Possible new hunting opportunity

[Tlock]

When out hunting it is fairly common to see Barred owls out , even during daylight hours.
At night when in camp they are very vocal.

I also agree with post #2...where is the consistency here ...?
In any event...If an invasive species were to be opened up for hunting....
How 'bout the Eastern Fox squirrel...they are all place here...and at least you can eat 'em...unlike owls...

Mucking around with nature and how she wants to do things...
Ain't the best of ideas....ain't y'all watched any science fiction or disaster movies...
Andy

It will end up costing the tax payers a pile of money. There are already talks about having government agencies handle the culling

 

[wombatz]

Just to be clear on one thing here, this is not going to push the barred owl toward extinction.

By a basic view of natural selection the barred owl is clearly just doing what every species does. The big question is if we should intervene due to our role in the near extinction of the spotted owl. I am not offering an opinion on this, just wanted to clear up that one point.

 

[JRuby]

Should white tail deer moving into the mule deer range be considered an invasive species?

 

[Koda]

Why do they call the barred owl invasive when they expanded their range on their own naturally?

 

[Tlock]

Why do they call the barred owl invasive when they expanded their range on their own naturally?

Cause they are idiots! Nutria are a perfect example of a real invasive species. Yet the do nothing about them here in oregon while they do millions of dollars in property damage each year

 

[Tlock]

Starlings are another great example.....100 birds brought here in the late 1800's. They also cause millions of dollars in damage each year. In my opinion wolves fall into the same category....

 

[Val1884]

Politicians are an invasive species too..when's that season start?

 

[orygun]

Starlings are another great example.....100 birds brought here in the late 1800's. They also cause millions of dollars in damage each year. In my opinion wolves fall into the same category....

Sky rats!

 

[Tlock]

I refer to them as little dollar bills in the sky. Feral rock dove too! I've fed my kids off those 2 for 20 years

 

[gmerkt]

Going for the elimination of 500K barred owls may be actually hasten the decline of the spotted owl. Because many spotted owls may be shot in the process, mistaken for those intended for eradication. It's an owl, therefore a shot is taken.

OK - I understand they are not 'native' and the concept of being 'invasive' but wouldn't it be an example of 'natural selection' if they were to outnumber other species and become dominant?

Kinda like Europeans displacing "First Nation" American Indians. Some of these things have been going on for a long time and just can't be undone.

 

[Tlock]

Going for the elimination of 500K barred owls may be actually hasten the decline of the spotted owl. Because many spotted owls may be shot in the process, mistaken for those intended for eradication. It's an owl, therefore a shot is taken.


Kinda like Europeans displacing "First Nation" American Indians. Some of these things have been going on for a long time and just can't be undone.

That's why there are serious talks about goverment agents doing the culling

 

[gmerkt]

That's why there are serious talks about goverment agents doing the culling

I feel better about this already. The government "agents" may consider resorting to the black helicopter and machine gun method to cull the unwanted owls. They can do the feral horses, burros and owls all at the same time. Thereby saving the government money.

 

[Rem700..300]

Had a Barred owl hit a window at work. Held it for a while and petted it for a while until it got its wits back then it flew off. Really cool animal.

 

[orygun]

That is really cool.

 

[Tlock]

I feel better about this already. The government "agents" may consider resorting to the black helicopter and machine gun method to cull the unwanted owls. They can do the feral horses, burros and owls all at the same time. Thereby saving the government money.

No we are more subtle and professional than that

 

[gmerkt]

Had a Barred owl hit a window at work. Held it for a while and petted it for a while until it got its wits back then it flew off. Really cool animal.

Some years ago, there was a young merlin (a kind of falcon) circling around my house. It got confused by reflected light off of a window and flew into the glass. He dropped to the ground, stunned. He was sitting on the ground not moving. By the time I got downstairs to take a closer look, he was up and gone.

 

[Mono1]

If you take away all the fur and feathers.... here ya go! Barred owl. Bon apatite.

View attachment 1777352

 

[Koda]

"they hired an ethicist to help work through the moral issues of killing one species to save another."

like $500K tax dollars later...

"When we're talking about the likely extinction of a species, however unpalatable and uncomfortable the conversation is of lethal removal of another species," Lee said, "people generally accept that this is sometimes necessary."

Shooting barred owls to save spotted owls in the Northwest

The agency has experimented with shooting barred owls in the past. Now, they are proposing to do it on a much larger scale.

www.opb.org

 

[gmerkt]

I have barred owls in my forest. Not all the time; but just two days ago, one was sounding off with their familiar call in the day time. Which is unusual here. When I've heard and seen them before, it's been well into the night. They've been around here near the coast for many years. I'm perfectly happy having them about. If they feed on rodents that are also around, I'm fine with that.

When I've looked for them at night with a light, I've found them perched in very old, craggy bigleaf maple trees. On horizontal branches. Some of those old maples have been lightning struck over the years and are broken on top. There may be some cavities up high that are large enough for nesting. I have also seen some really large stick nests in a couple of cedars. Which I've always assumed were made by crows, but I've read that barred owls will take those over for nesting.

 

[gmerkt]

Okay, here's the latest invasive species. Just read about it in today's newspaper:

https://www.aba.org/first-red-flanked-bluetail-in-the-eastern-aba-area/

These birds are from Europe and Asia. The article I read said the bird's breeding range has been "steadily expanding" over the past century. This is a natural change that has been going on for some time. Reversal? So far, birdwatchers have been very excited about this news.