black buzzards, any other ideas

[backhoeboogie]

The problem with trapping them is you get turkey buzzards too.

They'll get on a weak calf quick.

My bunch was mostly brangus. If a calf bawls the whole dang herd will charge in.

I seen them attack a neighbor's calf. Turkey buzzards sit on the outskirts and watch as the Mexican buzzards gouge eyes and everything else. When the cow charges the Mexican buzzards the turkey buzzards add to her confusion. Locked gates. I had to climb fences to get back to a gun. Long walk. Cow did her best.

 

[Ky cowboy]

I've done the she shooting thing too. What about furadan, I know it would be illegal but so are the rest of suggestions. What about a cage to keep mom flung animals out ie your neighbor's dog.

 

[Ky cowboy]

Edit non- flying animals. Sorry trying to feed a baby and type on a phone

 

[talltimber]

Maybe a cheap goat or deer or something? I am sure glad we don't have them to deal with. I feel for you guys that have this to deal with too. Sounds like zero fun, other than the shooting them.

 

[Bigfoot]

I have personally seen black buzzards destroying turkey nest.

 

[Ky cowboy]

I watched my brother miss one on the ground, but dropped out of the air with a 223. There were 2 of them on a coyote pup in a hay field. Dad was watching for turkey one morning and one flew out of an old house he was parked by, it flew down and tried to get in his truck flew right into the window bounced off and scratches the crap out of his hood

 

[JSCATTLE]

JSCATTLE, How big? Will 12' long, 4 ft wide work? How big of a hole for an entrance? Maybe 1'x1'? does it need to be staked to the ground?

WRFarms, Hypothetically speaking, someone may have tried it, and did not see any results

M-5, in the past, the market around here does not like the calves with ear, but would one or two eared mom's be enough to get the job done?

thanks

I'd make it 16 x16 or whatever you Can get out of full sheets of cattle panel ..that way u can reuse them later.. you can make the hole big enough they can easily walk in .. they will move away from you when you walk up.. I would use t post to stake it out and maybe a couple down the middle to hold it up ..

 

[City Guy]

Couple of "absolutely no experience" observations:
I thought vultures only ate carrion--guess I'm wrong.
What about mob grazing (you all know I'm a big fan) There is safety in numbers.
Calve in spring (you all know I abhor winter calving) There is plenty of easier-to-kill wildlife available.
And what is SSS?

 

[talltimber]

Maybe a cheap goat or deer or something? I am sure glad we don't have them to deal with. I feel for you guys that have this to deal with too. Sounds like zero fun, other than the shooting them.

The goat thing was about baiting them away from the calves, but I read about the baiting a trap and missed some on my delete.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

We have 3 methods with dealing with them here. 22 mag 30-06 300 win mag 22 mag if they are close 06 if they are to far for 22 mag 300 win mag for the far far off ones.

 

[dun]

Couple of "absolutely no experience" observations:
I thought vultures only ate carrion--guess I'm wrong.
What about mob grazing (you all know I'm a big fan) There is safety in numbers.
Calve in spring (you all know I abhor winter calving) There is plenty of easier-to-kill wildlife available.
And what is SSS?

These are not the usual turkey vultures, they are black buzzards/vulture aka Mexican Eagle.
SSS Shoot Shovel Shutup
I have no direct experience with them, just what others have said. But it appears it isn;t just a winter problem.

 

[True Grit Farms]

Couple of "absolutely no experience" observations:
I thought vultures only ate carrion--guess I'm wrong.
What about mob grazing (you all know I'm a big fan) There is safety in numbers.
Calve in spring (you all know I abhor winter calving) There is plenty of easier-to-kill wildlife available.
And what is SSS?

Mexican buzzards are the bad one's, black heads with white wing tips. Mob grazing only works in certain fields, some of us have a lot more woods than fields. The time of year seems to have little affect any more for some reason. If you let them come it seems like they won't leave. With free food, heath care, and amnesty for illegal immigrants born here, their population just seems to grow. Shoot, Shovel, and Shut up.

 

[M-5]

they are migratory here. The only time I don't see huge numbers is in the summer when regular buzzards are prevalent. I drive past a place on my way to work 20 miles from my house that is a cypress swamp at dusk you can see hundreds of them roosting it top of the trees , This swamp is surrounded by about 200hd of cows . I have stopped and ran the birds off cows calving several times over the yrs. We have a large land fill in our county and I figure there are at least 10k buzzards around it yr round .

 

[callmefence]

I've heard the Guatemalan buzzards are great... 8)

 

[TexasBred]

Couple of "absolutely no experience" observations:
I thought vultures only ate carrion--guess I'm wrong.
What about mob grazing (you all know I'm a big fan) There is safety in numbers.
Calve in spring (you all know I abhor winter calving) There is plenty of easier-to-kill wildlife available.
And what is SSS?

These are not the usual turkey vultures, they are black buzzards/vulture aka Mexican Eagle.
SSS Shoot Shovel Shutup
I have no direct experience with them, just what others have said. But it appears it isn;t just a winter problem.

They are here year round and you'll seldom see a solitary bird. Not for long anyway. There will be large numbers. They will wear a cow out as she fights them to protect the calf. Unless someone intervenes they will eventually wear her down and kill the calf. They are attracted by both rotting flesh and fresh blood. They are aggressive and regular old turkey buzzards don't have a chance with them.

 

[Littlejohn]

Thank you for all the comments, It gives me some ideas to work with.

Just to show you what i'm up against, This was my view when I stopped by the farm yesterday



there were the ones hanging out over at the neighbors farm

 

[TexasBred]

Looks like something has already died and they're trying to locate it.

 

[M-5]

I baffles me that I can kill a deer clean it and haul off the carcass to a spot where I have never dumped one and within 2 hrs the turkey vultures will have found it.

 

[farmerjan]

We have them here in the Shen valley of Va. too, Had a heifer go to calving, friend living in the house at this farm saw them all around her and took 4 wheeler down and chased them off. She couldn't believe that they would actually bother the cow. Called me, on my way home from work so I went right there. There were 5 other cows there all trying to run them bstds off, and the poor heifer was getting worn down. I stayed with them, didn't have the gun with me at the time, and the heifer got the calf up, it nursed and then took it off into the woods and I figured that she would be okay then. There was also the *&%#** bald eagle there with them that took 122 of my free range layers off in one year. I no longer raise free range layers to sell eggs needless to say.
The black ones will chase off the turkey buzzards and do destroy the nests and the eggs and young if they can. There is some legislation to allow them to be shot and/or disposed of due to the damage they are doing and that they are not an endangered species. There was such an outcry here about them being close to the city that the F&G actually were setting up traps, somewhat like what have been suggested here, and trapping & killing them because they were so numerous. Used deer carcasses to bait the traps with. They also stink.
They do not favor dead but actually prefer fresh blood and buzzards actually can smell the blood. The only "bird" that has a sense of smell I think.

 

[farmerjan]

We calve spring and fall groups, so it has nothing to do with the time of the year.