ScottM wrote:
They are all over the place down in my neck of the woods. We also have a ton of hawks and bald eagles riding the thermals. I don't know about anyone else but I remember when I was a kid I hardly ever saw birds of prey. I will bet I see 15 or 20 eagles on the way to Lacrosse Sunday. Actually I think all the predators are making a comeback. I hear coyotes often by my house, I've seen a fox crossing the road in Prescott on my way to work, my aunt and uncle had said the wolves were coming back around Walker, MN and I think I remember the DNR finding cougar tracks found along the Minnesota river a few years ago.
Fifty years ago people would automatically kill anything like this. Birds of prey were all called "chicken hawks". Every farmer had a 22 and a shotgun in the barn for opportunities.
I'm not sure a vulture is a predator, I think it is more of a a scavenger, but all this stuff is a sign of heathier natural environments, (and more logical people). There is now a diversity of wildlife present which provides food for predators.
People are slowly losing their fear of wildlife. We have tons of coyotes, contrary to myth, they don't cause problems. There are lot smore bears up north; fifty years ago they were unprotected vermin.
There are actually wolves in farm country near Appleton, although the people who see them won't say that publicly, because the antis will tell out lawmakers the skys are falling and they'll want the DNR to eliminate them.
Like with gun issues, people are coming around. The old myths are falling. The "west was won" about 100 years ago, but until about 1975, nobody realized that.
