Will do.
Dear Lord, please forgive me....
Before there were German Precision Air Rifles, there were the Sheridan 'Streaks. Still have mine too. Scores of starlings met their end with a well-placed .20 SilverJet and even those crappy Sheridan pellets that came in a bright yellow plastic box before then. Popped a truck load of starlings eating the eggs and stealing the nesting materials from other birds.
Folks had a couple of bird boxes for the returning swallows. The swallows were nice to have around in the summer as they would constantly eat mass quantities of mosquitoes in our back yard. The starlings were too big to make it through the box's front door, so they'd sit on the peg and do their dirty work. The wily bastids couldn't see me off to the side with their heads in a hole. Once, the neighbor lady saw me pop one and gave me a good tongue lashing as to the shortcomings of my moral character. I tried to inform her as to the reasoning behind my apparent sins, and her own nest boxes being raided, but she was hard to sway with the known facts coming from a mere gangly kid. A few weeks later, she apologized after witnessing for herself what I had proffered to her earlier. She invited me to wait for guilty parties in her backyard whenever I wanted to. Rats with wings....
Prior to going "high power," use to hide under an old fruit tree with a pitifully powerless Daisy lever gun. Had to guess where the starlings would settle for the fallen fruit, and hold in ready position in accord because if the BB's rolled in the tube, so would they. Patience is a virtue for head shots at close quarters. Even use to pass shoot at 'em with a Wrist Rocket sling shot and a dozen BB's full-choked in a Saran Wrap sabot twisted just right so as to open up about half way up for a good pattern. Ah, youth!
I still clearly recall receiving my first mail order Beeman catalog. Just like some reading this thread, I was hooked for life. I'd be willing to bet that Dave will too....
