Posted: 10/23/2007 4:24:53 PM EDT
| The pellet gun is just not keeping up with their population growth rate. How do I kill them in large numbers? Anybody got some Avitrol I can buy from you? |
I used to have a .22 pellet rifle that I could drop 2 at a time with if I got 'em lined up around the base of a bird feeder. That thing hit *hard* for a pellet rifle... it'd shoot through one side of a 55 gallon steel drum without any trouble. As to getting rid of large numbers, have you tried a shotgun? Around here they seem to form groups of 15 or more sometimes, and that lends itself well to blasting a few/dozen of them at a time. Shoot once into the group to drop some on the ground, and then blast away at the fliers. Think of it as skeet shooting with live targets. 
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www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/annual/hunt/nongame/ Yellow-headed, red-winged, rusty, or Brewer's blackbirds and all grackles, cowbirds (does not include cattle egret), crows, or magpies may be controlled without a federal or state depredation permit when found committing or about to commit depredations on ornamental or shade trees, agricultural crops, livestock, or wildlife, or when concentrated in numbers and in a manner that constitutes a health hazard or other nuisance. |
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While not effective as a WMD for grackles I have used rat traps baited with peanut butter and some dog food to catch them around the garden. They are smart birds and quickly seem to figure out what a gun is (Gamo .177 with scope is my weapon of choice). For those non-Texans, these loud and disgusting birds will land by the hundreds in your trees this time of year and the spring. They quickly coat the area in a smelly layer of shit, dead birds, and feathers. They seem to really like Wal-Mart parking lots and college campuses around here for some reason so watch where you park. I wonder if a cowbird trap would be effective? Try Googling cowbird trap and you will find several designs. |