Killing hawks and owls??? Is it ever legal?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I raise white tail deer and have had eagles circling my pens when the fawns are just born....this has made me quite nervous but no problems so far. We had bald eagles nest along the river on the family farm last year for the first time ...nothing more cool to me . I make brush piles for the fawns to hide under . I love the eagles and I leave my skinned furbearers in the river bottom for them to eat along with all other animals to feed on....every meal they get there is one less killed out of natures populations . I wouldn't doubt if I had problems, it would be on me to find a way to correct even though it happens behind my 8' fence. I am very pro-raptors even though they eat wildlife to survive....they do what I do.Here in Iowa when I was a kid ,50 years ago, we had few deer, no eagles, no otters , no wild turkeys ,bobcats were a mith mostly ,and all geese were seen on migration. We have them all around now and I know that , like the wolves, some things introduced can have a harsh effect on balance but so far , our "new" species seem to fit very well together. SM
 
Quote:
The Feds take this very serious. They are often on pigeon, gamebird and other message boards watching for those that break this law.



Really? wow I almost mentioned something about some feathers I have, and one I will have someday when I find it on the ground.

Attn Feds: They are chicken and goose feathers. No really they are. No really...chicken....goose....No really LMAO /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

t/c223encore.
 
We laugh but I know of a falconer that his wife put some hawk feathers from a legal hawk in a flower arrangement in a florist shop and it was shut down, They had to fight charges, I don't know how it came out but at the least they had lots of legal fees. I can think of lots of hunting trips I would rather go on than give the money to a lawyer. It is real funny until something that stupid happens to you.
 
I found a dead hawk this fall, my pointer did acctualy and I wanted to take the almost clean skull home but didnt dare to. Same with the egle feathers I find on the coast, cool but I hear jail sucks /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Pretty bad when the hawks and owls have more rights then people. And who ever made it that way can kiss my @@@. Just look at the quail and rabbit population in the area of kansas im in. Then look in the sky and you see why im pissed about the subject.
 
Same here deerhunterjj.We used to have some of the best quail huntin around and now you cant hardly find quail anywhere.I think I saw maybe 2 coveys this year and there were maybe 8 birds in the whole bunch.The hawks are everywhere though. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
The rabbit population aint sufferin any I dont think.But the quail population shure is and Im pretty sure the hawks have alot to do with it.That and poor farming practices.There aint any cover for them so that makes it that much easier for the hawks to get em'.I went quail huntin once the year before last year and none at all this year.Aint no use in killin critters that there aint a whole lot of I dont think.
I might be wrong about the whole farming/hawk thing but thats why I think the quail population is way down where I live. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
I've been wrong before though....like twice I think. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
OKrattler same in my area with quail havent went quail hunting for 2 years now. I dont even hear then talking to each other. Pretty sad because i would love a mess of fried quail. One of my favorites. The rabbit population is just neal to none around here you see a few at night once in awhile when driving to town. I havent seen a phesant in 3 years. The bad thing is i hunt and trap to keep the predators numbers down and the yotes and cats are not all that thick on my place. So Im pretty sure there not cleaning out the quail and rabbits. And i do agree on the farming around here any way not near as many fields as there use to be in the area. But Its been that way for years and we still had three or four big coveys of quail. And a pretty good run of Rabbits. Even with no feed fields the is tons of grass seed here on the farm to eat. Im with you when you can look above and see at least one hawk most any time flying and most of the time three there is a problem. And i have seen as many as 6 several times flying above the house. When i was bird hunting I never took but maybe 10 to 15 birds a year from around the house here. And i have seen after a covey rise and the singles spread out a hawk come down and try to get a single more then once. So i know they are a good part of there diet. I know there is several people that are P.O as well but what can we do except shake are head. Hopefully one of these days the quail pop will be back like it was 10 15 years ago. Im going to buy a few hundred this year and try to get them going again. About all i can do. Poor ol britney is wondering why she hasnt hunted in the last few years. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif
 
Quail, rabbit, and other small animal and ground nesting birds are down because of coyotes, not hawks and owls.

Raptors don't eat enough food to make a difference in the game populations.

