I've got proof!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tom Wilson]

This has to be seen to be believed...

I shot my second duck of the morning earlier this week, and like the good shot that we all can be at times, I don't hit it hard enough and it sails out about 50 yards in front of the decoys and starts doing the "dang--I think I got shot flop" (shoveler hen--yaeh-yeah I know) anyways I decided to get the boat out versus sending the dog after a swimming bird. I get the boat half way out of the cattails and look up to see a huge mature bald eagle. I think to myself there's no way...Wrong...she folds her wings dives straight down and snatches that duck right out of the water...I sat there absolutely dumbfounded. I didn't even have the camera ready. Later that morning, I have a pair of Mallards come into the dekes...I plaster the Drake and he rolls belly up--My second shot misses the hen and my third shot hits her, but not very hard, and she takes a dropping sail out towards the other side of the lake. I start to get the boat out and I look over to my left and here comes the eagle. I grab the camera and look back out towards my duck and now there are two eagles. I know I can't get there before they do, so I do the only thing I know to do, I wait with camera in hand. Without hesitation these two birds go straight to that duck. She is able to dive on them and survives the first 8 or 9 swooping dives that they make, and then it happens...(these are not great shots--dog was moving around and they were almost 500 yards away, but you can make it out)

The swoop--notice the duck to the left of its wing tip...

The grab--Got Her!!!

And finally the guilty parties...

Not a great shot either, due to the backlighting, but proof nonetheless...What an awesome, awesome site to see.

[winona walleye]

absolutly awesome, great work tom all your pictures are fun to look at, keep it up

[wallydiver]

No kidding. Those are some of the coolest outdoor pics I've ever seen!

[Gissert]

Too cool, Tom. Great pictures.

I had something similar happen to me about eight years ago.

The lake I live on was in the process of freezing, and I was out sitting in my front yard, hunting goldeneyes.

I crippled a drake, and he swam out of range, crawled up on the forming ice and died. I was gonna paddle out and get him when I quit hunting. A bald eagle came, and plucked him up on his third pass, and landed in an adjacent tree and started chowing down. I figured he needed the bird much more than I. That was a cool experience to see that for sure.

[B. Amish]

i seen a bald eagle work a raft of coots last weekend, never seen it actually catch one as the eagle got tired and went to perch in a nearby tree.

it was rather funny because the coots got as close to each other as possible, probably to try and confuse the eagle. there were probably a few hundred of them all bunched in a perfect circle, and the eagle would only go after the coots that managed to work themselves out of the circle

[Sartell Angler]

sweet pics Tom...I'm sure quite a few hunters have had a similar experience, but I bet that very few of them have got a chance to get a picture of it happening. If I were you I would submit the pics to MN Conservation Volunteer magazine along with a story about the hunt. I'm sure they would at least give you a page or two.

I have never had an eagle pick off one of my birds, but did have a hawk screw up a nice flock of mallards dumping into our pothole a few years ago. Had a flock of 6-7 birds ready to land and a hawk came out of nowhere and scared them off...we were po'ed!

SA/wdw

[mwal]

Tom,

Great pics!!!!! Keep taking them you have a gift keep sharing it. I had a Hawk attempt to take a teal in So Dak a couple weeks ago. It stated to lift off then we yelled at it and it dropped the teal. Nature at its finest

Mwal

[lawdog]

Very cool!

We once saw a hawk take a duck mid flight. But of course we had no pictures. The hawk just drilled it when it was circling into our dekes.

[Guest]

I dont have photographic proof, but I have witnesses that are site users here.. Black Sportsman and Ralphthenoober...

An eagle came down and grabbed a mallard on me last year that I had dropped.. but this bird was dead and it was only about 75 yards away from the blind. I seen the eagle and I had the feeling I knew its intent... I tried to scurry and get the boat out as quickly as possible but it was too late.. SWOOP.. there goes my duck. Black Sportsman(Manny) had the dumfounded look on his face(surprised).. me, I had FURY.. lol.. it was a slow day and that duck meant dinner. I unloaded my gun into the air(not towards the eagle) to try to scare it into dropping my duck.. it actually worked. The eagle dropped my mallard about 250 yards away from the blind.. just barely on the outside edge of the cattails. I got my duck.. eagle talon wounds and all it went home with me.

I guess it was cool to see.. but I dont think its cool that they are scavenging to the point they are grabbing birds that just dropped out of the air... I guess waterfowl hunters are the cause.. way too many birds out there that get away(mostly from skybusters) so the crippled ducks are a seasonal forage in some areas that are heavily hunted.

This is not an attack on hunters.. but there are lots of birds dropped in public areas that dont get retrieved for one reason or another.. theres not a doubt in my mind that this is the reasoning behind the eagles being a more common story on taking our wounded birds at a distance.. or in my case, my dead bird not far on the outside of the decoys within seconds.. shotgun blast = dinner bell for these big brown nusence(sp?)scavengers.

It is cool to see once.. but I can see problems int he future if this becomes too common. I wont think its too cool to see on my birds 4 times in a season.

[fishermann222]

WOW, those are some amazing photos. SO, the question of the day is... Do you have to count those "stolen" birds as part of your bag limit?

[wh1stler]

Eagles and ducks, I've got a couple of stories if I may.

The lake we typically hunt on has a nest and they usually fledge one every year out of it. A few years back we had the immature swoop down to pick up a decoy at first light. We started shouting and he broke off the dive at the last second. I can't imagine what sort of mess that would have caused.

