So I was hunting at my lease in SC yesterday afternoon. I was set up on a grassy trail leading to a roosting area. Crows were carrying on in a nearby field, which is normal. But then they went crazy, getting louder and more raucous, and they were getting closer. I turned to see what all the fuss was about, and was surprised with what I saw. :o
A large, reddish brown bird of prey was flying down the trail, about 6 feet off the ground, with 2 crows in hot pursuit. The raptor looked like a hawk but was the size of a small eagle. As it approached my decoys, it suddenly dive bombed into them. It flared its wings like air brakes, its underside swung up and razor sharp talons came forward. It crashed into one of my decoys, knocking it off the stake, and landing right beside it. :o The crows were caught off guard by this sudden maneuver and overflew him. Quickly they did a 180 degree turn, and resumed their harrassment of the big predator. He flew up into a tree but the crows pressed their attack. Finally all 3 of them flew off. When I went to put the deke back on the stake, I discovered 10 puncture wounds and slices in the deke!!! They were all on the front and sides of the neck. I'm certain that if it had been a real hen, the predator would have killed her.
This is the second time I have had one of my decoys attacked by a bird of prey. Years ago in FLA, a bald eagle landed in a tree overlooking my set up. I watched as it eyeballed my decoy. Finally, it silently hopped off the limb, swooped in and snatched my decoy off the stake! :o It flew about 50 feet up before figuring out it had grabbed a fake, then dropped it and flew away. This decoy also had multiple puncture wounds from being impaled by talons.
Crazy things you see while you are hunting!! :icon_thumright:
That's wild, I have never seen that before.
So cool to see stuff like that!
Cool story!
It's a good thing you weren't wearing your little bunny rabbit bedroom shoes.
Bob
we blame coyotes predation a lot but i'm fairly confident that hawks and eagles do a ton of damage especially to the young in late spring and summer. I know we have a lot of eagles where we hunt near the Hudson and one flying over head is a sure way to get birds to clear a field fast
Never had one attack a decoy that must be neat to witness and a little annoying at the damage left.
wow, that's crazy! Would be cool to see!
Yes Bob, it was a good thing!! LOL!!!
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VERY COOL!!!
I had an eagle go after a tom I was working once during a youth hunt. The tom was in full strut in a field but I think he saw the shadow because he dropped strut and ducked at the very last second. I'm pretty sure the eagle only missed his head by a few inches. He beat feet for the woods before the eagle could make another pass. I got him fired up again after about thirty minutes and we ended up killing him. He walked around three sides of the field in the woods to get to us though, he wouldn't go back in the open.
That's crazy! It's almost as fun to see that kind of stuff when you're in the woods than what you're hunting for...almost. You gotta love mother nature.
crazy
I've always wondered about that as I watch hawks circle or hover in the area I'm hunting....... Is he going to dive bomb my dekes or not?? :funnyturkey:
WOW ! that is too cool. Would love to see that.
I'm guessing my inflatables won't last long if this happens regularly haha cool story!
Just think of the things we get to see as hunters. Things that others would find fascinating but will likely never see unless they get out there and spend time in the woods.
I had a similar scenario where a coyote came across a food plot to attack our Avian X hen. I was the gun and a buddy of mine was calling for me. We saw ears to whole time – that thing was crouched down and was belly crawling across 50 yrds to get a shot at our decoy. He came within 15' or so and lunged at it. He attacked and it bounced like a basketball up into the air by about 6'. It scared the P out of that dog – he yelped our decoy went flying and he ran clear across the plot. He stood at the edge of the woods and looked back wondering just what in the heck just happened.
We both just sat there not believing what we saw. It is really cool to see that stuff. I told my friend that I guess his calling was spot on. We had to run to Walmart to find some super glue to plug up the holes – our hen was a little deflated and he broke our stick for the decoy BUT totally worth it.
Wow nice story thanks for sharing
Years ago I was squirrel hunting in Pa. I shot a squirrel and since I was sitting, I wouldn't pick them up until I was ready to leave.A while after the shot a hawk swooped in and grabbed the squirrel and carried it a short distance before dropping it. I wasn't sure I had seen what I had seen until I went to pick it up.It was about 20 yds. from where it fell at the shot. I guess the hawk realized it was already dead...One of the most unusual things that's happened to me in the woods...
crazy
This happened to my husband and me last year... It was a day that we decided just to relax in the blind with a couple of decoys which is rare for us.. If I remember correctly we had two out and we was sitting there when a red tail hawk flew over.. and then the next thing we new here it came back gliding and circled and bam.. down went our hen.. The hawk held her down and looked around.. Pecked at her and looked back at us then pecked some more.. Realized something wasn't right and took off! My husband and I looked at each other like wth.. trying hard to keep the laughter down! Defiantly a hunt I'll never forget! (Luckily our decoy wasn't hurt too bad) ;)
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Good stuff Bones! I think this is a much more frequent occurrence than most of us realized.
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Wow! That would be neat to see great hunt thanks for sharing
Great story. What do you think it was, a falcon?... Once deer hunting in the fall I watched a hen feeding in a field almost get snagged by a big hawk. She narrowly escaped by diving under a big locust bush.
I'm not sure. This was a very large bird, the size of a small eagle. I thought hawks were larger than falcons? It was a reddish brown bird. Any ideas anyone on what bird of prey that was?
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(http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r789/jonijones26/7B108BC4-B123-4A75-8FA0-5F733473C0A7_zpscgzsgiqa.jpg) (http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/jonijones26/media/7B108BC4-B123-4A75-8FA0-5F733473C0A7_zpscgzsgiqa.jpg.html)
It was one of these lil monsters that took our hen to the ground.. Bam... I won't never forget it! It was amazing to see it fly over then to come back thru and glide down and attack.. It was pretty loud tOo! I'm truly thankful & happy that I am in the woods as much as I am.. There's many many people that don't get to experience the things that you only see when your out in the woods in your camo!
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Quote from: Bones on May 06, 2014, 11:14:28 PMI'm truly thankful & happy that I am in the woods as much as I am.. There's many many people that don't get to experience the things that you only see when your out in the woods in your camo!
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:agreed: Folks that don't spend time in the woods have no idea what they are missing!
they need a open season on redtails theres way to many of them i call atleast one in everytime i go turkey hunting. also them darn noisy owls.
Interesting theory. I've never even thought about a predatory bird season.