This subject … "The Spotted Owl" , has been brought up in several discussions lately. This article shows the ignorance of our government … That is my opinion. But only the forecaster of what is to come.


https://www.outdoornews.com/2019/10/17/owl-killings-spur-moral-questions-about-human-intervention/


Garry-

If only we could get this in the Midwest for hawks. Our pheasant and bobwhite populations have no chance right now otherwise.

Well we just can't say utilizing our natural resources (logging, farming, hunting and trapping) are our environments best friend

driving through southern WI on a clear sunny day there is a hawk nearly every mile on a fence post or power pole in places

we were loosing young turkeys to an owl , had to cover them to not loose one every night.

Simply by existing we are gardeners. That means we have watch the populations. Merely shooting the owls though?

Im not optimistic of how well that will clear out the target areas.

I have two small dogs both weighing less than 15 pounds. If a large dog comes into my yard and causes serious harm to either dog, I can legally shoot the large dog. But, if a large raptor, like a great horned owl, red tailed hawk, or even an eagle would attack either of them in my yard, it's illegal to protect them by shooting the owl, hawk, or eagle. In fact, if you shot an eagle, you would probably do more time than if you shot a human being.

If you are going to have chickens, turkeys, ducks, quail, and bird feeders you are putting out the dinner plate for Hawks, owls, mink, skunks and raccoons. You have protect them at all times. It can be challenging! Yet we allow cats tor run all over the place killing any thing it can get it paws on. JMO About the owls, not sure yet. Where does it stop?

I thought evolution was taught in schools, survival of the fittest.

This too is my opinion, right on spot. In my part of Ohio we are having a drastic decline in muskrat populations. I know of course the predators are causing their share of the decline, both the flying and the quadrupeds. The sad part of the overall problem is the two leg predators called humans. Draining marshes to build and pave over. Farmers draining ditches throwing in some drain pipes and covering them with dirt and many others reasons. Should we be permitted to shoot these predators. We, as trappers know when one species thins out another species fills in. I the day when we had an abundance of red and grey fox in my area, if I took several red fox out of a field, a couple of days later I would start catching greys. With canines, predominantly, coyotes and wolves, they will move in whether anything else is removed on not. Especially wolves, the only predators above them are humans.

Garry-

1400 per barred owl? I’ll kill a few

Certain species of animals will become extinct due to reasons beyond human control and not due to human influence. For some reason many folks not aware of natural processes can't comprehend this fact.

I read the article cited above. One point I didn't see mentioned in the article is that barred owls are also hybridizing with spotted owls, the offspring of which will most likely breed with barred owls further diluting the spotted owl genes. Therefore spotted owls will become a thing of the past.

Giant pandas are another animal that will probably go extinct due to their increasing reluctance to breed either in the wild or in captivity.

I have a 40 acre pond in my backyard. Two years ago there was quite a few rat houses, at least 25 or so. I thought I'd leave them alone for a year to let them multiply. Big mistake! I should have trapped them. They attracted hawks and eagles. Probably owls at night. This year there isn't any sign of rats.

The article was well written and well researched. Thank you Actor!

It was interesting to me that it only took 25 years (1990 - 2015) for the US Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) to act on what was known by by timber worker and sportsmen before the spotted owl was listed as even listed as endangered. The Eastern barred owl began to seriously expand it's territory after the stopping of logging the coastal forests. I was reading about scientific studies and reports of it by 1995. It is also interesting to me that no one seems to be recommending harvesting the mature timber there to create more openings that the spotted owl needs and prefers.
As has been said "There is a GREAT NEED for REAL GAME MANAGEMENT, WHICH DEFINITELY INCLUDES TIMBER HARVEST AND PREDATORS, NOT JUST PEOPLE MANAGEMENT."

That is what I was thinking too

Same here about the rats,they mount a front loader bucket on a large backhoe.reach down in a ditch and pull up sediment and scrape 2 ft deep and pull up bank and dump in field. totally wipe out wild life.last fall I walked a ditch afterwards I found 7 dead rats ,one small dead mink and and 2 dead turtles. this was a county program.

This all sounds like a classic case of HOO- dunnit?

I think it is much the same here. However, if one was to theoretically accidentally get one in a snare (not that this has ever happened), the trapper simply hands it over to Natural Resources who gives it to a native reserve. The natives use the bird in its entirety in their ceremonies. A pretty big deal for them to get an eagle.

Do you feel better?

Are they cleaning out natural flowage or judicial ditches?

When evolution goes against the mindset of man we must spend money to
Fix it.
One of these days someone will wake up and discover they are the last human as the govt.killed
The rest in.the name of conservation.