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Here's What I'd Like To Know. ?????

Discussion in 'Skulls and Skeletons' started by fish stuffer, Oct 17, 2018.

  1. Oct 17, 2018 #1
    fish stuffer

    fish stuffer Active Member

    140
    77
    All you guys and gals who run deer processing plants, and people who mascerate sculls, how do you keep buzzards away from your place. I was sitting in my truck one day while my wife went in this store, and I saw buzzards circling way off. It didn't occur to me then, only later that a processor was up the street about a quarter of a mile. Now I know this man. He's been at it for years. His place is clean, very nice to visit and his deer processing is second to none. He told me one time, he puts the entrails, heads, bones in large garbage cans, covers with lime, and the trash service runs on wed. so early in the morn. he emptys his cans in the dumpster. The trash man comes and emptys the dumpster that day. I'm about 2 miles away. If my freezers are full to the top, I have put a scull in an airtight sack, put in my barn untill the trash man comes. I usually freeze it. One time after only one day, I saw a buzzard circling. I took it in the woods and burried it. The ground is so hard I had to find a stumphole where a pinetree rotted to dig a hole with posthole diggers.I know hot weather causes it to get ripe quicker, but this was winter. Those bastards can smell carion for miles away. One time I was driving home and found a roadkill baby racoon. I checked it out and got it. Now this thing wasn't rotten. I skinned it, salted the hide and put it in formic acid. I had a bucket of rince water and poured it out back. I went out and noticed a stinking wild turkey buzzard sitting out there where I dumped the water, licking his lips. Sometimes, I just walk outside and see one or two, flying over. At my son's house, 25 miles away, in his small town, there are hundreds of them. They live in the trees and the townfolk see them all the time. I ty to keep a clean outfit, watch what I put in the trash, and freeze everything untill garbage pickup day. I can have one small piece of meat the size of a marble and a buzzard will come from miles away.I wont even put a sign up because I'm afraid the neighbors will brame me if a buzzard comes around. If I boil a euro, it better be a fresh one. If it sits half a day, it will atract those nasty bastards. How do you guys who mascerate do it?
     
  3. Oct 17, 2018 #2
    joeym

    joeym Old Murphey

    13,602
    7,888
    Chunky, Mississippi
    I’m in the sticks, so flocks of buzzards are common here. A few years ago, I discarded the carcass of an 800 lb alligator in a dirt pit on my property. Went by a few hours later, and my walker hound was laying on top of it and wouldn’t let the buzzards near! I bet there was a hundred of them sitting around waiting on that dog to leave!
     
    HuntersUnion, Megan :) and fish stuffer like this.

  5. Oct 17, 2018 #3
    fish stuffer

    fish stuffer Active Member

    140
    77
    funny
     
  6. Oct 18, 2018 #4
    Megan :)

    Megan :) Well-Known Member

    3,028
    362
    Manitoba, Canada
    ha ha ha this is a good story!!! That would have been awesome to see!
     
  7. Oct 18, 2018 #5
    Sea Wolf

    Sea Wolf Well-Known Member

    13,609
    1,774
    Taxachusetts
    Would have liked to see a pic of the buzzard guard dog too. :) Vultures are one of the few birds with a sense of smell and it is acute. Just because you see them doesn't mean there is an odor someone will notice or that anything is unclean. Their sense of smell is so sensitive that they can smell food literally from miles away. It doesn't have to be rotten either. I have seen a group of them reduce a road killed deer to bones in a day that was hit that night and they started on it in the morning. You can't repel them ..... or shoot them as they are protected. I macerate and I've seen one or two do a flyover but never land to investigate. If you read about them, they really are a fascinating bird that does a nasty job incredibly well. I would not want them roosting close by though. The spots where they do are pretty rank. I would say that, if you don't have a hundred of them parked on your property already, you probably don't have to worry. I think they are also smart enough to figure out that even if they smell something tasty around your property and they haven't gotten a meal out of it, they just don't bother investigating. I think they learn that there isn't any reward there despite anything they might detect. I'm pretty sure they get a good reward at the processor place though. At least on trash day.
     
  8. Oct 18, 2018 #6
    joeym

    joeym Old Murphey

    13,602
    7,888
    Chunky, Mississippi
    They are one more creature in the cycle of life (and death) that plays a vital role on this old world! The only thing I fear about a buzzard is having one come through my windshield. They don’t like to be bothered when dining on roadkill, and will wait til the last second before going into flight.