Barred Owls Tear Up Bird Dogs?
- Thread starter huntnpack
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SD_Prairie_Goat
Well-known member
That's a wild thought, how would you go about trying to hunt them? Walk the woods like you do for grouse and hope to spot one in a tree roosting and shoot it?
First I've ever heard of this, but barred owls are pretty easily called in. I used to lead all kinds of birding tours for the Audubon Society including nighttime owl walks, and I called them in with recordings of other barred owls and with calls of other, smaller owl species that they prey on.
Off the top of my head if I wanted to be successful doing this I'd try to locate one the night before, then set up in relatively open woods (you'd want a little visibility), and start calling about 30 minutes before first light, and I'd just sit til dawn. They will either be really responsive and sound like a troop of monkeys or a shadow will fly in right on top of your head completely silently. Actually sounds pretty damn fun despite the fact that I might have some initial qualms about blasting an owl.
Off the top of my head if I wanted to be successful doing this I'd try to locate one the night before, then set up in relatively open woods (you'd want a little visibility), and start calling about 30 minutes before first light, and I'd just sit til dawn. They will either be really responsive and sound like a troop of monkeys or a shadow will fly in right on top of your head completely silently. Actually sounds pretty damn fun despite the fact that I might have some initial qualms about blasting an owl.
Bigjay73
Well-known member
You guys can have my tag, I'm not shooting an owl just to kill it
AlaskaHunter
Well-known member
We have been flushing lots of shorteared owls pheasant hunting here in Montana.
I think they migrate. In some fields it is not uncommon to flush 30-50 shortears which is a neat thing to see.
They nest here in the summer:
I also think the Microtine population is at a high cycle as I see them scurry with each step in some fields we hunt.
I think they migrate. In some fields it is not uncommon to flush 30-50 shortears which is a neat thing to see.
They nest here in the summer:
I also think the Microtine population is at a high cycle as I see them scurry with each step in some fields we hunt.
Islander
Well-known member
Imagine the grip and grin fuel for antihunters.
Hunting Wife
Well-known member
I’m not big on using hunters for this due to the optics. It’s not a game species and is otherwise protected- that’s a shitty spot to put hunters in. Why not have Wildlife Services do it? Or contract it out?
The headline is misleading. Landowners and land managers can apply for a permit to shoot the owls. It's not like anyone with a shotgun can just go out and buy an OTC owl tag. The big landowners in the Pacific Northwest, who have a vested interest in the recovery of the spotted owl, are big timber companies. So, it will be them contracting with "hunters" to shoot the Bard owls.
Now if they could just do the same thing with wild horses.
Now if they could just do the same thing with wild horses.
Bullshot
Well-known member
One question needing to answered before I’d support this…. Does barred owl taste like chicken?
I called a couple in as a kid. This is such an off the wall species I didn’t even consider calling them in.
I might be interested in trying one if the situation was right. If it’s legal, tying some flies etc with one could be interesting too.
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Sort of like hawk.
I've got 3-4 of them that reside in some cottonwoods in our neighborhood. I see them quite often around dusk, hear them, have called back and forth with them. I think it would be a hoot (
) to set up, call them in and roast a few. If it would be legal, I see no issue. Especially as they've negatively impacted native owls.
) to set up, call them in and roast a few. If it would be legal, I see no issue. Especially as they've negatively impacted native owls.
406LIFE
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AK has a snowy owl season...
FairWeather
Well-known member
I wouldn’t trust my owl ID to be good enough to confidently hunt them, but I’d sure try a piece if someone cooked one up!
Sheltowee
Well-known member
Lord save them from Uncle Randy if he figures out they taste like grouse.
BrentD
Well-known member
Not to mention, there is NO chance that hunters will shoot enough of them to matter, and like as not, a western spotted owl or other will get whacked by mistake. Besides, this is a natural range expansion of a native species. I have no problem with it.
It's amazing that humans think they can stop extinction. Probably closer to 100% of species that have inhabited out planet have become extinct than exist now.
I mean, we do our part to aid that, but....
BrentD
Well-known member
No, it's not amazing. But sometimes it happens that we can. It's pretty easy to point to many species where we have done exactly that. Or perhaps you would prefer to say that we have "forestalled extinction".
In the meantime, roughly 99.97% of all species that have ever existed have gone extinct. That's pretty week justification for just plowing a few more under.
This case is different, and perhaps it will lead to a natural extinction, perhaps not. In any event, it's a natural event, and for that reason, I think we can stand aside. But as with Emerald Ash Bore or any dozens of others, it's not that we shouldn't it's that we can't.
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