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SW OH | We've had reds around here for 40 years or more. Maybe 10 years ago the black ones started showing up. They seem to work together. It's as if the reds are the scouts and they call in the blacks for the kill. I've seen around 100 at 1 time on the ground of mixed color in my pasture going after an hours old calf. Between the cow doing her job and my wife trying to run them over with the gator, they left and that calf lived. I've had other calves that they killed.
Several years ago I looked into a depredation permit. The state of Ohio will only grant 1 allowing up to 5 killed birds, black head only, if you can prove a loss of $2,000 or more in a year's time and the loss has to be confirmed by a game warden. I don't know if this has changed since. I thought a read somewhere, maybe here, that legislation was being brought up that would allow livestock owners great leaneancy on killing them. I can't remember if it was an ohio thing or federal. Seems like the farm bureau was pushing for it.
There is a state lake park near here that supposedly harbors thousands of them. One of the gravel pits my employer owns is about 7 miles from here. There is a creek on 1 side of the property and a small river on the other side. Those trees are loaded with the blacks. There is an old pile of fill sand that they seem to like. It's not unusual to see 75 at a time on that sand pile.
Mitchco | |
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Buzzards
