Owl dining

We had a visitor! Bret noticed that something was getting into the pigeon coop and helping himself to some yummy little snacks. Then one Sunday afternoon Bret called us all from the house to come see what he had caught in the barn! We found this guy just sitting inside the coop not able to get back out. I know the picture doesn't show it very well but he was huge! About 2 feet tall! Now it's a pretty heafty fine if you get caught with a Great Horned Owl, because they are protected. We didn't just want to let him go, because he was killing our pigeons. We also couldn't kill it. So what to do? We called the Nature Center here in Shelby co. and got permission to catch it, cage it and re-locate it. Which was quite interesting to do with out losing a finger! He wasn't happy about getting caught in a net and being put in a cage! He puffed himself up and started hissing and snaping his big sharp beak! We drove him to the Nishna Bend Recreation Center and let him go out there. I think he was happy to be free. It was very cool watching him take off and fly away.