Natural competition

[Robert Egler]

Yesterday I was squirrel hunting. Saw a big gray squirrel near the top of a large oak, but didn’t have clear shot. So I’m waiting for him to get to some more open area. He finally moves to a good position, and I raise my gun and aim. Just then I see this big brown thing in the air and at the same moment the squirrel dives into the tree with that “chuff chuff” alert sound. Red shouldered hawk JUST misses the squirrel. So I wait a bit, knowing that squirrels have a short memory, I figured he'd be back out in about 10 minutes. Apparently hawks also know that squirrels have a short memory, because the hawk is back at just the time I’m thinking the squirrel should be coming out soon. Flies around the tree once, and heads off again. So I said “OK, you can have that one, I’ll go find another.” Hope the hawk caught his dinner eventually :grin: .

 

[Trench]

Would have been something if he nabbed that squirrel right before you got your shot. :grin:

 

[BrownBear]

Cool stuff!

I've had gosshawks snag snowshoe hares I was stalking or jumped out of cover, and one memorable day one grabbed a snowshoe from in front of our beagles. The dogs were smart enough to stand back and bark, rather than contest it!

 

[Vaino]

A few years back while ruffed grouse hunting, 4 of us were "lined up" and were proceeding to some dogwood bushes {grouse love the white berries} and Gary shot and a few seconds later was running ahead of us and although it looked weird, we kept on going. Pretty soon Gary came back w/ a grouse in hand and related that when he knocked the grouse down, a horned owl swooped down and started to fly off w/ "his" grouse. The owl couldn't quite manage the load and w/ Gary baring down , dropped the grouse. We've also kicked Goshawks off of fresh grouse kills a few times, so these birds are for real. Never shot or attempted to shoot a bird of prey...they've also got to survive......Fred

 

[rabjr]

Yeah thats a cool sight. A couple of years ago I was deer hunting, sitting on top of my buggy. Everyday I would count 9 or more grey squirrels all around me....one even came down a tree next to me and jumped onto my roll cage and walked around it looking at me sitting there, crazy. I was thinking how lucky they were I didn't hunt them when a pair of Red Tailed Hawks moved in and I watched one pluck a squirrel off a branch, bring it to the ground and waited for it to stop moving before ripping into it. Pretty cool sight.