Shaman. True re vehicle traffic. Went into town earlier this morning. Dead pig on side of road for about three days. Finally the blacks came upon him and looks like less than a quarter of mass remains. Hide and head and at least a dozen working on that. 70mph traffic 30’ away doesn’t affect them. On our lease we ask no questions after whitetail season has ended. Hogs, buzzards, raccoons and bobcats. All birthing animals and birds are at risk. Nope. Buzzard trap idea is gonna happen. Thanks.
It sounds like the problem with the black vultures are similar to our problems with wolves .. we have the means but the feds won't let us use them. I don't have anything specific against either wolves or vultures but livestock is how a man puts food on his family's table and that has to be #1 priority, anything interfering with it should be quietly buried.
Anyone who thinks there's two sides to everything hasn't met a M�bius strip.
Not with calves, but sometimes surprised to see how bold they get.
I came down with the covid or whatever on the way to my jobsite this fall. I was wiped out and lied down in a field for less than half an hour. I kept my eyes open because a buzzard started circling about 5 minutes after my break. I thought it was funny. At the time I needed a good laugh.
"“Indices from the North American Breeding Bird Survey show the population increasing and their range is expanding to the north, but we’re not certain why. There is no concrete evidence on what is causing the growth.
This is all sort of surprising. I had a dead squirrel in the back yard sitting in the sun. The Vulture sat over it and barley picked at it. The Vulture lost out to coyote at nightfall.
My sister runs sheep on her property up in Dutchess County NY, heritage breeds for the specialty market.
Last summer I saw a group of black vultures that far north for the first time, perching in the trees near her pastures. Probably resident up there now, they’ve been on the Lower Hudson for a few decades.
I warned her but she ain’t gonna take it serious until there’s a problem.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
They killed a calf and worried the cow until it was having a tough time breathing at my Dad's place this last spring. Not his cattle but he went out to run them off several times...didn't do any good as they'd just sit and wait. Took the calf's eyes. Owner was worried about the cow as she stayed down most of the day after all of the running/chasing of the buzzards.
I had a flock take over one of my water troughs and not let the cows or goats come to it. They were aggressive and there were a lot of them. I finally got fed up and solved the problem.
My uncle often had exactly the same problem. He said the same thing about them pecking out the eyes and then eventually killing the calf.
He built buzzard traps with chicken wire with a funnel where they could get in but not out. He’d bait them with a dead cow or calf and take care of them. I can remember seeing a trap about 15’ x 15’ absolutely full of buzzards.
Now there's a case for SSS. Can you image the fine for that many of them?
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
It's not over when you lose. It's over when you quit.
Black vultures, wolves, mountain lions, ravens all bear a resemblance to weeds in a garden. A farmer can control weeds in his field. As a rancher there should be no penalty for controlling weeds on the ranch.
JPro: One of the ranches I Hunt Varmints on the husband and wife owners beg me to shoot the Ravens in their fields as the Ravens peck out the eyes of the newly born defenseless calves! Last January/February they lost 7 (seven) newborn calves to this type predation. I try to help as best I can. Luckily the buzzard/vultures that migrate to this area (SW Montana) are not here during the calving season or I suppose they would lose even more of their calf crop? Mother Nature can be cruel it seems at times. Hold into the wind VarmintGuy
To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.-Richard Henry Lee
Endowment Member NRA, Life Member SAF-GOA, Life-Board Member, West TN Director TFA
