Legal Elimination of Hawks and Owls

[desertdarlene]

You're right, run towards or yelling at them are also harassment, which many people don't realize (I often see people, especially children, doing this to wildlife). Also, letting your dog (or cat) chase or attack hawks or any other migratory bird can also get you into trouble

But, walking up to a hawk and making it leave your chicken it was trying to kill would probably not be harassment. I know with me, just standing and looking at a hawk is enough to make them want to leave.

 

[cat1994]

Wow thank you for the info

I myself have been very lucky in the predatory bird area not having any go after a bird of mine yet (knock on wood)

 

[Capvin]

We have lots of hawks that fly overhead constantly. I suspect that they have plenty of food with all of the rabbits and cotton rats that are very abundant. That said, once in a while I let my chicks out of their run for an hour or so. While they are out I sit and watch them with a shotgun in my lap loaded with #8 shot. It is not my intention to kill the hawk (and I never have) but when they fly overhead and look like they have an intent to swoop down I fire off a shot near them and so far that has scared them off. Would hope I am never in a position where the hawk is not convinced by the first shot to fly off.

 

[Chik cadee]

Maybe someone could help me. Here is the issue we're having:

Every year, a couple of goshawks come back to nest in the nearby forest (I'm located in Quebec). The problem is that there are trails (horse and hiking) close to where these birds nest. They have attacked riders for some seasons now. Because they are a protected specy, nothing seems to be possible to correct the situation. However, because of their agressive behavior, can something be done since they are attacking humans ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Chickie.

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[[[.......other than endangered or threatened species and bald or golden eagles. ....]]]]

Sorry, but you are misinterpreting.

The rules about getting permits to kill or chase with cannons is about crop eating protected birds like Canada geese.

You can protect crop land and fruit trees. You can not get a permit to kill raptors for taking a few of your chickens. You will be advised to pen your chickens up because that is the very easy solution to your problem.

You see that bit about "endangered or threatened species"? That includes the raptors. See the "other than" That means it doesn't apply to them.

Believe me, you aren't getting away with a $50 fine for killing a hawk.

 

[aprophet]

I'd like to see the ordinary person (not associated with the FDA) get a permit for this. I run a wildlife damage control company, am licensed by multiple states and so on; and for me to even get a permit for canadian geese (which fall under the same migratory bird act) IF i'm issued a permit it takes 2-3 months.

we're talking geese, let alone hawks and such!

candians are quick to get google e-permit

 

[aquaponics3712]

y

 

[aquaponics3712]

Have any of you folks actualy seen a hawk take one of your chickens ?
I have an adult female and two yearling redtails in my backyard every day. I have 37 chickens (free range)7 large roos...5 RIR, 1 SLW and one mean nasty agressive 'cauna,3 open coops,2 pheasant runs and 5 feeders plus all the crack corn i toss on the ground every day.All this adds up to LOTS OF MICE AND MOLES !! In fact, i'm over run with mice and moles. The two yearling redtails are out there every day and they NEVER go after my chickens . I don't know for sure if it's the over abundance of rodents that keep the hawks fed and away from my birds or the vigilant roos(which are as big as the hawks). I'm guessing that those red tails would much rather deal with the rodents rather than a much larger prey like my birds. Make sense?
Anywho, so far they have never gone after my girls. In fact, the only evidence i ever found of the hawks feeding was a semi eaten grey squirrel a few days ago and when the chickens went after it's kill the red tail didn't even bother with the chickens over that.
If those redtails run out of rodents and prey on my girls from time to time.......oh well....i'm not gonna go bankrupt, be out of food or lose any sleep over critters doin what critters are desiged to do.

Yes actually. (Replying to the person who asked if we had actually SEEN a hawk kill a chicken.) For 2 months now (at least) we have been chasing off hawks who swoop down into our front YARD and take chickens with our swinging our arms and yelling. They do not care one bit that we are protesting. Our front yard is treed, we have let grass grow up around the perimeter for the chickens to hide, and have taken to sitting on our front porch to work (we work from home) so that we can try to protect our chickens. And these hawks are bold and determined. They will come in and roost on one of our smaller trees (literally just above our heads) and swoop in. They in no way are deterred by our presence. It is going to be VERY expensive for us to cover our entire front yard. I am beyond frustrated by stupid laws that keep us from protecting what matters to us. OH.....and my cousin had his DOG (a smaller breed - Bishon) picked up from his back yard by a hawk. He was screaming and waving a broom. It is unreal that we have to put up with this!

 

[Artbrat]

Most likely, if your's is a hawk problem, you would see feathers. They often have a pile of feathers in a circle around where the bird was taken.

True! We had red tailed hawks take young roosters twice. Each time they took the heads and flew off when we rushed out to chase them away. There was a big pile of feathers left. I image the roos fought back a bit.

 

[bobbi-j]

THE VERY best measure of protection is killing that "God" with a shot to the heart, if he, or she, continues to come around and take my precious girls. We are now down to two ladies left, from last year having 14. It's been a slow grind on my own natural belief that taking life is a horrendous crime against life itself. I lost my beloved Lucy a month ago and her sister yesterday. All precautions have been taken. Now we are at last resort. I'll be waiting for him, or her, come twilight tomorrow, which seems to be their preferred time to take life. I see lots of kindness and compassion for the predators here, because of their "noble" qualities, etc. But not so much for their defenseless victims, the poor chicken. I am no hunter. Never have been and never will be. I never have taken any life, man or beast. I find sport hunting and sport hunters the most repulsive and repugnant kind of beings. But I will be shooting that son of a ***** dead, dead, dead, come the next time I see them swoop low over my girl's coop.

What precautions have been taken, and when did you take them? After losing 12 chickens? If they were taken before birds #11 and #12, what precautions were you attempting? Just wondering since it didn't seem to work - maybe someone else can avoid the losses you've suffered by knowing what it was. Something to consider in the future - if you start losing birds at a steady rate, it might be time to build them a nice, covered run to keep them in until the hawk or other predator moves on. When food is no longer readily available, they do move along. Have you fired a gun before? Shot at a moving target? Had any kind of firearm training? Where do you live? Country? City? Something in between? Close neighbors? Anyone who might turn you in? Lots of things to consider here. And yes - as a hunter, and having family and friends that hunt, I get nervous when a non-hunter starts talking about blasting away (illegally at that) at a predator. Not saying people who don't hunt can't shoot - I realize there are people who trap shoot, etc. But I'm willing to guess most non-hunters aren't involved in shooting sports.