Joe_Schmeaux wrote on Sep 24^th, 2013 at 8:12pm:

I'd rather not feed the wildlife any more than necessary, just to avoid training the birds to depend on handouts, so I try to keep nothing that's bigger than I can eat. Last summer on Metacryst (a fairly untravelled lake), by the time I had pulled up to a rock to clean my catch, there were two seagulls floating about 20 m offshore, just waiting. I don't think I've ever seen eagles eating "Quetico roadkill" though.

What time of year? I'm still not seeing the gulls I use to. Way more eagles though.

Eagles are scavengers too. It's a service I appreciate. FWIW - It's a good idea to cut the heads off the carcasses. Otherwise, if they get challenged they tend to fly off with more than they can carry and sometimes drop stuff in shallow water that's a bit deeper than gulls can reach.

This year on Nan I picked up a hungry gull. He was swimming and flying in front of my canoe for quite a while as I looked for a portage to Camel. He sat in front of the camp I took on Camel as I lounged and ate and was in front of the canoe for my evening paddle until it got too dark for him.

The next morning I cleaned two walleyes on the rocks in front of the campsite. The eagle that must live behind the site got to them as I reached the campsite. A half hour later the gull shows up. You snooze you lose! Sorry bud. He still hung around for a while hoping. I felt bad for him.

Next morning I caught and cleaned one more for him before I left the lake. I didn't really want to portage a fish but I felt sorry for him as it was one of the two gulls I saw on my entire 11 days. I saw more eagles than gulls.