I saw a Condor yesterday

[Love Life]

So me and my buddy are shooting at one of the ranges on public land here in Nevada. I was sighting in my K98 and I see what I initially thought was a small plane come over the hillside. I put the weapon on safe and sat up so the plane could fly on by with out the possibility of taking a high velocity 8mm projectile.

Then it flapped it's wings. It was absolutely amazing. It kept flying closer and closer and ended up flying over us about 50 yards to our left. We have many large birds of prey in my area, including Bald Eagles, but this bird was WAY bigger. Me and my buddy just watched in awe as this magnificant animal flew over us. We could easily tell that it was much larger than any bird of prey or buzzard in the area. It was only about 100 feet off the ground.

We looked at each other and in school girl excitement both yelled "Condor". The Condor landed about 275 yards away from us on a hillside (range finder). It had to be a couple feet tall based off of how much our front sights covered it's body. WE DID NOT SHOOT THE CONDOR, NOR DID WE HAVE ANY INTENTION. We used the front sights of our rifles to get a rough size estimate.

I must say that I was floored. I just watched it through my binos and enjoyed it for a while. I know that that big bird has made boolits illegal in parts of California, but I believe I witnessed a once in a lifetime happening. I saw a giant Condor in the wild.

Life is good.

[462]

I'm very close to rant stage, but will defer from any comment.

[Love Life]

462- Feel free to rant. What did I put in my post to cause you to rant? I am wondering what it was doing in my neck of the desert. I thought they tended to inhabit the pacific coast, and not be this far east.

[snuffy]

I know that that big bird has made boolits illegal in parts of California, but I believe I witnessed a once in a lifetime happening. I saw a giant Condor in the wild.

I don't know what 462 is holding back, but the part about the boolits being illegal in commi-fornia is what gets me riled. The junk science that brought about the lead ammo ban was straight from the liberal gun ban people. Enough un-educated people bought into it to get it passed and have the govenator sign it.

I've never seen a condor, never will other than tv or a book. I never shoot at birds of prey, even though big owls have decimated pheasant populations in Wisconsin to the point that nobody hunts them outside game farms anymore.

Lead shot for waterfowl causing lead poisoning in a few places caused the advent of steel shot. I quit duck hunting completely when I saw well hit ducks shed the steel shot, then slowly come down in private hunting land or inside a refuge to slowly die of gangrene or starvation.

[Love Life]

I don't shoot at birds of prey either. I sure didn't mean for anything in that post to get anybody riled up.

Yes I understand that the Condor was used by the anti-gunners to ban lead boolits in parts of California, but that was not what my post was about. My post was about seeing an amazing creature, in real life, in the wild.

Can't a guy just damn enjoy something and pass his enjoyment on without some religious, political, right wing, left wing, irrelevant BS being thrown in the mix? Sheesh.

[condorjohn]

In 1972 my wife and I rented a house on an avacado / lemon ranch in So. Cal. between Moorpark and Santa Paula. One morning the ranch foreman, all excited, told us to "come check this out".
There was a wind break of tall eucaliptus (?) trees and at the top of one of them was a pair of California Condors. No one had a camera with film so all we could was look. They were beautiful and ugly at the same time. We wached for about 15 min when they decided to leave. It was very impressive. Their wing span had to be six feet or more. Never will forgrt it.

Hence my user name... Also named my business Condor Screen Printing...

[snuffy]

Can't a guy just damn enjoy something and pass his enjoyment on without some religious, political, right wing, left wing, irrelevant BS being thrown in the mix? Sheesh.

I suppose so. But that wound has hardly had time to scab over, some will just have to pick at it to see if it's ready to come off or will it bleed again.:confused::evil:

Injustice is never irrelevant. I consider it unjust to lie about an outcome that restricts my or anybody else s freedom.

[Love Life]

Good point snuffy. It sure was a pretty sight to see though. I remember being a wee little one and the threat of extinction was very real. You could only see the California Condor in a zoo or on TV. Fast forward 20 or so years and I see one in the wild. It was just amazing.

Just like CondorJohn I didn't have a camera. Isn;t that how it always works out?

[justingrosche]

Lovelife, I'm sure that condor was just waiting for you to leave so he could fly down and pick over your lead pile.

[Love Life]

Dang. Good thing I was on the Nevada side of the border. I think he was there for the 10 point mule deer buck that the fire department threw in the ditch after they hit it with their truck. Now that was sad.

[BruceB]

Lovelife is simply reporting a sighting of an impressive inhabitant of our wilds.

The existence of these great birds has NOTHING to do with the politics and other stupidities that humans have created around their existence. There is NO REASON to react to a simple sighting as if we are somehow offended by the report.

