# BB Guns and Bird Baths



## Survive7 (Mar 24, 2014)

Why go out hunting in an Urban landscape , when you can Call Food right to your Back Yard ?
A small 2 foot diameter Bird Bath behind your apartment , condo or home, might bring enough
food to feed a small family, for a long time.
A BB gun is quiet and acurate for a distance of 15 feet, right out your back door or glass sliding door.
Learning to field clean a bird takes about 5 minutes or less , with practice.
A small solar oven like the copanhag oven can cook 3 or 4 bird breast in around 30 minutes to 2 hours,
depending on the brightness and intensity of the Sun .
This is just a simple idea , and not expensive to set up.
My recommendations would be the 10 pump type BB gun rifles , pumped to 4 or 5 pumps.
Try to buy these BB guns at garage sales or estate sales for under $ 20.oo .
There are solar ovens out there for $35.oo or less . 
The bird bath can be bought at estate sales too.
If you have a simple idea to help survive alittle bit long , please list them . Thanks


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a bird worth eating at a birdbath.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

when your hungry enough you'll eat just about anything.
you can make a solar oven


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Squirrels taste better than piegions.

Ever tried woodchuck?


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

That's thinking outside the box. We have a bird bath and feeders. Most of them are small finches and bluebirds. It would take a bunch if them to make any kind if a meal. We get the occasional mourning doves as well. We are rural though, maybe in the urban jungle you get the bigger birds like pigeons. Not sure if they are good to eat since they get into all kinds of nasty stuff like polluted water. Another thought is to catch some live and try breeding them like in the old days. In thinking for the city, cats might be plentiful and can be taken with a pellet rifle.


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## Kumarkalliente (May 1, 2015)

In Cleveland there are resturants where you can get pigeon. It's called city chicken. I'm not kidding. It's not half bad I guess.
In my part of Ohio the rabbit and turkey population is up very high. And I think I'd rather eat a rabbit than a bird that eats trash.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

pellet gun instead of a BB gun - more versatile .... you need to think about multiplying your manhours and not expending more calories & resources than you gain .... there's alot of various netting techniques for small birds .... everything from just spreading a net across their usual flightpath to self tripping netting traps .... you're correct about small bird gaming - the old nursery rhyme "20 blackbirds baked into a pie" has a real life foundation to the verse ..... 

quiet .... it's going to be the key to urban hunting & foraging .... learn all you can about traps & snares .... gather the necessary supplies for any DIY devices .... establish or maintain your urban feeding & watering management plan - a good local population to begin is key ....


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I read the OP twice, it took me about 10 seconds the first time, then about 20 seconds to read it the second time. That was 30 seconds of my life wasted...plus the time that it took me to make this post.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

The edible portion of a dove, the breast, is smaller than an unshelled walnut. The species of back yard birds flocking to bird baths or feeders are much smaller than the average dove.
Humans do not require meat to thrive and survive.


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## csi-tech (Apr 13, 2013)

While fried grackle or European Starling would not be high on my list I'm sure it would be better than nothing. Dove is worth eating pretty much anytime.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Our doves are big and fat.


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## slewfoot (Nov 6, 2013)

We have a squirrel feeder on one side of the yard which has 5 squirrels that feed there everyday and a bird feeder on the other side. We attract a lot of doves every morning and early evening. 
My Father use to have us kids go out and shoot black birds and he would take the breast meat and make spaghetti sauce with them.
My thought is sooner or later you are going to run out of food to feed the birds and squirrels and they will move on, considering of course you have not killed them all off or they have figured out that eating at your place is deadly.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

for those that may- when eating small birds you eat it bones and all.


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

yes gut it like a fish and cook it well done.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Must be some frog eating Frenchies around here. They eat little birds..guts..feathers and all with a towel over their heads. Seen it on TV one time so its bound to be right.

[quote from the link] 
Gastronomy

For centuries, a rite of passage for French gourmets was the eating of the Ortolan. These tiny birds-captured alive, force-fed, then drowned in Armagnac-were roasted whole and eaten that way, bones and all, while the diner draped his head with a linen napkin to preserve the precious aromas and, some believe, to hide from God.

The birds are caught in nets set during their migratory flight to Africa. They are then kept in covered cages or boxes. This apparent night-time causes the birds to gorge themselves on grain (usually millet seed) until they double their size. "Roman Emperors stabbed out ortolans' eyes in order to make the birds think it was night, making them eat

Ortolan bunting - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Mad Trapper said:


> Squirrels taste better than piegions.
> 
> Ever tried woodchuck?


I have eaten worse. Idiots and stupider.
, and you are newmeous , you vermin.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Coyotes make good tamales.


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## Illini Warrior (Jan 24, 2015)

bigwheel said:


> Coyotes make good tamales.


we have the Mexicans for that ....


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

Finally, a day on the Prepper Forum where I'm sober and everyone else is drunk out of their minds..


