Legal Elimination of Hawks and Owls

[happyfrenchman]

By me the game warden said there are too many hawks and something needs to be done.

I believe that... I was out at my empty pigeon coop this morning... remembering how it was. I could not let them out without the hawks swooping in within minutes. It seemed there was no end of them. I got tired of fighting them. I typically leave the chickens in this time and later in the year because the hawks are so desperate. But even looking at the song birds. They are getting scarcer and scarcer... by February they will be very scarce. The game warden says rabbits are low... who eats rabbits? Coyotes and hawks. The coyotes are a problem like the hawks. But the squirrels seem thick enough. I don't know. In the past, I have handled hawks that were skin and bones. There needs to be a natural predator that eats them. Maybe an eagle or a huge eagle owl which lives in Europe.

 

[centrarchid]

Songbirds down south might appearing to be in decline because they are not coming down as early or as far as they typically do. They are very abundant here. The change is likely a function of something else that might be actively denied despite increasing evidence for it.

Rabbit declines have been blamed on coyotes and and raptors. Real cause is change in land management practices. Fence rows and water ways with good amounts of cover allow rabbits to persist in abundance despite predator pressure. Clean those areas up to farm ditch to road removes that cover.

Only raptor problem I am aware involves Prairie Chickens where Red-tailed Hawk abundance likely too high in because of too many trees in an area normally a proper prairie. Science (dirty word currently) backs this up.

 

[Molpet]

I see the hawks getting small rodents more than anything, some songbirds...
We lost a lot of songbirds, crows and gray squirrels up here in N IL when the west nile went through...Out mowing and next pass, where I just mowed , had a dead bird/squirrel.. would find them dead most days. Health dept put out" don't touch them" they would come get them... after a week they said they didn't want any more, it was west nile, and to use gloves and put them in the garbage...
I miss the crows.. a few jays have come back. some gray squirrels, more fox squirrels.

 

[AlexMalfoy]

[QUOTE=Red Tailed hawks mostly prey on small mammals as do the Red Shouldered Hawk...

I see what you're saying, and I would like to agree with you. However, a few days ago, we turned our chickens out into a very small, fenced in area. My grandmother was out with them, and a hawk swooped down and tried to get our Barred Rock hen. My grandma was able to scare it away in time, but we're afraid of more occurrences like this. The hawk was an adult Red Shouldered Hawk that looked well-fed. We also have a lot of rodents and rabbits where we are, so I don't see why the hawks are going after our chickens.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

My my, how times do change. At one time the grannies that I knew growing up would have blasted chicken hawks on first sight with gramp's shot gun.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

You will enjoy more luck trying to get a permit to abuse children than you will getting a permit to control hawks.

Don't do nothing illegal but remember that catching always comes afore hanging.

 

[The Moonshiner]

My my, how times do change. At one time the grannies that I knew growing up would have blasted chicken hawks on first sight with gramp's shot gun.

Remember as a kid and going to a family friend's house. He caught an owl in a pole trap so invited me to come along and dispose of it.
He had a rope attached and started bringing it down like lowering a flag and my job was to get it in the gunny sack once low enough.
I'd rather stack bobcats then mess with an owl again. Those talons will slice through three layers of cloths then latch on and get tangled up. Its like pulling Velcro. Every Time you get him loose all of a sudden he's hooked up somewhere else and you have to start over.
By the time you get him in the bag you figure out you've done stepped in the bag so now your leg and the owl is in the bag.
You're screaming "get in the bag" the owls screaming "who? Who?. The old man has done pissed himself laughing.
Just a bad idea all the way around. At the time I was convinced he didn't want to waste a shot gun shell. I soon figured out the truth it was for pure entertainment.

 

[RWise]

I do not shoot my beautiful hawks, I luv watching them hunt squirrels! I do train them with a shotgun loaded with blanks. I have several nests nearby, and only when they have young do I need to watch them close.
Now that blasted falcon is sneaky, and it knows I dont want it here. But it is only a bother when chicks are out.

 

[aart]

You're screaming "get in the bag" the owls screaming "who? Who?.

 

[centrarchid]

I do not use a bag when handling owls. A stick to keep owl from biting and good restraint of talons using hands. Rapid transition to either a sweat shirt or coat is easier that placing it into a bag. My handling has not started with pole traps, we used to employ those when I was very small, rather owls I deal with get hung up in netting or walk into a live trap and will not come out in a timely manner so not damaged.