ea<^]es kiirni<j: laiulis arc lai'e. this 

 may not be si<i:iiilicaiit when one 

 considers tlie wariness of these lar<i:e 

 birds of prey and the wide ran<ze of 

 the sheej) at lanil)iiio- time. "When 

 C. C. Sperry * worked in tlie area in 

 1937, all rancliers interviewed liad 

 seen eagles feediiio- on dead ]aml)s, 

 and many had examined tlie car- 

 casses to determine the cause of 

 death. The general conchision was 

 that death resulted from claw punc- 

 tures at the base of the skull. Hie 

 observers agreed that eagles seldom 

 bother lambs more than a week oi- 

 10 days old and that the most vul- 

 nerable pei'iod for the lambs is the 

 first few hours of life. 



The following episodes, reported 

 to the writer during a short stay in 

 the Texas area in 1948, illustrate the 

 type of evidence leading to ranchei' 

 sujijiort of locally organized eagle 

 control. E. G. Po])e, assistant dis- 

 trict agent. Tnited States Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, Lubbock, Tex., 

 stated that dttring the spring of 

 1935, wliile Hying over the "HO" 

 pasture at the foot of the (xuada- 

 lupe Mountains in west Texas, he 

 noted a golden eagle flying from the 

 foothills toward tlie valley. Latei' 

 he saw a lamb and a ewe standing 

 close together in the valh'y. The 

 eagle flew overtlie two. ma(h' a small 

 circle, and (lroj)j)ed on I he hi mb wit h 

 such force that it actually a|)peared 

 to bounce. During that spi-ing it 

 was i-epoi'ted to r'o|)e that eagles in 

 the general area were eating from 

 15 to 20 lambs a day, but he ob- 



M-:agles vs. iMuihs in \vi:ntci-u Tfx.-is, 1!t:!T 

 •MS. in files of United States Fish .ind Wild 

 life Service, Washington, D. C. 



served that at the time there was 

 little else for eagles to eat. 



In the spring of 1946, M. E. 

 Bomar, of Marfa, Tex., saw an eagle 

 dive twice on a lamb, hitting the 

 animal both times. Although the 

 eagle was shot, the lamb died a few 

 minutes after the attack. 



These records and others both in 

 this country and abroad establish 

 the fact that golden eagles are capa- 

 ble of killing lambs. The extent 

 of this loss under varying condi- 

 tions cannot be computed from the 

 (lata now at hand. 



Most of the successful sheep rais- 

 ers in the area where intensive eagle 

 control is practiced are attempting 

 to control all factors limiting sheep 

 })roduction. These include such di- 

 vergent things as removing loco- 

 weed and trapping flies at water 

 holes to control screwworm. The 

 attitude of most ranchers paying the 

 bill for eagle control is that it is a 

 "necessary chore," and they are con- 

 vinced that the value received in in- 

 creased livestock crops is worth the 

 price. That control is an extensive, 

 annual i)rocess, is indicated by the 

 number of eagles killed under a 

 l)roject sponsored by the Big Bend 

 Eagle Club of west Texas. This or- 

 ganization of about 100 ranchmen 

 hire<l a |)ilot to shoot eagles from an 

 aii'plane. The numbers killed over 

 a Ci-year jteriod are as follows: (157 

 in 1!»41 4l\ (;t;7 in r.>42-4;5. l.OOS in 

 1943-44, cSOO in 1944-4.5, 8(')7 in 1945- 

 4(), and 819 in 194()-47, for a total 

 of 4,818 (Buechner 1950). 



The extent of eagle damagi' under 

 foi'iner conditions of less I'igid con- 

 liol in this same area is reflected 



28 