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## Jakthesoldier (Feb 1, 2015)

Some critters are just not worth it, no matter how hungry you are. Either not worth the energy for the calories, or high probability of being infected with parasites that you probably won't kill when you cook it


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

Ive tried pigeon just cuz my buddy shot a buch when we were supposed to shooting rabbits. Its not great but not terrible. I wont put effort out for it unless its a last ditch effort. Id rather eat plants.


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## Survive7 (Mar 24, 2014)

slewfoot said:


> We have a squirrel feeder on one side of the yard which has 5 squirrels that feed there everyday and a bird feeder on the other side. We attract a lot of doves every morning and early evening.
> My Father use to have us kids go out and shoot black birds and he would take the breast meat and make spaghetti sauce with them.
> My thought is sooner or later you are going to run out of food to feed the birds and squirrels and they will move on, considering of course you have not killed them all off or they have figured out that eating at your place is deadly.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dear euell gibons
My thought is , either you didn't read the Original Post , slow and complete , or you are talking about another
post , not the BIRD BATHS AND BB GUNS , post . No mention of food or feeding them , just water .
And if I run out of water , and it stops raining forever , well , then , we won't have to worry , will we ? S-7


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## Demitri.14 (Nov 21, 2018)

bigwheel said:


> Coyotes make good tamales.


I would love to watch a coyote make a tamale. That would be impressive !


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## RedSky (Sep 5, 2021)

Jakthesoldier said:


> I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a bird worth eating at a birdbath.


Air rifle for squirrels and rabbits. I supplemented my dinners with squirrel for awhile when we had the first covid lockdown and I didn't want to leave my territory until I figured out what was (or wasn't) happening.


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## RedSky (Sep 5, 2021)

Jakthesoldier said:


> Some critters are just not worth it, no matter how hungry you are. Either not worth the energy for the calories, or high probability of being infected with parasites that you probably won't kill when you cook it


Raccoons. I'd eat them if I had to, and I hear they are good meat, but somehow I worry. Maybe it was from seeing them raid too many suburban dumpsters when I lived in the 'burbs.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Demitri.14 said:


> I would love to watch a coyote make a tamale. That would be impressive !


The Coyote is on the ingredient list. lol.


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

Kumarkalliente said:


> In Cleveland there are resturants where you can get pigeon. It's called city chicken. I'm not kidding. It's not half bad I guess.
> In my part of Ohio the rabbit and turkey population is up very high. And I think I'd rather eat a rabbit than a bird that eats trash.


Yup, consumed a bit of city chicken in DeRiot, now I know the correct city name was DeToilet.

I didn't know it was pigeon, even though the neighbors had them.

Now I do 

About a 1 1/4 " x 4 " deep fried on a stick.


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## One Shot (Oct 25, 2021)

I've raised Quail, Dove, Pigeon, Ducks, Geese and tried a few Pheasant (Vicious birds) over the years and pigeons were the easiest plus when they were let out they'd bring other pigeons back to their cages. You can shoot them with a BB/Pellet gun or trap them, I'd sooner have chicken tho.

My BIL is from Austria and during WW2 he was 6 or 7 years old and he was saying how they would eat Roof Top Rabbits and whatever was around, he was referring to Cats and until he passed away he would never own a cat.....always thought it was guilt. Anyhow, to survive you did whatever it takes even if it means eating blackbirds etc.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

One Shot said:


> I've raised Quail, Dove, Pigeon, Ducks, Geese and tried a few Pheasant (Vicious birds) over the years and pigeons were the easiest plus when they were let out they'd bring other pigeons back to their cages. You can shoot them with a BB/Pellet gun or trap them, I'd sooner have chicken tho.
> 
> My BIL is from Austria and during WW2 he was 6 or 7 years old and he was saying how they would eat Roof Top Rabbits and whatever was around, he was referring to Cats and until he passed away he would never own a cat.....always thought it was guilt. Anyhow, to survive you did whatever it takes even if it means eating blackbirds etc.


Great story. Thanks. Toronto Girl who used to hang out on here and survived the collapse of the USSR as a Ukrainian teeny bopper said they called em roof rabbits in her country too.


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## LunaticFringeInc (Nov 20, 2012)

Funny you mention the bird bath thing... My favoirite Dove Hunting spot sports whats little more than a mud hole filled with water barely big enough to call a stock tank much less a pond and its a Dove, Quail, Pigeon magnet! The trail cam I set up there occasionally shows a lot more than that visits that spot too! One could do well there in my blind with a 22 cal pellet gun or 22 rim fire with LRN ammo at standard velocities.


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## Histati (Mar 19, 2021)

Hunt Starlings if you want to practice now, they are evasive species! Nasty bird that is killing off woodpeckers , Robins and more. My state wants people to kill them and destroy the nests. 120 years ago some jackass released 10 of them in NY, now there are millions.


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