bad medicine

Kit Carson would never take a second shot at standing game if the first shot missed. He considered it to be "bad medicine."

Of course, this reminds me of the time the father and son were out driving around with loaded guns, looking for trouble. They spotted a large raptor in a distant tree.

The father had a sniper rifle, heavy barrel, large scope. The shot was about 200 yards.

The bird was huge. Not of mythical proportions, like a roc, but certainly larger than any hawk that the son had ever seen. It was the size of an eagle, a large eagle. All dark, no white head or tail. This was in Michigan, where bald eagles are the norm, no golden eagles.

The father gets out of the pickup, takes a good solid rest across the hood of the pickup, squeezes off a shot. The bird does not even flinch.

The father says, "He is dead and does not even know it."

The old sniper squeezes off another shot. Ditto.

Another shot. Ditto.

The old sniper says, "Something is not right here."

The father starts to pack up his equipment.

The son asks, "What is the plan?"

The father replies, "Out of bullets."

[This is another weird part of the story. Why carry so few rounds?]

The son says, "Let's go get more ammo."

The father gives a terse shake of his head.

They return home. The old sniper, convinced that it is the fault of the rifle/scope goes out to the shooting bench, test fires the rifle, dead on bullseye.

[I remain convinced to this day that it was no normal bird. It was a shaman in bird form, and the shaman's medicine was strong that day. And it was no coincidence that the incident with the snake occurred at that same exact spot on the road where the old sniper missed the shots.]

The son is driving home from work, alone, going maybe 45-50 mph. He sees what appears to be a fallen tree branch stretching across the entire width of the road. He slows, then realizes that is no tree branch, but is instead an enormous snake. He hits the accelerator, intending to kill the snake. The snake slides off the road with inches to spare. There are no snakes in Michigan that are even close to that size. Maybe someone released an exotic pet. More likely that the shaman was in snake form that day, and his medicine was still strong.