Anyone ever shot a buzzard?

SPIKER · Feb 27, 2015

Back when Brother and I were kids (8 ~12 years old) we were at my sisters so had to be before 79 as she moved places in 80. Anyhow a buzzard was flying up 300 or 400 feet looked about size of a black bird & I said bet ya cant hit that buzzard! Well he laid down on his back & aimed his ole Remington 22 LR single shot Bolt Action for a few seconds. He squeezed off 1 round straight up, turned out to be a bad mistake!!! Hit it & it puked all over from 300 feet straight up so we both and everything close by was sprinkled with bird vomit... Not to mention it spiraled down spewing puke and spinning for what seemed like forever. It was dead before touch down but anyone within a mile probably could have seen it dropping out of the sky. It was the one and only time we ever even shot AT one, and BTW it stunk like heck for a week in that area.

Mark

k0ua · Feb 27, 2015

That is exactly what Dad told us. I believed him. I don't know if he shot one once or what, but he always warned us off of shooting at them. So we always left them alone.

RSKY · Feb 27, 2015

I was walking down a creek bank looking for snakes in the weeds when a buzzard fell out of a tree on me.

Talk about a wake up.

Once I recovered I picked up a limb and poked the obviously sick or hurt bird.

Not a good idea.

They can projectile vomit.

NEVER poke a buzzard with a stick.

They do not have a calm nature.

robbyr · Feb 27, 2015

MossRoad said:
Here ya go...
View attachment 414204

I think MossRoad has been snooping around in my pasture when I wasn't there. :laughing::laughing:

Dozernut · Feb 27, 2015

The next time it happens I will get a picture, but we had a huge amount of Black Buzzards in the trees and on the ground around the pond. The wife and the neighbor counted up to 100 (one hundred) and stopped. There were by their estimation, another 50 to 100 uncounted but there was too much movement to keep an accurate count. I have never seen this many Buzzards at one time or in one gathering, So we have plenty to spare if anyone needs some. I thought they were waiting for me to kick the bucket, to bad for them I lived to tell.

TomSeller · Feb 27, 2015

MossRoad said:
Here's a video that purports to show buzzards going after a newborn calve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUpEHAeveHQ

However, after watching it, it appears more likely that the buzzards are going after the afterbirth hanging out of the new mother. Anyhow, that's a lot of bold buzzards.

Either way, I would not have been shooting pictures, I would have been shooting buzzards. That property looks fairly remote so shoot shovel shutup.

texasjohn · Feb 28, 2015

Great video.

Great momma cow doing what she should...protecting her calf...also the rest of the herd helping out.

I watched carefully, buzzards were NOT attacking the calf. Calf is at least 12 hrs old, maybe a day, even two, because it never stumbles or is unsteady on its feet the way a just born calf is. Afterbirth can sometimes hang that way for a day, even two before being expelled. If not expelled by the second day, I try to remove it. That happens once every 5 years or so in my herd of 20 to 30 cows.

Afterbirth becomes rather odoriferous and is a favorite for buzzards. They are waiting for it to drop and trying to stay close so they are first to it when it does.

Yes, if calf or cow were so weak they could not defend themselves or stand, buzzards would peck out eyes. That's not happening to anything in this herd.