A different ending

W

william gaynor

Active member
I was hunting on Nimassila reservoir with my brother and we had been sitting for four hours and had seen only two ducks all day when suddenly a small flock of ducks spotted our decoys and came right in. I shot three times and I heard my brother shot once. One of the lead birds fell out of the flock but glided to a spot about a hundred yards away. I reloaded my gun and told my brother I'll get the boat and pick up the bird; you keep an eye on the bird.When I was ready to go I picked up my binoculars to get an exact location as I was watching the downed bird I suddenly saw a blur in the field of vision. I looked up and saw an eagle trying to nail the bird. I watched the eagle make at least five attempts to get the duck. On about the sixth pass he came in and flaired as the duck dove beneath the water. The eagle just hovered over the spot and when the duck came up he nailed it and flew away with his reward. I sat there dumbfounded.
 
Oh yes that's happened to me as well! I don't wanna try and one up you but you might get a chuckle out of my ending. My eagle climbed back up to a couple hundred yards in the air with my drake ringneck that morning from WAY out in Lake Winneshiek and actually started flying back towards me. When the eagle got close I stood up and waved my arms and yelled at it which caused it to flare and drop the ringneck. Talk about a splash from WAY up in the air!!! Then I was like, Pete(that was my lab) FETCH! Which he did. So I had a bald eagle retrieve my crippled ringneck that I had given up on. I had earlier spent like forever chasing it in the boat but couldn't get it. But I could still see it out front way out there bobbing away in the waves........till the eagle saw him! Lol
 
I am sorry that your story didn't have a happier ending. Especially this wacky duck season with birds so hard to come by for most of us!
 
That's happened to me a couple times before with a hawk and I just popped off a couple rounds in his direction and solved the problem. Once it scared him before he got it and the other time he dropped it and flew off.
 
Over the years, eagles have moved enough birds around on still days, that losing one to them occasionally is a pretty fair bargain, from where I sit...
 
I agree with RL...my marsh observations are eagles have put more scared birds in the air, and into my bag limit then they have taken from me. I've had eagles "harvest" only 2 shot ducks drifting away on the water in 30 years of hunting.
And I am fascinated that ducks know the difference far off between an eagle and hawk, because they don't jump off the water when a hawk flies overhead.
 
Interesting that ducks will jump up from eagles. I saw yrs ago at Forysthe NWR the opposite reaction to aerial predator. Hundreds of GWT were feeding in the impoundments while a peregrine was dive bombing the ducks trying to get them to take flite. Many attempts no joy for the falcon until a small pod of teal panicked and jumped. It was Wild Kingdom at 75 yds. That falcon dumped one bird and feasted.
 
Rich~

These are all great stories! I am always happy to see raptors - especially Bald Eagles and Peregrines - which were so DDT-endangered when I was a kid that I believed I would never see either species. Nowadays, it is nice to see these "missing parts" of the system back where they belong.

I once watched 8 or 10 Buffleheads escape a Peregrine by diving underwater right from flying - very quickly - through the sky. I guess they could not afford the "landing" phase....

And, it has been my privilege to see Gyrfalcons over Great South Bay on a couple of occasions - one of which flew right up into my rig, checking out my decoys.

All the best,

SJS
 
That's a great story I love how nature works sometimes. I to have had a slightly similar thing happen to me I hunt open water off the LI sound and have had seals come up for a look at downed ducks and grab them for a snack. Oh well I lose a bird but its fun watching!!
 
A couple of years ago I got out of the boat when my young dog JD could not find a downed bird right behind the boat. There was snow on the ground and i could see the blood trail from bird and followed it until it ended. At a loss we got back in the boat just in time to see a gull drop the duck onto a piece of flowing ice and begin his feast.
 
What a great thing to have witnessed! One never knows what you will see next when in Mother Nature's backyard.
Al
 
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