Kenny's Squirrel Hunt

[Buffalogobbler]

Not a primitive hunt, but I thought I'd share this here.
Last fall I took my nephew Kenny squirrel hunting, we had an encounter with a barred owl, I told Ken afterward that the owl was trying to decied if he could eat his hat.
It was a tough squirrel hunting weekend, sat. we hunted all day, the owl was cool but with acorns raining down on us, we saw no squirrels. Sun. we had only 2 hours to hunt and the nut munchers were running everywhere. Kenny shot a beautiful black squirrel.
I hope you like the video.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mSUQBIvn3Q

[osage outlaw]

Cool video Kevin.  That owl was big. 

[Buffalogobbler]

The owl was 10 yards from Kenny looking him over really good before it flew off.

[seabass]

nice video Kevin.thanks for sharing.

[burchett.donald]

Ask'n myself whether to turn this computer off and go to the woods... vid

[JW_Halverson]

You know in vampire movies how their eyes turn all black just before the bad guy reveals himself as a vampire....that's what I think whenever I look at a barred owl!  It doesn't help that the only barred owl I ever worked with in captivity hated me like the righteous hate the devil.  Apparently Steinbeck, the barred owl, considered me the devil himself! Only barred owl I ever saw in the wild was at the Tennessee Classic.  She was a-hootin' away in the dark and I called back to her.  We called back and forth for a bit before she came flying in to have a closer look at the weird barred owl with the bad northern accent!!!

In Minot, ND and Lacrosse, WI they have very high concentrations of black squirrels.  Minot's population has 10-12% of the population showing the melanistic characteristic.  Black squirrels also tend to be slightly heavier than the normal population.  There is a general rule within populations that black, or melanistic, color phases are more common the further from the equator that the species is found.  It gives them a slight advantage in cold climates to be able to collect a little added warmth from the sun!

Minot's population all descend from 12 pairs of normal colored squirrels brought in from some place in Wisconsin in the early 1900's.  There are no native squirrels in that part of the country.  Apparently several of those little tree rats carried the gene for melanism.  With limited genetic stock, highly recessive genes like unusual coloration have a higher chance of expression. 

Many people have noticed that black squirrels in Minot are significantly more aggressive towards people.  They have been documented leaping onto people's backs as they walk under trees in Oak Park, running up people's legs, and even biting hands when offered peanuts.  Now, before someone gets a racist thought in their heads, people tend to concentrate their efforts to feed squirrels on the black ones in the park because of their unusual coloration.  ALL squirrels that receive concentrated attention from people feeding them will develop more and more aggressive tactics  in order to extract higher rewards.  For example, I once saw a black squirrel harass some kids until the kids threw the whole 2 lb bag of peanuts at the squirrel as they ran away.  Animals (people included) tend to repeat behaviors that gain them a reward.  Those kids jackpot-rewarded that nut thief for bad behavior!!!

I can just about hear that squirrel saying under his breath, "I gotta remember THAT trick. Oh yeah, baby!"

[Buffalogobbler]

JW,
Barred owls are very common in Western New York and I learned to imitate them soon after I started turkey hunting. They can make the time before dawn or sitting around the campfire very entertaining when two or more are calling or when you call them in. you can really crank them up sometimes with lot's of loud whooping and laughing.
The black squirrels around here are seem to be concentrated in part's of the Gennessee valley and the Alleghany region. There are a lot of them in the city of Warsaw and the woodlot where I'm hunting is only about 15 miles away.  I've hunted this woodlot since 1982 and they've always been there. some years they seem to run about 50/50 with the grey's and some years the black's are a bit scarce, we also have red squirrels in the same woodlot.

Kevin

[mullet]

I love sitting in the swamp Spring turkey hunting, before the sun comes up, what I call the "witching hour", when the Whippoorwill's start, the owls start, and then the Tom lets loose with a gobble. I've had up to six or more owls around me at one time and love it when they start that "monkey calling" between them.

[JW_Halverson]

One or two barred owls have been sighted in the western half of South Dakota in the last 20 years.  Very rare, virtually never seen in the Black Hills.  And still every gobbler feels it is his right and duty to gobble his fool head off every time he hears me imitate a barred owl!

But the great horned owl call gets no response.  Maybe because GHO's are the number one predator on turkeys in the Black Hills!

[Buffalogobbler]

Monkee calling!
You said it Eddie, they get really cranked up and start monkee calling.
 I've seen a few GHO's in this part of NY also, the barred owls seem more common and more vocal.

[Marks]

One or two barred owls have been sighted in the western half of South Dakota in the last 20 years.  Very rare, virtually never seen in the Black Hills.  And still every gobbler feels it is his right and duty to gobble his fool head off every time he hears me imitate a barred owl!

It is more the high pitch than the owl call itself. They will answer just about any loud call. I've used my truck horn and once threw a rock and dinged a metal gate and got a response. I guess the owl just sounds more natural. It definitely impresses people who don't know any better when you can mouth call an owl in. I called one to within 10 yards this deer season by lip squeaking like you would to call a coyote.