pellet gun vs. hawks

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nevernotstrapped

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I live out on private property and am looking to get a pellet gun to deal with my hawk problem. My daughter is always playing outdoors with her little pet rabbit and the hawks have made many attempts at the rabbit. So I need something strong enough to do damage but small enough to keep with me. I saw a couple CO2 pistols that are rated at 480 fps. I also noticed break barrel pistols in the 600-700 range. The rifles and break barrels appear to be a little too slow to load should I need it during an attack attempt. What do you guys advise for such a situation?
 
Sounds like you are advocating something illegal that would be in violation of the Migratory Bird Act and/or its revisions and related laws.

It is your job to see to it that the hawk cannot get to the rabbit and to do so without doing harm to the rabbit. It is under these same guidelines that chicken ranchers cannot shoot hawks.

It does not matter that you are on private property.
 
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I don't think you can shoot ANY hawk. You need to contact the Game and Fish department before you do anything.

I can't imagine a hawk attacking a rabbit if there is a person close by.
 
re"nevernotstrapped

What do you guys advise for such a situation?
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Move to an area without hawks. I am not sure where that could be, but I doubt that Antarctica has any birds of prey.

If I see anyone shooting a Hawk, or any illegal animal, I'll report that person in a heartbeat.
 
If you are reported to the feds for shooting a hawk, the feds can confiscate ALL the associated property. Don't even take feathers into the house.

And color me dubious about an exception for somebody with a large flock of free-ranging chickens. Since most commercial operations are totally enclosed in a "factory", I'd have to see a cite of the specific law providing for an exception.

Hawks, owls, eagles: Leave them alone. All raptors are protected by federal law.
 
I've had a Hawk snatch a white kitten out of my child's hands once. She was holding the kitten on top of her head "giving it a piggyback ride." Trust me, just because there are people outside, if the Hawk is hungry enough, it will take a dive at the food.

But like was mentioned, big time trouble for even trying to kill a bird of prey. Not only do they take away just about everything you own, you're also left with a hefty fine.
 
"But like was mentioned, big time trouble for even trying to kill a bird of prey. Not only do they take away just about everything you own, you're also left with a hefty fine. "

So twisting the topic a bit... what about road kill? If I pick up a dead hawk on the side of the road, I can't take it home with me??
 
"If I pick up a dead hawk on the side of the road, I can't take it home with me??'

Illegal.

From the migratory bird statute:

"Unless and except as permitted by regulations, …it shall be unlawful at any time, by any means, or in any manner…to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill, …possess, offer for sale, sell, …purchase, import…any migratory bird, any part, nest, or eggs of any such bird…"

Noted the bolded word possess. The law makes absolutely no distinction about how you came to have the dead critter.
 
Some American Indians have special permission to posses feathers and feet for religious purposes, but for all other American's, if you see a bird of prey of any kind in the road, you'd do yourself a huge favor by not touching your brake pedal in an attempt to pick any feathers from it.

Like Mr. Irwin posted, you cannot posses ANY PART of a bird of prey in the U.S. Doesn't matter if you got it from the side of the road, found it dead in your own yard, shot and killed it yourself or bought the feathers from a reservation. You are screwed badly if the Gov't finds out.
 
So twisting the topic a bit... what about road kill? If I pick up a dead hawk on the side of the road, I can't take it home with me??
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Back in my Buckskinner days, I use to make accessories out of wild bird feathers. On one occasion, I saw a dead RedTail along the road. I left it lay and when I got home, phoned a friend who is our local conservatio officer and asked him if I could pick it up and even told him where it lay. He told me to leave it lay as it did not make any difference whether it was dead or alive. :(
Also ran into a problem with Badger parts and I was led to understand that one had better not show these in Wisconsin. .. :eek:



Be Safe !!!
 
Art is right. Leave them alone, or be willing to face some serious repercussions.

I don't think you can legally even pick up a dropped feather from a bird of prey. It's serious business.

Daryl
 
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Birds of prey are a protected species everywhere.
You cannot own feathers of of one, either.
If you are indian, you can be licensed. Even an unlicensed indian, though, will wind up with his butt in a sling if he messes with raptors. It happpened near here a while back with bald eagles, and it got REALLY ugly for the guy who shot the eagles.
In missouri, IIRC, you can't possess feathers from anything but a game or domestic species, unless it is a non-native. feathers from game birds are even rather iffy in some circumstances.
I have a small handful of songbird feathers that I have found and kept, and others, that I will not throw away. (Bookmarks) I've been told, by enforcement personnel, that if I was found with them, an overzealous prick of an officer could get me jailed. He told me that he would personally ignore it for lack of proof that it was a protected species, unless it was glaringly obvious that it was an illegal souvenir, and then, he would just seize it without filing charges.
 
Regardless of the question, I learned something new by reading this thread. I wasn't aware of these legalities involving preadatory birds.
 
get a paintball gun and it will not harm the hawk, just scare him away. also works great on neighborhood cats that chase the gambels quail in our neighborhood :rolleyes:
 
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