doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Starling shooting

Interesting post, I'll add a little footnote about Starlings in competition shooting. Years before my time shooting in Europe, (1979 first trip) the Italian pigeon shooting clubs had regular program matches for starlings released from the boxes. Boxes had inserts to account for size, the birds were shot with shells specifically loaded for, and advertised as, "Starno" loads. 36 gr. loads of shot marked as number 12. I have a couple of Starno shells somewhere around here. It was pretty well done before my time , but was contested at selected clubs or "stands" as pigeon clubs were referred to, into the 60's and early 70's.
Those Italians will shoot into extinction, anything that flies. I have seen photos of the shoots, and recall their shooting being covered in Italian pigeon shooting books published in the 30's.
Merry Christmas to all you Good Sports here.

The article I was referring to was in Fur Fish and Game. Check it out.

Not being a farmer, but owning and old farm at one time, I couldn't bring myself to shoot groundhogs as I also couldn't bring myself to eat one. I don't kill snakes, I move every turtle I see from a roadway, and I swerve for toads on rainy evenings. But startlings and coyotes receive no pass from me if I can help it all. The starlings were such prolifc nesters, and exploited every crevase in the old farmhouse eaves, gutters, shutters, as well as the half a dozen out buildings, I left a shotgun at the corner of the door and would shoot the flushes everytime I walked outside. I sleep peacefully in my currently more mountainous location as I don't see starlings at all, though the coyotes get trapped as close as 50 yards to the front door.

Look on the bright side, Mark, the famous Lord Ripon would lay prostrate on the ground beneath the eaves of his home. Waiting to shoot the swallows as they returned to their nest. You had a chance to bask in the shadow of greatness.

I believe such endeavors require the purchase of a Watson brothers 32 gauge sidelock ejector just for the nostalgia of it all.

I spend most of my time snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, but i'll take any excuse for a new fowling piece.

Don’t knock a young groundhog until you’ve tried one. Pan fried they taste a lot like rabbit. The young ones are good. The older ones, not so much. Tough as a boiled shoe.

The woodchuck is basically a squirrel, he eats mostly clean, green vegetation.

Best,
Ted

But, in my experience, they stink to high heaven when prepared for cooking.

Some people will eat anything. I never forgot I walked into the locker room at work one day, years ago and there was some guy skinning a nasty possum with his pocket knife in the same sink where I always washed my hands. Then there was the guy I worked with- always reading these survival magazines. He had a garden in his back yard. He'd bring in all kinds of vegetables- carrots, radishes and stuff out of his garden for lunch and plop them down on the table and eat them- he never washed them off. He'd just eat them dirt and all. One day he came in and set down a jar of water with something in it. I said, "My God, Al, what is that?" He said, "I know this is fresh, I seen it killed on the road on the way in to work a little bit ago." It was some animal's heart. The guy only lived about two blocks from the plant. And judging from the size of it I was guessing it was a dog's heart-- maybe a German Shepherd's heart. At work, we warmed our food in what we called "hot boxes"- a metal box with a lid about a foot by a foot with a 100 watt flood light or heat lamp bulb to heat cans of soup or sandwiches with. You would put your food in them in the morning and by lunchtime your food would be hot. He set that jar in the hot box to heat it up and come lunch time he sat down across from me and ate that heart. Like I said- some people will eat anything.

I think Col. Hawker still holds the record for the number of Starlings downed with a single shot..... don't recall shot size he used.