less-than-lethal gun for Stellars Jays

W

wutitiz

Joined
Mar 5, 2008
Messages
923
I like to feed the squirrels & chickadees where I live. I give both non-salted peanuts--whole for the squirrels, and half-kernals for the chickadees. The problem is a very fast, agressive bird called the 'Stellars Jay' that crashes the party.:mad: They will take every peanut in sight if I let them. I throw rocks at them sometimes, but never can hit them--they are incredibly fast and smart. They have figured out what my throwing motion is, and by the time I release a rock they're long gone, and then they come right back.

Is there a gun that I could buy that shoots plastic pellets that would be accurate enough to hit the Jays, and convince them to go elsewhere for breakfast?
 
Airsoft? Seems that would wok.
 
Airsoft. Though personally, I'd go for a beeman R9 goldfinger with a 5-15 mil-dot in .20 cal. Teach those jays a thing or two!
 
Yep, airsoft or a blowgun with rubber darts. I bought a blowgun a few years ago to bring out to the deerstand with me to pester the blasted squirrels, loads of fun and you can get pretty good with it in a short time.

My wife still rolls her eyes at me, tho...

J-
 
Has anyone had any success in getting them to stay away?

I tried to get rid of a Downy Woodpecker once by shooting it at close range with a low-power Daisy BB gun. I know I hit it, plenty of times. It would fly away but it kept coming back.
 
I had a Crossman 760 as a kid. and it is still in production. The velocity of the bb or pellet was controlled by the number of pumps you gave it. As I remember, ten pumps was the upper limit. And at only two, the pellet would sting, but not penetrate skin. (Don't ask me how I know these things. :))

I seem to remember that only one pump was not recommended. I know I shot it with only one pump more than a few times. At one pump, the Crossman 760 would hurt, but not injure (as long as you hit the body and not the head.)
 
it injure the bird, If you break it's wing, then that is a pain in the butt.

I only know how to keep squirrels out of the bird feeder, not vise versa :)
 
Scott Ridgeway said:
I had a Crossman 760 as a kid. and it is still in production. The velocity of the bb or pellet was controlled by the number of pumps you gave it.
Click to expand...

I like this suggestion - the Crosman 760 is pretty common -
I think I saw it at WalMart for about ~$27 - this is as cheap as some airsoft guns.

I also liked the airsoft suggestion - enough that I did some minimal research.

Airsoft at Wikipedia

Apparently "Hop-Up" (putting a back-spin on the plastic BBs) is supposed to give them a bit more range and more accuracy?

Simple spring guns (single shot) are pretty cheap - from places like eBay - but watch out for some very high shipping costs.

Electric ones can be fully automatic, so fun - but plastic gears might not be that durable - metal gears are expensive -
so that the Crosman 760 is more economical and probably more accurate, and versatile.

--
Vincent
http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://clik.to/UnknownVincent
 
Backspin = faster air over the top of the BB than the bottom = lower pressure above = lift. Should counter their fall due to gravity and make them fly straighter, at least vertical-wise.

Same as when you see a golf drive curve upward...that means lots of topspin.
 
We get Long Tailed Jay's here and they are not nice birds at all but you are right , they are really smart birds.
When I was a kid there were some in our neighborhood that would attack our dog , or try to .. so in retaliation I would try to shoot them with my old pellet gun , I swear that every time I tried - just before I pulled the trigger they would fly away.
I do not think I ever managed to hit one.
Our neighbor had two large Manx cats , and those birds would mess with the cats as well.
They are noisy , pesky yet colorful little buggers that I grudgingly have respect for. :)

Good luck actually hitting one. :D

wsja02.jpg
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, bros. I will carefully weigh my options. I will do my best to protect the chickadees & towhees from these bully-birds.
 
I think airsoft would do the trick

I've got a replica HK USP airsoft semi auto gas powered pistol that is accurate enough, but they can be expensive, I paid about $180 for it

The cheap electric airsoft are a waste of time
 
Cougar Allen said:
Has anyone had any success in getting them to stay away?

I tried to get rid of a Downy Woodpecker once by shooting it at close range with a low-power Daisy BB gun. I know I hit it, plenty of times. It would fly away but it kept coming back.
Click to expand...

Try it with a much higher powered pellet gun. I don' think it will ever come back:p
 
hardcore airsofter--just get a good with a $20 spring pistol made by KWC (cybergun) and practice with that. I think a metal bb would hurt too much. Go for the 1911 series--I can hit birds at 50 feet with mine no problem.
 
When I was a kid, and still into airsoft (back before anyone knew what airsoft was), I got most of my stuff from these two places:

http://shortyusa.com/

http://airsoftatlanta.com/

They are reliable places to buy from with shipping that isn't too high.(IMO.) I'd go with an inexpensive (around $60-$80) full sized, full auto electric rifle if I was gonna go the airsoft route. That way you can fire short bursts at the birds. Accuracy of the manual powered spring guns is spotty, and they usually don't hit to point of aim.

Personally, I'd just go with a Crosman 760 like others suggested and just pump it twice. Airsoft is more fun, but not as practical, IMO.
 
Is there another way to exclude the Jays? Like maybe something with a hinged lid that the squirrel can open but the Jay can't. The chickadees will be happy with more of a regular bird seed that the Jays usually won't bother with. If that doesn't work, then live trap them and send them to me. They're pretty rare around here and I like them.

You also mentioned towhees. Is that the rufus sided towhee? A beautiful bird, I've only seen a pair of them once, rooting through dry leaves looking for bugs and making a racket. (sorry, not trying to turn this to a bird thread)

On a bit more serious note, I think the Jays are a protected bird throughout the U.S. Although it's not likely you would be caught, at least here in TX if you do you're in a heap of trouble.
 
Cougar Allen said:
Has anyone had any success in getting them to stay away?

I tried to get rid of a Downy Woodpecker once by shooting it at close range with a low-power Daisy BB gun. I know I hit it, plenty of times. It would fly away but it kept coming back.
Click to expand...

What was annoying you about the woodpecker? Especially a Downy?

KR
 
Lukas, I don't really want to hurt the Jays, although they do make me mad. I like birds too, but these jays are more like human a**holes with wings. I put out some birdseed for sparrows, but the chickadees definitely seem to prefer the peanuts. They are incredibly tiny (about .3 oz I think), but will grab a half-kernal of peanut and fly off with it. They are not stupid, either.

Now that I think about it, it's the towhees that have problems. They are very wary, and I have to throw the peanuts about 20 feet or so to them. They are Northwest spotted towhees http://birdweb.org/birdweb/bird_details.aspx?id=404. They will pick up a whole peanut in the shell & take it into the brush for dining pleasure. All these birds pretty much figured it out by watching the squirrels, I think.

Jays protected? That's crazy, they're all over the place, and like I said, human jerks w/ wings (very impressive flyers though).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top