Bald Eagles and Long Beards (They Don't Mix)

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Weekend Woodsmen
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Bald Eagles and Long Beards (They Don't Mix)

Post by Weekend Woodsmen »

Last year we were on a pretty routine hunt on one of our farms. We had some rain and we knew the birds were working a field so everything was unfolding just the way we wanted it to. Then all of the sudden two bald eagles swooped in on the field and after that we had to go into an unconventional stalk using the terrain to our advantage! It ended up being one of our most exciting hunts of the year! As bald eagles make a come back have any of you had similar situations? One guy commented on the video that where he was bald eagles have all but wiped out the turkeys. They used to be plentiful and now he hardly sees any. I hope it doesn't come to that in our area! Hope you enjoy the video!

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fountain
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Re: Bald Eagles and Long Beards (They Don't Mix)

Post by fountain »

The first time we hunted Wyoming I was blown away at the routine of the turkeys out there. They did the same thing at the same place, at the same time daily. As long as you didn't roost hunt them, they would do the same routine.

I had killed my bird on the first evening and we were hunting the same spot the next evening. We never saw them. I watched a blizzard fly around a mountain all evening until right at dark. They seemed to be on a mission that evening and went straight to roost and bypassed us.
Turns out, that buzzards I saw was a golden eagle. The guide was sitting out and away from us and watched him swoop down at them 3 different times trying to catch one. He got them off of their pattern and they had to stay close to the creek bottom and trees to avoid him u til right before dark
swampchicken
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Re: Bald Eagles and Long Beards (They Don't Mix)

Post by swampchicken »

Had a bald eagle swoop in from behind us this spring and attack a hen decoy. Have also seen a red tail hawk attack a decoy too.
Weekend Woodsmen
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Re: Bald Eagles and Long Beards (They Don't Mix)

Post by Weekend Woodsmen »

fountain wrote: March 18th, 2018, 9:35 pm The first time we hunted Wyoming I was blown away at the routine of the turkeys out there. They did the same thing at the same place, at the same time daily. As long as you didn't roost hunt them, they would do the same routine.

I had killed my bird on the first evening and we were hunting the same spot the next evening. We never saw them. I watched a blizzard fly around a mountain all evening until right at dark. They seemed to be on a mission that evening and went straight to roost and bypassed us.
Turns out, that buzzards I saw was a golden eagle. The guide was sitting out and away from us and watched him swoop down at them 3 different times trying to catch one. He got them off of their pattern and they had to stay close to the creek bottom and trees to avoid him u til right before dark
That's pretty crazy! We have a saying "trust the pattern" they are usually pretty predictable for us too, but it is usually predatory in nature when that changes. We were scouting one morning and a decent amount before before fly down time, but enough light where you could see and a coyote ran right by us at maybe 5 yards (so mad we didn't have a gun). We were 2-300 yards from the roost, but those turkeys must have seen him at some point and hung on the roost for an hours past normal fly down time!
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Weekend Woodsmen
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Re: Bald Eagles and Long Beards (They Don't Mix)

Post by Weekend Woodsmen »

swampchicken wrote: March 18th, 2018, 9:55 pm Had a bald eagle swoop in from behind us this spring and attack a hen decoy. Have also seen a red tail hawk attack a decoy too.
That would have been cool to see!
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