Lovelife, amigo.....thanks for your post. It's good to know that others among us have the sensitivity to respect and revere the creations and wonders of the natural world. Even after killing scores of big-game animals and numerous birds, I still have a sense of sorrow after the killing's done, along with the gratitude for my success. Also, I still am awed by such things as bald eagles, sunsets, Aurora Borealis and MANY other natural wonders.

Those who have no appreciation for such wonders are poorer for their lack, even if they're unaware of their shortfall.

[Love Life]

Thanks BruceB.

You bring up something. I have hunted and fished quite a bit, but there have been many times when I had a nice buck in my sites or a large trout in my net and I let them go. Sometimes I look at an animal and just think "Man you're a big old fella. Sure is hard to get your age and size in the animal world unless you are smart."

I'm not a tree hugger, but I have respect for the wildlife. I'm not slective. I've let coyotes, rabbits, squirrels, etc walk away as well. Sometimes it is nice to just watch an animal in it's natural habitat without killing it, but then again I am not trying to fill my freezer. Most of the game animals I do shoot go to the processor and then to the local church or homeless shelter.

[Jim]

462,
It's not my place to speak for the group, but at the risk of doing just that, I think more than a few of us are confused and puzzled. Could you help us understand what happened?

Personally, I'm lost as Hogan's goat as to what upset you. Bro, I swear on my father's grave, I'm not tryin' to start nothin' here. I'm just thinkin' if I had posted about seein' a Condor, I'd be concerned about what I need to apologize for.

Will you talk to us?

[shotman]

ken has not posted his PIC so could be him

[jcwit]

Love Life! Glad you got to see the Condor, glad you shared the experience with us. Wish you would have had a super duper telephoto camera to share the sighting in pictures, but heck we can't have everything, can we?

[montana_charlie]

I admire nature in general, and predators in particular. Along with that admiration for predators comes a fascination for birds of prey.
Seeing them means the spot I am in still retains some 'wildness'... and I love to watch them work.

I also spent many hours observing turkey vultures in costal northern California when my Dad had a place in the mountains there. They aren't predators in the purest sense of the word, but they have that bird of prey action when they fly.

I've never seen a Condor, and don't expect to. But, I do know that (probably) every one alive today is personally known to those who make it their business to keep track of them.
That makes them more like 'free-ranging pets' than actual wild creatures.

If observing one cruising by, I could probably get that shivery feeling about seeing something special, but I would also be thiking that every Condor alive today is worth about five million bucks ... because when you take all of the money spent and divide it by the number (wild and captive) that exist, it comes out to a big number like that.

And still they can't manage to survive without supplemental care from those who watch over them.

I guess the real feeling I would have if watching a Condor is similar to the feeling of seeing a short-faced bear, a mammoth, a stag-moose, or any of the other megafauna that roamed North America during the era when there was an ecological niche for the Giant Condor.

With their passing, the Condor's time was also done, but a small number managed to hang on along the coast ... where large meals (like beached whales) could be had.

When the tourist trade made it mandatory to keep the beaches clear and clean, the last logical (and last ecological) reason for live Condors disappeared.

CM

[Love Life]

Now the conservationists remove road kill and place it in the Condor areas to give them something to eat without the risk of instant death from touching a boolit.

[looseprojectile]

what each condor must have cost we humans in direct costs and indirect spinoffs.

It must be awesome to see an animal that represents so many millions or probably billions of dollars.

I am probably weird in my thinking that there is no practical need for wolves or grizzly bears or cougars or many more of the critters that are a threat to humans.

If you are going to go in harms way you must take some measures to make yourself sort of safe. You decide what measures.

I must be different. When I see the outdoor sports programs showing the hunters shooting animals from ambush and get an adrenalin rush and get all giddy
I am apalled. Are those kinds of people normal? I have killed all sorts of animals and fish and have not enjoyed killing them at all. I am always saddened when I need to end the life of a living creature. They taste good though.
I must be no fun to go hunting with as I don't jump up and down and laugh like an idiot when I kill something.

Sorry for the rant.


Life is good

[Love Life]

You know what? I didn't really give a rat's behind what the single bird cost each of us. I was thankful to see it and would love to see another one.

How can I care how much a bird costs us when my own species gets welfare? Kind of stupid if you ask me.

There may or may not be a need for wolves, grizzlies, or cougars, but I'm content with leaving them be as long as they leave me be.

Rant all you want. You say you feel saddened by killing animals, but in the same post you say it is O.K. to wipe 3 species from the earth?

