I saw a mature Golden Eagle dive on a fawn in Hale Co in 1984 or so. The fawn sidestepped at the last sec and the eagle hit the ground where the fawn had been standing.

We had a yote hit a hen decoy one day in Ks, yote must of been going 50mph!!!! Made a real loud noise and the yote never stopped...

Lol I have witnessed the exact same thing with a great blue heron BC. A full grown heron can fly hard enough to put up quite a pull and even strip drag a little on medium freshwater tackle.

Saturday had 3 jakes in plot , to far for a shot, but they all took off to edge of woods and seconds later a buzzard flew right over. Wonder if they thought it was an eagle or if buzzards mess with them also.

I was lucky. When he took the slack out of it I jerked down and by some miracle I didn't get a hook in him. I was glad too because he was one of those big ol barred owls, and I mean a big one. It would have hurt my feelings to have injured him like that.

Wheezy, was it a bald eagle or golden eagle?

Had a decoy setup in a GF a couple of years ago. It was foggy. When fog lifted a little, there was a Bobcat sitting about ten feet from my decoy giving it a stare down. I turned him a flip with some #4s

Bet it was disappointed when it set down to eat.

I was deer hunting a cutover planted with Milo strips that had been chopped for quail. I had 11 hens in the milo feeding one morning and saw an eagle flying in circles. A few rounds later, he dive bombed one of the hens and it was just nasty. Killed her graveyard dead, flopped around on top of her for awhile, ate some of her, and then flew off.

Last year we were sitting in a clump of trees on the edge of a clearcut and had a hen decoy on a fire lane along some thin pines. We were sitting there discussing our next move when all hell broke loose. I heard a loud noise and when I looked up all I saw was the hen decoy rolling on the ground and a flash of a bobcat goin across clearcut about 30yds from us. It was actually scary how fast that cat hit that decoy and got out of there.

Last year opening weekend in Dallas County we had an eagle dive bomb a group of turkeys in the foodplot and one wasn't lucky!! You would be amazed at how fast those things can dive bomb!!! And the ruckus that the flock made after the attack and the crows that buzzed around the eagle for 30 minutes afterwards!!

We had seen a bald eagle over our lake a time or two. But to be honest, it was getting dark and we could see the head looked a little less white. I could not tell you for sure if it were a golden eagle or a juvenile bald eagle with the head off white or a bald eagle at dusk. We had our shoot thru mesh up on the windows which hurt us a little too. No mistaking the eagle, just couldn't tell for sure if it were a bald or golden. it kinda banked left when it grabbed the decoy. Kind of weird watching your decoy circle over the pine trees and disappear.

My brother and I have had a lot of encounters with eagles on our place. They are beautiful birds, but I despise them now. We have seen as many as 6 at one time. Mostly adult Bald eagles with the typical plumage, but several juveniles, as well. We used to call the juveniles Golden eagles, until I did a little research and discovered that it can take up to 5 years for the juveniles to show the white head of the adult Bald eagle, even though they may be identical in size. These could still be golden eagles, but I assume otherwise based on the number of adult bald eagles we have seen. Here are a few encounters and observations we have had over the past 4 or 5 years when they really started showing up.

1. Our turkeys do not use greenfields or fields in general anywhere close to what they did before the eagles started showing up. They will be in the woods near the fields, but a lot of times will not step out in it. They often hang near the edges or move across quickly if they do enter a field.

2. We have noticed them quite often tilting their heads sideways looking up in the air. Most noticeably when they are in a field or opening and if they notice any kind of large bird fly over. We have seen turkeys run full speed out of a field into the woods when a large bird or eagle flies over head.

3. We have had feeders out a month before season with a flock of hens reliably coming to it shortly after fly down, only to have a picture of birds scattering and an eagle walking where a dozen or more turkeys just stood with feathers everywhere. I have these pictures, but have no idea where they are. Just trust me!

4. We have found evidence of a turkey strutting down a road about 100 yards or so when all of a sudden the strut marks and tracks stopped where some kind of struggle took place and feathers laid all over the ground. This definitely was not a hunter's doings, and judging by what we have seen, I would bet an eagle was the culprit.

