A spring turkey hunter this week was hiking into the dark, pre-dawn woods.  He was following a power line right-of-way to his hunting spot.  Suddenly several turkeys roosting in the trees along the right-of-way, flushed from the trees and flew off. One unfortunately came in contact with a high power transformer and power line, and was electrocuted.  The hunter said the mature gobbler hit the ground with a thud and was “DOA”.  The turkey’s beard was burnt to a crispy stub.

 

Since we were talking about power lines, my storyteller relayed another tale.  He said that friends he knows were part of a line crew installing power lines on a mountainside in Maine.  A bulldozer at the top of the mountain was struggling to pull the line through the pulley system attached to the towers.  Apparently the line had snagged on the timber.  When the dozer operator applied more power, he freed the line and it began to rise above the ground.  Only then did the crew see the reason for the initial problem that kept the operator from pulling the line free.   A moose had been tangled in the line.  The first snap of the line broke the animal’s neck, and it was hanging on the cable.  They lowered the moose to the ground, removed it, and finished installing the power line.