As I have said before. Sometimes it is nice to just see something. Years from now when the California Condor may actually be extinct I can tell my daughter that I saw one in the wild. Take all your negativity elsewhere.

[Jim]

Heck, I'm happy just to see a 'coon up a tree! :bigsmyl2: :drinks: [smilie=w:

[Love Life]

Jim-I got a funny story about coon hunting. We were coon hunting one night in Georgia. We weren't having too much luck so decided to hit the bottom and see if we could scare up some armadillos. Well we get to the bottom and we see them start off through the tall grass. We decided the best hunting method was to flush them into the open area on the other side by stomping through the grass. Figured the armadillos would move before we got close to them.

Not the case. As we were stomping through the grass my foot came down on something that was not earth. At first I figured an anthill until it moved. I HAD STEPPED ON AN ARMADILLO!! So I did what any red blooded American would do. I screamed at the top of my lungs and jump about 4 feet in the air. My buddy still bugs me to this day about going armadillo surfing.

[omgb]

I have seen condors in the wild...they are impressive indeed. The California condor is the one that is most likely to dissapear first. The same bird ranges from Nevada down through Arizona as well. They aren't quite as threatened there. Foolishness and pseudo science aside, they are magnificent creatures...truely part of God's handiwork and I'll miss them if they go.

[rsrocket1]

They are magnificent birds to watch as they catch thermals. I spent many years thermal soaring and slope soaring RC planes and when I see the ease a Condor, Turkey Buzzard or Hawk catches a thermal and rides it up, I get hypnotized. Having grown up in CA, I've seen Condors on occasion for over 40 years. They are great to watch.

It's a shame that it has been denigrated to becoming a war symbol against responsible hunting and shooting by idiots determined to control the lives of others to compensate the lack of control in their own lives.

[shooterg]

35 million to capture 22 and raise some more (about 380 now) plus another 2 mil a year to maintain the overgrown buzzards. Guaranteed that as their range is expanded, so will the lead free shooting areas. Cool to watch, I guess, as long as they don't get in smelling range !

[dragonrider]

I can only imagine the thrill you got at seeing a condor in the wild. Living here in the PRM (peoples republic of Massachusetts) as I do it ain't likly to happen for me. I do envy your experience.

[Love Life]

I can only imagine the thrill you got at seeing a condor in the wild. Living here in the PRM (peoples republic of Massachusetts) as I do it ain't likly to happen for me. I do envy your experience.

To be honest with you it was a little nerve wracking at first. I thought it was a huge eagle or falcon and thought about how small I must look on the ground in the prone position.

It was truly amazing and one of those memories I will always treasure. I reckon I better carry my camera with me from now on.

[9.3X62AL]

Love Life, I'm glad you saw that magnificent bird. And, I'm glad to read that the NV/AZ population is in better shape than the coastal California posse.

Now, ya REALLY want to cheese off outdoors enthusiasts? Four words--Marine Life Protection Act. This amalgamation of junk science makes the Condor Cuddlers look fair and reasonable by comparison.

Ah, what the hey--those Barnes TSX and TTSX do good work. And the CA law only affects HUNTING, not general shooting. Everyone needs to amp down just a bit. It is NOT a "lead ban" per se. And, YES--my local deer zone is affected by the regs. BFD!

I can't recall the exact quote verbatim, but Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce said something along this line--"We are hunters, and we hunt the buffalo. When the buffalo are gone, we will hunt mice--because we are hunters." These words are good to take to heart when you live in a moonbat-infested hoplophobic welfare wonderland like California.

[462]

This is a public apology to Love Life. It was not my intent to hi-jack your thread. I am truely glad that you saw the condor and hope that the memories of the experience will stay with you forever.

[gandydancer]

I'm very close to rant stage, but will defer from any comment.
PETA I Bet. ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow he said peta.

[BD]

We all need to remember here that the California lead boolit ban was not caused by condors, it was caused by Californian liberal moonbats. Saying that condors caused the ban is no different than saying "guns cause crime".

CELEBRATE THE CONDOR, BAN THE MOONBAT!

BD

[Love Life]

This is a public apology to Love Life. It was not my intent to hi-jack your thread. I am truely glad that you saw the condor and hope that the memories of the experience will stay with you forever.

No need to apologize 462. I think I caused more of the problem by asking what you had to rant about, which lead to speculation, etc.

I believe one of my earliest posts on the forum was about my recent move from North Carolina to California. After spending a couple months in California I realized the state agreed with me. It wasn't bad here at all compared to how bad I had made it in my mind. Of course I lived in Mono County which is a bit more grounded. I love California. I always have. I don't agree with all the laws of the state, but then again I don't agree with all the laws in the country. I now live in Nevada and I love this state equally as much as California. At heart I am a desert rat and love these areas. I will be happy wherever I am.

