Great Horned Owl

[gdr_11]

I have had a very large owl hanging around my place for a while. Every few minths he will show up and hang around one of the trees outside until I go out with a flashlight and/or pop off a round or two to maje him fly away. A couple of nights of this and he goes away for a couple of months, then returns.

Last night he came back and killed one of the small cottontails that live in my yard. I understand the whole rodent eating machine and circle of life thing, but it pissed me off to lose one of our wild rabbits. This time of year the hawks and owls focus on the migrating doves but for some reason the doves are few and far between so I guess anything is fair game.

Anyone have any tips on how to discourage the owl other than the light and the noise? My yard is well baited for rodents so I dont think there are a bunch of furry creatures attracting him. There are tons of large trees around and I often hear him 100 yds or more away, so its more a matter of just making my yard less attractive.

 

[Moonpie]

Cooked properly they taste much like whooping crane.
If overcooked they get stringy like bald eagle.
Low heat is the key.

 

[BuzzinSATX]

I have had a very large owl hanging around my place for a while. Every few minths he will show up and hang around one of the trees outside until I go out with a flashlight and/or pop off a round or two to maje him fly away. A couple of nights of this and he goes away for a couple of months, then returns.

Last night he came back and killed one of the small cottontails that live in my yard. I understand the whole rodent eating machine and circle of life thing, but it pissed me off to lose one of our wild rabbits. This time of year the hawks and owls focus on the migrating doves but for some reason the doves are few and far between so I guess anything is fair game.

Anyone have any tips on how to discourage the owl other than the light and the noise? My yard is well baited for rodents so I dont think there are a bunch of furry creatures attracting him. There are tons of large trees around and I often hear him 100 yds or more away, so its more a matter of just making my yard less attractive.

If you shot all the rabbits, the owl would probably go away.

 

[baboon]

I'd be happy to have a Great Horned Owl living on my property. Best friend of my brother rescued one & raised it. When he got a car he would bring it over with a Sheridan pellet rife & I'd take care of it. Birds of prey are just as cool as it gets!

 

[jordanmills]

I'd be happy to have a Great Horned Owl living on my property. Best friend of my brother rescued one & raised it. When he got a car he would bring it over with a Sheridan pellet rife & I'd take care of it. Birds of prey are just as cool as it gets!

Me too. They used to live in an oak tree in our yard, until a raccoon moved into their hole. Apparently the owls had been coming there for years, but they happened to get displaced by the coon the year after we moved in. It was sad, but we had to cut down that tree any way (it was dropping limbs on the garage and house, and eventually one was going to cause serious damage). But I'd love for them to move somewhere nearby. I miss them.

 

[gll]

I have had a very large owl hanging around my place for a while. Every few minths he will show up and hang around one of the trees outside until I go out with a flashlight and/or pop off a round or two to maje him fly away. A couple of nights of this and he goes away for a couple of months, then returns.

Last night he came back and killed one of the small cottontails that live in my yard. I understand the whole rodent eating machine and circle of life thing, but it pissed me off to lose one of our wild rabbits. This time of year the hawks and owls focus on the migrating doves but for some reason the doves are few and far between so I guess anything is fair game.

Anyone have any tips on how to discourage the owl other than the light and the noise? My yard is well baited for rodents so I dont think there are a bunch of furry creatures attracting him. There are tons of large trees around and I often hear him 100 yds or more away, so its more a matter of just making my yard less attractive.

You used to just have some scrawny cottontails... now, you have a owl! How cool is that?

 

[BuzzinSATX]

When I was stationed in Montana back in the 90's, I ran a river trapline just South of Great Falls. I had a cubby set had caught a rabbit, but all that was still in the trap were the rabbits two front legs and feet (not so lucky). Something had apparently chased the rabbit into the cubby and the rabbit hit the trap pan with both feet. Whatever caught it ripped it away from the trap, leaving just the legs. I reset the trap and had the two rabbit legs just inside the cubby to attract the critter back, that I thought was likely a coyote.

Next day, there was a 2 1/2 foot tall horned owl waiting for me, caught in the same trap. Getting that thing out of the trap while avoiding the talons and beak was pretty freaking scary! But I got it out.

That dang thing had a wingspan that had to be over 5 foot (at least it looked that big!)

 

[BRD@66]

Cooked properly they taste much like whooping crane.
If overcooked they get stringy like bald eagle.
Low heat is the key.

Harvested for future needs. Thank you Mr. Pie.

