Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Owels on my trap line......

Owls can really surprise someone using a hand held predator call at night while out in the boonies.

Good thing I was wearing a hat.

That top one is a great grey owl in your picture FG.

It was a momma with 3 young.

Bobcat......

I don't need Barn Owl boxes......I have two giant nests about 100yrds from my bedroom window....they wake me up once in awhile but I'd still rather have em around than not....

Take care buddy....

FG, wondering if your little owl isn't a Saw-whet? Can't really tell from your pics, but sure looks like one. They are human friendly and will land close to you, they seem to be curious more than anything. Have had them land close while deer hunting, neat to experience.

That's not the first time I've heard that story......to hell with a hat....I'd wear a helmet....

Cool that you already have owls around the place.

I've got some GHO (Great Horned Owls for those not familiar with the abbreviation) that nest across the river every year. Had one maybe two?) of their fledglings hanging around the residences when I left this past fall, always yacking for mom and dad to bring him something I think.

Small owls and a barn owl have been seen in the "hood too, along with some short eared every spring/summer.

As long as they are eating mice/rats/gophers, I'm happy.

Hope the trapping picks up a bit for you soon.

Geno

PS, the less those traps catch, the more time you have for other things besides skinning and stretching!

Absolutely ... a helmet.

Father-in-law was goofin' around one Sunday after noon with buddies, climbed a tree next to an owl nest to check it out, buddies on the ground yell, "Watch out Norm, she's coming!" He had on a cap and looked up just in time to get clawed in both eyes, lost one and nearly lost both. Was 18 at the time, lived to be 91 with only one eye.

Very well could be......I just googled em and this one certainly looks like the pix.....it also says they roost/hunt from low hanging limbs and tolerate humans (like you said) which this guy does.....either way I sure hope he/she hangs around......

Edit......the site I looked at also said the Saw-Whet Owl will nest in boxes but they seldom nest in the same place twice......a lot of work if the little ingrate isn't gonna stick around......I'll do it anyway though....

It's always neat to see them out and about.

Anyone know why the Mexican people are so superstitious about owls?
I burned a barn once, and almost lost my crew when a Great Horned flew out!
I'd like to know the story.

The summer of '95 was a high lemming year around Barrow. For as far as one could see out across the tundra (miles), there were nesting snowy owls, a nest every 100 yards or less, pretty evenly spaced.

They did not like my 100 lb. Lab and would dive bomb him - from behind of course. One day one came in over my shoulder- literally. Its wing tip silently brushed my cheek. but it's clenched talons made a resounding thump on the dogs ribs, 20 feet in front of me. The dog yelped and jumped around to see why I'd pelted him. He never saw the owl coming or going. I don't think he believed me when I told him I didn't do it!

The best picture I never got was one of the owls sitting up on the tripod thingy sticking out the middle of a big antennae at the White Alice site. I thought: "Man - that thing really knows how to listen for lemmings!"

I used to hunt CRP fields for deer, walking to a large rock pile in the dark to glass with binoculars.

I guess a soft fuzzy blaze orange stocking cap looks like a rabbit or something in the dark to a short-eared owl. But I do know it's scary as all get out when two of them start diving you trying to eat your hat.

I also know that it is freaky when you stand on top of a rock pile, get as big as you can be, take off your hat and wave it all at them, and they simply flutter 10 feet away staring at you, waiting for another chance to dive and eat.

I did not get a deer that day!

Same reason the old folks didn't like em. Owl was the harbinger of death. I'll tell you the story as it was told to me next time we meet!

Birds have color vision.
Probably better than ours.

Brown is a shade of orange.

Orange is red and yellow.
To shade a color you add a little black.
To tint it, you add a little white.

Brown is orange...
With a little bit of black mixed in.
Birds probably see brown as orange where we see only brown.

Bright orange hat looks like food to him just like a brown deer looks like food to us.

Growing up there was a big hollowed out maple tree about 30' from my bedroom window. There were always Screech Owls in that tree. I grew fond of owls from an early age. As a turkey hunter in the Missouri Ozark's the Barred Owl is a big talker on a misty spring morning. Fires the gobblers right up. The owl says "who cooks for you, who cooks for you alllllll" and the gobblers ring out across the ridges. Love it! What I don't enjoy is hand calling coyotes and getting buzzed by a Great Horned Owl. I've had a couple close shaves, kinda nerve wracking when it happens.

Most people would be surprised at the population of owls in their
area because they never see them. I have heard that a great horned owl will kill and eat a skunk, that is something I would like to see.

Seen, heard, and encountered a lot of owls.

Some of my best memories were seeing the Great Horned Owls during elk camps.

Thanks you for the post OP!

Yep, old folks, Mexicans, other "old World" cultures, and some of the Native Americans I've had as friends and coworkers.

A person with an owl as a totem is looked upon as having to be very strong in some cultures, ....... and a person to be wary of.

Geno

When I was an enterprising young lad I used to go out at night and pick worms to sell to the fishermen. We always had owls around the yard. Our area of Ohio had a lot of beech trees, which always had lots of hollow spots making great nesting cavities. We had a vapor light in the yard that came on at dusk every night, and the little screech owls worked the perimeter of the light's shadow picking off bugs. We used to sit out there in the lawn chairs and watch them coming out for the night shift.

It didn't take them long to figure out that my flashlight attracted bugs, and before long, I got buzzed for the firs time. It's a little unnerving for the first time when one of those little brown missiles comes between you and the ground picking bugs out of your light as your bent over picking worms. I must have jumped about a foot! Needless to say I set a new world's speed record running for the back door of the house. As time went on, I got used to seeing them out there. They'd land right above me in the trees and pick their spots to launch their attacks. They never struck me but sure came close a couple times.

We have screechers in the pine trees in our back yard every year now, and a pair of big owls nesting in the woods at the end of our street every late winter. I hear them calling to each other down there all the time when I'm leaving early for work. Saw a big bird soaring into the tall trees down there one morning. I think they're barn owls, but the could be some other owl, I guess.