# A nice winter's day stroll on the farm



## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

Finally after almost a week of really nasty weather... I got to get out and do some shootin' with my pocket Ranger. This is the one I carry the most, it's only 5/8" thick and really easy to put in a pocket... most shots are really targets of opportunity, so if you don't have your slingshot with you, then you don't have the opportunity... with this shooter, it's really easy to take along.
In the morning I had my camera with me to take some pictures of all the snow around here (very unusual for Central Texas)... and snapped a few pics of some of the morning's kills as well.
On the day I had over a dozen kills on mostly grackles and a couple of sparrows. Grackles are horrid birds that seem to intentionally mess up any feed that's left out, and crap in the dog's water buckets... since they can carry diseases which can harm dogs, I pretty well just shoot them whenever the opportunity presents itself. Sparrows... the little jerks can fit through the chicken wire, so they steal as much chicken feed as they can eat. One or two's not that bad... but now that the winter's coming on a little stronger... we're supporting a flock, and they're not layer's, so they've got to be taken care of.

Today, every kill was 100' or under... the cold weather really seems to play havoc with the flatband's power. I tried to use some of the solid rubbers for a little while today, but haven't quite got the knack of them yet.

Jack's bowing to the Master... he finished off a couple of birds himself as well though... note the grackle feathers next to the water hose he decided to destroy for the fun of it.


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## dmy89 (Jan 11, 2011)

Murderer!!! haha just kidding. good shooting Bill!


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## Aeroflot (Oct 3, 2010)

Good stuff Bill. Thanks for sharing.


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## philly (Jun 13, 2010)

Nice shooting Bill. What are you shooting? Lead or steel?
Philly


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## jmplsnt (Jan 1, 2010)

Great shooting and an excellent display of both the slingshot and shooter operating it.

It appears to me that Jack the Dog has an excellent life, is well-cared for, and has a pretty good time on the farm.

I really, really love your tales of grackle destruction! I've killed my share of them with a slingshot.


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

philly said:


> Nice shooting Bill. What are you shooting? Lead or steel?
> Philly


That day I just grabbed a handful of 3/8" steel bearings to shoot with. The .38 cal lead penetrates better... but 3/8" steel costs less and is more than adequate for killing grackles on down.... which is pretty much what I do most of my "hunting" shooting on. If I were to head out to the woods, I'd probably take along some .44 call lead as well, in case a rabbit or something along that size were to come out.
Anything much larger than a rabbit, I probably wouldn't use a slingshot on.


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## frogman (Nov 11, 2010)

Good shooting Bill. The birds are always hard as you usually only get one good look. A true testament to your shooting skill...Frogman


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## BaneofSmallGame (Sep 22, 2010)

Great shooting once again and thanks for sharing with that neat picture collage. Eradicate those grackles, the real rats of the sky. In my area there is a flock of hundreds of thousands (crows) that move from town to town, back and forth, each time getting pushed out by some drastic measure from the city. It's a shame they are so intelligent and quick to take flight......otherwise I'd help the effort a bit....









That is a beautiful pup too, I'm sure he does his job well.....he also shares the same name as my dog, I like a one syllable name. Sometimes I wish he was a hunter as opposed to a herder, sometimes I see flashes of beagle, it's okay, I still love him









Cheers - John


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