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Joined
Oct 10, 2004
Messages
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Location
Florence Alabama
A few days ago when I was leaving the land in Tn I hunt after dark, an armadillo scurried across the road in front of me. Seeing as how I have had a long running war with these critters I swerved my truck and turned the armadillo into a road pizza.

As I drove to the land this evening I topped a little rise where I hit the armadillo and there were two mature bald eagles having a pizza dinner.

I drove right up to them, the first I have ever seen close up. They left the armadillo and flew about 15 yards away into a soybean field and just stood there looking at me. I was able to snap one picture out the window before my camera batteries died. I didn't know he was looking the other way when I took the picture but at least I got one picture.

4Emlskz.jpg


I didn't see any deer that afternoon while hunting with my flinter but the eagle encounter made my day.
 
I didn't realize there where Armidillo's, in Alabama.

I enjoy seeing other wildlife, while I'm hunting, keeps things interesting.

Can't recall seeing any Eagles while hunting, but have seen a few, while fishing.
 
the population of our national emblem has skyrocketed here along the lower Susquehanna. Lost two new born lambs to bald eagles last spring. Eagles had them within an hour or two of being born. I was sorely tempted to follow the SSS theory of pest management. They are starting to get the neighbor''s free range chickens. Did you know you can't harm an eagle under federal law, even if it attacks you or your kid. We see them here at the farm at least once a week. (we are only about 1.5 miles from the river.) Between the eagles and the hybrid coyote invasion, small pets don't stand a chance.
 
zimmerstutzen said:
the population of our national emblem has skyrocketed here along the lower Susquehanna. Lost two new born lambs to bald eagles last spring. Eagles had them within an hour or two of being born. I was sorely tempted to follow the SSS theory of pest management. They are starting to get the neighbor''s free range chickens. Did you know you can't harm an eagle under federal law, even if it attacks you or your kid. We see them here at the farm at least once a week. (we are only about 1.5 miles from the river.) Between the eagles and the hybrid coyote invasion, small pets don't stand a chance.

Like we see posted here, if no photo "it didn't happen" Most "crimes" like this are prosecuted cuz folks take pictures or keep "trophies" or tell someone who tells someone etc.etc.. If an eagle after my kid we be short an eagle. But I wouldn't mention it EVER and surely wont be found with feather or claw.
 
first off you had no right to kill it. they are now all the way up to west virgina and all the south east.
 
Eric Krewson said:
Seeing as how I have had a long running war with these critters I swerved my truck and turned the armadillo into a road pizza.
Why the war on armadillos?

Spence
 
zimmerstutzen said:
Lost two new born lambs to bald eagles last spring. Eagles had them within an hour or two of being born. I was sorely tempted to follow the SSS theory of pest management. They are starting to get the neighbor''s free range chickens.

Can't help with the free-range chickens, but our coyote deterrence practice for calving might help you. The coyotes have learned that if they can haze the cow off a newly-dropped calf, within a half an hour the cow gives up and the calf is free eats. Trouble is, the smart old coyotes know to do it in the middle of a herd so you can't shoot them. Chasing after them only drives the cow away and you have a bummer on your hands to feed for the next few months.

Dunno about sheep, but an experienced eye can look at their tail ends of cows and tell pretty accurately that they'll be calving in the next 12-36 hours. We ride the herd each afternoon in calving season and cut out those soon to calve, moving them to a pen up next to the house where the coyotes don't venture. Lots easier to surveil the cows through calving that way, too.

Any way to spot the ewes ready to drop and move them to safer ground for a few days?
 
I had coyotes chew the right ear off one of my calves. Luckily, I got there in time to chase them off. (No gun with me at the time.)
 
not sure about your coyotes, Brown bear, ours are wolf hybrids. They hunt differently, they range differently and even hunt different prey than their western cousins. One local had 2 coyotes come out of the woods and were sneaking up on his 4 yr old granddaughter as she played on the swing set. They ran when he saw them, but scared him such that he cut down all the trees and brush on the back acres of his property. They don't let the kids or dog out without adults right with them. Folks walking dogs have had their dogs attacked in Public parks 50 miles North of here. When I bought this place it was quite a war on groundhogs in the pastures and fields. Now they have all but disappeared. Coyotes are getting them.
 
Yeah, those are pretty confined spaces. The open pasture where we confine cows in the weeks leading up to calving is about a half mile from the house and a little over 900 acres. With a storm approaching we can calve 70 or so in a night.
 
Great pic Eric! It's a shame the battery died.

Here's a few pics taken in a field just above my place in 2012.

They were around 150 yards out in the field feeding
on what appeared to be a deer carcass.

