous system realizes there is no brain directing it any more.... but they usually don't go far.... About the only shot that results in a "drop dead" bird is one that severs the spinal cord.... of course there are exceptions....

Bob

mojo rising · Member

AirGunEric · Site Admin

More power isn't the answer- work precision shooting. You could try a pellet that does more damage- a hollow point or something like a Predator and see how that works out...

dobiman · Veteran Member

Pigeons are tough birds. I was involved in an eradication effort of pigeons at a dairy which lasted a year. We used shotguns, .22 rimfires, and airguns. There were many that dropped to the ground but kept walking around the cow pens. We had to leave them alone since the dairy owner didn't want his cows getting hurt by stray shots. We cooked (floured/pan fried) and ate some of the pigeons and maybe one out five were soft to eat but the rest were the closest thing to eating a rubber bird. We would also have a good laugh when shot or pellets would fall out of the birds as we were eating them.

mojo rising · Member

Lipoly · Veteran Member

Its more rewarding when making a kill to know you're going to eat it. I'm not going to act all high-'n-mighty and say I never kill for sport, but if its considered edible, I will clean it. Birds are really easy to clean compared to other small game (squirrels). Ripping the breast out takes no time at all.