The A-Team was out last Saturday in eastern North Carolina on de-crowing operation and situated about 50 yards into the woods that surrounded a peanut field. Peanuts, for those who do not know, are equivalent to opium.. to crows. From about 1 pm...to 4 pm we engaged incoming feeding crows producing a TBC of 101 which is excellent results for us. What a fine shoot it was.
With about 45 minutes left in our stand, we heard crows in the distance crying, hollering over what we presumed to be a "hopper" or a bird that fell out of our visual range. We all know that happens. What we did not know was, a patrolling Red Tail had evidently spotted the hopper.. or otherwise wounded bird on the ground and attacked. When we departed, we scared off the hawk but clearly not before he had finished his meal. All that was left is shown here: crow debris.
I have seen many times crow chasing hawks of various kinds but have never seen a hawk fight back nor have I ever seen a hawk kill or eat a dead crow. I figure this bird was not yet carrion therefore eligible food on a hawks menu. Seeing this was unusual for this old crow hunter and worthy in my view.. of viewing!!
Shoot where they are going to be, not where they are!
Last year we were hunting crow and a Snowy Owl swooped down and grabbed a dead crow. Couple days later I was shooting pigeons at the same farm and the same snowy owl grabbed a dead one off the roof of the barn.
We've had a lot of hawks pick up hoppers at crow hunts. Had one hawk swoop down and hit a decoy once. I've never seen a hawk pick up a dead bird, but they certainly like the cripples.
For me, it seems like the first ones to respond to the calls are hawks. I've had them eating wounded crows that were just out of sight as well, but I spooked it when I walked over to dispatch the crow.
Skip, I have watched a hawk sit in a crows nest and feed on the young of a crow.. Oh, does that upset the parents… Last Saturday I saw a Red Tail Hawk killing a squirrel (see pic) on the edge of some ones yard.. It was raining and my cell phone doesn't have a very good camera at a distance.. He had his wings spread and his talons on the squirrel’s body.
Yep: I have seen hawks catch and eat squirrels but your opportunity to see a hawk gnawing on young crows was a rare sighting. Fine picture of an urban squirrel assassin!!