There two young one and the one adult.

104_7747.jpg

104_7750.jpg

104_7757.jpg

104_7758_Flying_Eagle.jpg
 
hadden west said:
I didn't realize there where Armidillo's, in Alabama.

I enjoy seeing other wildlife, while I'm hunting, keeps things interesting.

Can't recall seeing any Eagles while hunting, but have seen a few, while fishing.


I grew up only a few miles from where Eric lives.

We never had Coyotes,Armadillos or Fire Ants when I was young.

They Coyotes, I was told were brought in to control the beaver population that were damaging the paper companies trees.

The Fire Ants showed up next, then the Possums on a half shell came along shortly thereafter. :idunno:

This all transpired in the late 70's through the 80's time frame.
 
As for armadillos, they have spread north and quickly turn good hunting land into a rooted up, burros dug everywhere mess. It wasn't uncommon when I got on stand to have 1 to 5 of the dang things around me rooting and shuffling about. Deer steer clear of all that noise so your hunt is over when they come out.

I started hunting them and killed over 60 on 340 acres. What I found is they are not a dumb as they are made out to be. You may walk up on one and shoot it, all the rest of the armadillos on the property know what just happened and will run from you from 100 yards away. I figure they must have some kind of ultrasonic danger alarm that they can all hear.

I have turned all the remaining armadillos on the property nocturnal by hunting them, I never see one in the daylight anymore. I hear them shuffling about when I walk out after dark, they run as soon as I point a flashlight their way and are impossible to kill.
 
Eric, I've had bobcats feed on their carcass before so if you do get another one done keep an eye out for cats. :thumbsup:
 
Always cool to see birds of prey...especially the big ones.

Years ago when eagles were not very plentiful due to DDT, Minnesota still had a good population, 2nd only to Alaska at the time, if I recall. My mom and a friend were on a trip to Alaska and when eagles were spotted the whole tour bus was ooohing and ahhhing. Mom couldn't figure out what the big deal was as we commonly saw bald eagles!

Now we have so many more, it's nothing to see dozens at a time along the Mississippi River, especially in Winter all congregated around openings in the ice where they not only fish, but pick off puddle ducks. The National Eagle center is located just 15 miles from me in good ol' Wabasha (of Grumpy Old Men fame).
https://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/
 
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Coyotes simply moved into the east to fill the void left when all the wolves were killed off. Wolves will kill coyotes but sometimes they'll also mate with them. I remember seeing coyotes in Ga back in the early 1960s. They are all over the state and as common as song birds! They are seen constantly during deer season and during summer out at the farm shooting range. I only shot one but could have killed dozens.

Both armadillos and possums are much smarter than people realize. However, I always saw more - many more - dead armadillos along the highways than possums. Fire ants have been in the Deep South a long time. They came into the country in logs brought in from their original home. As global warming progresses they, like armadillos and the possums before them, will spread some.
 
Red wolves will breed with coyotes, but grey wolves will not.

North Carolina reintroduced red wolves into the northeastern part of the state and attempted to keep them in the desired area by sterilizing the coyotes bordering the area. I seriously doubt that it worked if they did that at all...

Virginia and West Virginia were supposed to have released grey wolves into the area bordering Kentucky back in 2002, but I've not been able to find any confirmation that it happened, but then again, F&G don't like to own up to some things.

The "coyotes" in the northeast are hybrids cross bred with wolves from eastern Canada. The size and coloration of them is noticeably different than the typical western coyote. I've seen some very dark ones, and one that haunts me to this day looked more like a black wolf than any coyote.
 
George said:
Eric Krewson said:
Seeing as how I have had a long running war with these critters I swerved my truck and turned the armadillo into a road pizza.
Why the war on armadillos?
If you ask that question, you don't live in an area infested with these varmints. I take out as many of these pests as possible. Not just because of the destructive nature of the beast, but also because they carry leprosy.
Griz
 
excess650 said:
Red wolves will breed with coyotes, but grey wolves will not.

The "coyotes" in the northeast are hybrids cross bred with wolves from eastern Canada.

Wolves from Eastern Canada are grey/timber wolves. According to DNA Studies, the hybrids are coyote/timber wolf. The Great Lakes wolves are also grey/timber wolves.

The study, published October 17 in the Journal of Mammalogy, found evidence that Virginia coyotes mated with Great Lakes wolves but not with the rare red wolf, which is hanging on in just a few isolated spots in the U.S. South.

That's "good news for the red wolf," whose survival is already threatened by inbreeding, which reduces the species' genetic diversity, Bozarth noted.

https://news.nationalgeographic.co...ids-coyotes-wolf-virginia-dna-animals-science/
 
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