tightloop Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 (edited) As I was loading my groceries in my truck, I saw a broadtailed hawk swoop down and snatch a pigeon off the parking lot and fly away with his lunch... Nature has it right...if you don't want to be lunch, be on the lookout for hawks...goes for people too, not just pigeons. Edited December 18, 2007 by tightloop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisStock Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 heeheehee the world is short one less flying rat. If he runs out of fodder there, please feel free to send aforementioned hawk East...plenty of flying vermin for him to eat here if he's into gulls as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 We had a similar bird of prey nail something in the field in front of our house this summer. It was a big hard to tell (tall grasses) but it looked like it left off with a crow. I was out in the yard working and I had spied the bird of prey (don't know what it was). When I noticed him, I was probably taking a break and leaning on a shovel, he was waaaaay up in the air and well off of my location. Thirty seconds later, he was gathering up his lunch 30y away from me. Pretty cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted December 18, 2007 Author Share Posted December 18, 2007 We had a similar bird of prey nail something in the field in front of our house this summer. It was a big hard to tell (tall grasses) but it looked like it left off with a crow.I was out in the yard working and I had spied the bird of prey (don't know what it was). When I noticed him, I was probably taking a break and leaning on a shovel, he was waaaaay up in the air and well off of my location. Thirty seconds later, he was gathering up his lunch 30y away from me. Pretty cool. It it made off with a crow it had to be a pretty big raptor...but they are very cool.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 It certainly could have been something else. It was a black bird that was far bigger than I thought possible. I tried, but he wouldn't let me get a look. He made off to the trees with it. I was really amazed the he'd been waay over there just a moment before, then BAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichiganShootist Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 We have LOTS of eagles in my area. They are a thrill to see. You know it's a eagle when it soars so high and looks like it doesn't have a head. The white head disapears at those heights. This Summer one hit the surface ot the lake I live on during a busy Labor Day weekend grabbing a good size fish and taking it up into the blue. He (or she) seemed to be unphased by the water skiers and jet skis. A neighbor this past spring watched her Jack Russell get carried aloft from her back yard. The eagle took the poor yelping pup up to about 400 feet and dropped him. That's a favorite way to kill their prey and break up the bones at the same time. The owner got to the dog before the eagle did.... but it was far too late at that point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herky Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Last spring I saw a flash across my balcony window and then an explosion of feathers as a peregrine falcon took a dove in the middle of a stand of trees. Amazing display of aerial ballet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Nature has it right...if you don't want to be lunch, be on the lookout for hawks...goes for people too, not just pigeons. Pigeons are the equivilant of sheep ........... if you're not paying attention to the world around you, tommorow you could be someone's sweater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Even though we have a few raptors here, we're more densely populated out here in the prairie-type habitats by water birds. And ever since the dumber animals (humans) began to feed the loitering Canada Geese in the early 1990s, we now have literally (I kid you not) THOUSANDS upon zillions of these big fat losers overrunning our fields and generally getting in the way and eating up all the grass and every other vegetable item in sight. If someone wants to import a horde of large raptors into our area, then please DO. The goose pool needs thinning really badly. It has all the characteristics of the rabbits-in-Australia problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 One of my friends is a falconer. Watching his peregrine's was amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Keen Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 It has all the characteristics of the rabbits-in-Australia problem. And here, I thought the monkeys in India were a big deal. Who knew ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimmyZip Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 A guy named Vince that worked a job with me '99-2000 was a Falconer. He took me out hunting after work one day. I flushed some ducks out of an irrigation pond and his bird took the trailing drake right out of the air. Vince gave me the play-by-play the whole time. It was the most amazing thing I'd seen as far as birds of prey are concerned. Turns out Vince was a convicted felon early in his life but couldn't get hunting out of his system. Found another system is what he did. He let me keep the duck too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 A guy named Vince that worked a job with me '99-2000 was a Falconer. He took me out hunting after work one day. I flushed some ducks out of an irrigation pond and his bird took the trailing drake right out of the air. Vince gave me the play-by-play the whole time. It was the most amazing thing I'd seen as far as birds of prey are concerned. Turns out Vince was a convicted felon early in his life but couldn't get hunting out of his system. Found another system is what he did. He let me keep the duck too! Good for Vince, at least he was not holding up a liquior store... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrianH Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 I was on the Rogue River years ago and watched a falcon dive from about 200 ft. and pluck a steelhead like it was a toothpick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 (edited) I was on the Rogue River years ago and watched a falcon dive from about 200 ft. and pluck a steelhead like it was a toothpick. Watching raptors catch fish is very cool...the Bald Eagles are not much more than thieves though...when I watched them in Canada and Alaska the Ospreys did all the catching and the eagles did all the stealing and most of the eating... It is just as cool watching a Kestrel catch a grasshopper...they just have to have some prey they can handle... Edited December 19, 2007 by tightloop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flexmoney Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 There are some good videos on youtube. Eagle catching a deer, etc. Eagle vs. Cougar...doesn't go so well for the Eagle though. Heck, Grizzly vs. Cougar goes to the Cougar as well (momma protecting babies) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Payne Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 Got home from work at 0200 hrs. Pulling in the driveway I see a very large skunk in beams of my headlights. As I sat there thinking of how to remove the beast without leaving any aroma, a Great Horned Owl swooped into vision and snatched the skunk into the air. The skunk was the size of a large coon and the owl didn't even slow down its flight to pick it off the ground. Amazing power and athletic ability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 My wife set up a couple bird feeders and she attracted a flock of sparrows that number 60 or more. We live right off a wet land preserve and get some interesting wild life. We have seen red-tail and sparrow hawks and the occasional peregrine swoop in for a sparrow snack. The little birds sit in the bougainvillea which offers some protection. The aerobatics of the hawks are just amazing as they try to snatch the sparrows amoung those nasty thorns! