Any law against feeding owls?

[storm_rider_1]

There are two of these that hang out in my driveway, we built 3 years ago and they have showed up every winter since then. well this year my bro in law decides to throw a mouse out in the snow to see what happens and the owl swoops in and grabs the mouse and then lands in a nearby tree and ate the mouse. Well he has fed him and her, im guessing about 10 mice over the last week, and now the owls will sit on the windshield of the snowmobile and let you get within 5 feet of them and take pics, and yesterday when walking in from his truck one of the owls dove in a snatched my bro in laws baseball hat right off his head, he had to chase the owl about 50 yards, yelling, before he dropped the hat, it was something to see. was wondering if there is a rule against feeding them, or reason why he shouldn't, its pretty cool having them around. This was in a tree on my driveway, I was around 10 or 15 feet from him when I took these, and this was before feeding them. I heard owls spook easy, but not these ones.

[demonjigger]

No laws to worry about... yet. Might not be such a good idea though, as your b=i=laws hat found out. Just as with any animal, once the fear of humans is gone, they can cause problems. Loss of an eye could be a big problem. I have had them almost land on my deer rifle in my deer stand, until I flinched. Getting too close for comfort. That owl is a Barred Owl FYI.

[storm_rider_1]

yea after the hat thing, he decided we have enough pictures and has quit feeding them, maybe once more so i can get a video for you tube.

[Dan189]

did the mice come from a pet store or your garage?

[storm_rider_1]

The garage, they are normally food for my snakes!

[JayinMN]

Owls like any other animals will eventually associate humans with food. He is lucky that it just got his hat and he did not get some talons in his head. I read a story about people who were feeding a Northern Hawk owl which eventually led to its death. It started associating cars with being fed. Lots of people were bring it mice to get pictures and it started diving at the cars in anticipation for its next meal. It was hit and killed by a car that wasn't stopping to feed it. I don't think that feeding one once or twice would be a big deal but 10 mice later it looks like these owls already have made a connection which could harm them in the future. I think its a good idea he has decided to stop. You could put up a bird feeder if you don't have one already because the seed will atrract rodents for the owls to hunt.