Army Vet Rescues Bald Eagle By Using His Sharpshooting Skills

Minnesota man Jason Galvin was at his family's cabin about 60 miles north of Minneapolis last Thursday when he saw a bald eagle tangled in a piece of rope wrapped around a tree branch 70 feet off the ground.

The bird was just dangling there and it was too far up to rescue. A wildlife official told Jason it had been there for two-and-a-half days.

But Jason is an Army vet who did two tours in Afghanistan, so he's a pretty good shot. His wife made him borrow a friend's rifle, and try to snap the four-inch rope by shooting it. Which is a lot harder than it looks in the movies and it was pretty windy. Plus he had to shoot some branches out of the way just to get a clear shot at it.

After 90 minutes and about 150 shots, it worked. One of his shots snapped the rope, and none of the other shots hit the eagle, which landed in some brush.

Now the raptor center at the University of Minnesota is planning to release it back into the wild after it recovers. Apparently it's pretty young and doesn't have a white head yet.