A Sad Occurrence

[Prospector]

So my son, Logan, finished his 7 night shift and decided to go hunt and/or roost a gobbler for an am attack the next day. To make a long story short, he only saw a couple of hens with a Jake . He stayed until almost dark and as he worked his way back to his truck, he seen what was obviously a turkey move thru ahead of him on the trail. He stopped in wonderment to give the bird some room and not intentionally spook it. Just out of sight, he heard what he believed was "clucks and wingbeats" as it flew up to roost. Minutes later he rounded the corner and there lay the turkey dead in a pile of feathers. Something scurried off but came back and when it reappeared, was Id'd and quickly dispatched... examination of the crime scene shows a young, but robust male bobcat and a long beard gobbler! The gobbler had very short spurs, a good beard but was noticeable small by our usual standards. Probably about 13-14lbs. Plumage was good, and there was no visible wounds or deformities- just skinny. This is the third incident this season alone of observed adult turkey predation on our place. I shot a coyote opening day stalking Jake's, a friend had a coyote attack his decoy and now this. We have an active trapper working our land year round for cats and yotes. I have a pic but it will not upload for some reason.

[Shiloh]

Found a pile of feathers in a field on my place a few years ago.  Kept looking and finally found the carcass in the edge of a log pile left from clearing.  Knew it was a cat, but put a camera on it just to make sure and got his pic a night or two later.  I assume he caught him strutting?

[Shiloh]

Here is a pic of the cat standing over the carcass

[Tom007]

Wow, nice pic. Yea, the predators are for sure taking their share of turkeys.........

[Cowboy]

Bobcats are deadly on turkeys.

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[Tail Feathers]

Bobcats are top level predators.  The state transplanted a bunch of turkeys near me a few years back.  The first night they lost three jakes in one tree to a bobcat.  This according to the game warden who went with the biologists to check out why the trackers weren't moving. 

[Gooserbat]

And that was the perfect turkey.  Longbeard and easy to carry.

[tad1]

I've had a bobcat come sneaking in when I was calling.  It's hard being a turkey!

[Paulmyr]

I wonder if the turkeys lack of body weight was caused by some type of disease or something.

[Prospector]

I wonder if the turkeys lack of body weight was caused by some type of disease or something.

I wondered if he had been wounded as well. His plumage ( other than the cat bite in his neck) was good. I could find no wounds. His wing's weren't broken and in fact were heavily broomed from strutting. Years ago I killed a bird in that area that only weighed 13 lbs. I noticed he looked small but he had just whipped two other longbeards- maybe he just comes from that scrappy lineage?

[Yoder409]

Hopefully, bobcats are legal quarry where you are and you're formulating a plan to hunt and/or trap them this coming fall.