NFR Anybody want to shoot some owls....

Non-fishing related
This barred owl sat in a tree in my yard for a month this year, dive-bombing cicadas. My guess is that this one and its sibling, also a common visitor, were fledglings and were hungry. I guess they figured out mice were a better meal after a while. I still hear them in the area.

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Years ago I went out with biologists from US Fish and Wildlife to shoot great horned owls that were decimating some terns breeding grounds. The terns were on the endangered species list at the time. Sometimes wildlife manipulation can be good but most of the time I think we really screw things up.
 
flybill said:
I don't have any owl feathers.. so send some my way!! LOL!!
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They make fantastic soft hackel and smaller Spey flies. I've not shot any myself but I've seen a few run over and have tanned the hides. Or more to the point my lady tanned the hides. I've got a couple of fully intact skins with wings etc. There isn't much owl under all the fluff and their eyes are kind and wise looking. They are truly a mystical creature. The feet are impressive as well. I know I'm not supposed to have them but I can't see throwing it in the ditch when one can preserve it and further honour it. I see owls regularly in the woods with barred betting the dominant seen. They are very interesting and almost without fear of people. Certain canopy types are almost guaranteed to be inhabited by them. Mature forest with open fly way up to fifty feet is the stuff they prefer. I think they live in a family structure for a good portion of their lives.
 
Jake Watrous said:
I don't either. None. Neither do I have heron feathers, eagle feathers, hummingbird feathers, polar bear, ONP mountain goat, or ocelot.
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Shit, now where am I gonna get my ocelot!? That stuff moves like nothing else.


Hopefully everyone gets that is sarcasm...
 
Jake Watrous said:
I don't either. None. Neither do I have heron feathers, eagle feathers, hummingbird feathers, polar bear, ONP mountain goat, or ocelot.
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I can neither confirm or deny this... in my case.. LOL!
 
If all of the barred owls in my neighborhood in Kirkland were killed off I don't believe that would benefit spotted owls.
 
clarkman said:
Shit, now where am I gonna get my ocelot!? That stuff moves like nothing else.


Hopefully everyone gets that is sarcasm...
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Fox-eared assholes
 
The owl talks brought back a memory from the spotted owl logging controversy. I forget where it was but we stopped at a diner in one of the logging towns, kind of a place people traveling through would stop i can’t remember where we were, and got an idea of the local thoughts. There was no TP in the bathroom and a stuffed owl on the back of the toilet had a sign that said “try wiping your ass with this “
 
And there are now Sparred owls out there. Spotted x Barred hybrids.

Am guessing these birds of each species are not going back out into the wild, but shows the contrast and quite similar size-spotted being a tad smaller.

I've seen three spotted owls in quite a lot of time in the Olympics and foothills in the past 40+ years. None from the early 90's on.
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Russell said:
The owl talks brought back a memory from the spotted owl logging controversy. I forget where it was but we stopped at a diner in one of the logging towns, kind of a place people traveling through would stop i can’t remember where we were, and got an idea of the local thoughts. There was no TP in the bathroom and a stuffed owl on the back of the toilet had a sign that said “try wiping your ass with this “
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I also remember the spotted owl and lumber controversy. Spotted owls get more luv and protection than our salmonids. Our state fish gets less luv and protection.

IMHO something is wrong in the equation.
 
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Russell said:
The owl talks brought back a memory from the spotted owl logging controversy. I forget where it was but we stopped at a diner in one of the logging towns, kind of a place people traveling through would stop i can’t remember where we were, and got an idea of the local thoughts. There was no TP in the bathroom and a stuffed owl on the back of the toilet had a sign that said “try wiping your ass with this “
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"Save a logger, wipe your ass with a spotted owl." Saw a few of those bumperstickers back in the 90s.
 
As we know, loss of old growth forests hurts salmon and spotted owls (ancient Marbled murrelets as well), but in the pristine Olympic National Park the barred owl spreading and conquering the spotted owls habitat really was an unexpected gut punch.
 
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Salmo_g said:
Don't think so, but I haven't looked at the feathers up close. They are fairly bold for large birds, but I've never gotten closer than about 20 feet.
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Ohh, don't worry, it'll still be illegal to have their feathers..
 
Dustin Chromers said:
They make fantastic soft hackel and smaller Spey flies. I've not shot any myself but I've seen a few run over and have tanned the hides. Or more to the point my lady tanned the hides. I've got a couple of fully intact skins with wings etc. There isn't much owl under all the fluff and their eyes are kind and wise looking. They are truly a mystical creature. The feet are impressive as well. I know I'm not supposed to have them but I can't see throwing it in the ditch when one can preserve it and further honour it. I see owls regularly in the woods with barred betting the dominant seen. They are very interesting and almost without fear of people. Certain canopy types are almost guaranteed to be inhabited by them. Mature forest with open fly way up to fifty feet is the stuff they prefer. I think they live in a family structure for a good portion of their lives.
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That all jives with what I saw of the birds. The area around my neighborhood is exactly the structure you describe as ideal, and those two siblings hung out together all summer, and FAIK are still together.
 
Russell said:
The owl talks brought back a memory from the spotted owl logging controversy. I forget where it was but we stopped at a diner in one of the logging towns, kind of a place people traveling through would stop i can’t remember where we were, and got an idea of the local thoughts. There was no TP in the bathroom and a stuffed owl on the back of the toilet had a sign that said “try wiping your ass with this “
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Speaking for myself as a former timber faller in the early 1990s, the spotted owl was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I was living and working in southern Oregon at the time. Public land logging was being restricted to accommodate the owl. The federal government made money available to retrain us underemployed loggers. I took the money and retrained as an x-ray technologist. It has been a fantastic career.

So, I want to thank all you taxpayers for sponsoring my new life!
 
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