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Dove thief

3K views 22 replies 22 participants last post by  jmar623 
#1 ·
When I was about twelve I shot a dove that started flopping around on the ground. A bird of prey swooped down and stole my bird as I was walking to retrieve it. I'm not sure what kinds of falcons inhabit Williamson county, but it was small. I think it was a juvenile red-tailed hawk. Do peregrines inhabit central Texas? Has anyone else had this happen to them?
 
#2 ·
Ive never had a downed bird taken from me but I have seen hawks take dove over stubble and disked fields. It actually helped my hunt, the fleeing birds came right at me! Im not sure about peregrines but there are kestrels and other small birds of prey. Kinda makes you think about falconry.
 
#4 ·
I guess if you spend enough time in the field you can see alot of weird stuff. About 4 years ago I was dove hunting and winged a bird. It flew into a big pecan tree. I walked over to pop it out and just as pulled my gun up a big hawk swooped in nailed it. Off it went with my dove.. lol.. I thought it was one of the coolest things I had ever seen. Gotta love nature!
 
#5 ·
Has anyone else had this happen to them?
not with dove (i get to'em too quick) but with ducks and geese.....

where i've hunted waterfowl in the past you had to get to birds quick or 'birds of prey' would have breasted out in no time.......... (somehow they seemed to know they were protected and thot we were there just to serve up lunch)

other places it was alligators too (of course they were taking the whole bird in one swaller)
 
#6 ·
Have hunted in Argentina a few times. There, the "eagles" (they are actually hawks) learn to setup close to hunters. They will sit in a tree tht is fairly close to the shooting and wait for you to "helicopter" doves and pick 'em out of the air while they are fluttering down. Any bird that doesn't go straight down when you hit it gets cleaned up by a hawk.
 
#11 ·
Indeed ... or a Merlin ... a juvy red tailed would still be pretty durn big. You'd be more likely to come across a Peregrine downtown as they've had some great success with the birds nesting on skyscraper tops although it's not impossible.

There are also a whole host of hawks down from migration this time of year. Could have been one of a dozen species.

Never saw this hunting dove but the Norther Harriers will give your downed ducks fits over water ... seen that a million times.
 
#9 ·
The only dove thief I've had in the field was a diamondback rattlesnake...sucker was on my dove within seconds out in that tall sunflower field...nearly soiled myself when I reached down to grab the dove and saw that sucker trying to swallow it!!! Practically shot straight down to kill the snake, but decided not to reclaim the dove for fear of venom being left on/in it.
 
#12 ·
It happened for the first time to me this year. I had a wounded dove down and it kept making short 40 yard flights. Then out of no where a hawk turned it into a poof of feathers....it was one of the coolest things I have seen hunting, the speed that they strike is amazing.
 
#13 ·
Not sure if this qualifies, but it's a cool way to end a duck hunt.
We were walking back to the trucks after I good hunt at the old Barrows Ranch. The Lab that belonged to Gene Moser, CHS football coach, all of the suddened jumped from the levee and into the brush and out he comes a beautiful Greenhead.
Pretty cool nonetheless
 
#15 ·
I've had something similar happen while quail hunting. Flushed a covey and a hawk came in and nailed a quail. In Williamson County, your's might have also been a Cooper's hawk or sharp-shinned hawk. Both are rather common in the area and eat mostly birds.

Guppie
 
#17 ·
My story is not a hunting one, it was actually in front of my house in houston. Live along braes bayou and there are often birds of prey feeding on fish, have actually found fish skeletons in my back yard. Anyway, got home from bass pro and there was this hawk sittin in the front yard in the middle of what looked like a gray patch(bout 3ft. diameter) of coals, only to realize at a closer look that they were feathers. Got out of my truck and the sucker flew off with a dove in its talons. Was pretty cool lookin
 
#19 ·
dove hunting on a high fence ranch close to lawn. buddy had shot a 7 or 8 dove and left them in his chair as he headed over to chat with us. we look back and a russian boar with a tag in his ear was mowing thru the dead doves. turns out that what the ranch specialized in. ended up spending the whole day with that boar and he ate everything from the rest of the doves after we cleaned them. except the breasts of course
 
#21 ·
What part of Williamson County were you hunting in?
Excuse me, it occured in eastern Milam Co. about 10 minutes from San Gabriel. By the way, if anybody wants to go do some hunting or fishing I'm always looking for fellow 2coolers to go along. My family owns some good duck, dove, hog, and varmit hunting property. PM me if anyone's interested.
 
#22 ·
I've had hawks just blast my mojo decoy on two different occasions. One of them just sat on the ground and looked up at it. Had no idea. I saw a tree "raining feathers" while I was deer hunting a couple of weeks ago. It was some bird of prey munching on a dove.
 
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