| The following is based on a true story
It was early April, sometime around the first, and a local paper (The New York Times) was offering a $100,000 reward for anyone who could capture a recognizable picture of the illusive "snipe" which had been spotted numerous times in the upstate NY area despite having been thought extinct, it was even recognized by the NRIC (National Registry of Instict Critters).
After calling around, and mostly getting laughed at, I finally got a hot tip from a adirondack park ranger (who in retrospect seemed a little slow). I packed my gear and headed into the mountains, ready to bag me a snipe. I strapped the FA 250-600mm onto my K10D not expecting to get very close to the snipe, I had heard they are very skiddish.
I arrived deep in the woods, all signs pointed to snipe. I found droppings I couldn't identify, scratches on the trees, and the squirrels seemed irritable. I set up a blind, and set to practicing my snipe call, which is a combination of noises I can only describe as wet flatus (farts for those not in the know).
After 2 days of sitting in a cold blind, and only pictures of squirrels giving me the evil eye to show for my patience, I was ready to call it. Perhaps the snipe would illude me this time. But wait, across the clearing something stirred. I saw plumage first - silver and red permiated with sharp yellow spines. His horns were magnificant, I think it was a 12 point snipe, quite breathtaking. His duck bill was highlighted with sky blue, and his white eyes turned toward me.
I raised the camera and squeezed off a shot, a quick chimp and I verified clean focus and perfect composition, that $100k would surely be mine. I looked back, expecting him to have run off with the sound of the shutter, instead he glared right at me, almost looking right through my camo. He raised up on his hind legs to a stature I didn't think possible in nature. No less than 12 feet tall he broke into a run directly at me, me teeth bared and razor sharp talons drawn. I was frozen where I sat. He reached me with amazing speed and stopped suddenly. With cat-like reflexes he snatched the camera out of my hand, and with unnatural precision he opened the memory card door. He removed my card and popped it into his mouth like it was popcorn and he was at the movies. As shocked as I was, it wasn't over yet. He reached into the soft fur of his belly and produced a SD card and placed it into the camera. He handed it back to me, and took off in the direction he came. I raised the camera and tried to catch him as he ran - MEMORY CARD FULL!!!
I hit the play button, and there they were.....the squirrels. They must have been friends with the snipe because half of them looked posed, I could swear they were dancing a waltz in one of the frames....
I returned home defeated, I never spoke to anyone about the incident because I didn't think anyone would believe me. I gave up photography and forgot about my experience until this thread.... |