Hunter uses bare hand to catch flying quail
May 13, 2013 by David Strege
A bird in the hand is worth, well, in this case it’s worth 2,000 belly laughs, and for a couple of reasons. First, a quail hunter uses his bare hand to catch a quail that inexplicably flew directly at him, and it was caught on video. Second, the video is posted in the most unlikeliest of places: A church’s YouTube channel among gospel messages. We found out why, but first, check out this incredible video of Senior Pastor Matt Carter making an amazing catch while on a quail hunting trip with NFL quarterback Colt McCoy in South Texas:
When GrindTV Outdoor contacted The Austin Stone Community Church on Monday to get the story, Travis Wussow, executive director of teaching ministries, asked us, “Do you think it’s real or fake?”
Initially, we thought it was real, then thought maybe it was staged, but then thought it was real since it was posted on a church YouTube channel.
Photo of Matt Carter holding the quail he caught in the air with his bare hand is a screengrab from the YouTube video
“It is totally real,” Wussow said. “While filming [the church uses creative storytelling, including films, to spread the gospel], inexplicably this bird takes off and stupidly flies right at Matt, and he grabbed it. It’s unbelievable….
“I was there and watched it happen. It’s totally unbelievable.”
The friendship between McCoy, who was recently traded from the Cleveland Browns to the San Francisco 49ers, and Carter began six or seven years ago when the two started hunting together. McCoy went to church at Austin Stone, where Carter is a pastor.
The two eventually collaborated on a biblically based book for men entitled, “The Real Win: A Man’s Quest for Authentic Success.” You can see a plug for the book at the end of the video.
“We went back and forth, and decided to put it on our site,” Wussow said about the church’s decision to put the hunting video on its YouTube channel.
As seen in the video, Carter was alerted to the flying quail, being told, “Coming at you.” With three cameramen surrounding the bird as they got three angles, the quail flew straight at Carter, who nonchalantly transferred his shotgun from his right to left hand, then stuck out his right hand to snag the quail.
McCoy then said what he no doubt has told many of his wide receivers over the years: “Sweet catch.”