You never know what you’re going to get when you head into the outdoors on a hunting or fishing adventure, and it was no different for my buddy and I as we headed into the woods on an early February morning. The winter months are prime time for coyote season, so we decided to give it a shot one morning that wasn’t unbearably cold. We planned to hunt an old, wooden blind at the highest point of our property.
The blind is about 25 feet up in a giant, dying tree. Needless to say, it’s probably not the smartest decision to hunt from it. But it’s hard to ignore the prior success from that location. We trekked in before daylight and arrived at the base of the ladder.
I looked up just in time to notice the shadowy image of an owl emerge from the inside of the blind and glide off to a nearby tree. The sound of its flight was indistinguishable from the fading darkness.
My buddy started climbing, so I elected to do the wise thing and continue to let him go first. I found it was more prudent to let him go ahead and find out what other critters might still be lurking inside and let me know.
He disappeared inside and upon hearing no screams and seeing no bodies fly back out of the doorway, I assumed it was safe to climb up. As we got settled in, we noticed owl pellets everywhere. Then, our light finally hit the back corner of the blind, and that’s when we got our real surprise.
In the corner, organized in a haphazard manner, 5 owl eggs sat surrounded by 6 dead mice. While many people might find it gross, it was one of the most fascinating scenes I’ve ever witnessed in the outdoors.
We left the eggs alone and luckily the mama didn’t make any return visits. We moved to another spot and continued our hunt. Although it proved unsuccessful that morning, the great outdoors yet again found a way to offer an unforgettable experience with our newfound adventures with owls.
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