Cool

[nalby]

so here I am looking out the window at 6:30 sat morning, I spy one of the 50 million chipmunks heading for my wifes garden, I run downstairs pick up my B26 load a pellet open the back door and spot the little fella sitting on top of a big rock,I line him up in my scope click off the safety start to squeeze the trigger when all of a sudden a red tailed hawk snatches him up and he is gone.

That had to be the coolest thing I ever saw though the scope. I missed the monk but I got a great show and I know that particular chipmunk won't be back.

[only1harry]

Wow, that's pretty cool!  I was fortunate enough to experience something very similar.

About 3 years ago I was watching a red tail hawk sitting on an apple tree 25yds from the main entrance of the building.  There were 3 of us including a security guard lady that came out for a smoke.  We were all saying how rare that is and that we 've never seen a hawk come that close to the main door and sit on a tree, when all of a sudden the hawk attacks something on the ground almost directly below her and we hear squealing!  She attacked a female cottontail that was grazing with her baby.  The baby rabbit was running around the hawk and its mom in circles not knowing what to do, while its mother was screaming and getting eaten by the hawk.  The Security guard woman started crying!  My friend and I were enjoying the show :-)  
The hawk was not bigger than the rabbit.  This was a good size cottontail and the hawk had some trouble subduing it but she had her claws on it pretty good and kept biting its neck & chest it seemed.  It took her a while to finally kill the rabbit (5+min.) while it was squealing the entire time and the baby rabbit was still in the vicinity not sure what to do.  There were some thick bushes near that apple tree and we 've seen the bunnies go in & out of there before which is probably where they lived.  We now had a small crowd and the women couldn't stomach it and the guard was all distraught and was crying the entire time and went back inside.  After the hawk fed for another 10min. she moved the rabbit farther away by flying just 1-2ft off the ground a few feet at a time with the rabbit in its claws, until it was about 40yds out on the lawn and started feeding again.  Clearly it couldn't fly off with this good size rabbit but just moved it where she felt safe from us.  That was something you don't see every day but we still see a pair of red-tail hawks hover over us almost every day.  There are still rabbits around, so the hawks continue hanging out here as long as there is a food source.

[Progun]

Jim, that is too cool. Certainly worth the price of admission. I had a similar experience a few weeks ago with the only groundhog I've shot this year.I was target shooting my R-9 and was looking at my target which was on a cardboard box sitting on the ground 25 or so yards away when a groundhog literally walked into the picture.I never saw him coming from the periphery.He just appeared at 12X right in front of my target.I figured it was a sign that I should shoot this groundhog. So I did.Ate him too.

[nalby]

Great stories guys isn't nature amazing. Sure brings new meaning to Survival of the fittest

[gamo2hammerli]

Saw something similar twice, both in the middle of a city street. Once when I was slightly stuck in a traffic jam....a hawk or falcon flew down a tried to grab a sparrow in mid-air. What first caught my attention was the scream/squeal of the sparrow. The sparrow was knocked down and tried to fly away....while the hawk circled around up and down and pecked at it.

The next one was when I andtraffic were waiting at a red light. A hawk/falcon flew down at a 2 o'clock angle and nailed a pigeon walking in the intersection. It was a crippling blow as the pigeon couldn't take off....it didn't die immediately though....the hawk had it's talons on it and started pecking at it. Feathers flew....lucky for the hawk, it's kill was in between the lanes so it continued pecking while we started to drive away. Don't know if the hawk picked it up and carried it away. The pigeon and hawk were about the same size.

Very interesting to see nature in action....especially live and not on t.v.

[spark22]

I have a redtail hawk that drinks out of a bird bath in my front yard I see him almost evey morning on my way out.There are atleast three of them in my area which are feeding on the squirrels,doves and rats in the area.Many times I have been shooting my disco and scared them off,but whats funny is the doves which my wife wont let me get are so used to the shooting just go about eating not more than 20yrds away without a care till one day one of those redtail dropped from the sky and got one of the fatter doves and I just sat still and watched him and thought that if my wife wont let me eat them well someone should ha ha ha.

[gamo2hammerli]

That's cool that you get to see a hawk (Or 3) everyday. Too bad the wife don't let you nail those doves for supper. Some WOMEN and some MEN....don't they know that the meat in groceries don't get prepared for them by magic!!!! Someone have to kill them.......

[shadow]

Their simply the supreme hunter, wish I had their eyesight but got to settle for a scope. Ed

[Progun]

Right on Stanley.Food doesn't come from the grocery store....that's just where you buy it.