A Hunter is Borned

[Tennessee Hayre]

Check out this moster bird bagged by my grandson. We are getting ready for Turkey Season,so I bought him his first BB Gun and today he almost killed himself to get downstairs to tell me about a large bird he had shot. I took a photo of his fresh kill. He asked me if we could eat it and I told him only if we were starving to death and then he ask if he could keep it and I again said no but he could lay it on the deck and look at it for awhile. It was so cool. We are heading out Saturday to see what kind of Turkey we can bag.

[bsaride]

Outstanding!

[dbateman]

that's a family fav pic rite there

[Rusty]

Good shootin but we have a different rule in our house. If you kill it you will eat it.

That is with the exception of varmints.

[RIHMFIRE]

Good shootin but we have a different rule in our house. If you kill it you will eat it.

That is with the exception of varmints.

DITTOS on that....
Be careful....song birds are off limits....
Read your hunting regulations...
or at least they are protected here in Florida
except for crows....I can blast those suckers all day....
nothing but thieves...

He's a handsome little fellow...
Hope you get your turkey...good luck
I'm heading to camp today!

[phc45-70]

Hope TWRA doesn't see this pic as there are only 2 birds that are not protected by some kind of law and that is a Starling and a English House Sparrow. I doubt they would haul the boy off to jail but you can't always count on common sense to prevail now-a-days. If you don't believe it just watch the news.

[nemhed]

That appears to be a robin, which is a song bird. The killing of which is verboten in Indiana, I don't know about Tennessee. I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I just don't want anyone to get in trouble. I'm all for shooting vermin like starlings, english sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons, and starlings, and it's good training for the young ones. Take care.

[RKrodle]

Good shooting and congratulation on a hard won prize.

[Modoc ED]

The Robin is Federally protected. Can't shoot em no matter what.

Just do what we do out here in CA for mountain lions. "Shoot, shovel, shut-up"!! No pictures.

Nice to see another youngster coming into the shooting sports. Thanks for the post.

[Mike D.]

OH NO! NOT the first Robin of Spring?! When I was a kid his age I killed a Meadowlark and brought it proudly home. Bad mistake, the BB gun was turned into a pretzel.

[TedH]

I did the same thing with my first BB gun as a kid. I lost my shooting privilages for a month.

[2ndovc]

I remeber I blasted a nuthatch with my .410 in front of my Dad. Didn't see any guns for the rest of the summer.

Migratory birds in most parts of the country are protected.

Turn him loose on the blackbirds and crows.. Those are good sport.


jb

[dr walker]

Good luck with the turkeys. Good looking grandson.

[horsesoldier03]

Kind of funny how things change! When I was a kid I was strongly encouaged to take out all of the birds hanging around the house. Nothing worse than walking out to sit on the front porch swing and find bird poop all over it. It also discolored lawn furniture, deck wood, and sidewalks, not to mention a fresh washed car or an unsightly nest tucked under the eves or overhang of the house or porch. Looks like you have offended quite a few bird watchers out there. I did take the time to research it, they are now protected. Check out the link below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin

I was also shocked to learn that they did used to be hunted for their meat. Glad to see you got him started, might want to get him started on turkeys and crows soon! While doing my reading I discovered that there is also a movement to add CROWS to the protected list as well. Before long all the antis are going to make it where there is nothing to shoot but tin cans! I did see the neighbors cat hauling around the carcass of a dead robin as well; guess I should have called the Game Warden and Animal Control to fight over who had jurisdiction!

Fine looking grandson you got there!

[Tennessee Hayre]

Thanks guys. Oh and as far as the hunting reg's on this bird is concerned, I forgot to say the bird is made of plastic.

[horsesoldier03]

Just make sure he doesnt shoot your turkey decoys too!

[Tennessee Hayre]

I know. He's got the bug now. He wants to shoot everything.