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowhand Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 On opening day of our dove season this year I had an unforgettable experience involving a red tailed hawk. We were shooting doves at a pretty good clip. My friend was sitting in his wheel chair with his back against a tall wood line. I was beside him a short distance away. We had seen the hawk circling high up amidst all the shooting and commented on his lack of fear with doves dropping out of the sky regularly. About 15 minutes later I shot a dove that was going to hit the ground about 30 feet in front of us. Just before the dove hit the field we saw a big blur as the hawk snatched up the dove at the instant it hit the ground. Without missing a beat the hawk swooped up over the tree line and was gone. The experience left us speechless for a few moments unitil we looked at each other and both said "did you see that"? The speed at which the whole thing happened was such that it was hard to belive what we had seen. We both agreed that this was not the first opening day the hawk had observed. I had heard of hawks finding lost birds after a hunt. I guess this was too hungry to wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 On opening day of our dove season this year I had an unforgettableexperience involving a red tailed hawk. We were shooting doves at a pretty good clip. My friend was sitting in his wheel chair with his back against a tall wood line. I was beside him a short distance away. We had seen the hawk circling high up amidst all the shooting and commented on his lack of fear with doves dropping out of the sky regularly. About 15 minutes later I shot a dove that was going to hit the ground about 30 feet in front of us. Just before the dove hit the field we saw a big blur as the hawk snatched up the dove at the instant it hit the ground. Without missing a beat the hawk swooped up over the tree line and was gone. The experience left us speechless for a few moments unitil we looked at each other and both said "did you see that"? The speed at which the whole thing happened was such that it was hard to belive what we had seen. We both agreed that this was not the first opening day the hawk had observed. I had heard of hawks finding lost birds after a hunt. I guess this was too hungry to wait. did you count that one on your limit?....and yes, bet the hawk had seen Opening Day B4...my buddy tells the same story about eagles and duck hunting...eagle sitting in a dead tree, couple hundred yds from the pothole where they were shooting ducks...one of them pops a teal and just as it hits the water, zoom here comes the eagle and the teal is history... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AZ38super Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 During my 25 years straight of bowhunting in South Dakota before I moved to Arizona I got the chance to watch all kinds of birds of prey in action and it is a sight to see that is often hard to describe later. The best though was while sitting in a treestand bowhunting watching the whitetail approaching my way when all of a sudden a eagle lands off to my right in my tree about six feet away from me. They are huge and amazing that close up, not sure who freaked out more the bird or me. I got to see Bald Eagles 3 times in the wild close up but never had a camera to save the moment. Watching nature is what I miss most about not hunting anymore, maybe someday I will go again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tightloop Posted December 19, 2007 Author Share Posted December 19, 2007 During my 25 years straight of bowhunting in South Dakota before I moved to Arizona I got the chance to watch all kinds of birds of prey in action and it is a sight to see that is often hard to describe later.The best though was while sitting in a treestand bowhunting watching the whitetail approaching my way when all of a sudden a eagle lands off to my right in my tree about six feet away from me. They are huge and amazing that close up, not sure who freaked out more the bird or me. I got to see Bald Eagles 3 times in the wild close up but never had a camera to save the moment. Watching nature is what I miss most about not hunting anymore, maybe someday I will go again. Bet that was really fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slowhand Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 On opening day of our dove season this year I had an unforgettableexperience involving a red tailed hawk. We were shooting doves at a pretty good clip. My friend was sitting in his wheel chair with his back against a tall wood line. I was beside him a short distance away. We had seen the hawk circling high up amidst all the shooting and commented on his lack of fear with doves dropping out of the sky regularly. About 15 minutes later I shot a dove that was going to hit the ground about 30 feet in front of us. Just before the dove hit the field we saw a big blur as the hawk snatched up the dove at the instant it hit the ground. Without missing a beat the hawk swooped up over the tree line and was gone. The experience left us speechless for a few moments unitil we looked at each other and both said "did you see that"? The speed at which the whole thing happened was such that it was hard to belive what we had seen. We both agreed that this was not the first opening day the hawk had observed. I had heard of hawks finding lost birds after a hunt. I guess this was too hungry to wait. did you count that one on your limit?....and yes, bet the hawk had seen Opening Day B4...my buddy tells the same story about eagles and duck hunting...eagle sitting in a dead tree, couple hundred yds from the pothole where they were shooting ducks...one of them pops a teal and just as it hits the water, zoom here comes the eagle and the teal is history... Yes, a bird taken is a bird taken. There was a time that I would not have counted the dove against my limit. I am in that phase of hunting that I am enjoying the hunt and the shared experience as opposed to being driven to fill a limit. Same goes with my fishing. For several years now my fishing has been 99% catch and release. I am getting a great deal of enjoyment from getting my lifelong hunting and fishing partner back in the game after a motorcycle accident left him with the use of his right arm only. It has been a lot like starting over again at shooting, hunting and fishing. We rigged up a pistol rest on his chair, set up a blind and he took a deer during Thanksgiving weekend. We mounted a scope on a S&W .460 XVR and I zeroed it at 100 yards which turned out to be the range of his shot on the deer. The look on his face was unforgettable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now