Epic 1893 Fight Between Man and Two Owls

From the February 3rd, 1893 Sheridan Advance:

A Fight With Owls — How Uncle Elisha Huff Went for Game and Got “Done Up.”

Uncle Elisha Huff, a well-known citizen of Clover Plain (CT), went to the door to look at the sky before going to bed. While he stood on the doorstep, an owl hooted in an apple tree across the garden.

Mr. Huff is an old hunter and trapper, and the minute he heard the owl hoot, he decided to get him if he could. He went back into the house to slip on his boots and get his gun. The moon was shining, but Uncle Elisha’s eyesight is not as keen as it was once, and when he got under the apple tree, he could not see the owl.

With the idea of stirring the bird up and making it fly out of the tree, if it was still there, he picked up a stone and threw it among the branches. There was a sort of fluttering noise among the limbs, and Mr. Huff tried to get sight of the bird, but the shadows were too much for him; he could not see it, and he let drive another stone.

This time, there was more noise among the limbs, and Mr. Huff thought he saw the owl sitting high up in the tree.

He pulled up his gun in line with the dark object and pulled the trigger. The same instant, Uncle Elisha heard a sort of a squeal, and he got a rap in the face that knocked him flat.

When the old man fell, his elbows struck a stone and his gun flew out of his hand. He was a little bit dazed at first, but he soon collected his senses and saw sitting on the branch of a quince tree a few feet away two immense white owls.

Mr. Huff immediately began to get onto his feet, but he did not reach them. When he was on one knee, ready to stand up, the two owls with a savage squeal shot out from the quince tree and struck the old man a fearful blow on the side of the head with their claws. Uncle Elisha tippled over, half stunned. The blood was running down his face.

When he came to, he jumped to his feet as quickly as his age would permit him to. He had hardly straightened up when the owls struck him again. This time, one of the birds hit him on the head; the other one struck him on the chest. The old man went down once more, and the two owls still sat on the quince tree limb squealing and grinding their beaks together ominously.

When Uncle Elisha moved, the birds shook their feathers savagely and made ready to pounce on him. Mr. Huff hated to give up on a couple of owls, but he knew enough to lie still while thinking out a plan for outwitting them.

He thought of his dog and whistled to him. The dog was asleep in his kennel, out back of the house. He was a big, lazy animal of the Newfoundland species. He heard his master’s whistle and shambled out into the garden. When the dog got within 10 feet of the quince bush, the owls landed on his back, and he moved faster than he had moved for years in the direction of his kennel, yelping painfully. Mr. Huff seized the opportunity to get up, but lay down again when the owls left the dog and started for the quince tree.

Once Mr. Huff started to crawl towards the house on his hands and knees, but he was brought to a halt by the owls. They lit on his back and pounded his head and sides unmercifully with their wings.

The old fellow hated to acknowledge himself beaten, and he lay still until after midnight, trying to think out some way of escape from his tormentors, but he could not do it and he finally yelled at the top of his voice for his son to come out.

His son was about half asleep when he came to the garden in answer to his father’s calls. He woke up, however, when one of the owls came at him with a squeal.

The young man retreated to the house and got his gun. When he returned to the garden, his father was still lying on the ground and the owls occupied the limb of the quince bush.

Young Huff was a crack shot and, taking both birds at long range, he let both barrels of his gun go at them. They tumbled to the ground dead. The owls were very large. One measured three and a half feet across the wings from tip to tip. The other measured a few inches less.