Thread: What little pesties did you bowl over today?

Well bloody hell isn’t it always the way with these damn birds. By nailing the new claimants to our home territory, I’ve opened the floodgates again. As I drove out first thing this morning there was a cacophony of squabbling magpies flying around all over, as the two remaining birds from the shot-up mob yesterday were invaded by their neighbours from over the way. The other mob was eight or nine birds strong and they were going hard out on these two birds with a view to claiming the pines.

Luckily when I got back this arvo I noted straight away that the boss bird from yesterday with the new distinctive call was actually still alive, I thought I got him yesterday, so I was able to get a pretty good recording of his call. I nipped inside, edited the sound file and took it back out and played it to him on the Bluetooth speaker… Now that got him very instantly really excited.

I had to wait for ages for a clear shot as this canny bird has been hiding inside the pines rather than perching on the outside in a clear LOS. He’s known something is not quite right, but today he made his fatal mistake and showed his belly in a small gap. I drilled him slightly lower in the body than intended, as he fell through the branches he squawked loudly in a highly distressed manner before carking it. This had the immediate effect of bringing in his sole surviving buddy, and all the invaders…

When a new mob of magpies has never been shot at before, and they’ve not encountered the caller, it’s real mayhem. They haven’t got a clue what’s going on as their mates fall out of the tree. They take off at the shot but loop straight back round and take another perch as they squawk WTF??? Sometimes young birds won’t take off at all and stay rooted to the spot. Big mistake. The dead quiet suppressed .22 subs help a lot. I made a pretty reasonable dent in the new mob before the survivors finally worked out there was something very very bad happening, and went and perched on the territory boundary wondering what the hell it was. I’m pretty confident I’ll be into them first thing in the morning as they will not be able to resist exploring any new territorial opportunities.



Very nearly fucked up though because our resident pet kereru was in the pines when all the action went down and I damn near shot him / her. Got a glint of colour just at the critical moment. I would have had my arse kicked big time if I’d shot that bird… It does amaze me that it just flies out of the pines and straight into the little stand of natives directly behind where I’m shooting from, onto its normal perch. It’s probably only 4m away from me as I’m blitzing away. I think he quite likes watching what’s going on. Probably farkin’ hates ‘pies.

If anyone would like a copy of the latest recorded call (and all the rest) just let me know, PM me your email and I’ll add you to the shared folder on Google Drive and you can download them. I’ve had some guys from the Forum let me know that the calls have totally revolutionised their magpie shooting which is cool. Use them on a decent Bluetooth speaker with a bit of volume and you will be amazed at how quickly birds will come in. Just remember that once they start to associate the calls with dying, it will become harder to attract them, so don’t over use the caller.

Ive always wanted to try it, have you frozen an adult magpie and used it as a decoy? could always stuff one

Originally Posted by Billbob

Shot this over a year ago while stalking another wallaby when this one popped its head up about 10m away from me. Slocked a pellet straight between the ears when it turned its head.

Hatsan 125 Sniper in .25cal (break barrel), JSB Exact King 25.39grains doing 720fps

Attachment 202874

Bloody awesome. Nice shooting. Just goes to show what a springer in the hands of someone who can tune it and master the finicky temperament of holding it right can do. Hat off to you

I use them all the time @Billbob. About three hours after you’ve shot them is perfect, when they’ve got rigour mortis. But usually I just prop them up with a little wire stand, and I’ve also doctored a couple of the fence posts so that I can stand a dead magpie on top of it - pull the legs behind the wire and stand the head up with a few inches of #8.

Haven’t tried freezing them.

Problem with using dead decoys is that Mrs Hawk pinches them within minutes. Not that I mind because she does me a favour with the cleaning up and there’s plenty more decoys available.

That's cool, I did actually try it once, downloaded an app with sounds on it but the background noise in the recording was so bad that the magpie never even blinked. I shoot starlings but the dozens and use dead ones wires up on a post an that works a treat. We have hawks here and they take advantage of any tit bits

Mixed bag yesterday.









Also a hare and three possums as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was getting about 900 magpies a year when I first started this thread @Flyblown.No matter how many you shoot more come in to the territory.I was only shooting a 32ha property at the time and used a live decoy in a cage that I replaced every three days.

On the coons tomorrow hope the bait I stole from the pantry works.

Hope the weather holds up,plenty of coons on the budding willows and pines.

The neighbour asked the other day how many he reckoned I’d shot over the last couple of years @Dundee. I didn’t have a clue of the top of my head. It sure as hell isn’t 900, luckily we don’t have those kind of numbers here. But I can certainly believe it from what I’ve seen on the hill country properties I visit. Flocks of the bloody things numbering in the dozens.

I should have a count up of the ones I’ve taken photos of with the dog, and then add probably another third as many again for the ones that get hung up in the pines, or grabbed by my mate the hawk who always turns up as soon as the caller starts (canny bird that). Probably more like half as many again, i’ll probably only pick up about four of every six I shoot.

We’ve got a bunch of new arrivals on the pugged up dairy paddocks over the road. Reckon there must be a survivor or two in that lot because they were stoically refusing to come to the caller. I’ve been away for a few days so I’ll give it another go if it’s dry in the morning.

[QUOTE=tiroahunta;1348145]Mixed bag yesterday.









listen here my good man this is a dead parrot it has ceased to be its shuffled off this mortal coil and joined the choir invisible it's fucking snuffed it. No its resting, beautiful plumage the Norwegian blue.

1st couple for the evening

Pushing the old faithfull Stirling 14p out over gullys.

Got the bugger


Sent Bo over the gully cause I'm not walking over there.

Bo coming up the other side with the hare.

Never under estimate the .22lr Stirling

Love working the dog out long range,he got treats tonight but not the hare as its going in our freezer.Backstraps for the BBQ and back legs for the crock pot.

Originally Posted by Dundee

Pushing the old faithfull Stirling 14p out over gullys.
Attachment 203719
Got the bugger
Attachment 203720
Attachment 203722
Sent Bo over the gully cause I'm not walking over there.
Attachment 203723
Bo coming up the other side with the hare.
Attachment 203724
Never under estimate the .22lr Stirling
Attachment 203725
Love working the dog out long range,he got treats tonight but not the hare as its going in our freezer.Backstraps for the BBQ and back legs for the crock pot.

That stock is looking way better than it use to

Originally Posted by rossi.45

1st couple for the evening

Attachment 203711

What I see is...one smoke spicy rabbit , and one slow cooked rabbit over fire with honey.

A walk/drive combo this arvo….






Had to thread the eye of a needle with this shot. Hare was visible in the gap (to the left)between bottom n next up boards.

End result



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

357... pest removal so yea it was a texas heart shot on the run... plus I also got 5 possums that night so a good night overall