Thread: Man Frees Owl From Fishing Line

Wow...that was great.

That young owl acted like he knew he was getting help. The greens keeper did a good job keeping everything calm.

​The owl was a lot more calm than I would have expected. Thanks for posting.

Originally Posted by RMGeorge

​The owl was a lot more calm than I would have expected. Thanks for posting.

X2!! Thanks for posting, I really enjoyed it.

That brings back a memory from my days of trapping. In the late seventies I was working offshore installing drilling and production platforms when work suddenly came to a halt. There was little hope for a land based job as everyone was hurting. I owned 20 acres of swamp that was infested with nutria, prime nutria at that. So I did the logical thing. I changed from being a welder to being a trapper. I did well that winter and it tied us over until work began again off shore in the spring. On running my trap line one morning I came upon one of my traps with an immature eagle in it. It hadn't gotten it white feathers yet. My thought was "now what to do". I was able to take my walking stick and lay it across it's chest and pushed it backwards until it laid on its back. That bird had the fiercest eyes I had ever looked into. At that point I was able to open the trap to release it's foot. Since it was so calm, much like the owl in the video, I reached behind it and caught it by the wings with my left hand and picked it up. It remained calm, so I reached over to examine it's left foot that had been in the trap. As my hand passed in front of it's right foot he extended it and grabbed my hand. Wow, what a grip. I had heavy rubber gloves on but his talons went right though the glove. I could feel his claws against my skin but it didn't feel like he had dug them into my skin. Now I had another situation to handle. After some thought, I just let go of his wings and with him holding onto my hand, I made an upward motion trying to toss him into the air. It worked, he let go of my hand and took off. He landed in a tree a little ways away and turned facing me as if to say thanks.

As the season wore on the nutria were getting scarce. When I first started I was catching 24 nutrias in 24 traps, that's how thick they were. Now I was down to maybe 7 or 8 a day. A neighbor from up the highway about 1/2 mile was visiting my next door neighbor and we got to talking. I told him I had been trapping but the picking were getting slim. He invited me over to his place to investigate the possibility of trapping there. He knew there were some nutrias in that swamp but didn't know if it was worth my effort. I took him up on his invite and went check out his property. I saw some signs but didn't see many animals. As I walked down this ditch bank next to the swamp I heard a screaming sound. I looked up and saw an eagle soaring above. Back and forth he went singing his song. HUM.... I wonder if this is some sort of sign, I then decided it was. I went home, ran my traps and picked them up. The next day I set them out on my neighbors property. The following morning I had a nutria in every trap and it went on like that until the end of the season. Two weeks after the season ended and I had processed all my furs and had sold them, my phone rang and off to work offshore I went. I was ever so thankful. How does that saying go "God works in mysterious ways". I believe that.

That's a great story, Gene! Thanks!

Cool story PPG.

Great true story Gene. I very much believe that people who are kind to animals will be blessed.