Slydog
has rocks in the head
Member since February 2006
Posts: 555
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Post by Slydog on Oct 10, 2006 22:44:27 GMT -5
Last week a guy came into the ER. He had been up in a treestand, hunting. Mostly he was just sitting in the woods admiring the beautiful day. Then he noticed a large owl flying about the woods. He watched the owl for a bit, very beautiful. Then---the next thing the guy knew, the owl flew at his face, talons out. The owl hit the guy in the face so hard that he suffered a broken eye orbit, and his wounds were all 3-layer closures. What on earth was this all about?
We also had a guy come in who was basically bitch-slapped by a squirrel, but in that story, I can understand why!!
The owl attack was unprovoked.
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Post by Alice on Oct 10, 2006 22:56:26 GMT -5
I'm not Mel, but I'm thinking it was probably because it thought the guy was an animal. The guy was probably in camouflage, and smiling (showing his teeth). Most animals feel threatened when they see teeth and they will attack. Or maybe it just saw eyes and thought the guy was lunch (most birds of prey tend to go for the eyes first when attacking any animal). Or maybe the owl was just ticked off at the guy for staring. Or maybe it was a female owl going through hormonal stuff  Hope the guy recovers |
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Post by sandsman1 on Oct 10, 2006 23:00:00 GMT -5
i say he was sittin in the owls tree and he realy didnt like it
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Post by parfive on Oct 10, 2006 23:28:29 GMT -5
"bitch-slapped by a squirrel" . . . . . now that's a hoot!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller 
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 11, 2006 0:02:21 GMT -5
Nona: I'd say Sands has it right. It was probably a Great Horned Owl and they are very territorial and totally hostile, mobile and fearless. They're an apex predator and even chase eagles off their nests.The tree was probably part of her established nesting territory. We have two Great Horned Owls, Luna and Dakota. Luna is the dominant one. We recently did something that was probably not good. We put hackboards ( tray shaped perches in their flight and now Luna has adopted one as her nesting site. Well, the other day Luna had a dead rat stinking up her hackboard and without thinking I reached up to retreave it while cleaning her flight. She hit me so fast and so hard I thought one of the big perches had fallen on my head nails and all. Since they fly quiet, I didn't even know it was her until I saw her on the cage bottom with my hat in her talons. Fortunately for me, only a little of my scalp was in her talons but man it hurt anyway. Those talons are over an inch long and sharp.Now needless to say, I'm a lot more careful in "HER" established domain......mel
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dtcmor
freely admits to licking rocks
Back to lickin' rocks again!
Member since May 2006
Posts: 898
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Post by dtcmor on Oct 11, 2006 0:34:50 GMT -5
I'm with Alice.
Most likely, the owl mistook him for some smaller animal and was looking for food. There have been many times I've been hunting in the woods, calling for squirrels, and have had owls (and more than a few Red Tail hawks) come gliding in for a look and a listen to the calls I was making. It is not uncommon for them to snatch a squirrel off a branch or tree top, as they are an easy and unsuspecting target. It is really a cool sight, but the birds can come in without a sound on deathly quiet wings. I suspect there have been many more of them that I've never seen when hunting.The camouflage clothing most hunters wear breaks up the bigger shape of the person and the birds are keying in on the "smaller" flickers of movement (hands, eyes etc.) that they take to be a small animal for a meal.
I also remember reading an article about rocker Ted Nugent, who is an avid hunter and outdoors man. While deer hunting from a tree stand on his Michigan property, a large owl (he thought a great horned) came down and mistakenly grabbed his long pony-tailed hair. Ted's best answer as to why, was that it probably mistook the ponytail for a squirrel's tail. Almost toppled him out of the stand to the ground from the shock of it.
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 11, 2006 1:44:29 GMT -5
dctmor: Mistaken identity, of course, is possible but owls nest early and set up definate territories which they defend with vigor. Despite the pony tail story, they pretty much know what they jump on when going for food as it's essential they don't tackle something that is big enough to hurt them. When defending territory though, they dont care at all how big the intruder is. They strike it anyway. and they intentionally strike to cause damage...mel
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stefan
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2005
Posts: 14,113
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Post by stefan on Oct 11, 2006 10:32:36 GMT -5
I've seen a Great Horned chase off a flock of crows (know owl haters) Usually a flock of crows will harass and owl to no end- but this Horned just took them down- One by one- till the flock broke apart and left- They can be VERY Nasty when they want to be-
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Post by rockyraccoon on Oct 11, 2006 14:19:27 GMT -5
animals are getting fed up with this hunting stuff ;D. i can't wait to tell my husband this! i think i'm going to add some stuff to the story lol.
kim
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Post by parfive on Oct 11, 2006 14:25:31 GMT -5
Don't forget the psycho-killer squirrel, Kim.
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chassroc
Cave Dweller
Rocks are abundant when you have rocktumblinghobby pals
Member since January 2005
Posts: 3,586
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Post by chassroc on Oct 11, 2006 15:16:43 GMT -5
Demand Royalties....Maybe your are in a Bill Murray movie!
csroc
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StompRocks
spending too much on rocks
Gonna need a bigger tumbler!
Member since July 2006
Posts: 263
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Post by StompRocks on Oct 11, 2006 15:39:58 GMT -5
I actually had a crow attack me when I got too close to their neasting area. They don't care how big you are and will whack you over and over until you leave. Luckely they don't have talons like the raptors.  |
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desertdweller
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since August 2006
Posts: 1,803
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Post by desertdweller on Oct 11, 2006 15:52:18 GMT -5
Mel,
May I ask, what is it that you do?
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Post by docone31 on Oct 11, 2006 16:25:21 GMT -5
Birds can see Electricals!
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,503
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 11, 2006 17:59:16 GMT -5
Jamie: I'm a retired wildlife biologist. Did the fish & game type wildlife control work for the Agricultural Dept and investigated pesticide vs people and wildlife problems for about 30 years. Then, when I retired, I went to work as a volunteer for the Ojai Raptor Center where we rescue, rehab, and release birds of prey back into the wild. My principal duties at the center are educational presentations to the public and acting as one of the "Bird wranglers" where I work with and train the 20 odd birds in our educational outreach programs and care for some of the rescues. (Everything fromm Pigmy owls to eagles). In other words, first I worked for money, now I have my dream job where I work for fun *L*. And still have room for my rocks of course...mel
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Slydog
has rocks in the head
Member since February 2006
Posts: 555
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Post by Slydog on Oct 12, 2006 1:28:48 GMT -5
Mel, thanks for the explanation. I told the doctor tonight what your thoughts are on the owl attack, he thought that was pretty interesting. I have never, ever thought about being attacked by an owl. It won't keep me out of the woods, but still---
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WyckedWyre
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2007
Posts: 1,391
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Post by WyckedWyre on Oct 12, 2006 16:25:20 GMT -5
HELLO!
What was he doing in HER TREE?
;DS
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