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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Dracon" data-source="post: 1387455" data-attributes="member: 14799">Frank -Of course no golden eagle stands four feet tall.  I may have inadvertently exaggerated the length.  It was over 40 inches.  I'm at the age where as Twain was quoted, "The older I get the better I can remember the past, whether it happened or not."  The experts claim the bald eagle is the larger of the two species, but that may not always be true.  Regarding the ability to lift weight and still maintain flight, the mature eagle may weigh   fifteen pounds and some claims have been made they can fly away carring twenty pounds.  But I believe that would be rare.  But under the right circumstances, they are killing machines.  Back in the days when eagles were not protected, tail feathers were highly coveted.  Something like cock pheasants.  Some have really long tail feathers.  The wing spans can be as much as 8 feet.  When you realize the average adult human with arms extended to the side won't quite measure 6 feet, the eagle's wing span is truly impressive.  The weight to size ratio must be unreal!The movies or videos of the Mongolians using golden eagles to kill wolves show the wolf to be about the size of a big Montana coyote.  The largest coyote I weighed went about 35 lbs.  (we use to kill them as vermin 50 years ago)  I have a timber wolf hide that approaches 7 feet from nose to tip of tail.  They are big critters.  I believe a mature eagle could put a lot of hurt on a timber wolf under the right circumstances.This brings me to a story told to me by an old retired sheep rancher.  He was of the era where eagles were relentlessly killed.  He even used poisoned bait which was also used many years ago to kill magpies.  Without getting into the horrors of poisoning any kind of creature, he no longer has sheep and has "mended his ways."   One summer day he was checking on his sheep and riding his horse into his sheep range.  There was a small knoll with scrubby pine trees above him which he had never climbed to.  So he worked his horse up the steep slope as far as it would go and continued on foot to the top, admiring the surrounding country from his vantage point.  It was a warm day with a light breeze, and as he sat there, he became sleepy.  So he found the softest ground nearby and laid down on his back with hat over his eyes, intending to take a nap.  After a few minutes went by, he sensed something was near him, and removing his hat looked to the side, and there on the ground looking intently at him from a distance of around six feet was a large golden eagle.  He quickly sat up and the eagle flew away.  But that bizarre episode scared him then and even today, because he had witnessed many times over the years of what eagles could do to sheep.  Of course they only do what the grand master has designed them to do.  John</blockquote>

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