BUZZARDS: The Good, Bad, and Ugly

(After seeing lots of buzzards lately, here’s a chapter from my book “Fathers, Sons and Old Guns” that triggered a memory.)

If ever there was a creature on God’s green earth that runs the gauntlet from good to bad to ugly, it has to be the vulture, or what most of us call the buzzard.

First the good. I have enjoyed sitting in my warm cozy home on a cold windy day and watching buzzards seemingly having the time of their lives. If you haven’t done so lately, sit and watch how graceful these big birds are riding the wind currents, drifting so eloquently with the breeze. Effortlessly drifting with the wind, a sudden change in altitude and direction seems second nature these majestic birds. They are fun to watch.

Buzzards are also known for cleaning up road kill and carcasses of dead animals. They provide us a service in doing this because nobody wants to have to endure the stink of something dead rotting away of its own accord. Buzzards not only enjoy the feast but when several are gathered, a carcass can be reduced to bare bones quickly.

In our part of the world, the largest buzzard is the turkey vulture. With a wing span of near six feet, the bald head and reddish face are characteristic. The flight of the turkey vulture is more graceful than that of its cousin, the black vulture which is easily recognized not only in their smaller size but when you watch one fly, wing beats are more rapid and the tail is shorter than the turkey vulture.

Both species are known for excellent eyesight with an uncanny sense of smell. This brings to mind when once I brought home a sack full of collard greens and my wife insisted that I cook them outside so I set up my cooker on the driveway a few feet from the house.

As the greens began cooking with steam rising, I noticed moving shadows along and over the driveway. Half a dozen buzzards were circling overhead, apparently mistaking the aroma of my collard greens for a road killed possum. Pointing out this interesting activity to my wife, she opted for a sandwich for lunch.

Now for the bad. Buzzards seek out sheltered areas for nesting, hollow logs or cavities. They also love to nest in vacated deer stands when the unthinking hunter leaves a window open on his box stand after season ends.

Before season opened one year, I went out to check my stand, one in which I had carelessly neglected to secure a window and I don’t have to tell you what I found. Although my sense of smell is not as acute as that of a buzzard, I began picking up unsavory whiffs of stink before I got to the stand.

Fearing the worse, I climbed the ladder and opened the door and to make a long stinky story short, the mess that a nest of buzzards had left in the stand meant a cleaning job I never want to have to repeat.

Now let’s talk about the ugly. As graceful as buzzards are when they are airborne, getting a close-up view of a buzzard withdrawing its head from the inner portions of a three-day-old road-killed deer is a sight you want to divert your children’s attention away from. Bald, reddish with a beak designed for doing what it does, is a sight you’d like to soon forget.

I learned another interesting fact about buzzards. Groups of different species of animals and birds are given names. A flock of geese, a herd of elephants, a sounder of feral pigs, for example.

With the current political climate being what it is, it may be somewhat appropriate when naming a bunch of buzzards. Whoever came up with their name years ago was a visionary. They are called a “committee”. A committee of buzzards.

FISHING REPORT

CANEY LAKE – Bass have moved deep. Soft plastics and cranks baits are working best. Crappie are around the deeper tops and are hitting jigs and shiners. Bream are on shallow beds and hitting small spinners, crickets and worms. For information contact Caney Lake Landing at 259-6649, Hooks Marina at 249-2347, Terzia Tackle at 278-4498 or the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
BUSSEY BRAKE – Crappie are around the brush hitting shiner or jigs. Bass are best flipping the trees with soft plastics. Fake frogs are working early and late. The bream bite is going on in the shallows. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
OUACHITA RIVER – Water level down because of lock and dam problems down stream. Fishing overall is slow. For latest information, contact the Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE D’ARBONNE – Bass have moved to secondary points and hitting square bills, spinners and soft plastics. Crappie are in 10-12 foot water and hitting jigs and shiners. The bream are on the beds and biting crickets and small spinners. Lots of catfish are being caught on red wigglers and night crawlers just off the banks. For latest information, call Anderson Sport Center at 368-9669 or Honey Hole Tackle Shop at 323-8707.
LAKE CLAIBORNE – Crappie are around deep brush and jigs and shiners picking up some. Bass have moved out to deeper water around secondary points. Soft plastics and crank baits are picking up some. Night fishing should be improving. Bream are on the shallow beds and hitting worms and crickets. For latest information, call Kel’s Cove at 927-2264 or Terzia Tackle at 278-4498.
LAKE YUCATAN – The water is on slow fall. Except for catfish caught on trotlines and buffalo caught in nets nothing else is biting; water still too cold. For info call Surplus City Landing at 318/467-2259.