I would much rather hang my hat on this side of the country. Going out in the middle of nowhere on a whim is hard on the east coast because everything is owned. Not here. If I see a neat pile of rocks I want to look at guess what I do? I pull over and look at them to my hearts content without worrying if I'm trespassing on timberland. I feel compressed on the east coast, and I feel free on the west coast. Something about all this wide open space.

You have just taken a trip into the mind of Love Life.

[condorjohn]

I'd much rather some of my tax dollers funded Condors than Hamas!!!

[Love Life]

I'd much rather some of my tax dollers funded Condors than Hamas!!!

Amen!!!

[Jim]

I think it was very big of 462 to publicly apologize for his conduct. Most men aren't big enough to apologize privately, let alone publicly.

[snuffy]

If apologies are in order, let me offer mine. I should think for a bit before I fly off on a tangent. I guess if I were to ever see a condor, I would change my mind.


We all need to remember here that the California lead boolit ban was not caused by condors, it was caused by Californian liberal moonbats. Saying that condors caused the ban is no different than saying "guns cause crime".

CELEBRATE THE CONDOR, BAN THE MOONBAT!

Anybody remember fibber McGee? And Molly of course. The old timer used to say "THAT AIN'T THE WAY I HEEERED IT!

The theory went that those poor buzzards, Opps condors, were getting lead poisoning from the lead left in the gut piles from game animals shot during hunting seasons. We all know that most "J" word bullets pass through, leaving little if any lead in the entrails left behind.

A simple requirement of having the hunter carry out the guts, not leaving gut piles, would have solved the problem, that problem that didn't exist to start with.

Love life, I spent a quite a long time in Nevada while in the AF. Stationed up by Tonopah at a remote radar site. I had a MC and a jalopy car that I went out in the desert in many times. I may return some day to look around again, loved that area. 1966-69. Loved chuckar hunting, but it was a lot of work!

[Suo Gan]

I am curious to know where in Nevada?

Cheers on a rare bird sighting. To my knowledge there has not been a condor in Nevada for a good hundred years. I believe the wild numbers are around 130 birds. Most of them live on the coast range and the transverse ranges, a few scatter into the grand canyon, the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley, San Bernadino Co., Baja California. I have seen one in the west slope of the Sierra and it was feeding on a dead sheep. I do not think there are any known on the other side of the Sierra.

They are four and a half feet tall and dwarf a golden eagle. They weigh upwards of thirty pounds! Very impressive birds and there is no mistaking one.

[JesterGrin_1]

Heck, I'm happy just to see a 'coon up a tree! :bigsmyl2: :drinks: [smilie=w:

When I am out hunting I am also happy to watch the wild life. It is not all about the hunt but being out in the wild. Well except now and then when a darn Road Runner jumps up and lands right on my blind at eye level and yells his darn head off lol. It is almost like here he is here he is lol.

Wild life can bring Awe to us if we only take the time.

Congrats on the Condor :)

[Three44s]

Congrats on seeing the Condor! And like a poster wrote back a ways: It's not the Condor's fault, it's the idiot preservationist ideas run amuck!

Now a bit of mind wandering: What if we had enough of those birds and could allow a couple to be trained to do some spying over Iran?

The recent apparent hacking into our computer systems would be irrelevent as it may now be with our powered drones.

Amenanutjob does not possess good enough English skills to presuade an American bird trained in English to land on the wrong limb!!

Best regards

Three 44s

[looseprojectile]

Then you have no problem with your government supporting all those beautiful,
welfare mothers who have six to sixteen offspring with taxes on the rich.
Someone with a little common sense will have to step up and direct our Government wisely soon. Several someones.
Think about this. More species of animals have become extinct than are alive now.
I am glad that your spirits were lifted when you saw the condor.
In the mid fifties I can remember seeing several really large soaring birds circling in the sky above Maxwell California. Saw them often. I thought they were condors. My spirits soared with them.
When people move to the country and build housing projects and single homes the animals have to go. Where do you live? Animals that can adapt will. Some don't.
Ask Bullshop how your life style can change with the sighting of a grizzly bear.
Answer me this. Where is the road crew going to get road kill for the condors when the wolves have eaten all the deer and elk and antelope? You will buy them beef right? Out of your own pocket right? I believe it is unlawfull to feed wild animals in my State.
You sound to me like one of those people that doesn't care who pays and how much, when it is something you want from your Government at everyone elses expense. Just because it is beautiful? Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
And furthermore I have never condoned killing anything or anyone that was not either eaten or just plain needed killing because they were a threat or suffering.
Shame on you for suggesting such a thing.

