“I winged my bird” - meaning

[Snailonmars]

Hello, when a bird hunter says “I winged my bird” , what do you think they mean exactly and why would they say that? The exact quote is “I winged my bird, though he flew toward the setting sun.” The piece was written around year 1914.
Thank you.

 

[Fowl Play]

“Winging a bird” quite literally means shooting him in the wing. Not a good shot and a bird can “sail” or glide for quite a while. Or sometimes they fly fine for a while, then the wing breaks and they helicopter out of the sky.

 

[huntineveryday]

And even though the wing or wings are taken out, the bird has enough left to make recovery difficult or impossible. With pheasants, they can hit the ground with both legs working and enough steam to run quite a ways on you or bury into some thick cover. With ducks, they can hit the water able to swim and dive.

 

[AK_Skeeter]

 

[Snailonmars]

))

 

[Swamp Fox]

Well, since I have always been a rotten wingshot but a damn good English major, I will provide the real answer.

In addition to the above, it is a line of poetry by Edgar Lee Masters, from a piece entitled Bert Kessler.

Bert, I believe, is now pinin' for the fjords ...

Bert Kessler​

I winged my bird,
Though he flew toward the setting sun;
But just as the shot rang out, he soared
Up and up through the splinters of golden light,
Till he turned right over, feathers ruffled,
With some of the down of him floating near,
And fell like a plummet into the grass.
I tramped about, parting the tangles,
Till I saw a splash of blood on a stump,
And the quail lying close to the rotton roots.
I reached my hand, but saw no brier,
But something pricked and stung and numbed it.
And then, in a second, I spied the rattler—
The shutters wide in his yellow eyes,
The head of him arched, sunk back in the rings of him,
A circle of filth, the color of ashes,
Or oak leaves bleached under layers of leaves.
I stood like a stone as he shrank and uncoiled
And started to crawl beneath the stump,
When I fell limp in the grass.

 

[TFrank]

If you are a fan a trailer park boys this has a whole other meaning

 

[Swamp Fox]

If you are a fan a trailer park boys this has a whole other meaning

We're responding to a bot, so I'm trying to factor that in ... Plus I don't really care about Canadia ... but I'll bite.

Show me your cards... ; )

 

[TFrank]

We're responding to a bot, so I'm trying to factor that in ... Plus I don't really care about Canadia ... but I'll bite.

Show me your cards... ; )