One heck of a fisherman

[mark]

Not really catch-and-release fishing but this guy can straight up fish, several doubles.......

http://www.miguellasa.com/photos/sspopup.mg?AlbumID=1001578.

[Dabalone]

Awesome pics, took some fine equipment and lots of patience to capture those images.

[David Lee]

Very cool shots !!

Of course ..... I'd expect that from Mr. Osprey - not a lot of chances to go to Taco-Bell .

Those shots remind me of a 'wild kingdom moment' from my past .........

My Father and I were hunting Deer on Rattlesnake Ridge , just south of Legget , California ..... 'round about 1971 . Dad always wore a cheap straw cowboy hat back then , usually w/ a few Pheasant feathers tucked-into the band . Dad had the remarkable gift of MAJOR stealth - He could sit or stand in one spot for what seemed like hours , glassing the side of a ridge , or meadow , or shale slide , or whatever ......

As I recall ...... Dad stood w/ elbows against a low Redwood stump , just looking ......

He stood there for what seemed like forever , probably 35-50 minutes , without moving anything but His eyeballs . I sat back and tried hard to be quiet , lest I dick-up anything that was going on , or anything that was going to happen (I learned early) . Remember , I was around 5 or 6 years old at this time ....

I don't know what made me look up - it could have been a VERY quiet whistle ...... but look up I did , and I saw the biggest damned Owl you've ever seen dropped like a stone , flair out , and SLAM into the back of Dad's head . Yonder Owl tore the hat off of Dad's head , along w/ a fair amount of scalp and hair - Dad just about went over the stump . The Owl carried the hat off about 150 yards away and settled into a tree .

My Father , in His anger , shot the Owl dead w/ his Mauser 7x57 . After seeing the back of his head , I could understand it (yep - at 5 or 6 ..... it was MY job to clean the mess up .) as it had to feel like being clubbed by a baseball bat . He had a pretty fair gash down to the bone , and a 1/4 inch by 3 inch rip in His scalp . It bled like something out of a cheap horror movie , and I had hell's own time trying to stop it .

In retrospect , I don't really blame Him much .

To this day .... it is a difficult thing to look at ANY Raptor and not see that darned Owl diving like a Stuka over Poland . Fearsome Birds , I tell ya !!

David

[Mik]

Natural snagger with the treble claws. : )