Have a nice day.


Life is good

[leftiye]

Wow!!

[missionary5155]

Good morning
Each Tuesday I ride a KDX Kawasaki up the mountains to a couple villages. On the way is a nice long climb that passes some very steep cliffs. In one area of that climb I have seen a condor from time to time which is unusual for this area. Nearest concentration of condors, the big white ones, is about 100 miles NE of our valley in Colca Canyon.
Peru does not have any lead restrictions. :) Condors were slautered many years ago because they have a nasty habit of snatching new born sheep, goats and children. Still happens today but much less.
Mike in Peru

[Bret4207]

what each condor must have cost we humans in direct costs and indirect spinoffs.

It must be awesome to see an animal that represents so many millions or probably billions of dollars.

I am probably weird in my thinking that there is no practical need for wolves or grizzly bears or cougars or many more of the critters that are a threat to humans.

If you are going to go in harms way you must take some measures to make yourself sort of safe. You decide what measures.

I must be different. When I see the outdoor sports programs showing the hunters shooting animals from ambush and get an adrenalin rush and get all giddy
I am apalled. Are those kinds of people normal? I have killed all sorts of animals and fish and have not enjoyed killing them at all. I am always saddened when I need to end the life of a living creature. They taste good though.
I must be no fun to go hunting with as I don't jump up and down and laugh like an idiot when I kill something.

Sorry for the rant.


Life is good

I understand what you mean. I even get a little feeling when I cut trees or hay because I'm interrupting something elses life cycle. I don't cry over it but I try to act in a responsible manner of stewardship rather than whooping it up when I pop a rat or coyote. They were just living, but then, so am I. I never did get into the "killing channels" beyond the technical aspects of duck or predator calling, stuff like that.

I'm a conservationist, not a preservationist.

[Bret4207]

You know what? I didn't really give a rat's behind what the single bird cost each of us. I was thankful to see it and would love to see another one.

How can I care how much a bird costs us when my own species gets welfare? Kind of stupid if you ask me.

There may or may not be a need for wolves, grizzlies, or cougars, but I'm content with leaving them be as long as they leave me be.

Rant all you want. You say you feel saddened by killing animals, but in the same post you say it is O.K. to wipe 3 species from the earth?

As I have said before. Sometimes it is nice to just see something. Years from now when the California Condor may actually be extinct I can tell my daughter that I saw one in the wild. Take all your negativity elsewhere.

It's not negativity, it's reality. Look at it this way, at least you didn't mention wolves, lynx in the Adirondacks, snail darters or spotted owls!

[Love Life]

Then you have no problem with your government supporting all those beautiful,
welfare mothers who have six to sixteen offspring with taxes on the rich. Someone with a little common sense will have to step up and direct our Government wisely soon. Several someones.
Think about this. More species of animals have become extinct than are alive now.
I am glad that your spirits were lifted when you saw the condor.
In the mid fifties I can remember seeing several really large soaring birds circling in the sky above Maxwell California. Saw them often. I thought they were condors. My spirits soared with them.
When people move to the country and build housing projects and single homes the animals have to go. Where do you live? Animals that can adapt will. Some don't.
Ask Bullshop how your life style can change with the sighting of a grizzly bear.
Answer me this. Where is the road crew going to get road kill for the condors when the wolves have eaten all the deer and elk and antelope? You will buy them beef right? Out of your own pocket right? I believe it is unlawfull to feed wild animals in my State.
You sound to me like one of those people that doesn't care who pays and how much, when it is something you want from your Government at everyone elses expense. Just because it is beautiful? Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
And furthermore I have never condoned killing anything or anyone that was not either eaten or just plain needed killing because they were a threat or suffering.
Shame on you for suggesting such a thing.

Have a nice day.


Life is good


Where did I say that I supported welfare recipients? I stated that I didn't really care how much the birds cost when an even larger amount of our tax monies goes to supporting the bottom feeders of our society.

Moving on to the second red statement. Wrong, wrong, wrong. You sound like a whining little girl. "Boohoohoo. Somebody saw a Condor and I don't agree with that. That's not fair!!" Why don't you go occupy wallstreet? Show me where I stated anything like that. I am a tax payer as well.

All I posted was that I saw a rare and beautiful creature. It made me happy. I don't care how you feel.

If you want to turn this into a political discussion then start a thread in the political section.


:takinWiz: you

[45nut]

well.. it's time this got locked. Move on , nothing more to see here people.