I have owls in my deer blind... what did I do????

[P1ZombieKiller]

In May, I noticed that there were owls flying out of one of our deer blinds. I decided to go check it out. Turns out it was a nesting pair, an they had 1 egg laying there. I decided to place a game cam on the inside to track their progress. I still had the setting to take a picture every 5 minutes all day and all night. After about a month in the blind, I returned and I had 6,000 pictures taken. Thank goodness I use he Moultrie cameras with the external solar battery packs. Here are some of the pics I received. To date I have over 15,000 pics. I have been posting pictures on my facebook account for my friends, and several teachers ask me to create a public facebook page with the pics so that they could use it in the class room for teaching purposes. Thought I might share a few pics with you guys too.

 

[284winner]

Barn owls. That's very cool. Been a long time since I've seen them around here. We've got many owl species but very few of them today. Barred and great horned are the most common. Some Hawk owls and screech too. I do miss the barn owl in my neighborhood tho. That's very cool and great pics. Enjoy them. They'll be out soon.

 

[FatBoy]

They'll be gone by bow season. Enjoy them while they're there.

 

[jpx2rk]

Pretty cool pics, I'm sure they appreciate the use of your space. LOL

 

[Marksman]

Very cool indeed. I'm sure a lot of schools would love to have those owl pellets as well. As for cleaning out the rest of it .... good luck with that.

 

[Tommie]

Wow!

 

[chkunz]

This made me smile.

 

[TackDriv3r]

Time for a new blind unless you can get the stink out of it,,,owls are cool but ruins your blind.

 

[mr45man]

hydrated lime,Will clean it up if its worth the effort.
Wear a respirator,and don't get it in your eyes.

 

[232]

Time for a new blind unless you can get the stink out of it,,,owls are cool but ruins your blind.

What ruins the blind? Are deer scared of owl stench? Have lots of deer and lots of owls in my area, and really have not seen them interact so am curious. My olfactory senses are not that keen anymore. I would think 'human' stink would put the deer off more.

 

[TackDriv3r]

What ruins the blind? Are deer scared of owl stench? Have lots of deer and lots of owls in my area, and really have not seen them interact so am curious. My olfactory senses are not that keen anymore. I would think 'human' stink would put the deer off more.

Not talking about deer being afraid of owl stench. Talking about humans sitting in a blind with owl crap smell and it affects some people with respiratory issues. I would not take my kids and put them in a blind where owls took refuge without a good cleaning first. Their health I value the most than myself. I had a buddy that had owls that took refuge in his blind and it ruined it because the smell could not be eliminated. He tore it out and rebuilt it again. Just taking safety precautions.

 

[284winner]

That's interesting information. Never had owls inhabit any dwelling of mine but definitely have them around. I see them up close while bow hunting perched on tree limbs. Never barn owls but barred owls. Seems they are the most common here. I'll definitely keep that knowledge in mind before leaving blind Windows open in the off season. Hornet's are typically the nemesis of most hunters with box blinds.

 

[P1ZombieKiller]

Time for a new blind unless you can get the stink out of it,,,owls are cool but ruins your blind.

We will not be using this blind again. We actually just put up newer blind in that area. I will be glad to allow the owls to stay there as long as they like. Not sure they will continue to use the place after the young are gone, but we will find out.

 

[rardoin]

We will not be using this blind again.

Definitely for the best....for your health. Avian feces carries some virulent organisms that can pose serious health issues, particularly fungal infections. I have seen a couple of Histoplasmosis infections secondary to chicken feces expsosure and one from bat (not avian, of course) feces exposure in a spelunker.

 

[Hopkins]

Barn owl families have been known to inhabit the same barn area for more than 100 years.

 

[rardoin]

On a preventive note....At a covered marina we once kept a boat slipped, there was a large population of barn swallows that made quite a mess on the boats. The solution was to get owl decoys that we put on top of the flying bridges and that seemed to work....for the swallows. Within a year we had owls that started showing up. Owl scat will make you long for swallow scat for sure. We then removed the owl decoys and put coiled rubber snakes on the foredeck and bridge and that solved the issue. If put in a blind I would suspect you would get similar results...just remember that you put them there or you may get an impromptu cardiac stress test.

 

[fredo]

That's very cool, indeed! Good on ya for doing the trail cam!!!

On a side note, had an interesting conversation with a falconer a while back.
He had a red-tail hawk, peregrine falcon, Barn owl and Great Horned owl. Said that cute pie-faced Barn owl was the most lethal & efficient killer of them all!

Good luck with the guano disposal...

 

[savagedasher]

Hoot them Larry

 

[rardoin]

Good luck with the guano disposal...

If you have a survivalist lean...save it for making your own gunpowder.

 

[Riesel]

That really is cool and I applaud you for showing those owls some hospitality. Early spring I was hunting at night with a digital scope for hogs. There was a indication in the blind that there had been a visitor, namely a dead rat. I'm looking thru the scope at the feeder and a gray cloud passes, gone, back again. I look out the blind window and after my eyes settled there were not one, but two owls right outside the window, maybe two-three feet, and not a sound. I let them have it and felt bad about tossing their dinner. Closed all the windows next morning.