[Rusty]

I had forgot about the Federal protection stuff. Ed is right. Strawberry farmers here in Plant City, Fla, the strawberry capitol of the universe were having problems with robins last year. They were paying farm workers to walk the fields with 20 ga. shotguns to kill the birds before they could peck the berries. They would just peck them and destroy them, not eating a thing. It caused a lot of problems. I never did hear what the out come was but knowing these farmers like I do I'd bet the robins lost.

They even tried the bird bomb shells and after a while they didn't work any more.

[Modoc ED]

Kind of funny how things change! When I was a kid I was strongly encouaged to take out all of the birds hanging around the house. Nothing worse than walking out to sit on the front porch swing and find bird poop all over it. It also discolored lawn furniture, deck wood, and sidewalks, not to mention a fresh washed car or an unsightly nest tucked under the eves or overhang of the house or porch. Looks like you have offended quite a few bird watchers out there. I did take the time to research it, they are now protected. Check out the link below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin

I was also shocked to learn that they did used to be hunted for their meat. Glad to see you got him started, might want to get him started on turkeys and crows soon! While doing my reading I discovered that there is also a movement to add CROWS to the protected list as well. Before long all the antis are going to make it where there is nothing to shoot but tin cans! I did see the neighbors cat hauling around the carcass of a dead robin as well; guess I should have called the Game Warden and Animal Control to fight over who had jurisdiction!

Fine looking grandson you got there!

I hate ta tell ya "horsesoldier03" but the taking of American Crows IS regulated. Under almost all circumstances, a Federal migratory bird depredation permit is required by any landowner before taking any American Crow or authorizing any other person to take them on the landowner's property.

[TedH]

We have a Crow season here in Missouri.

[Old Ironsights]

Kind of funny how things change! When I was a kid I was strongly encouaged to take out all of the birds hanging around the house. Nothing worse than walking out to sit on the front porch swing and find bird poop all over it. It also discolored lawn furniture, deck wood, and sidewalks, not to mention a fresh washed car or an unsightly nest tucked under the eves or overhang of the house or porch. Looks like you have offended quite a few bird watchers out there. I did take the time to research it, they are now protected. Check out the link below. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin

I was also shocked to learn that they did used to be hunted for their meat. Glad to see you got him started, might want to get him started on turkeys and crows soon! While doing my reading I discovered that there is also a movement to add CROWS to the protected list as well. Before long all the antis are going to make it where there is nothing to shoot but tin cans! I did see the neighbors cat hauling around the carcass of a dead robin as well; guess I should have called the Game Warden and Animal Control to fight over who had jurisdiction!

Fine looking grandson you got there!

I hate ta tell ya "horsesoldier03" but the taking of American Crows IS regulated. Under almost all circumstances, a Federal migratory bird depredation permit is required by any landowner before taking any American Crow or authorizing any other person to take them on the landowner's property.

Yes, and no. Depends on the State.

In Indiana we have a VERY liberal crow "season".

There are NO limits to the number taken. NO restrictions on HOW they are taken.

There is a one month "season" in July/August and a 5 month "season" from Dec through March.

There are more regulations on Firewood than Crows.

FWIU the biggest deal on crows/why the seasons are what they are, is because of the Protected Mexican red-winged crow or some such that IS genuinely migratory.

Here's the entirety of non turkey/non waterfoul bird regs for IN in 2008/2009:

English sparrows, starlings and feral pigeons (except homing pigeons) may be killed at any time. Brown-headed cowbirds, common grackles, red-winged blackbirds, rusty blackbirds, Brewer’s blackbirds and crows may be controlled when they are damaging trees or crops. All other non-game species of birds not otherwise covered in this regulation are protected by state or federal law and may not be killed.

Crow Hunting

Crow hunting season runs July 1 through Aug. 15 and Dec. 13 through March 1. Crows
may be taken outside of the hunting season only if they are damaging trees, crops, livestock or wildlife. There are no restrictions on use of calls or decoys. You are not required to have a state stamp privilege or federal stamp. You may take crows with bow and arrow, firearm or falconry. (Or Slingshot, actually...)

For all things Crow, see http://www.crowbusters.com

[Tennessee Hayre]

We have a season for crow here in tennessee as well. June 1st to feb 28 with no limit.