When Owls Attack!

The deer have split up. Up to this point I have spotted them in groups of 2-4 at a time, but tonight I came across two deer on their own and in different areas. The first one I bumped when I was not even far enough in the woods to shoot. I did not get a good look at it, but it sounded pretty good-sized (on a day when the leaves were wet)and bounded away from me.

I reached my treestand and paused to take a look around. To get up there, I have to put three strap-on tree steps on the trunk, then put my harness on and set my bow up with a string so I can pull it up. It doesn't actually take all that long, but it is movement and it does take a couple minutes, so I try to take a good long look and make sure the coast is clear.

It was not.

A deer somehow heard my approach and gently bounded away, not too quickly though, so I believed she would be back. I was tempted to skip my harness and just climb the tree and wait, but I decided that this was no excuse to forgo my safety routine.

Proceeding on, I got geared up, climbed up and tied off. The porcupine was home in the oak tree and I watched him change limbs, climbing higher to soak up as much sunlight as possible.

After twenty minutes of porcupine watching, the same doe came back. She was a good size and I watched her come toward me and then turn, about thirty-five yards away, too far for a shot with my recurve. I just watched her and hoped she would wander toward me, but she did not. She moved off and I just watched and hoped she would come back around or something else would bump her back toward me.

In the meantime, out of nowhere, an owl swooped in low from behind me and attacked a red squirrel! It sent the squirrel flying and the little red screeched and yelped as it darted away from the owl's talons. The owl swooped around and tried to get the squirrel from another angle, but this squirrel was not going down easy and it out-maneuvered the owl and shot up a tree. The owl was silent and from a distance, quite precise, but in the confines of the forest tangle, the red squirrel got away fairly easily.

The owl gave up and landed on the stone wall below my stand. All this went on right in front of me and the owl had not noticed me. I silently looked down at the owl and admired its intricate black and gray feather patterns. Then in the spirit of Halloween, the owl suddenly turned its head all the way around and upside down, staring right at me! It was like it felt me looking at it. I realized that being positioned above the bird may make it feel threatened and I believe that owl was trying to decide whether or not to have at me next! After all, I was tied to a tree and would probably make much easier quarry.

The owl opted not to attack me. Instead it elected to fly away with a horrible screech that sounded much more like a hound dog snarl. I have never heard a sound like that from a bird and I never would have expected it from an owl. It startled me and made me jump a little.

Eventually, another deer came near me, but it was getting very dark and I could not see to shoot. But the deer hung out so close by that I waited in my stand for an extra fifteen minutes before I sneaked out of the woods.

It was a good trip. My treestand is in a good place with the deer wandering by from almost any given direction. It's only a matter of time until one walks into one of my shooting lanes.