After 35 years of chasing them in the boat and never even getting close, I hit one with my truck this morning! Dang thing was picking at some center-of-the-road roadkill and took off straight down the road instead of up or to the side. Got it with the left headlight. Knocked it out of whack a bit... have to wait till dark to find out how bad. But, one less seagull doesn't hurt my feelings any.
Dead dumpster duck!!!! At a boy, Mike!
Hooking one in the beak while fishing can always be an adventure. Did that fishing a tournament on Belleville Lake once.
BD. ;D
Quote from: UAWBigDog on June 18, 2012, 01:31:32 PM
Hooking one in the beak while fishing can always be an adventure. Did that fishing a tournament on Belleville Lake once.
I kind of want to know how that adventure ended...
Probably precariously. That's how some of mine have ended.
I reeled the gull in close enough for my partner to grab the gull with his hands wrapped in a towel. He grabbed the bird by wrapping the towel around its body. It was subdued to the point it could not hurt either one of us. While he held it, I removed the crankbait from its beak with a pair of needle nose pliers. He then released the bird and it flew away.
BD. ;D
Quote from: UAWBigDog on June 18, 2012, 08:09:23 PM
I reeled the gull in close enough for my partner to grab the gull with his hands wrapped in a towel. He grabbed the bird by wrapping the towel around its body. It was subdued to the point it could not hurt either one of us. While he held it, I removed the crankbait from its beak with a pair of needle nose pliers. He then released the bird and it flew away.
BD. ;D
I think I might have released it differently. ::)
All I know is that I was casting a crankbait and the next thing I know is that full grabbed my crankbait right out of the air. I wanted my crank back. It was a Bomber 6A in the Bengal Fire G-Fleck. The Belleville Smallies have always liked that bait but I guess the gulls did too.
BD. ;D
I think gulls are federally protected?
Quote from: djkimmel on June 19, 2012, 09:14:57 PM
I think gulls are federally protected?
Yes they are. But what the Feds don't know....
Like I said... been aiming for them on the water for 35 years... it took a Tahoe and some roadkill to finally get my first one! And I didn't even aim for it! Suicide?
Dang sky carp!
I try to miss all birds when driving anything. I recall a pheasant leaving quite a dent in a friend's vintage baby Chevy once. He was laughing right up until he saw the dent...
Took my first gull on lake mac last year doing 60 in the ranger. Kinda felt bad but my little nephew thought it was funny as hell!
I try not to harm gulls. They have showed me quite a few places to fish over the years. Well over the last few weeks they have generously told me where in an area I should be fishing.....and it's paid off.
BD. ;D
I landed my first one last night. Tom and I were on our way to Wixom Lake for the tuesday tournaments and the thing was in the middle of the road. Not sure what he was doing but he looked like a deer in headlights.
I hope there isn't an epidemic of suicidal gulls going on or something?
Quote from: djkimmel on June 20, 2012, 01:41:18 AM
I try to miss all birds when driving anything. I recall a pheasant leaving quite a dent in a friend's vintage baby Chevy once. He was laughing right up until he saw the dent...
I had a pheasant crack the heck out of the windshield on my 94 Ram going down the freeway near Hudsonville about 10 years ago... scared the heck out of me!
Try hitting a turkey sometime!
It's never good when you hit a critter with your vehicle. Sometimes the cleanup is messy. Worst critter to hit is the skunk.
BD. ;D
I think that gull we hit on tuesday heading to wixom lake already got hit by a car. It was just sitting in the middle of the road not trying to get out of the way. I feel we did it a favor by putting it out of its misery
They shoot horses don't they???
BD. ;D
Quote from: UAWBigDog on June 21, 2012, 12:58:18 PM
They shoot horses don't they???
BD. ;D
Good quote from a LONG and BORING movie.
I had an incident with a Turkey in April. Big female jumped up in front of me as I was going down the road to work. Instead of hitting it, the dumb thing started going in the same direction as me. I was pushing it along with the windshield of my truck. I never hurt it but at 45 miles an hour that bird probably got a thrill because they can't fly that fast.
When I had my 14 footer with the old 20HP I would surf the wakes of big tuna boats for the 'speed boost.'
Based on my experience (a helper not the actual first hitee), the worst critter to hit with a vehicle in Michigan is a horse. It is bad to try any mercy stuff with a vehicle-hit horse too though I think the 6 vehicles that hit it afterwards just weren't paying much attention to the guy waving the flashlight at them and pointing it at the horse, which explains why I had to do some ditch-diving a few times.
You really should slow down and move over a little when there's a crazy guy on the edge of the highway waving a big flashlight at back at you and pointing it towards a large, dark object in the road!
Quote from: Waterfoul on June 21, 2012, 01:42:42 PM
Quote from: UAWBigDog on June 21, 2012, 12:58:18 PM
They shoot horses don't they???
BD. ;D
Good quote from a LONG and BORING movie.
It was a long and boring movie but I thought the quote was appropriate for the current subject. I do think we may be "dating" ourselves using quotes from old movies.
BD. ;D