.
 
deerhunterjj-I know what you mean.We actually have a bunch of pheasants here though which kind of surpises me.We didnt have as many this year as we did last year but I think they hatched out a little late or somethin.I know exactly what you mean about the hawks though.Its nothin to see 2 or 3 flying above one field.There aint a shortage of them thats for sure.But about 2 years ago is when I started noticing our coyote population was alot better than it had been for a long time.Mange hit them pretty hard and for a long time it was rare to see one so CatShooter is probably right about the coyotes being rough on the rabbits and ground nesting birds too.But then again its the same thing here as you are noticing where you live.There are coyotes around but I cant say there is a ton of them by any means.
But when you think about it foxes,skunks,opossums,raccoons,coyotes,bobcats,hawks and even snakes are after those quail and their eggs all the time.There are a whole mess of those critters and only so many quail so it probably doesnt take long for them to hurt the population a little.And not to mention the weather which can mess up a quail population pretty fast too.If you have a drought all the little quail are gonna die before they even hatch more than likely.And that does'nt make the situation any better at all.Especially when you got a ton of them varmints I was talkin about earlier after the quail you have left. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif
I dont really know where Im going with all of this but I think that buying quail like your plannin on doing is a good idea.And maybe making or buying some of those deals for them to hide under might not be a bad idea.I cant remember what their called.Probably somethin real simple like "cover for quail" or something. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
Last edited:
Reading through all these posts I didn't see any mention of Fox. I don't know about back East but out here they are really hard on ground nesting birds. Not saying raptors are not a problem, they can be. I remember a few (maybe more)years back N.Y. city turned a bunch of Peregrin Falcons loose to try and control the pigeon population there. Don't know about the pigeon population there but I do know the Falcon population is up enough that biologists consider them re-established in the area. I'm with deerhunterjj--seems like if we can afford to chase coyotes around at all hours we ought to be able to afford a few quail and pheasant eggs.JMHO /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Lots of time we overlook many kinds of predators of the nesting birds and small game. Skunks , possums ,feral cats ,raccoons , mink ,weasels ect all take and deplete numbers of waterfowl , song birds ,as well as game birds and when some one sees an extra raptor or fox the blame goes to them. The fox ,bobcats , and coyotes also take their share of wild food so I don't think any one species of predator can single handed reduce another population of prey all by itself . SM
 
When I lived in Commiefornia the Feds would shoot red tail hawks with a shotgun that were killing and eating the ever so popular Commiefornia Lease Tern birds. I witnessed it first hand. The Lease tern is a ground nesting nothing of a bird really, that somehow was listed as endangered by some tree hugger. So I guess it all depends on what the Feds want to do themselves.
 
Raptors are protected.
Predator Masters has a zero tolerance policy for anyone who promotes, suggests or posts of committing illegal acts.
Zero Tolerance.

We are contacted from time to time by various Game Depts. who have received information about illegal activities being posted on our forums. In all cases we will cooperate fully with any investigation or request for information.

Use some common sense and represent this sport in the best light possible.
 
Quote:
I know of some people that put out "Squirrel poles" in there running pens, which consist of a ten foot high pole with a resting platform and a #2 coilspring that gets pulled to the ground when a "Squirrel" gets caught. See my emphasis on the word "Squirrel" /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif



Hope they get caught by the game warden someday, it will teach em a lesson /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif



Considering that all they need to prevent the problem is a large net over the pens I think I would call the game warden fast when I saw that.
 
Quote:
ever so popular Commiefornia Lease Tern



It is actually the

Interior least tern

So you don't support conservation of our wildlife resources? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif Or just the ones you care about?
 
It can be legal if you work with the DNR. Never an eagle. Great Horn owls are taken out often by state DNR's they did a lot of this when reintroducing peregrine falcons in areas. Hawks are taken out on certain farms with permits. You can not touch them once killed and must call the GW after you take them out and they will write up how many and how the only way you can take them out. So it can be legal.

Hammer
 
States cannot and do not issue permits for federally protected birds. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is the only ones who can issue these types permits.

Yes, they can, but they do only in extreme situations, and there is a lot of oversite and paperwork.

Even then, they are for relocation, and not lethal removal.

Depredation permit requirements
 
Last edited:
Raptors can and do make a difference in bird populations, at least in quail country. Studies have been done, not just anecdotal. However, it is not something anyone is going to do something about as it is too politically incorrect. Easier to just say "they are not a problem, just an occasional injured bird".
In many of the best quail lands, coyotes are not a recent development.
Here in Arkansas, the game & fish folks claim the coyotes don't really eat deer. The standard line is "we checked some scat back in the fall and there was no deer hair". That is a cop-out answer because they will never allow night hunting in this state (the most effective time to actually kill coyotes, not just call for them). They are afraid all the poachers will claim to be predator hunters. It is a cop-out because they are pretty much correct in the answer- no or very little deer hair in the fall. Now if you checked that scat in May or June, it would tell a different tale. Rather than deal with the real problem, look for a scapegoat. Government and government agencies do this on a regular basis. Look at the clowns now trying to spend our way out of the debt mess rather than deal with the real problem.
 
Quote:
Look at the clowns now trying to spend our way out of the debt mess rather than deal with the real problem.




Don't confuse legislators congressmen and other elected officials with goverment employees within the agencies.

 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top