Memorable tree chicken event .. Happened again.. got a photo!!!

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LuckyStrike

LuckyStrike

Member
May 10, 2018
47
3
British Columbia, Canada
*** On Wednesday lightning struck twice**

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This time I had a trail cam on the feeder and actually got a photo .... Lost another tree chkn!! :)))

Love the OWLS!

cheers



Lucky







A couple weeks ago I approached one of my feeders and quietly set up and nailed grey squirrel (tree chicken) 

It did quite the spectacular cling on to the feeder edge with tail flipping around like it was having a seizure (I guess a .22 streamline pellet through the noggin will do that)

The kritter finally fell to the ground and I watched to see if any others were about and did a careful gaze around. What I saw was very cool. A large (likely female) Great Horned Owl was sitting in a tree above the feeder and was tipped on quite an angle watching this tree chicken expire. Within a few seconds I realized that this was one dinner I was not going to have.

The big Owl dropped off the branch, diving at warp speed downward and hit the dying chicken with force... jostled around for a few seconds and then briskly flew off with her prize.

I was amazed and delighted by the event which happened fairly quickly in front of me.

Nature is amazing.... I had seen this Owl perched near the feeder on one other occasion, so tree chickens are being taken there regularly I suspect.

Thanks for reading my story



Lucky



PS .. since installing the feeder box in February (I believe) the number of retrieved tree chickens now stands at 44 (including this one.. It was retrieved but not by myself) 


 
Thats cool stuff. I have an owl that hunts around my bird feeders at night. The guy that lives behind me has hunting dogs in a kennel that attract rats. The rats will eat fallen seed below my feeders. The owls eliminate the rats. I've used NVG and taken out the rats if their population increases too much. They will disappear by morning. I imagine an owl might grab them, i know of a possum that takes them also.



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In Florida

This is a tree rat (this one is expiring)





This is a tree chicken





And this is the clean up crew




 
Upvote 0
Just curious if you are sure the shot was a full pass through, headshots generally are. The reason I ask is the birds of prey are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning due to their incredibly high acidic stomach acid. If you love your owls please be sure they don’t ingest any of the pellets by either using lead free pellets or doomed pellets with lots of power so there is no chance of pellet get lodge in the tree rat. 


If I have your back yard and the owl, I would only use lead free pellets just in case. 
 
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Reply for qball *** 100% agree .. yes indeed ...

Oddly the pellet that hammered that tree chkn, passed through as they generally do and bounce off the hardwood, but this one was squished against a steel screw head that was used to assemble the feeder. The robertson head is 3D embossed into the squashed lead! 

I will take a picture of it .. And yes indeed, dont want to injure any Owls.

They are incredibly cool birds! 



Cheers



Lucky


 
Upvote 0
I determined through shooting multiple squirrels while tuning my Prod that I need 16-17 fpe at the muzzle to reliably shoot through the head of a squirrel - or the body and a side shot - at 25 yards. I guess more than that results in robertson shaped pellets.
Click to expand...

My best location is a slightly downward 20 yard shot .. shooting a Streamline FX on 2 power in the 700ish fps using 16grain fx pells.



Plenty of exit holes in noggins and dents in hardwood board feeder face ... Not quite sure on how fpe is calculated and unfortunately I don't have a chrony either 



But



It works ... I experimented this year with body shots and lost a few that way .. they don't always drop dead with heart lung pops, so gone to head only shots between eye and ear if broadside. Boy does that take em out and leave a decent exit.


 
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