Something Strange Happened on the Water

While running the boat down the lake last week I spotted what looked like a bird of some sort on the water. Expecting it to fly as we passed, I was surprised when it didn’t. I slowed the boat, and turned around to investigate.

As we got closer I could see it was a young gull. Grabbing the landing net I scooped up what turned out to be two birds hooked together on a fishing lure. Each gull was impaled on a treble hook through the beak.

They were barely moving, but when I twisted the hook out of the first bird’s beak and dropped it back into the water it immediately took flight.

The second bird didn’t move at all until I removed the hook, then flew off just like the other one had.

I don’t know what kind of gulls they were. We have nine different species in Montana, and these were immature, making them hard to identify, but they were undoubtedly seagulls

Loud, messy and carnivorous, gulls are hardly my favorite bird. I enjoy them most at a distance. If they spot you cleaning fish, they’ll swarm, calling raucously and fighting for scraps, like a scene from Hitchock’s “The Birds.”

The worst, however, is that you’ll get pooped on.

In a few weeks upland bird season begins and I’ll be making a concerted effort to kill my favorite birds – the ones whose chicks are preyed upon by gulls.

The irony of it all isn’t lost on me.

If gulls were a bit more palatable, and flushed in front of the dogs, they might be one of my favorites, but they aren’t and they don’t. While grouse and pheasants are so hard to find at times I’d swear they’re going extinct, there seems to be no shortage of gulls. But as obnoxious as they can be, you can’t harm them. Gulls are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Act.

Unfortunately for the seagulls I unhooked, they apparently couldn’t help but harm themselves. Chances are they were fighting over that gold crank bait which now sits in my tackle box.

I’ll tie it on next time I’m out in the boat. Maybe it will become my new lucky lure. I’ll have to see how it works on fish. I already know how it works on birds.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]