Air Gun Home :: View topic

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

Dang birds are so smart. Shot one today from my window in the back with my .22 at only 5 yards. The damn thing took off running like an olympic athlete. By the time I went outside, it was all the way to the otherside of the yard trying to jump the fence. Well, it's wing was damaged so it couldn't fly over.

It saw me and took off running back the other way. I tried to flush it into the corner of the yard so I could go back in and shoot it, but it ran around this big orange tree. We played that game where you stand on one side and it stands on the other, but my hope was to get it to move where I wanted it to. But to no avail.

This thing was smart and alert. It actually came back to the direction I was standing and made a beeline right for a slot in between the fences. I had already blocked this section off with rocks due to past escapes, but not good enough. With a running start it jumped the rocky baracade (over a foot high) and ran straight into a neighbors yard under their gate.

I was just amazed at its urgency and focus on finding an escape even after being shot and pursued. It knew I was trying to corner it and was actually thinking ahead, plotting on where to make its escape. And that place was the only place in the yard to do so, which makes it a very lucky, and clever, bird. You may think that a bird would be intent on escaping after being shot and chased, but many just panick and run blindly away from the "bad thing". But not this one.

Now you know why I hunt. It aint just about pop shots at birds on a tree limb or phone wire. It's about the thrill, the chase, and the uncertainty of the outcome. I love it.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Dude- you really need to stop posting all these wounded animal stories. People have suggested in the past that maybe "hunting" is really not your thing- and every time you post something else about a wounded, and certainly not cleanly killed animal- you look kinda retarded- as well as suggest to non-hunters that "hunters" in general must be cruel, unfeeling a-holes.

I can see the snowball starting to roll now- some PETA-type comes around here, finds you posts, then contacts your county DA's office and I get a subpeona to provide your IP numbers so they can track you down.

My point is- become a better shot and stop posting the "missed again" stuff before we're all in a pile of sh!t over it.

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

I don't think I look retarded for being honest. You know, I already feel bad about it, and I was looking for some reassurance and understanding from fellow hunters. Not ridicule. Everyone knows that woundings occur when hunting, even PETA people.

Alstone · Moderator & Site Supporter

Roger why don't you get yourself one of those drop down targets in the shape of a bird, the ones with a kill zone on them, and when you can knock that over every time go back to real birds.
And as for calling yourself a "hunter", hunters are supposed to live on what they kill, and in that case you would be long dead. Laughing

Al

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

I do the best I can to be a good hunter. It's just I'm using a new gun now and it takes some getting used to. I thought I had the sights tuned in, but the pellet hit the shoulder bone on the bird and bounced off. Those siloheute targets are stupid, they don't accurately replicate a moving bird at different angles. I'm starting to feel a lot of negative vibrations which are clouding the energy of this thread so I'm going to back away now.

cw · Banned

You hit a bird in the shoulder and it did not kill it!
What gun are you using?

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

I'm using my gamo shadow express shotgun, but shooting .22 cal domes. I've seen this happen before. The pellet hits the shoulder bone, which is the hardest and strongest part of a birds anatomy. I can't say for sure since I never recovered the corpse, but it probably deflected off and never even penetrated the birds body. Thus explaining why the bird could not fly, but was fine otherwise.

In the field, you would run the bird down and shoot it again without issue, but in an urban environment it can hide and scurry into places you can't go.

cw · Banned

You need a few more fpe, my friend.

CW

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

I've got them (fpe)...in another rifle. But I'm putting this one through its paces. And it's failing badly I might add. I guess all of those terrible reviews on this rifle were right, eh?

The outdoorsman · Veteran Member

i dont think you should be conserned with the intelligence of the bird... be more conserned with the guy at the other end of the gun....
what bird? i have no problem taking crows. 30 yards, 7fpe

i dont think you can call what you did, hunting,

it is kind of sick that you find thrill in what you are doing... Neutral

Leopard_125 · Member

Mar · Veteran Member

Roger...Silence is golden. I wouldn't be bragging about my maimed aninals if I was you.

It be best if you just hung up your guns for good or just stick to tin cans, Good Grief! Rolling Eyes

AirGunEric · Site Admin

Roger: I think you're missing it; always shooting at birds, which you rarely kill cleanly, but do seem to hit indicates you need alot more practice- practice not shooting birds, but something larger like a spinning target. Once you master that, move on to larger game like rabbits, then maybe on to squirrels, then birds. As you've discovered- smaller birds are a huge problem. You may have had the right idea with a "shotgun"- but obviously air shotguns aren't worth a sh!t in this respect.

The problem is that by constantly wounding, but not killing (immediately) all these critters makes both you, and by extension, anyone else calling themselves a "hunter" look bad- and its bound to cause some trouble (other than around here) sooner or later for you.

Stop trying to be the "great game hunter" and get better at your targetting using something other than live critters to start. People have told you this before, and I think it's beyond the point where you can ignore it. Learn to shoot better, period.

Rogerflat · Silver Status Member

The day I can pick my springer up and it shoots in the same place it shot the day before is the day I will be a much better hunter.

weekly · Member