How long do wild birds live anyway?!
Proper deer season is almost upon us here in AR. I am not a gunsmith (I have been a licensed so-called GS before) but folks always ask me lots of questions and seek my help on occasion. A nice young man had a late model Savage or Mossberg bolt gun in .350 Legend. I think he bought it at a large chain store on sale. It had no sights but was drilled and tapped for scope mounting. They had the bases and rings available; he also purchased a reasonably good Vortex scope for it. It was the first time he personally mounted a scope on a rifle himself. He has quite a bit of experience sighting in rifles and making scope adjustments etc. He told me he figured the scope was “bad”. He has expended quite a bit of ammo and while it grouped pretty well, it was all over the place adjusting for zero. The more he tried the worse it got. So, we just began a discussion. I asked about the tightness of the bases and rings, barrel crown and the muzzle, bedding and tightening of the action screws, ammo too. Everything I could quickly consider. Then almost in parting I relayed a story that happened to me about 30 years ago. A left-handed fellow had a very similar story. He had gone through two scopes at Wal-mart and about 4 boxes of .243 Win. Ammo. This last box in his rifle case had to sight the gun and make it all hunting season. As soon as he unzipped the case I SAW the problem, but said nothing. I returned the gun to him with 18 cartridges and perfectly sighted. Almost apologetically I had to explain to him; he had the turrets turned 90 degrees out. When he moved the scope adjustments up and down it was actually moving POI right and left, the up and down was wrong in a like manner! He just didn’t know, a lot of folks never consider it. My young friend that I had spun the yarn to had a pale countenance. My story resonated directly with him. He shyly offered, “Yep that is exactly what I did too”. “The up/down turret has to be on top?” Yes, pass the word. It has been done many times before.
50 years ago, almost exactly, I bought my first Tasco 4x15 scope ($2.69 at Otasco) and mounted it on my Remington 552. The scope had an eye relief of about 1.5” and terrible parallax. No indices or “clicks”, just an arrow with U and the other had the same with L. I sighted it in at 50 yds. noting where the dirt flew up, and the proportional degrees of turn with how much closer impact was getting. The target was a Dr. Pepper can hung upside down on a small bush! When I was satisfied and confirmed by pegging small stones happenstance a small bird lit in a tree top some 75 yds. away. Pow! My first scope nailed quarry. Regretfully a Robin, but that sacrifice began my optics shooting. I’ll never forget him.
ROBINS
My maternal grandmother was a sweet soul, but she was hell on wild game with a shotgun. Hers was an early Remington 1100 20ga with a modified barrel. She killed squirrels, rabbits, coons, ducks, and deer, doves, and yes robins. During their migration when robins would show up she was working on them with her little 20ga!
Later years when she wasn’t raising babies and it was just she and Papaw at home, with the occasional grandbaby, she mainly focused on squirrel and deer. But once I was staying the week with her and the robins were in the pasture, we walked out and ground swatted a mess. She browned them in an ancient black pot, cooked down some onions, then added some water to make a thin gravy covering the birds to simmer. We didn’t eat a lot of rice then but she fixed rice for it to go over because she said that’s how it was done. That was 40 plus years ago and I can almost taste it!
She wasn’t one to worry much about game laws. Anyway, those were for outlaw poachers. Not old ladies feeding her babies! Besides she was the secretary of our little baptist church! I have her old worn bible with her notes in the margin with her shakey writing. I read from it as I officiated my niece’s wedding. I sure miss Mamaw Minnie!
I’ve never eat Robin, Grandpaw said it was good
Meadow Lark too. Like your Granny it was to supplement the salt pork that got everyone through winter. I asked what kind of gun he used and he laughed. Ammunition was too expensive and they had no money anyway. They threw rocks or used a homemade “bean flip” or “ni$$@r shooter”, his words without ill intent. Said they used old pink model A intestines that were natural rubber. To score one was a special delight. A fine supply of slingshots and resulting tablefare. They shot squirrels, cottontails, anything not quick enough or lucky to dodge the hand selected projectiles. This was mainly during the depression. Folks were poor enough it made little difference to them, that had to work hard anyway.
Great nephew
My great nephew will be 9 on Halloween. He was shooting tweety birds with a red rider that he couldn’t cock by himself when he was about 3. On his 4th birthday his dad and both grand paws sat with him in a blind over a corn feeder 10 yards away. Killed a nice pig with one shot from a little cricket .22. Can’t count the pigs he’s killed with same .22 or his 350 legend ruger American since then. And deer since he was 6.
My point is he is no longer new to shooting game even if he is just 9. So he is no longer allowed after the tweety birds with his BB guns. This spring we had a lot of blue jays and they are aggressive to the little birds keeping them away from the feeders. He was given the green light to thin them out by a higher ranking official, his great grandma! As he walked out the door I said, I was taught to eat what I kill. By end of the day he had a blue jay down and plucked and cut up. Then found an old stainless dog food bowl that he washed in the pond. Made him a little fire and used the dog food bowl as a skillet to cook the bird. He is a great kid in so many ways, but I was so proud that evening. He, myself, my wife, and his great grandpa all had a share of it. Had I thought to offer him some seasoning it wouldn’t have been bad at all.
I've eaten quite a number of pigeons.
When I was a kid a friend and I would go to friendly farmers and ask if we could shoot the pigeons out of their barn. They were only too happy to get rid of them. We took turns going up into the hay mow and scaring the pigeons out so the other guy could shoot them on the wing outside with our small .410's. We never shot them inside the barn. Pigeons are quite good to eat and can be fixed a few different ways. I preferred "chicken fried". 