I wish I had a DRST...but they are expensive. I don't have many HOSP that try to nest in our yard but there are tons around as there is a car dealership next door and they nest over there. They come to eat at my feeders when their nestlings fledge and I know at that time I could probably trap tons of them. There will be 30+ in the yard then. Ugh. However during the rest of the year there will only be a few coming through at a time. I did have a couple pairs interested in my nestboxes this year...got both of those males and about 4 others with the BB gun. One year there were fledglings around and one was sitting on a branch with the mother right behind it. I shot with the BB gun and got both with one BB! I always put up sparrow spookers as soon as the first egg is laid on the Blues boxes. Last year I lost two TRES nestlings to a HOSP, two more were pecked but made it and two were unharmed. I put up a spooker on that box and those four made it to fledging just fine. I don't normally put spookers up on the TRES boxes because there are just too many of them. I only have two spookers and usually have eleven nestboxes with TRES. Hate those dang HOSP.

I have had an all out war with the hosp. I have purchased everything under the sun to control them but like you they just declared my property, their property. so back in february i went out and purchased a remington 77 bb/pelet gun.. (whic was $80 at walmart) but i couldn't get em... so then i got the blaine johnson ground trap and it was great.. i trapped one male on the 3rd day... but then a month went by and i really think they knew not to go in the trap.. so i went back to the sialas website and called mr. van ert.. he gave me such great advise about catching them. i purchased the universal inbox traps from him .. and trapped all less than a week... and my husband being a good shot, got a female with the gun.. Mr. Van Ert did tell me the ground traps are not as effective for the older sparrows as they are smarter than the younger ones.. he said the younger ones are more able to be trapped in the ground traps. Good luck to ya!

Sorry to hear of it Lisa. As Kendra said, there wasn't anything you could have done. We all put up SUCH a battle with HOSP! Even then, they still find a way to cause problems. They destroyed my first eggs this year and I only left ONE DAY! Before I could get the spooker up. Then my bluebirds were ready to lay and the HOSP took over their box! That Male HOSP is now K.I.A. The blues moved to my other box and quickly layed but things have been going down (see my posts) All this, and their #s are still seriously down in my neighborhood! I've taken babies, eggs, adult HOSP, you name it. But it only takes one HOSP! Just stay at it, and the HOSP will pay in due time! It's an endless battle, but believe in me and sialis, you CAN get their population down! It's all a matter of time. They were once on the increase in my neighborhood (neighbor's Martin Complex WAS FILLED with them a couple years ago) Continue to make note of others' effective methods. Kendra, how in the HECK do you catch THAT MANY HOSP in just ONE WEEK??? I've had the thing with 2 males and 2 females in it and it can take AT LEAST a WEEK to catch even one or two more! I've caught Chickadees, Song Sparrows, Chipping sparrows, etc. I've had 2 fatalities. 1 dee and 1 song sparrow. But lately it's been mainly all HOSP. I had to remove it from my other site because there were 8 in the trap, and it was knocked over and 4 HOSP (thankfully HOSP!) were found bloodied and decaying in my DRST. I believe it was cats. This was a day or two after my last check. In total, over a 2-4 week period I caught 4-6 HOSP. The other site has a much more explosive population, yet the trap doesn't seem to attract as much attention as everyone on sparrowtraps.net says. Remember though, this is my first season with the trap. In total, not many natives trapped. Wishing you better luck with the HOSP Lisa! When all is said and done, you should have some success this season.

Lisa, because the males get mates so quickly, I doubt your shooting will cause him to retaliate. Here's an interesting note about the Van Ert: If you catch the FEMALE in an active HOSP nest, try leaving her body in the box afterwards. May sound cruel, but I did this at my 2nd box site, and I caught the Male within 30 seconds of setting and leaving the trap! I walked away and a few seconds later..."SNAP!" ..."Did that seriously just happen??" The only way I caught HOSP in the ground trap (DRST) was by putting a couple live males in first that I caught with the Van Ert. It was sitting out for WEEKS not catching anything before this. I know how impatient it can make you! Keep up with the Sparrow Spookers! I have used them 2-3 seasons now and not had even ONE HOSP attack occur when used. Just remember the time frame to have it up in. With the 3 big control items: Van Ert, DRST, and Sparrow Spooker, I believe this is the best way to bring the population down. I wish they couldn't nest in evergreens! I tear out and destroy eggs and nestings from these year in and year out. It gets exhausting. ~Tim~