Another time we had dropped 3 or 4 butterballs and an eagle came by, this time it was like he hovered before beginning to dive and our shouts weren't sufficient to scare it away. So I fired my gun straight up. That certainly caught it's attention.

My all time favorite is watching an eagle chase a fully plumed buffy around the lake. The buffy would be skimming the water with the eagle flying above and not far behind. Occaisionally the buffy would hit the water at full throttle and dive. Absolutely amazing to see. The eagle would pull up to circle and wait. As soon as the buffy popped up the eagle would swoop and back down went the buffy. When the buffy decided to fly he came out of the water flying and the chase would be on. This went on for 10-15 minutes until they got to the far end of the lake where I couldn't see them anymore.

Wh1slter

[ChuckN]

It's happened to me once.

I dropped a bluebill that soared about 40 yards from the blind, but it was dead. My dog was on the retrieve and I was just watching him swim towards the duck when I decided to load another shell in the gun.

All of a sudden, in the corner of my eye, an eagle was dive bombing the duck with my dog very close to the bird. At that point my boy announced his presence on "his" bird and let out a horrible sounding bark and growl as the eagle's talons hit the duck. The eagle was not expecting that at all, but it did grab the bird and had it about a second before dropping it back into the water, and Jake made the retrieve. The eagle circled above monitoring the situation and I was too, in complete awe.

Cool pics for sure.

[Mr. B]

Cool pics!

I have never had an eagle take a duck that I shot but I have had them kick birds up to me. I was getting ready to jump shoot a small pothole when an eagle flew over the other end and kicked 5 Redheads up. All five were flying as low and as fast as they could when they went over me. Never did hit one of those ducks.

That Guy,

Eagles are scavengers for the most part. They will take any easy meal they can get. Just curious is there really a tremendous problem with eagles taking downed birds before the hunter can retrieve them?

[outdoor ran]

So the duck goes under who's bag limit . You knocked it down and the eagles finished it off. Awesome pics, would of been really cool to see in person. Thanks for sharing that with us.

[Kodiak]

I have a question about limits since all you guys are straight shooters and don't bend/break/stretch the laws. So would you feel good ethically if you had two birds taken by eagles and still took home your limit of 4 or would you just take two?

[Guest]

I will not count a duck that an eagle stole from me toward my daily bag limit if it was a retrievable duck... the law probably says i am wrong.. but there are limits.

[Tom Wilson]

Well,

This wasn't where this post was supposed to go, but here is the way it is (as far as I'm concerned). The law is straight forward and to the point. The law states that a person's possession limit is 4 ducks.(possession--not how many you shot)

Daily bag limit--This limit determines the number of migratory game birds you may legally have in your possession while in the field or while in route back to your car, hunting camp, or other destination. (page 9 of supplement)

Retrieval--a person may not kill or cripple any migratory game bird without making a REASONABLE effort to retrieve the bird and include it in the daily bag limit. (which is 4)

this is found on page 106 of the regs for those who want to read it.

I know that no-one accused me of anything illegal, but since this was my post I thought I would offer my views on it--I also know that I'm 100% legal. I made the effort to get the boat out of the reeds and start towards the 1st duck. and lost the race. I started to make my reasonable effort on the second duck and realized that I would lose that race as well--so I photographed it.

Here's a good example (this is not directed to anyone--it's just an example) If you're hunting on a crowded lake and you shoot at one and wing it--it flies over about 150 yards to the left and gets hammered by another guy. You yell and say Hey I hit that duck first and he yells back Yah, well come and get him Jerk! Do you cont that duck in your possession limit--NO!--because it's not in your possession. This situation is no different, and it has nothing to do with ethics or opinions of right and wrong--its the law.

Tom W

[fishermann222]

Tom,

I was not stating that anything was done wrong. I found your pics to be AMAZING. I just wanted to throw that out there to see what people think. Meant to be a "joke" comment instead of something for people to get nitpicky on. It is nice to get an idea of peoples ethics nowdays.

[Tom Wilson]

I didn't mean for my response to sound like I was thinking you did. I knew what you meant, but knowing that it would be argued, I posted that reply. No worries.

Tom W

[R Buker]

Excellent pics, Tom.

I too had an eagle experience some years back. I shot down a canvasback and it was very healthy. I took the boat out and got to within fifty yards of the bird. An eagle came down and managed to pluck it from the water on the first try. Very fun to see.

And, no, I didn't claim it in my limit. I shot another can about ten minutes later!

[Guest]

Tom.. your pics are excellent, these amongst others!

I appologize on accidently twisting the forum in another direction.. it wasnt my intent.

I do know the law, and I do in fact count lost birds towards my limit(which too many people dont).

Right or wrong.. when mother nature reaches her hand out and steals my duck 75 yards out in front of me.. thats a tough judgement call to make.. it in no way makes me a judge, but I wouldnt be surprised to see myself drop another duck to go home with in the case an animal took my game out from under me... this would be very different if it were a deer that had to be left overnight and wolves found it.. that would be much fault of my own, and a possibly avoidable situation... I suppose the eagle would be avoidable also.. but what measures would I have to take to avoid that? Shoot the eagle?

Not an option. I know the laws, and I abide to them... sometimes the laws dont seem right.. at the same time, some laws cant be written. What do we ask for? An exception in the regulations if a prey animal takes our game? lol .. I dont think so.

I got my duck back without causing harm to the eagle.. this is a non issue.

Once again.. great pics!

[wyldewal]

That's amazing I've often wondered how often that happens. Were we hunt there are always several eagles around and I wondered when one would try somthing like tat.

Great pics too!

[Kodiak]

chill pill