I was out yesterday along a river bottom to hunt cottontails with my .32 cal Crockett pistol.
It was pretty warm yesterday so I was killing time waiting for evening when the rabbits would start moving. There's a lone paper birch I always stop by at this location. They're not common here.
I put the pistol next to this leg bone for scale.
With about two hours of light left it was finally starting to cool down. The rabbits should start moving. I spotted one and managed to miss an extremely easy shot. I kept moving through cover and walked up on this great horned owl on the ground about 15 feet from me. I pulled my camera out quickly, hoping to get a picture before it flew off. I took a few pics but it didn't fly.
I took a couple steps toward it and it "flared" up. I didn't see it sitting on prey so I thought it might be injured. Waterfowl season just opened so I thought someone may have accidentally shot it. My phone (along with hunting regs that contain Fish, Wildlife and Parks phone numbers) was in my vehicle about a half mile away. I decided to forget about hunting and try to call someone that could help the bird.
Of course when I got to my vehicle all the FWP offices were already closed. I left messages then went to a house some FWP personnel stay at nearby. No one was at the house. This morning FWP contacted me and put me in touch with a local raptor rescue. I met one of their volunteers and we went to look for the owl.
We went to the spot where I saw the owl but it wasn't there. We covered the area pretty thoroughly and didn't find the owl or any feathers. He did say that occasionally an owl will eat so much that it can't fly. Hopefully that's all that was wrong with it. I felt bad dragging him out there for nothing but he was understanding, hopeful that the owl was okay and said he enjoyed the walk.
It was pretty warm yesterday so I was killing time waiting for evening when the rabbits would start moving. There's a lone paper birch I always stop by at this location. They're not common here.
I put the pistol next to this leg bone for scale.
With about two hours of light left it was finally starting to cool down. The rabbits should start moving. I spotted one and managed to miss an extremely easy shot. I kept moving through cover and walked up on this great horned owl on the ground about 15 feet from me. I pulled my camera out quickly, hoping to get a picture before it flew off. I took a few pics but it didn't fly.
I took a couple steps toward it and it "flared" up. I didn't see it sitting on prey so I thought it might be injured. Waterfowl season just opened so I thought someone may have accidentally shot it. My phone (along with hunting regs that contain Fish, Wildlife and Parks phone numbers) was in my vehicle about a half mile away. I decided to forget about hunting and try to call someone that could help the bird.
Of course when I got to my vehicle all the FWP offices were already closed. I left messages then went to a house some FWP personnel stay at nearby. No one was at the house. This morning FWP contacted me and put me in touch with a local raptor rescue. I met one of their volunteers and we went to look for the owl.
We went to the spot where I saw the owl but it wasn't there. We covered the area pretty thoroughly and didn't find the owl or any feathers. He did say that occasionally an owl will eat so much that it can't fly. Hopefully that's all that was wrong with it. I felt bad dragging him out there for nothing but he was understanding, hopeful that the owl was okay and said he enjoyed the walk.
