I got out of class early friday, put down the pencil, and picked up my shotgun. I went out to the wife's grandparents house with a couple of buddies. While the hunt wasnt all that great that evening, I saw something that made the two birds/six shots outing worthwhile.
It happened after legal shooting hours had come to a close. We had gathered around the tailgates and were enjoying cold beervrages and good company. We were along a fence separating some rather good sized pecans along the creek bottom and a recently plowed field. It was dark, but the nearly full moon made seeing much easier. We noticed some bats darting around the canopy of the pecan trees and the open field about 20 feet up. Someone said "hey check out those bats."
No sooner then everyone had their attention on the bats, one of the bats kind of hovered (if a bat could be capable of such things) about three or four feet from my buddy's head, about shoulder height. At that moment, another bat came swooping in and collided mid-air with the first bat. The two of them started screeching and fell in a tangled mess to the ground. It took us a second to realize they were on the ground and we all rushed over for a closer look.
One of the guys held them down so we could all see. Someone grabbed some gloves and we separated the two. We were going to go show the bats to my wife's grandfather so we figured we would take them up to the house in an empty cooler. No sooner had we put the second one in the cooler with the first, they locked up again screeching and writhing in a little ball. Before we could show them off, someone cracked the lid to get a peek and they escaped (which we would have done anyway).
I dont know if they were mating or fighting, as I my knowledge of bats is limited to watching them around the light pole in town when I was a kid, and watching them fly around inside Evans Library on campus.
Here are some photos I snapped:
edited for crappy tags
[This message has been edited by 35chililights (edited 9/7/2009 7:30p).]
It happened after legal shooting hours had come to a close. We had gathered around the tailgates and were enjoying cold beervrages and good company. We were along a fence separating some rather good sized pecans along the creek bottom and a recently plowed field. It was dark, but the nearly full moon made seeing much easier. We noticed some bats darting around the canopy of the pecan trees and the open field about 20 feet up. Someone said "hey check out those bats."
No sooner then everyone had their attention on the bats, one of the bats kind of hovered (if a bat could be capable of such things) about three or four feet from my buddy's head, about shoulder height. At that moment, another bat came swooping in and collided mid-air with the first bat. The two of them started screeching and fell in a tangled mess to the ground. It took us a second to realize they were on the ground and we all rushed over for a closer look.
One of the guys held them down so we could all see. Someone grabbed some gloves and we separated the two. We were going to go show the bats to my wife's grandfather so we figured we would take them up to the house in an empty cooler. No sooner had we put the second one in the cooler with the first, they locked up again screeching and writhing in a little ball. Before we could show them off, someone cracked the lid to get a peek and they escaped (which we would have done anyway).
I dont know if they were mating or fighting, as I my knowledge of bats is limited to watching them around the light pole in town when I was a kid, and watching them fly around inside Evans Library on campus.
Here are some photos I snapped:
edited for crappy tags
[This message has been edited by 35chililights (edited 9/7/2009 7:30p).]
