Eagle Rescued with Muzzleloader!

[Old Ironsights]

Ok, so it was Scoped :shake: , and prolly an inline, :cursing: but still very very cool. :thumbsup:

Officer Frees Bald Eagle With One Bullet

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A bald eagle owes its life to the sharpshooting skills of an Iowa conservation officer. Though the bird has yet to offer any thanks, Jason Sandholdt is getting plenty of recognition from those who saw him use a single bullet last weekend to free the bird from a branch that hung over a cliff at Lake Red Rock.

"There were accusations of sheer luck," said Brian Lange, one of the kayakers who discovered the bird Saturday and alerted authorities. He added: "It was really a heroic shot."

Sandholdt, who works for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, responded with state colleagues and county workers after the eagle was found hanging about 60 feet above the lake southeast of Des Moines.

With binoculars, they could see that the bird appeared to have caught a single talon in a knothole in the branch when it landed. Apparently, the bird tried to take off, losing its balance. It hung from the talon, upside down.

Because the eagle was hanging over a cliff and high in the air, ropes and ladders seemed unlikely rescue tools, Sandholdt said. Many in the group thought a mercy killing was the best option.

Sandholdt said he asked for a chance to free the bird with his rifle, figuring at best the bird would fall into the lake and have to be rescued for rehabilitation at a clinic.

"It's safe to say no one had any confidence that I could do that," Sandholdt said of his proposed sharpshooting. "My buddies were waiting for a poof of feathers."

Sandholdt bent a tree sapling over to use as a brace. He used the muzzleloader's scope to take aim, and the bullet traveled 60 to 70 feet, cleanly through the edge of the knothole. Sandholdt figures he hit the talon, too.

The eagle flew away. Officers waited for it to collapse. Instead, the bird kept flying, disappearing over the horizon.

"Wow, now that's what I call sharpshooting," said John Pearson, a state botanist who was with Lange when the bird was discovered.

No one is sure of the eagle's odds for survival, but it faced certain death before the rescue, Pearson said.

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Information from: The Des Moines Register,[url] http://www.desmoinesregister.com[/url]

 

[jeepwj992002]

Regardless of what it was that was one in a million shot! Thanks for sharing that story!
:hatsoff:

 

[RC]

uh, good story, but, bet somewhere,someday on a woodswalk sometime,there it'll be 65 ft. knot shot,hit the talon....oh gees,,,,probably be smoothbore too....oh wait, i gotta put on a woodswalk...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....RC

 

[bob1961]

60 feet is only 20 yards....i hope he can can hit that knot with a scoped gun :rotf: i most likely could have done that with a PRB and open sites :hmm: :v ...............bob

 

[soggy]

60 feet is only 20 yards....i hope he can can hit that knot with a scoped gun :rotf: i most likely could have done that with a PRB and open sites :hmm: :v ...............bob

:thumbsup: I agree with ya Bob; at the club where I shoot we have a great woods walk, with many of the shots in the 20-25 yd. range.
A piece of 1/2" rebar hanging on a chain at 20 yds. is very hittable (new word :haha: ) and that's with a patched round ball and open sights, and shooting off hand.
Never-the-less It's great to hear of some good news from a newspaper once in awhile
Soggy

 

[davy]

60 feet is only 20 yards....i hope he can can hit that knot with a scoped gun :rotf: i most likely could have done that with a PRB and open sites :hmm: :v ...............bob

... yeah but Bob... buckshot from a 4 gauge don't count amigo! :surrender: :rotf:

Davy

 

[trent/OH]

A 70 foot shot to break a stick is a heroic thing to do??????

I guess "heroic" doesn't mean much anymore.

If he'd popped that bird he'd have lost his job on-the-spot, and probably go to jail AND loose his gun. This should be a Postal Match.

 

[Zonie]

"...Sandholdt, who works for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources..."
---------------------------
I wonder if he had hit the bird instead of the knothole, would the Feds have arrested him as quickly as they would arrest you or me for even possessing a single Eagle feather???
Maybe the guys at the Depart of Natural Resources have other rules to live by?

zonie

 

[JiminTexas]

Lucky? What the heck do you mean lucky? That isn't lucky. He was TRYING to do that!

 

[Halftail]

Good story even with a scoped muzzleloader! :hatsoff:

 

[RC]

that was one in a million shot!

:hmm: odds is probably ALOT higher than that...how many times ya gonna find an eagle with a talon stuck in a knot?hangin o'er a cliff? gotta be astromical! :shocked2: ...........lets see, i make a lil' "rag eagle" with a fish hook fer a talon...hang it from a limb at 23 1/2 yds, ya get one shot off hand..no scope!,gotta break the limb,free the hook and the eagle "flies" to the ground..use PC hooks....but ya gotta use yer own! (dem ain't cheap!) ya loose a bunch a points if ya hurt the eagle,,ya lose yer hook if ya miss(i need some..hehehe) ya lose yer hook if ya break it too..if ya hit the eagle,ya gotta fetch it,start a fire and destroy the evidence...wanna play? :hmm: RC

 

[bob1961]

i'm in :rotf: :v ............bob

 

[Mike Brooks]

We're having such an odd winter here along the mississippi river that the river isn't froze and the eagles are ranging far and wide across the country.They usually congregate around the dams and fish in those small spaces of unfrozen water.
I had one the other day sitting in a tree scoping out my chicken yard...as if the red tailed hawks and foxes aren't already bad enough. :shake:
I think I would have opted for a "whoops!" shot and "accidentally" plugged the evil chicken eating buzzard.... :haha:
We're eventually going to have to go back to DDT just to keep the numbers down. :thumbsup:

 

[Roy]

I am always suprised on how many hawks I see when I travel out Iowa. More suprised that theres still game birds and bunny hoppers around to hunt.

 

[Mike Brooks]

I am always suprised on how many hawks I see when I travel out Iowa. More suprised that theres still game birds and bunny hoppers around to hunt.

Upland Hunting isn't what it used to be due to several diffent reasons.
Coyotes are the number #1 culprit. we're over run with them. Lack of habitat is probably #2. Fence rows don't exist anymore. The farmers removed all the fence when they got rid of their livestock years ago. Farmers around here raise corn and beans, that's it. Don't need fences for that. The "all round" farm with livestock and crops disappeared when I was a kid.
It is unbelievable how many hawks we have. They're bold too. I've had them roll chickens no more than 4' from me and my dog. :shocked2: In fact they'll pose for pictures too. :shake:
It's rare to kick out a rabbit when hunting. We used to have a good pheasant populatin here in eastern Iowa, now you have to go clear to Des Moines to get into any population.

 

[jeepwj992002]

I'm game RC!!!! :winking:

 

[RC]

Gees this are lookin better! may not have to make up "rag eagles" it appears the kind mr. brooks has offered up some live targets......now if we can jes get the hawks to get their talons in the knot and hang upside down we may have the makins fer a shoot....! and keep this quiet, some frown on protected targets..... :shocked2: RC

 

[jeepwj992002]

Don't worry I won't tell nobody! :thumbsup:

 

[Roy]

We pretty much saw a hawk for every mile when driving down the roads there. I did see a good one though, it was eating a cat.

 

[jeepwj992002]

Any Hawk is a good hawk when it is eating a cat! :blah: