Squirrel and Hawk

[johndyoung]

On New Year's day I shot this squirrel. I shot him from my kitchen window. After I shot him, I put the window down, walked downstairs and out through the garage and into the back yard. When I got to where I could see the squirrel, there was a hawk with it's claws in the squirrel getting ready to fly away with it. I yelled and started running towards the squirrel and the hawk dropped it and flew away. It couldn't have been more than two minutes from the time I shot the squirrel until I was in the back yard to pick it up.

The next day we saw the hawk in our back yard most of the morning, sitting in different trees. I got a good picture of it from about 10 feet away.

John, it looks like the hawk has figured you to be a dead-eye shot, and hopes to reap a few meals when you're not lookin' ;~D

Seriously, it might be nice to have that hawk around if he doesn't deplete the nutter population so much you have nothing else to shoot. Otherwise, maybe he can keep the local mouse/rat population (if they're there) in check. BTW, nice shot on the nutter.

Bryan

[longislandhunter]

Great Pic,,,, that hawk certainly looks like he means "business".   :)

Jeff

[Splash]

About 2months ago, I had a nutter that would not move to give me a better shot, all I could see was the top of his head. After 10min of waiting, I decided to let it fly, either I miss, or clean kill. He was about 30ft up a pecan tree, when he started to fall and I realized why he wasn't moving, a Red Tail Hawk got him before he hit the ground. I thought the nutter was watching me, but he was watchin the better of the 2 hunters that day.

Mike

[Jaymo]

Nice shot,what did you shoot it with?

[shadow]

Hunter VS Hunter hehehe, great shot and you almost saved him some leg work ;) Great pic's, thank's for sharing. Ed

[johndyoung]

I shot it with a Benjamin 392 that has a steriod tune from Mac1.

Hi, I'm a new gateway member. The picture is my current "retriever" for the past month. Well, I have had the damage of nutters invading my attic for 16 years. Seems that suburban nutters born in attics have a real reluctance to return to drey life in a tree in winter, always get back in attic.  I started varmint hunting as a control measure with a pumpmaster 760 with scope or even iron sites and only took head shots at < 15 yards for a long while. The plop of the .177 , collapse and thump on the ground was a growing sense of relief rather that hearing the nutter running and dragging stuff while I tried to sleep in the room below. The pumper was effective for years (as many as 70+ over the years ). I'm very patient to sight in the air gun frequently and when hunting, place and follow on the single shot. Its been effective even with the cheap starter airgun. A month ago  I moved on to a stock Gamo 850 breakbarrel with the 4x32 BSA scope. Well, I did not like the Gamo Hunter ammo I got with it during sighting  and changed to Crosman Premier HP. Ramped the scope on back mount and walked shots to 3/8" group at 10M (on cross hair), 1/2"group @ 20 M (heldover 1/2 of thin cross hair) & 1/2" group 30M (on cross hair again). I popped a nutter with neck shot at 33yds and up 15 ft in the crotch of a limp. .177 in this Gamo 850 carbine is hitting sufficiently hard impact. The tree rat stun jumped up, dropped, grabbed the limb with 1 front paw, hung for 1 second. released and dropped dead on the ground. I'm sure you recognize this scenario. Oh, I've never seen when the hawk collects the quarry but all the nutters get gone. The hawk is a regular perch neighbor around my house.

Here the the retreiver! My original images must have been to large to submit with the message.

[shadow]

Welcome to GTA Jeff and fantastic pic's of your hunting buddy too. :) Feel free to ask question's and or give advice, were all family around here. We look forward to hearing more of your hunting adventures in our Hunting Gate. Ed

[tat2dman]

And pictures are always welcome here!Love them sparrow hawks?We hav`em here and a lot of big Red Tails...I may have even let him have the squirrell

[longislandhunter]

Welcome Jeff,,, absolutely beautiful pics of that hawk.   Looking forward to your future posts,,, especially the hunting ones  :)

Jeff

[BPHurney]

Hey guys,

Funny story about "them thievin hawks". This event occured about 14 years ago on the central coast of CA. while I was in college. I was hunting a BLM areaif I remember correctly. It was a beautiful day in Nov. I think,I was hunting the majestic California quail---yes the blue/gray ones with the black plume on their heads. It'd been a longday--they were running a lot more often than flying!!I was about 6 birds into my limit when I noticed this red-tailed hawk in a nearby tree--staring direclty at me. Cool, I thought--nice looking bird. The funny thing was--after I had passed him and walked 1/4 mile into another canyon---he seemed to follow me?!! He flew into the canyon I was hunting and alit at the top of a nearby oak(50 yds. away or so). I quickly forgot him and went back to searching for my quarry. Then fwututfwutfwutufwutuuttutut!!!!!!!!!!!--themachine gun rapid sound of quail wings beating their way to the sky--for those of you that have hunted and flushed a covey of california quail--you know exactly what I'm talking about--the sound seems to erupt with a staccato burst--your heart races and your stomach hits your throat with excitement. The Rugero/u 20 ga. flew to my shoulder,quick sight 15 yds. away,swing, followthrough----blam!! Aquail down.ThenIdrop the bead onanother bird making a swirling getaway--35 yds. outfollow through, lead---blam!!! Yes!! second bird down. As I walk up to retrieve my first bird I see a quickly moving shadow flying along the ground. I look up and 25 yds. ahead of me---- woosh!!Thehawk dives to the ground,and in one swoop, talons out, snares my quail and takes off upward!! I run yelling and shouting---"hey drop that bird!!!" To no avail, the hawk continues on his route---I watch him disappear over the canyon's crest--chuckle to myself and think--"man, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen while hunting---talk about gutsy, he robbed me of my catch only 25 yds.away".Oh well, there are more birds out there for me--so off I go to resume my hunt---with a smile on my face.

Bret (furtrap)

[davee1]

I have witnessed this behavior from Hawks many times. Most of the ground squirrels that I shootare 75~100 yrds away using my Diana 350M .22 and distances have been verified by my new laser rangefinder, a Bushnell Yardage Pro 450. Anyway, there's been plenty of times where the wounded get pounced on by RedTails, and also the one shot one kill types. The Redtails come out of the sky from far away, because I didn't see them in the trees, or in the sky either. They hit the squirrels within seconds or minutes, sometimes before I can get off a followup shot, because all of a sudden a redtail fills up my scope, and I would never shoot one of them. The funny thing is...I've never seen a RedTail take a live unwounded squirrel on this particular hill. I've seen them take live squirrels before in other areas, but not on "my hill". And if the Hawks don't take em, then the Buzzards and/or coyotes will. I won't shoot a Buzzard, but I sure as hell take the shot on a coyote. And believe it or not...the Buzzards are the only ones that will feed on skunks that have been taken out. Also, the RedTails eat on the ground on my hill as opposed to carrying them off.

[Gene_SC]

And I have been noticing a very very large white owl trolling back and fourth in back of my place. He has a very large wing span. First time I noticed him I thought it was plain going over because of the shadow that went across the field outside of my property. I would say he was maybe 50 ft in the air. I watched as he flew back and fourth a few times and dove into the deep brush a couple times in an hour.. He always had something hanging from his beak or mouth..:) when he would fly back up into the thick of the tree line. I hope they do not attack small dogs..:) Gene