Attempted Robbery - couple of pics

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Derek Z

Well-known member
This owl tried very hard to steal a crippled woodduck from me this morning. I downed a pair of woodies and went to pick up a cripple in a big bunch of tules and had to contend with this character. He was chasing the bird as I was and had no fear of me. I though at first he must be a cripple as he was hopping from tule to tule in pursuit of the duck. We were within feet of each other. He finally flew off when lunch wasn’t presented.

This is a very colorful California Woodie – we don’t typically get this vibrant of colors, IMO the eastern woodies have much more color from what I have seen.
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Wow those are some nice pictures. Bet that was a shock to see that owl in hot pursuit of your duck.
 
That is cool. It isn't often that a Barn Owl is seen that close and during the day.

Tim
 
Just kidding, this year, Blake got his first scare from a huge old owl. We were sitting in the boat watching for shooting stars and sattelites when it swooped right over us. He screamed "HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS THAT?" and I about fell out of the boat laughing. Neet pics.
 
looks like a CHARGE to me.....

Me? I'dda let him bind on to the duck and then take some really good pictures of it......

Steve
 
I was hunting in Ocean City NJ this past Saturday. While we were setting out the diver decoys a flock of about 20 to 25 brant flew about 15 yards over our heads. I turned to watch them fly down the creek and saw one of the brant fall and hit the water as if it were shot. I turned and said to my dad and nephew look at the brant it just fell from the flock, as I was saying it a hawk swooped over our boat and went down and hit the brant in the head on the water. It circled two more times once to hit it again on the water and once to pick it up and fly off with the brant....a hawk took a brant out of a flock flying and then carried it off the haek didn't look like it was that much bigger than the brant...it was one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed while hunting. Dave
 
Very cool pics. If the owl would have stollen your duck, would that count towards your limit.. hmmmmmmmm?
 
That's awsome...A couple of years back I knocked a teal down in a local ricefield on the Cooper River and a bald eagle swooped in stole it almost as quick as it hit the water. I was mad at first, but after thinking about what I had just witnessed i just thought it was pretty cool...
 
A big owl like that came silently out of the woods one evening as I stood out on the deck and made a low level pass at our cat...now at the time Morris (my kids named him) was in top shape and owned that back yard. Total control over the rabbits, musckrats and even won a 3 round KO with a very large woodchuck (that cost me 200 bucks at the vet). I had just enough time to say "Oh oh Morris...trouble" when the cat flattens and rolls to one side. All I could do was laugh and yell "Impressive defense Morris!!"

I always wondered what would have happened if that owl would have got some claws into him without a killing stroke. He was a tough old cat. Probably would have been about 30 feet up about the time Morris split him from beak to butthole.
 
which is probably what the one that made the run on Morris was, are the bad asses of the Owl World.......

Morris might have been a tough hombre but my money would have been on the Owl.....any animal that can regularly take prey species like Skunks, Raccoons, and other Owls is holding the face cards in cat enounters IMO and if he had laid his hooks into old Morris I believe thatt very quickly you would have been hearing......

DOWN GOES FRAZIER!!!!

Now I might take the Cat if I got "odds" and it was one of those Maine Coon Cats like Shady posted but a regular cat???....

Steve

(The opinions stated above in no way indicate that the writer DOES NOT believe in Santa Claus or BullFrogs carrying television sets)...
 
We determined later (at least we think) that it was a Great Horned owl. A big mutha too! I found a nest back there later and it was big enough to sit in if I could find my way up there.

As for the potential winner of the match, in Morris' case, I'm a homer and would have backed the cat if the owl didn't deliver a quick kill fast because he was just a stud back then but hey, his defense and "cat-like" reflexes" saved him that day.

We also have a barred owl pair out there that we listen to in the summer as they fly around calling each other. I always say the lower tone call is the male and the higher tone is the female, but who knows. They are cool to hear though...I hope their presence says something positive about the relative health of the land hereabout.

Having a wooded lot like this one in Michigan is like owning a zoo...I love it.
 
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Often I lose the battle though.

Hitch
 
Hitch - The day that they get wings and start flying -i'd hang it up. I have no worries, here in CA we have Kevin Layne and he is the resident evil killer.. bwhahahaha

Neat picture Hitch and cool stories everyone. I think hunters are a large contributer to a bird of preys diet.
 
A buddy and and I were hoping for some pass shooting on a river bank one day. A flock of quail came buzzing out of the brush with a hawk close behind. One of the quail landed in the water, the hawk hovered a moment above it and flew off. The quail swam to the far bank, and ran up into the brush. My buddy and I looked at each other with the same dumbfounded looks on our face. We didn't get any ducks, but an unforgetable day.
 
We had a big Red-Tailed hawk try to get a grip of one of our GHG Blackduck decoys last week. He came in just over the phrags and swooped on it. His tallons hitting that cold plastic sounded like a gun shot!
 
That's pretty cool.

I was hunting a local woodrow spot one morning and I crippled a drake and off he flew into the flooded woods. I knew more or less where he was cuz he kept calling. I went back there and found a spot to wait...he was headed towards me. I was not the only one who had marked that wounded calling woodrow. Not more than ten feet from me out steps a huge bobcat! I was down wind and very still while he was sniffing and searching. The woodrow still kept getting closer until I think it was close enough to see the bobcat b/c it suddenly got very quiet and the bobcat stalked off into the woods. A minute or so later here it comes...and there it goes off into the woods with my woodrow. I ended up finally spooking it when it laid eyes on me and the tree trunk or whatever it thought I might be, made eye contact.

I wished I'd had the camera that day...
 

True story:

About 20 years ago on a Friday afternoon north of Richvale Ca., while driving to Chico after a days hunt we got stuck in a hailstorm. Not your typical California hail storm, but something the size of Texas lore, smaller than a golf balls, but almost that big.

Not knowing what to do, I immediately looked for some type of cover, an old barn, tree anything, nothing could be found.

We decide to push on to Chico to try to beat the storm. As we are racing north we look to the skies and see a huge flight of snow geese that are getting the crap beat out of them by the hail. I kid you not, it starts raining snow geese, these things just start falling out of the sky, 5 snow geese, just drop in the rice fields to our right on the road. We jump out of the truck, run out in the field to see and yep all 5 are dead.

Not having our limit of geese, it was (3) snows each back then, we pick up the geese, jump back in the truck and head to town for dinner at my buddies.

I kid you not, this happened and it wasn't until I read this thread that I remembered.

Thanks,


Steve
 
Had a goose last season do the locked wing death glide. He slid to a stop about 200 yards out. I called off the pup when I noticed a bald eagle on an intercepting course with her and the dead honker. The hungry eagle finished up his breakfast in about 30 minutes and flew off. I sent the pup out to retrieve the the remains. The considerate raptor never touched the breast, only the inards and one thigh
K
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OK....no pic. I'll work on it

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Sanch-
I dare say this weekend when we are on the bay, if you even try to convince me that tule thistles blowing in the wind can be deadly, you go for a swim. I expect to hear that story face to face so i can watch you tell it. Very cool story.
D-
 
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