 

[gdr_11]

When I was stationed in Montana back in the 90's, I ran a river trapline just South of Great Falls. I had a cubby set had caught a rabbit, but all that was still in the trap were the rabbits two front legs and feet (not so lucky). Something had apparently chased the rabbit into the cubby and the rabbit hit the trap pan with both feet. Whatever caught it ripped it away from the trap, leaving just the legs. I reset the trap and had the two rabbit legs just inside the cubby to attract the critter back, that I thought was likely a coyote.

Next day, there was a 2 1/2 foot tall horned owl waiting for me, caught in the same trap. Getting that thing out of the trap while avoiding the talons and beak was pretty freaking scary! But I got it out.

That dang thing had a wingspan that had to be over 5 foot (at least to looked that big!)

I set up a rattlesnake control program at an Indian (feather, not dot) reservation a number of years back. Did vegetation control, rodent baiting and ground squirrel trapping as well as training the staff on how to catch any snakes with hooks and grabbers. It was a rural foothill location so there were tons of squirrels. Used Conibear traps with almonds for bait. Typical daily kill was 6-10 squirrels but half of them would be torn from the traps by big redtail hawks. Luckily none were ever caught in a trap.

 

[BuzzinSATX]

I set up a rattlesnake control program at an Indian (feather, not dot) reservation a number of years back. Did vegetation control, rodent baiting and ground squirrel trapping as well as training the staff on how to catch any snakes with hooks and grabbers. It was a rural foothill location so there were tons of squirrels. Used Conibear traps with almonds for bait. Typical daily kill was 6-10 squirrels but half of them would be torn from the traps by big redtail hawks. Luckily none were ever caught in a trap.

We were using #2 coil spring leg hold traps for these sets and primarily targeting red fox and bobcat. We were 50 yards from the Missouri River. There were lots of racoon, coyote, and badger in the area as well.

 

[Southpaw]

We have a few that come around November-January and then disappear. Their aren't many trees hear, but they sit on top of the peak of the house roofs and hoot back and forth. That would usually occur pretty late at night to early in the morning. This year, we started to hear them a bit earlier occasionally.

One night me and my daughter went out because it sounded rather close. We shut the light out and went out back and my daughter spotted it on the roof of our neighbors. It hooted once or twice and being so close it was neat to hear. Then all of a sudden it flapped it's wings and swoop down right over our heads. It must have have been within 5 feet above our heads when it passed over. We were thrilled, but the most amazing part of that was how silent it was as it passed by. I always heard that they were, but I never got to experience it first hand. It was pretty cool.

A few nights later I was sitting out on the back porch and heard a loud "knock" on the other side of our fence, I'm not sure what it was that made that sound, but within a few seconds of hearing it, from behind me came one of our owls gliding at the height of the fence tops after what ever it was. And once again silent as ever and gone as quick as he came.

 

[Darkpriest667]

I think Owls are really neat creatures. I have nothing else to add, but I really like them.

 

[popper]

I'll take Owl over rabbit anytime, not to eat, just have around.

 

[leVieux]

We have a couple great horned owl in our neighborhood, Interesting to watch. No problems so far. Sometimes perch in one of our taller trees to hunt. Our Lab is 90#+, so I don't think he'd be flown away by a bird. leVieux

 

[TreyG-20]

When I was 19 my GF had a rabbit out in the yard on my families property. We were sitting there BSing when a big owl came down and took off with it. Just heard a swoop and then a squeak and that was the end of that. She was devastated. I pretended to be, but I honestly thought it was awesome. I had warned her about the hawks out there. Forgot to mention the owls.

 

[rotor]

Owls are great until they take over a hunting blind to raise their young. You will never use that blind again.

 

[Haystack]

I had a mated pair of great horned owls on my property for several years. They are not here anymore. The most awesome site I ever saw was one gliding out of the darkness in my floodlight to snatch a rabbit without making a sound.

I like rabbit. They like rabbit. They were here before I was.

 

[Vaquero]

I love nature.

 

[DoubleDuty]

They are magnificent birds

 

[LabRat]

We set an Owl Box out in the trees in our backyard specifically to have an owl take up residence.
And a nesting pair have been in the Owl Box for about 2 weeks now. From the description, we think these are Eastern Screech Owls. The male is smaller and more grey/white. The female is larger and has more brown but with some grey and white as well.

We're glad they're here.

The rabbits are less numerous, blue jays avoid the yard like the plague and I've not seen a mouse/rat around the house since the owls moved it. I'm trying to figure out how to set up an owl-cam to keep an eye on them. They seem not to care about the wife and I. We just leave them alone. Pretty cool.