Eagle vs turkey?

[Hooter23]

(Southeast Louisiana)
Mid day Sunday I sat up on an old private land field that we have permission to hunt and always had good success in when things got quiet. As I was setting up my camera (of course it's not rolling yet) probably 20 min into my sit I hear a loud "thump" in my decoys, for a very brief second I froze thinking that a tom had swiftly came in and started boxing my funky chicken. When I looked up, my avian feeder hen was doing a 360º and a big eagle was flying away with a just-as-startled look as I had.. It was brown, so not sure wether it was a Golden Eagle or a young Bald Eagle, all I know is it was very large, and it wanted turkey for lunch. I found it bizarre, but also somewhat logical since my dekes weren't running for cover. Curious to know if it being in the area will deter a turkey from coming into that big field. We shall see.
Has anyone ever seen or heard of this?

[gergg]

Pretty crazy, man that would have been some video. I did see a video of an eagle trying to catch a turkey, without success.

[jpc1317]

I had a gobbler roosted across a slough one morning duck hunting.  A Bald Eagle came in and circled and took a dive for the gobbler. He puffed up and scared the Eagle off. One of the coolest things I've seen. I bet they do kill them but they have to get them by surprise.  An owl probably has a better chance than an Eagle does at harvesting one...

As for the turkeys you're hunting leaving the area, the gobbler above pitched out and flew a half mile across the river after his bald Eagle run in. This could've been because he was nervous from the Eagle or he made me out at some point that morning.  So it may have an effect.

[Hooter23]

Pretty crazy, man that would have been some video. I did see a video of an eagle trying to catch a turkey, without success.

I'll have to try to locate that video, and it sure would've been some good footage.

[Hooter23]

I had a gobbler roosted across a slough one morning duck hunting.  A Bald Eagle came in and circled and took a dive for the gobbler. He puffed up and scared the Eagle off. One of the coolest things I've seen. I bet they do kill them but they have to get them by surprise.  An owl probably has a better chance than an Eagle does at harvesting one...

As for the turkeys you're hunting leaving the area, the gobbler above pitched out and flew a half mile across the river after his bald Eagle run in. This could've been because he was nervous from the Eagle or he made me out at some point that morning.  So it may have an effect.

That must have been a sight to see.. I have heard of Great horned owls getting the job done on roosted turkeys before, I'm sure that has got to be quite the brawl. I'd imagine that as long as the eagle sticks around they'll avoid contact by any means. Hopefully he moves on after his failed attempt at a rubber decoy

[Meleagris gallopavo]

Had an owl attack a peacock one night at home when I was a kid.  Peacock survived and there were owl feathers all over the place.


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[Meleagris gallopavo]

I had a gobbler roosted across a slough one morning duck hunting.  A Bald Eagle came in and circled and took a dive for the gobbler. He puffed up and scared the Eagle off. One of the coolest things I've seen.

Ben Franklin thought the Wild Turkey would have made a better national symbol than the Bald Eagle.  Adds significance to what you saw.


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[ManfromGreenSwamp]

Hawk will do it too!


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[alloutdoors]

The first year that NY held a youth season I took my cousin's son out and we had a gobbler show up strutting in the next field over from where we were set up. An eagle swooped in from behind while the gobbler was in full strut and to tried grab him by the head. I don't know if the gobbler heard the eagle or just got lucky and dropped strut at exactly the right moment, but at the last second he came out of strut, saw the eagle, and ducked under its talons. The eagle only missed him by a matter of inches. After dodging the attack the gobbler booked it for the woods. Twenty minutes later he started gobbling again and we eventually worked him into gun range for a successful shot. He wouldn't come back out in the open though, so he worked his way around the perimeter of the field sticking to the woods the entire way.

[grayfox]

Years ago a guy I was hunting with said he was sitting on a food plot one afternoon with his decoy out. He said he was about half asleep when an eagle came down & hit his decoy. He showed me his decoy with a cut on top of it several inches long where the eagle had hit it. First time I had heard of this happening.

[Hooter23]

Had an owl attack a peacock one night at home when I was a kid.  Peacock survived and there were owl feathers all over the place.


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wowweee, sounds like peacocks have some feist to them

[Hooter23]

The first year that NY held a youth season I took my cousin's son out and we had a gobbler show up strutting in the next field over from where we were set up. An eagle swooped in from behind while the gobbler was in full strut and to tried grab him by the head. I don't know if the gobbler heard the eagle or just got lucky and dropped strut at exactly the right moment, but at the last second he came out of strut, saw the eagle, and ducked under its talons. The eagle only missed him by a matter of inches. After dodging the attack the gobbler booked it for the woods. Twenty minutes later he started gobbling again and we eventually worked him into gun range for a successful shot. He wouldn't come back out in the open though, so he worked his way around the perimeter of the field sticking to the woods the entire way.

amazing how driven by love they can be, that is an awesome story to be told right there.

[Hooter23]

Years ago a guy I was hunting with said he was sitting on a food plot one afternoon with his decoy out. He said he was about half asleep when an eagle came down & hit his decoy. He showed me his decoy with a cut on top of it several inches long where the eagle had hit it. First time I had heard of this happening.

I was expecting to find some holes in my hen, but I think it must have realized at the last millisecond that it was fake and didn't commit or else it would've yanked it out of the ground. Plus the avian material is a good balance of hard yet cushioned. I'd imagine my old hunters specialties foam wouldn't have stood a chance. I started this post in hopes of hearing about more encounters like this so I'm excited to see this has been witnessed quite a bit. Pretty neat topic. The wild turkey has many enemies 

[tomstopper]

I have never seen it happen before in person from an eagle but have had a coyote bust my setup thinking he was getting a free meal.

Here is an old youtube clip of an eagle and a turkey

https://youtu.be/H6ElFmm8_h8

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[Number17]

Bald eagles have increased in numbers significantly around here and so have the reports of eagles taking turkeys. One farmer told me a pair of bald eagles slowly removed an entire flock of turkeys from his farm, along with all kinds of other critters like groundhogs, skunks, foxes, and fawns. They almost always nest right on a waterway, but I've seen them soaring miles over farmland and mountains.
I had a pair at the house last year that would kettle with turkey vultures.