Anybody have luck with solar lights for predators?

[TickTownBriarBuster]

I found an advertisement for Nite Guard Solar lights and they claim to keep the owls away from your running pens. Has anyone used these and do they work? Thanks in advance and God Bless.

[TVE1998]

I have had them in my starting pen since mid summer and i havent lost any yet.I know i have owls here i here them leaving there roost in the evenings and have been finding gut piles. I would say they work.

[cris axtell/coal hill ken]

Waste of money.

[span870]

Does anything work besides shooting the dang things. I've found two gut piles so far, but I've released no less than 25 rabbits in a 6 acre pen and I've walked it yesterday and best I can come up with is six. I know I'm probably missing some and I do have two ground hog holes that I'm sure a couple might be hanging out in. They haven't escaped. I've walked the outside of my fence with fresh snow since I released them without seeing a single track on the outside. No idea what happened except the hawks and owls must be doing a number. Would you always see a clump of hair with a hawk catch?

[warddog]

My friend has about a 5/6 acre pen and we turned over 100 rabbits loose in it over a 6 month time period only to have it cleaned out in a few weeks. He could not find hind nor hair of anything and even kept track of his impact on predators. His pen is surrounded by woods and trees although it has none in it and it does have a lot of brush piles and other things the rabbits can get under or into. Seems he can't keep em more than a few weeks and they just get gone into thin air.

[Budd]

While down in Indiana I visited a pen, each section is a little better then 20 acres, and every fall and winter there are 80-100 rabbits added. There were rabbits but not near like there should be in it. From what I see it looks like the grounds are being groomed and manicured more for judging then rabbit habitat. All the brush is being removed and replaced with grass fields and (small) brush piles, from the little snow they had the grass fields would have had a hard time hiding mice. I have smaller 5-10 acre thickets that I hunt that I think hold more rabbit. They also do predator control in their pen. If I were guessing I would think it would have to be birds.

[John Way]

For an experminent , One of the members at our club purchased a single light and installed on a pole about 10' up. It was a section of grounds that would seldom hold a rabbit. Although the cover was decent , the mowed trails there were quite wide. Within several weeks of installing , noticed an occassional rabbit in the area. After releasing a few in the area , it has for the past two years ,been a place where there are "always " rabbits. Was a complete 180. Can only attribute to effectiveness of the light. We plan to install addittional lights this year. I believe keeping the larger "perch " trees unavailable is important. If a hawk / owl can sit for long periods surveying your grounds , its gonna cause additional problems.

[Mitch DeVore]

If ya,ll put that many rabbit's in these pens their probably killing one another. I mean come on man who ever heard of 80 or 100 rabbit's in a 20 acre patch of grass and besides that how in the hell is a dog going to run it without tripping over another rabbit.

[johns03272008]

If the blinking red lights scared away coyotes then people wouldn't hunt at night predator calling with a red covered lense, I have shined coyotes, owls, hawks, coons, opposum, deer with red lense lights and only thing that took off running was the deer!! I say waste of money!! Also know a pen owner that has them all over his pen and can't keep rabbits for nothing!!!

[OCRBIGGIN]

I have the lights in my puppy pen and the owls sit on top of the pole that the lights are on and get my rabbits. how do I know there is owls there is crap on the ground around the pole where they sit

[sbeagler]

i have never tried them but I have heard friends that had say they helped. I use a red barricade light that is charged by the sun comes on at dusk emits light om 4 sides and is bigger at 30 bucks a piece cost more but light on 4 sides instead of one and bigger.They worked for me. When you stock this will help spook predators.Coupled with wind chimes clanging that was not there previously helps a lot. Some use manigans and a portable radio. KEEP FEEDERS AWAY FROM OPEN PLACES AND PERCHES.THR FEWER TREES BETTER OFF YOU BE. HOUSE CATS CAN CLEAN YOU OUT TOO. I ONCE HAD 25 RABBITS VANISH IN ONE WEEK. PUT OUT 2 CAGE TRAPS CAUGHT 5 CATS IN A WEEKS TIME RELOADED NO MORE PROBLEMS.NEW RABBITS WILL RUN THE FENCE FOR 3 OR 4 NIGHTS AT MOST RISK THEN TOO.

[Rcoff]

They absolutly work, put them up as instructions say. Only problem is now i'm overrun with mice!
Thanks,
Bob

[S.R.Patch]

I saw a show one time on night predators, their hearing was what they used to locate and direct their attack. It actually showed a owl in a 100% totally darkened room with a night vision camera watching it. The owl would turn and cock it's head to get a audible to locate the mouse in the room and then swoop down and make the catch. They studied the owl's hearing and the feather placement around the ears and found it's design as a receiver to tell the owl location and distance. Any light will aid the owl but it is not totally reliant upon any light to make a accurate catch.
From this, I would say any noise makers that disrupt their ability to hone in on location by hearing would be to your rabbit's advantage.