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Peregrines after my pigeons!

4K views 30 replies 16 participants last post by  Sqrlhntr 
#1 ·
I had a great show today over my head. I released my 16 pigeons for a little exercise today and shortly after their release I was amazed to see a peregrine tail chasing one of them. The pigeons were doing a good job of evading the bird until her boyfriend showed up and grabbed one of my pigeons. The pigeon broke loose and hid at the neighbor's house. He looks ok but I'm letting him chill out for a while. The peregrines came back three times and as far as I know never scored a kill. During the last attack a cooper hawk joined in so for a while I think the pigeons are confined to the coup!
 
#5 ·
About 10 years ago I was duck hunting in southern MD with a friend. We had about two dozen hand made cork wigeon and pintail decoys out in front of us. While we were enjying looking out over the decoys into the bay a Perigrin made a pass at the closest pintail decoy to us, about 3 feet over its head. That was really something to see. I suspect he was trying to flush the birds so he could pick one out of the air.
 
#6 ·
Update: One pigeon never came home last night and this morning I had a cooper hawk come through the one way door and eat one of my pigeons. Now that all the survivors are in, the place is on lock down for a while.
 
#12 ·
Just read that the record price of one racing pigeon was over 300.000 . That's a lot of money. Racing pigeons saved many of our men during past wars and the birds were decorated heroes. Today our government lets them be killed by raptors. I guess it would be hard to evesdrop on a pigeon sent message. Of course our leader did let Snowden take 4 laptops to Russia, guess we live in different times.
 
#13 ·
A few years ago I talked to a guy who ran a hunting preserve and raised his own birds and he said he was permitted to shoot hawks because of his operation.
He also trapped umpteen numbers of feral cats for a few years.


http://icwdm.org/handbook/birds/HawksOwls.asp
"Permittees may kill hawks or owls only with a shotgun not larger than 10-gauge, fired from the shoulder and only within the area described by the permit. Permittees may not use blinds or other means of concealment, or decoys or calls that are used to lure birds within gun range. Exceptions to the above must be specifically authorized by USFWS. All hawks or owls that are killed must be turned over to USFWS personnel or their representatives for disposal."
 
#14 ·
cmrosko, what do you think the chances of obtaining a permit would be?

I bet a snowball has a better chance in [censored]!!!!!

Just sayin.

I understand, probably 25 plus years ago, the PGC was using traps, with padded jaws, on a pole around their pheasant pens at the southeastern game farm and the feds made them remove the traps.
 
#16 ·
The biggest problem I have with hawk shooting is identification. While there are tons of redtail hawks, Birds like the goshawk and peregrine are very few. The peregrine is listed as endangered and the goshawk is being considered here in PA. While some hunters may be qualified to tell the difference, most are not and the result could be the loss of some very special birds. I think habitat improvement is the best way to handle the problem. We still have way of controlling the ground predators with additional methods. I like the scare crow idea for protecting certain areas from hawks.
 
#18 ·
Lynn, those permits are species specific, they also state the number of birds allowed to be killed. They are not blanket permits and there are hoops to be gone through a permit is issued, such as trying deterrents first.
 
#19 ·
Good to know. Don't know who answered the goshawk question above but it doesn't apply to PA. Goshawks in the northern forest migrate in cycles like the snowy owl and we can have invasion years during the winter which is related to food. PA's resident goshawks are a different situation. They like deep forest and tend to be aggressive around their nest. Not a lot of nesting locations and spring gobbler hunting may result in eliminating some birds due to the aggressive behavior.
 
#21 ·
Re: Chasing Hawks From pigeons Coop

Lynnappelman said:
The biggest problem I have with hawk shooting is identification. While there are tons of redtail hawks, Birds like the goshawk and peregrine are very few. The peregrine is listed as endangered and the goshawk is being considered here in PA. While some hunters may be qualified to tell the difference, most are not and the result could be the loss of some very special birds. I think habitat improvement is the best way to handle the problem. We still have way of controlling the ground predators with additional methods. I like the scare crow idea for protecting certain areas from hawks.
I have been birding over 30 yrs and sometimes still have trouble identifying a Goshawk and a female Cooper`s Hawk , I can imagine most people could`nt tell them apart.
 
#22 ·
Re: Chasing Hawks From pigeons Coop

Huntered said:
Lynnappelman said:
The biggest problem I have with hawk shooting is identification. While there are tons of redtail hawks, Birds like the goshawk and peregrine are very few. The peregrine is listed as endangered and the goshawk is being considered here in PA. While some hunters may be qualified to tell the difference, most are not and the result could be the loss of some very special birds. I think habitat improvement is the best way to handle the problem. We still have way of controlling the ground predators with additional methods. I like the scare crow idea for protecting certain areas from hawks.
I have been birding over 30 yrs and sometimes still have trouble identifying a Goshawk and a female Cooper`s Hawk , I can imagine most people could`nt tell them apart.
But yet somehow duck hunters figure out how to identify the difference between hen mallards & black ducks......... redheads & canvasbacks..........
 
#24 ·
Re: Chasing Hawks From pigeons Coop

Dean Conklin said:
Lynn, realizing that you recently had a visit from a hawk, what method(s) are you going to use to deter hawks from frequenting the area near your pigeon coop?
My plan is to leave them in the coop till the spring migration moves out. That will be a month or so and they aren't going to like it but better mad than dead
 
#25 ·
Re: Chasing Hawks From pigeons Coop

Strut10 said:
Huntered said:
Lynnappelman said:
The biggest problem I have with hawk shooting is identification. While there are tons of redtail hawks, Birds like the goshawk and peregrine are very few. The peregrine is listed as endangered and the goshawk is being considered here in PA. While some hunters may be qualified to tell the difference, most are not and the result could be the loss of some very special birds. I think habitat improvement is the best way to handle the problem. We still have way of controlling the ground predators with additional methods. I like the scare crow idea for protecting certain areas from hawks.
I have been birding over 30 yrs and sometimes still have trouble identifying a Goshawk and a female Cooper`s Hawk , I can imagine most people could`nt tell them apart.
But yet somehow duck hunters figure out how to identify the difference between hen mallards & black ducks......... redheads & canvasbacks..........
Do they or do they sort it out after the shot or just shoot drakes after you get a black duck? The accipiters like sharp shins, Cooper and Goshawk all overlap in size and first year birds being all brown are very difficult to tell apart. Even for duck hunters
 
#26 ·
Strut10 said:
Freepistol said:
Run2Catch said:
Maybe plant switchgrass around your pigeon coupe?
Now that is funny!!!
I don't care who ya are. That's FUNNY right there !!!!
Unless you're a 4 year old, it really wasn't that funny the first time.
 
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