doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT -- ruthless

Nice catch Ted... even if it seems a bit "ruthless" to catch Mr. Know-it-all, BrentD contradicting himself once again. But if you keep questioning why BrentD keeps putting his foot in his mouth, he will shoot you, the messenger, and make even more calls for people to boycott and not support this site.

And how about this moment of biological brilliance:



Sorry BrentD, but if a member of some species kills a member of its' own species, but doesn't consume them, even partially, then it isn't cannibalism.

But none of this is surprising to me. I've noted in the past that BrentD (and his pal Larry) apparently accepts highly contradictory lethal blood lead levels in eagles in the junk scientific papers he clings to in support of lead ammunition bans. That's why I consider him to be an intellectual... and why I like the classic definition of an intellectual as being someone who is educated above and beyond his intelligence.

Ascribing things to evolution will always lead up the garden path & there is no correct analysis up there.
O.M

I'm fully content with the idea of raptors consuming rapters. Around my home, they are a pestilence in thick numbers. Guess how many ducks fly into your decoy spread when there are 3 bald eagles perched in a tree nearby. It can be very frustrating. They seem to be fearless too! I have had a red tail zip down and snatch a pheasant out of the grass 10 feet from me. Oh well...nothing much we can do I suppose.

I've seen various DNR reports commenting of finding headless dead turkeys, usually birds of the year. Theory is owl predation at night as the turkeys roost in the tree tops. Nothing else noted eaten but the heads. An acquaintance told me he went outside in our neighborhood to call in his tomcat and his presence surprised a Great Horned as it swooped down at his cat but missed it.

From experience with them over a lifetime of farming I can say this...........they are extremely strong fliers when carrying a prey animal, much stronger than the biggest red-tail hawk. I've seen a red-tail kill a rabbit in front of my corn combine, and it can barely get it off the ground enough to fly off from the combine. A big owl can take a full grown rabbit, or house cat, and fly off with it with ease, gaining altitude very quickly. Gonna be interesting later this morning to see if the dead one in my truck is a Great Horned, or some other specie.

I like having them around. I kinda like the wildness they represent. I wouldn't care if they killed every housecoat that prowls the hedgerows. But, we have to watch our little 6 lb. Yorkie carefully when he goes out. We almost always keep him on a leash. Too many things around here that would eat him.

SRH

Back in the late sixties and early 70's when I lived in New Jersey I used to hunt with friends at a place called Flatbrook, actually it was Big Flatbrook which was a nice trout stream, the surrounding fields were stocked with pheasants by the state. They used to stock them at twilight when you could not hunt. By shooting time the next day we would take the dogs and go after them, I remember more than once, the dog going on point and no bird would flush, the dog would go in and pick a pheasant up with no head. Some of the birds were still warm. I found out that owls would rather swallow the heads that any other part, more protein in them. Some one gave the Great Horned Owl a good name, Tiger of the Sky.

did ah evah tell youse bout mah trained grouse huntin owl named beto?

Yorkie, �it what�s for dinner�. That sounds like a real bad tv commercial. Poodle owners about ten mile from me have reported several dogs lost to coyotes. Seems the coyotes jump into the back yard, grab FeFe and are gone in a flash.

A friend has a game farm and he tells me Owls will kill his Pheasant in their covered flight pen. Seems they flush the birds and when the bird gets caught up in the netting, they then swoop down and bite the head off. He had several dead pheasant, without heads, found in the morning. He spent several nights watching the pen before he saw what caused it. It was a big owl. He did not say how he discouraged the owl. But over the years he�s had several repeats. Cost of doing business and if the bird is still a fresh kill he just dresses if out for use later.

More like educated to the point of stupidity.

I recall reading in Outdoor life eons ago that Owls were notorious for eating just the heads off squirrels...if they were plentiful.