"Starling Encounters of the Best Kind" Making It Happen In the Backyard By Yours Truly

Most wildlife enthusiasts and even airgunners get a scornful look in there eye when they talk about the Starling. Words like scourge, pestilence and non-indigenous are often used to describe the invaders that destroy the nests and breeding habits of most local hole nesting birds. They have spread to almost all areas of the U.S. to an extent that can be seen in the late fall as huge flocks of roosting birds that gather and number in the 1000,s. Despite all the complaining and damage they do, the majority of airgunners secretly wish they will come and land in their yard and provide some arcade style shooting. In fact, it is not all that hard to make these encounters happen and with some consistency. Especially in the winter months when the Starlings travel in large hoards invading bird feeders, dog bowls and suet hangs. With the right bait and a safe shooting lane you'll be able to pick off as many Starlings as you have time to shoot.
Starlings will eat almost anything and even prefer human food waste such as spaghetti, bread, chili etc…….. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to rely on leftovers so I prefer to use several baits in ready supply. These baits include bird seed, beef fat, and dry dog or cat food (the small kibble type). The birdseed works to bring in all kinds of birds and provides an active looking feeding area that will accumulate all kinds of birds and may even bring in a pigeon or too depending on your area. The beef fat attracts wood peckers, Flickers and starlings that need the high fat energy. Beef fat is available in slabs from a butcher. Just tell him you want to feed the birds and they'll give it to you. The starlings will pounce on the dog and cat food as will Blue jays and an occasional crow. The smorgasbord you provide will attract a plethora of wildlife and despite the fact that starlings and pigeons will offer you shooting opportunities, the other birds will begin to ignore the shots you take when they realize they are in no danger.
Now that we understand what brings the starlings in we need to build a bait station that allows us to present the bait in a way the starlings like it and that also offers the airgunner the maximum number of shooting opportunities.

Click to enlarge

The first thing you need is a ¾" plywoodbacker. I like to use a piece approximatley16" X 24". This will serve as our backstop that will stop pellets and offer us safe backyard shooting. If you are using a gun that will shoot through this then it is too big for a suburban backyard or you live in the sticks and don't have to worry about where your pellets go. Next we need to mount a few things on the backer to hold the bait and give the Starlings a place to land. To do this I recommend ¾ pine for several reasons. It creates a nice wide perch, will fasten strongly to the backer and it is soft enough to absorb pellets and discourage riccochettes. Build a trough for the bait that is no more than 2" deep and 4" inches wide. The entire trough should be about 12"long so several starlings can mount up on it to feed. Fasten the narrow end of the trough to the backer with wood screws so it is nice and sturdy. Above the trough you will want to fasten a pocket shaped run of hardware cloth (Tight wire fencing). This will be used to hold the beef fat. I usually secure it with staples so it is easy to remove if you want to pack some more fat in there at some point. Finally, Drill a few ½" holes in the backer where you want to place additional perches alongside the beef fat. For perches I use sticks from the yard in all kinds of shapes. It gives the whole thing a natural presentation and will encourage tons of Starlings to land.
The most important part of the whole procedure is mounting the bait station in a good spot that offers you visibility from the house and a nice secret spot to shoot from. If you can also manage to mount it on the trunk of a tree like a maple or apple with lots of branches you will get tons of birds landing and holding on the trees branches as well. I mounted mine about 7 feet up a maple tree. The bait station is visible from my kitchen window and the backer faces my back sliding door. With the door open a just a crack I can slip the barrel through and take a cozy 18yd shot anytime the starlings land. Once you set the bait station up. Let it establish itself as a friendly feeding area. Let the birds feel confident and safe and never over shoot it. By the way, that trough should be facing directly at your shooting position because the starlings will sit side by side ion its edges to feed and this will present you with the opportunity to take more than one with a single shot. During the winter when the birds come to rely on your station you should easily be able to take 3 or 4 birds every morning before work. During a full day "Arm chair hunt" you can expect to take 15-20 starlings if your bait station is established. If you build yourself a nice bait station and set it up correctly you'll have loads of great backyard shooting and you'll decrease the number of stinky starlings that will be around to breed in the spring. It's a "Win win" situation. Lot's of wildlife in the backyard and an outlet for your passion. Get those old scraps out of the woodshop and put them together. In less than an hour you can have a backyard arcade that any airgunner would envy.

Happy hunting