Shoo Hawks! don't bother me.

J

JO BO

Member
No exaggeration. While watching a couple of combines harvesting a 160 acre wheat field, hawks from all over the area came in to see what they might scare out for them to eat.

Were there 10 hawks? No. Well were there 20? No. Okay then how many were there?
Believe it or not there had to be 50 +/-2

Never have I seen so many in one air space and so many on the ground in one setting. And this is next to heavy pheasant winter cover which always has a big population at that time.
I did see 5 roosters and a hen just a couple miles to the West of there and a rattlesnake on the road before I ran into this spectacular sight. I thought instantly to myself "how in the world is there anything left moving with all the birds of prey circling above?" Great cover is all I could guess.
 
Juvenile redhawks are the likely bird here. Vast majority do not survive to next spring. Most starve or die of other natural causes.
 
Hawks interested in mostly mice , rats and rabbits. Not saying they wouldnt bushwack a pheasant but hawk predation is minimal.
 
esetter said:
Hawks interested in mostly mice , rats and rabbits. Not saying they wouldnt bushwack a pheasant but hawk predation is minimal.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Never seen a hawk take an adult Pheasant. But have seen hawks take young pheasants in mid flight- Twice. The pheasants both times were young Probably only been flying a week or two.
 
Saw a hawk take an adult hen pheasant in South Dakota a few years back. Landed on her in a ditch and the dog pointed them both. It dropped her as it tried to fly away.
 
I once saw a hawk take out a hen pheasant while it was in flight. Hawks eat more pheasants that we think. My dog has pointed pheasants only for me to flush a hawk on a dead still warm pheasant.
 
I have also watched as a hawk suddenly dove into an alfalfa field and saw 5 or 6 adult pheasants take off for more secure cover. The hawk quickly was air borne again flying off unsuccessful that time.
On another occassion I watched a hawk hunting on the side of a curved quonset building, The other side had about 25 pheasants feeding on the ground. Suddenly like a barrell roll the hawk went over the top of the building and pounced on a mature hen, but not enough to take it down completely so off it flew.

Funny thing also is I have seen large groups of pheasants around large brush piles and sitting at the end of it would be a hawk showing no interest in them at all.
weirdest thing I think I ever saw was a hawk eating on a road kill pheasant and another pheasant picking at it along with him.
 
I watched a hawk flush a group of pheasants out of a picked corn field right at me last year while hunting in Colorado. Only bagged one rooster in two days of hunting Colorado and couldn't have done it with out the hawk.
 
hawks

I have seen a number of hawks of one type of another at least try and take a mature pheasant. the one's I have witnessed, the pheasant always won, think it would be hard for at least most hawks to hold down a pheasant long enough to kill it. quail would be a piece of cake.

cheers
 
mustistuff said:
I have seen a number of hawks of one type of another at least try and take a mature pheasant. the one's I have witnessed, the pheasant always won, think it would be hard for at least most hawks to hold down a pheasant long enough to kill it. quail would be a piece of cake.

cheers
Click to expand...

Agreed. Not saying it doesn't happen. I just have never seen It. I have seen hawks take pheasants when they have only been flying for a week or two. We flushed a brood of small pheasants and the hawk swooped down and took one in mid flight, seen that a couple times and I have seen Hawks take adult pheasants at pheasant farms before, but I gotta think its hard for a hawk to take a wild adult pheasant. We did have a hawk get tangled in the net of our pheasant cage when we raised pheasants. Our neighbor was raising 50 pheasants and a weasel got in his pen and killed them all.
 
Last edited:
A couple of years ago we were hunting in western ND and the birds were thick, they were everywhere. It was late season and we knew where the pheasants were bunched. How did we know you ask? We drove around looking for hawks in the trees. Whenever we saw a hawk there was always a group of pheasants under that hawk. Maybe they can't always take down a healthy full grown pheasant, but they are opportunists. If they see a wounded bird or one that dies of exposure, they are going to eat it.
 
goldenboy said:
A couple of years ago we were hunting in western ND and the birds were thick, they were everywhere. It was late season and we knew where the pheasants were bunched. How did we know you ask? We drove around looking for hawks in the trees. Whenever we saw a hawk there was always a group of pheasants under that hawk. Maybe they can't always take down a healthy full grown pheasant, but they are opportunists. If they see a wounded bird or one that dies of exposure, they are going to eat it.
Click to expand...

