I'm just down the road from RareBreed and I agree with all of his observations. If you wanna get a good picture of an eagle, just dump out a deer carcass and put a camera on it.
Originally Posted by poorcountrypreacher
. The only birds I ever saw affecting catfish were cormorants. I'm sure eagles get some now, but it's only in the last decade that I've ever seen an eagle at the farm. If they are having a negative impact, shouldn't they have started a decline in the turkey population when they appeared? That certainly hasn't happened.
PCP……I got a feeling you’re just putting on with some of this.
Eagles have probably only started having a negative impact in the last 10-15 years…….That’s when their populations began to exceed the limits of the food and space resources of the lakes and rivers and the excess were forced to push outward into the dryland searching for new food sources
I guess you are implying that there is a contradiction in my statements? If so, you have missed my point; I think I have missed yours too.
The first eagle I ever saw was on the Cahaba in the early 60s. There weren't many then, but now they are common. We were in the catfish business from 1971 until 1999. I never saw an eagle get a catfish from the lake, and I've never seen one get a turkey. They probably do get some, but I doubt it's a number significant enough to matter. Do you have any research that says otherwise?
My main point was that even with all the changes that have taken place from the 60s until now, we've still had about the same number of turkeys year after year, and have killed 3-6 gobblers off the 400 acres nearly every year.
I would still like to hear what you think is happening with the catfish ponds on the other side of the county that's impacting our turkeys? I think we are seeing more eagles because there's simply more of them. They always used up and down the Cahaba, so the catfish ponds didn't draw them to the area. I don't think cormorants bother turkeys, and they were the only bird I ever knew of impacting the catfish industry. Is there some other predator involved? Is there any evidence that eagles have become a significant nuisance for the catfish farmers? I haven't heard anyone else mention this, but I have been out of it for 27 years now.
Is there any research showing that prescribed burning is actually a negative for turkey populations, or did you come up with this idea? I haven't seen that anywhere else either. I seldom see a rat escape one of my fires and be flushed out. They usually burn up.
All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.
