Bald Eagles

[brake man]

We've had a few immature ones flying around each hunt thus far and had a mature one land in the top of a tree where we used to have a blind years ago. Saw three in one tree a few hundred yards down from us.

[Agua]

Used to be one between Cleveland and the River that would hang out. Haven't seem him/her the last few years, but haven't been up there as much either.

[peewee]

I haven't seen one this year but there is usually a few that will fly over near where I hunt each year. It makes for an awesome sight especially if you have kids with you. Last year one landed on a snag about 100 yards away and sat there for quite some time.

[Blackduck]

For years we would see maybe one a year around Minter City. Last year I saw five in one scope of trees. Now we see them in almost every hunt. Geese freak out. Ducks get up and make a lap before lighting back down.

[donia]

IF (big if) any ducks are on the hole when an eagle lights in it, they're soon nervously huddled on the far end in the ditch with all eyes on the raptor!

[Seymore]

Years ago I was hunting with the boys from Wooly Swamp when somebody winged a hen. Hawk came out of nowhere and tried to nail that winged hen in the air. He grabbed the hen but his speed made him overshoot so he let go. Don't know where the hen ended up after he let go. One of those things to remember from hunting and fishing.

[jtdumallard]

We have had one in our neighborhood that has regularly been visiting one of our lakes the last few years. This thread got me to thinking that I hadn't seen her this year. Sure enough she was sitting in the tree this morning guarding the lake.

[Bercy]

I was about to ask where one could hopefully view an eagle or two, but my son and I saw two Sunday afternoon outside Louise. One was on the ground, and the other was chasing ducks over someone's flooded corn. Unfortunately, these two were pretty far away and hard to see, but it's always thrilling to see them.

[SwampMan]

We see them very regularly when hunting Southern Illinois. Seem to get more concentrated when the ducks show up. Old men in the area say that they don't bother hunting until the eagles start showing up.

[davidees]

Just saw two up close at Walnut Lake

[Hole Hunter]

I will never forget my first encounter with an Eagle and waterfowl. We had just finished up an unsuccessful attempt to hunt a frozen over lake that was holding ducks and geese. While standing on the bank some 3-400 yards away from the unfrozen area that was holding the large group of waterfowl, we noticed an Eagle light in a large cypress tree on the edge of the lake. Those ducks and geese went completely nuts when it lit. Evidently, one saw it fly in and light, then gave the alert call to the rest of them. The geese in particular did not hang around to see what his next move would be, they packed up and left in an instant. Pretty cool to witness.

Sometime later, I was watching a NatGeo special on Eagles. They were featuring this same scenario on a lake up north somewhere. Evidently, surprising a large group of waterfowl like this is a hunting strategy used by eagles. There were several surrounding a frozen lake in some trees. One would fly in close to scare the group of ducks, which would result in them rising off the water in flight. Given the hysteria of a couple hundred ducks getting off the lake at one time, there would be a few ducks that would become injured and the eagles would prey on those injured ducks. Kinda like shooting fish in a barrel.