5. My brother and I were sitting on the edge of a green field with a group of turkeys across the field from us in the woods near the river, waiting for the gobbler to cross the field to us like they have several times in the past. The turkeys would absolutely not leave the woods and we eventually saw an eagle flying down river towards the turkeys. Although we couldn't see what happened, we knew where the gobbler was and could see the eagle swoop down at it 3 different times...every time the eagle swooped down, the turkey gobbled.

6. Finally the most obvious of all, a family friend was set up on a big green field with 2 foam hen decoys in front of him at about 20 yards. He looked up from a probable nap when he saw a large juvenile bald eagle standing in front of him right beside the decoy sizing it up. The eagle circled the decoy much like a gobbler would before finally flogging it, and biting plugs of the decoy. He said this went on for a solid 5 minutes before the eagle picked the decoy up and carried it halfway across the field and dropped it. After he thought he had seen it all, it happened again! Except this time it was an adult bald eagle that did the exact same thing to the other decoy. I might not have believed him, but he brought the decoys back to camp and the were ripped to shreds. I have the pictures somewhere, but can't find them at the moment.

I am not a big fan of eagles, because I believe they are really affecting our turkey population. We have already changed a lot of our hunting ways and adapted to the turkey's changes in behavior. I wouldn't mind if eagles, hogs, and coyotes disappeared!

A few years ago I had a large owl pick my decoy off its stake and carry it 30 or 40 yds before it realized it was a fake and dropped it.Pretty amazeing.Makes me wonder if owls and hawks are responsible somewhat for the drop in population.

3-4 yrs. ago my brother was deer hunting at my place and enjoying watching a gobbler milling around the ground right below his ladder stand. His description of what happened next reminded me of the old Saturday morning cartoon shows.

It was a sunny day but a shadow suddenly appeared on the ground below his stand, clearly from something overhead blocking the sun's rays. An instant later, like a lightning bolt out of the blue, a huge bird dove in and hammered the gobbler, rolling it like a bowling ball. The gobbler staggered to its feet like a punch-drunk boxer while the bird of prey which had landed nearby stood facing the gobbler and raised its wings like Conan the Barbarian or The Hulk just before the kill. However, my brother came to the rescue and shooshed him away before he carried out the execution. Then my brother climbed down and he and the gobbler embraced and became friends for life. (Ok, I made up that last sentence.)

Back at camp I showed him a picture of a golden eagle and he said "that's it"! Seems they're primarily seasonal visitors to Alabama, with their travels here mostly coinciding with our deer and early turkey seasons. The B'ham News ran a feature story last year about a research program tracking eagle travel patterns in the eastern U.S. Matt is probably familiar with the research. It showed that one eagle with a tracking device had travelled from Maine to Wilcox County during the year,

You are talking about Eagles! The symbol of freedom...you are taking turkey hunting way to serious.

Was watching a plot one afternoon bout 4 years ago and a very large, mature bald eagle swooped down for a fawn. He was unsuccessful. Good show though.

I've had almost the same experience at my place like Panola said. I got a trail cam pic, that I can't find, of an Eagle swooping down attacking the turkeys. I hate the things.

So glad to see this thread and for others to share their stories on eagles, hawks, owls, crows and buzzards interacting with turkey's.

If you ever get a chance, buy a copy of "Illumination In The Flatwoods" by Joe Hutto. He wrote a daily diary of spending a year w 12 or so eggs that he incubated and when they hatched, they all imprinted on him. He was the Biologist and Lead Forrester for Saint Joe Paper Company and literally took a year off to raise these wild turkey's. Snakes, and birds of prey are mentioned many times.

The BBC produced an hour long show that shows the entire year for him. It's a great read and a great video... I think you can find it on you tube as well. It is called a year in the eyes of a wild turkey I believe.

That's really cool. Me and 699 were working a group of 3 birds a few years back, and a hawk dive bombed em out of nowhere. It was amazing...