VIENNA, W.Va. — It’s not uncommon when you’re squirrel hunting to scan the trees looking for a commotion, but the commotion Clay Morris of Vienna discovered while hunting in Wirt County in October was no squirrel.
Morris, 13, was hunting with his dad, Nathan, and his brother Reese, 7, but he was around the ridge from his dad and brother when he saw the branches of a nearby tree shaking violently. He thought he had bumped a wild turkey off its perch, but as he got closer he realized it was no turkey. A red tailed hawk was in the tree causing quite a ruckus. A closer look revealed the hawk had snagged its foot in the fork of a branch and couldn’t get away.
“It probably went after a squirrel that was sitting in the crook of the tree and got its foot caught in the crook of the tree,” Clay said. “The guy at the raptor rehab center said it had probably been there for a while since its leg was so torn up.”
Clay got his dad and brother to the tree and the three of them stared up into the leaves trying to contemplate how they could rescue the entrapped bird of prey. Things started primitive. They used several sticks to try to push the bird’s foot out of the entanglement, but to no avail.
“The sticks kept breaking,” younger brother Reese chimed in.
Finally Clay decided the only way to get the hawk down was to go up and get him. It was a gutsy decision considering the hawk was hurt, scared, and none to happy to have such close contact with humans.
“When we first tried to get him out it was going crazy, but I think he wore himself out,” Clay explained. “But by the time I got up to him he was pretty calm.”
Clay carefully used a stick to press the hawk’s wedged foot back out of the tree fork and successfully freed the bird. He flew to the top of another tree, but couldn’t hang on and tumbled down to a lower branch where he finally clamped down with his good foot and he was stuck again. Once again, Clay was up in the air and this time got the bird under control and brought him out.
“We ended up going up and getting him and he never hit the ground, which was good,” Clay offered. “He was going pretty crazy when we finally got him down, but I wrapped him up in my sweatshirt and I used my brothers sweat shirt to cover his head so he stayed calm.”
“I had two jackets and two sweatshirts,” added Reese.
The crew headed home with their prize and initially tried to contact a Natural Resources Police officer, but had no luck in raising one. They contacted the Parkersburg police who suggested the raptor rehab center. They finally made contact with officials at the raptor center in Fairmont who agreed to meet them halfway to Clarksburg to deliver the bird.
Initially it was thought he bird’s leg was too far gone, but later in the evening a second report revealed the hawk was up and walking on his bad leg and getting around pretty well later that evening. At last report, the bird was on the mend and may be able to be rehabilitated and freed back into the wild.
It was a successful day for Clay, Reese, and their dad and one they won’t soon forget. Reese told all of his buddies at school about the adventure.
“They actually kind of liked it,” Reese said.
Of course they did, it’s a pretty cool story. After all It isn’t every day you get to rescue a red tailed hawk.