The only blood in sight dribbled from my wound, flowed into my chin whiskers and dripped to my shirt. The eagle required no further attention. Nielsen hoisted it skyward and tossed it into the wind. The big wings opened and the eagle glided over my head. After a few weak flaps, it reached a shoreline tree and landed to rest.
Males are the smaller of the sexes among eagles and lots of other avian predators.
And, since it had mistaken the muskie lure for a fish, he also guessed the bird was a young one, about four years old and probably wearing its adult, nuptial feathers for the first time. This proves that birds get caught in fishing tackle. Fishermen have to be aware of that and that using light line is the worst thing you can do. In this case, the bird was saved because Buss' line did not break. It brought the bird to ground where we were able to remove the hook.