The last stand!

[Apex Predator]

I was hunting a Georgia river swamp this morning not far from home.  

What an awesome hunt!  I must have jumped 30 deer!  I was hog hunting, and did see three, but they were hauling butt for the next county.  It was one of those dry mornings where every step sounded like you were walking on dry corn flakes!

I made my way 1.5 miles down to the rivers edge.  I decided to take a break on a beautiful sandbar, when I noticed signs of a struggle in the sand.

 

Evidence!

 

Drag marks and some blood!

 

My guess would be coyote!

 

What a trail of evidence!  The victim has been identified now.

 

The wiley predator has only eaten the head and part of the entrails!

 

That was a nice tom!

[rastaman]

Nice beard on that bird!  Thanks for sharing!

[JEFF B]

wow!!! ya got some mean animals over there. sure as hell wouldnot want to be in  the way of that. man!!

[Matt Stuckey]

Would it be good mojo or bad mojo to collect the feathers for your next batch of arrows?  Looks like it was a very successful hunt.

[Bakes168]

I'd take the feathers for my arrows...better than leaving them there.

[Sharptop]

About 10 years ago I was grouse hunting up in N. GA and came across a dead grouse, still warm to the touch. There was a big hawk flying around in the area. As I looked at the grouse I was surprised to see that its back was eaten out along with all the guts and its head was gone but the breasts were still intact, similar to your turkey.

I always assumed it was the hawk that killed the grouse. I guess its pretty common for predators to eat the guts first, I killed a elk once and drug the gut pile about 40 yards downhill from the elk. It was two days before we got horses back in there to retrieve the elk and the gut pile was gone and the elk was untouched. It was in snow so the meat was fine.

[slivrslingr]

I love seeing that kind of stuff in the wild, Mother Nature doing her thing, cool stuff!

[ABDULLAH]

Nice series of photos!

[sweeney3]

That is impressive.  I've seen similar but less pronounced trials in the leaves or dry grass before, but never on sand.  That really paints a neat picture.  It's interesting how often that kind of thing happens, but how seldom we see it.

[Eric Krewson]

I would be clipping off those primaries for future arrow fletching.

[Pat B]

I'd take the primaries, secondaries and tail feathers at least. Good fletchings can be made with any of these and a few other smaller feathers too.

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

Organ meats tend to have the highest concentration of nutrients and fat. Predators instinctively eat those first, returning for the rest of the carcass later. I've noticed that many times in the woods. It's being discovered that many of our digestive issues can be traced to a lack of nutrients found in organ meats and bone stocks.
I intend to save the heart and liver of the next deer I shoot. I already save the bones.