I agree with all your saying. I am just saying that people think Hawks are this huge Pheasant predator, and I think the majority of pheasant hunters have never seen a Hawk take an adult pheasant. (like I said before I have seen them take small pheasants-and it's a terrible sight, --which I thinks adds to the validity of your comments about hawks being opportunistic hunters), but I think Coyotes, raccoons, and Skunks are much more devastating to the pheasant population.

I might be way off hear, just my thoughts/opinion/observations on the subject.
 
If there is good cover, canopy, brushy, woody stuff pheasants do have the advantage over hawks. A fresh cut hay field or fresh cut grain field then the hawks have the advantage. Young birds are very much vulnerable to the avian predators.
Adult pheasants, wild ones that is, have been exposed to the overhead dangers, those that have survived until adulthood are going to be wise to the hawks attacks.
For sure the hawks will get a few adults, so why else would they be continuously on pursuit. :confused:
And, hen pheasants half the size of the males would be more vulnerable as adults to all kinds of predation. :(
 
Actual my brother has a friend that hunts pheasants with his hawk and his GSP. Have watched It being done. He releases the Hawk. The hawk takes a perch in a tree. GSP points the pheasant you go in and flush the bird. In the air the pheasant doesn't have a chance. Not even sure it knows what hits it. You are allowed to take both hens and roosters and the time I was out with them they took a full grown wild rooster. It was interesting but not my cup of tea. Just saying pheasant airborne no chance against the hawk.
 
keroko said:
Actual my brother has a friend that hunts pheasants with his hawk and his GSP. Have watched It being done. He releases the Hawk. The hawk takes a perch in a tree. GSP points the pheasant you go in and flush the bird. In the air the pheasant doesn't have a chance. Not even sure it knows what hits it. You are allowed to take both hens and roosters and the time I was out with them they took a full grown wild rooster. It was interesting but not my cup of tea. Just saying pheasant airborne no chance against the hawk.
Click to expand...

neat, would love to see that, have talked to a couple of guys that do this, I think they basically kill the bird on impact, not quite like catching them, not too sure about any of this but neat none the less

cheers
 
keroko said:
Actual my brother has a friend that hunts pheasants with his hawk and his GSP. Have watched It being done. He releases the Hawk. The hawk takes a perch in a tree. GSP points the pheasant you go in and flush the bird. In the air the pheasant doesn't have a chance. Not even sure it knows what hits it. You are allowed to take both hens and roosters and the time I was out with them they took a full grown wild rooster. It was interesting but not my cup of tea. Just saying pheasant airborne no chance against the hawk.
Click to expand...

Are you sure he doesn't use a falcon? This is actually a pretty popular sport. I know falcons are considered the fastest bird in the air ( they used the speed they dive at for this calculation I think). I believe most states have a season for falconry. I would be a little surprised if your friend could train a hawk, not sure just never heard of that (I might be wrong).
 
Last edited:
I know I am in a very small minority here but I enjoy seeing raptors in areas I hunt. My favorite are the Cooper's hawks who I share my favorite quail hunting spot with. They are there for the same reason I am, plentiful game populations. They snatch the odd quail from me every year before my dog can make a retrieve and I appreciate the show. I even had a bald eagle snatch an 8" trout swim bait I was fishing in the spring, talk about a great show. Thankfully he dropped it before he flew off to far.:cheers:
 
JO BO said:
weirdest thing I think I ever saw was a hawk eating on a road kill pheasant and another pheasant picking at it along with him.
Click to expand...

That's interesting JO BO. Thanks for sharing what you witnessed:).

My dad has hawks visit his back yard almost daily. Once a hawk grabs it's pray, everything else goes about it's business as if the haw isn't even there.

It's as if they know the hawk has it's fill and won't bother anything else until the next day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top