dmhoggy Posted May 10, 2015 Posted May 10, 2015 thursday, may 7, i was fishing in a local creek. caught 7 fish, 4 redeye and 3 bluegill, and one hawk. he had flown up the creek earlier during my trip. well, he flew back down later, after i'd cast a hula popper to the other side of the creek. he got tangled but not hooked, as he flew right through my line. after the tangle, he fell into the water so i had to get him up out of there. he fell in on my side of the bank in shallow water. i pulled him up and let him lay on the ground. he laid there on his back with claws up. i sure didn't want any of those SHARP claws and beak. i saw the lure wasn't hooked, but before i could get to it, he decided to hop away. i chased after reeling in slack. he stopped again, this time on his feet and trying to peck at the lure. i got to him and pulled the lure a little and he hopped away again into some weeds. i pulled him out of the weeds and got out my knife. i grabbed the lure with my free hand, and cut the line with my knife hand. he still laid there, so i cut the other part of the line. after that he flew off. glad he was okay, i got my lure back, and neither of us was worse for wear. 5 Quote
RSM789 Posted May 10, 2015 Posted May 10, 2015 Good for you, it is always a positive when fishermen go to lengths to help the wildlife. As is often said, the people who care the most for the environment are hunters & fishermen. 5 Quote
CJ Posted May 10, 2015 Posted May 10, 2015 That's crazy! I had a gull do the same thing to me years ago. Flew right into my line after a cast and the line wrapped around both legs. It was a perfect heal. With the help of my dad and the dip net we finally got all the line cut and freed up the gull. A hawk on the other hand would have been scarey to deal with. They could do some damage with those talons. Glad everybody made it through the incident safely. 2 Quote
livemusic Posted May 10, 2015 Posted May 10, 2015 I'm glad you saved the hawk! Somebody caught an owl; I think they had put a coat or a towel over him, put gloves on, so they could free him. 1 Quote
zeth Posted May 10, 2015 Posted May 10, 2015 Good for you, it is always a positive when fishermen go to lengths to help the wildlife. As is often said, the people who care the most for the environment are hunters & fishermen. In general I would say this is not an accurate statement but guess it's best saved for another place and time. I myself and others probably feel this way but in my experience most anglers and hunters I know make a very large impact and huge footprint on the environment with their lifestyle choices. Anyways good job saving the bird. Living in the Bay Area there are always birds caught in line in the small reservoirs around here. It's terrible. Just last night I was on a walk with my wife and I got a bad feeling so I looked down to the water and there was a group of bank fishermen. On our way back they had left all of their trash all over the place. I see this every time I go out to a local reservoir actually. I've even seen people without rods and just line, huge sinkers and a pack of bacon and chicken livers. They get the discarded line from the local tackle shops for free go to the reservoir chuck it out with a huge weight on it and a giant treble hook and wait for the catfish to happen to eat it. If not they just leave it. 3 Quote
Super User scaleface Posted May 10, 2015 Super User Posted May 10, 2015 Thats crazy catching a hawk like that . Ive had bats hit my line at night while catfishing. 1 Quote
RSM789 Posted May 10, 2015 Posted May 10, 2015 In general I would say this is not an accurate statement but guess it's best saved for another place and time. I myself and others probably feel this way but in my experience most anglers and hunters I know make a very large impact and huge footprint on the environment with their lifestyle choices... Thinking it through, I see what you are saying. There are a lot of casual anglers who don't come close to caring for the environment. If I had qualified it by stating "Serious" or "Committed" hunters and fisherman, would that have been more accurate in your opinion? 1 Quote
Super User MIbassyaker Posted May 11, 2015 Super User Posted May 11, 2015 Thinking it through, I see what you are saying. There are a lot of casual anglers who don't come close to caring for the environment. If I had qualified it by stating "Serious" or "Committed" hunters and fisherman, would that have been more accurate in your opinion? I have to admit, I'm with zeth on this. And I don't think the Serious or Committed qualifier helps as much as it might seem -- there are a great many outdoors and wildlife enthusiasts who do not hunt or fish who certainly care as much for the environment and, virtually by definition, leave a smaller footprint than a hunter or fisherman because they are not taking or handling wildlife. The hawk anecdote is a great story of making the time and effort to do the right thing, but lets be clear: there would be no hawk to save in this instance if there was no fishing line being cast. I don't mean to pile on, but I hear the comment that "the people who care the most for the environment are hunters & fishermen" by earnest and well-meaning sportsmen all the time, and it always bothers me. I don't think they realize how it comes across most often, which is as a sort of unnecessary and self-flattering defensiveness. I don't apologize for my own angling activities, and I try hard to mimimize and compensate for my impact... but I also don't think that means I need to congratulate myself for having an impact to minimize in the first place, or that I'm somehow a better environmentalist than somebody who doesn't. 1 Quote
CRANKENSTIEN Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 Great story.. Good job saving the Hawk. While on the lake of the Ozarks there was a duck with a lure caught on his beak and breast. My teenage kids and I started chasing him down to save him. The squawking was getting us a lot of bad attention from others so we gave up the chase. We found him dead the next morning. It bothered me that we didn't do what was right because others, who were not in the know, just thought we were being mean. 1 Quote
RSM789 Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 I'm not so sure it is a matter of self congratulation, but one of self interest. I find it to be along the lines of ownership versus renting, having a vested interest in seeing a certain outcome compared to just being an non-committed user. In Orange County, our beaches are a prime example. Many of those who don't live on the coast, be it further inland in the county or outside of it altogether (known as "909ers", referencing their area code) literally trash Newport Beach during the Summer holidays. They leave garbage wherever they want, flush anything & everything down the storm drains that lead directly to the water. Many of them have no interest in anything other than partying and have no care whatsoever of how the area looks on July 5th. This does include a lot of illegal aliens who catch & keep fish off the piers or the jetty's, to them it is a buffet of seafood and they are trying to get as much as they can shove into their pockets. Those that do care and spend alot of time & energy working to manage & preserve the beaches are committed fishermen, surfers, homeowners and boat owners with slips in the harbor. They all have either money or enjoyment to lose if the water is polluted, the fishery hammered or the beaches look like Pigpen's room. I saw the same thing at Havasu this weekend. People associated with B.A.S.S. treat the area much differently than those who are down to party there for the weekend. The latter had nothing to do with helping that fishery come back, they could care less what swims in the lake besides topless women. It took people who seriously enjoy fishing to put forth the time, effort & money to make those changes come to pass. Self interest is the greatest motivator. Quote
fisherrw Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 I caught a goose one time it flew around the corner Just as I casted. It broke to line before I knew what happened 1 Quote
Super User Darren. Posted May 11, 2015 Super User Posted May 11, 2015 Good job releasing the hawk. Caught a pigeon myself, LOL, it went into a tree and got freed on its own. Thanks to a weedless hook, I think. 1 Quote
wuchr20 Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 That reminds me of a story where a duck swallowed the bobbor while perch fishing. I managed to get the bobber out and the bird flew away looking fine. 1 Quote
*Hank Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Dude that`s a crazy story!......At least you won`t forget it. 1 Quote
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