Hawk tried to steal my decoy

[straigharrow]

About 10:00am this morning I was sitting in my double bull watching my turkey decoys. A big hawk flew over and went over me to the rear. A few minutes he flew in and landed on top of one of the decoys and tried to lift off with it. I could hear his claws scratching rubber. When he couldn't lift it he landed two feet from it and stood there looking at it for several minutes. Then he flapped his wings and landed five feet on the other side of it and watched it for several more minutes. Then the flew to it and tried lift off with it again. When that didn't work he few up in a tree about fifteen feet away and watched for another five minutes before leaving.

[DamselflyFarm]

That's funny. I was just sitting in my natural blind this morning, watching my decoys, thinking that it would be funny if a hawk swooped down and tried to take off with one of the girls.

[Brianlocal3]

That is neat to watch. You just witnessed one of natures greatest hunters demonstrate to you the tenacity of their style.  Very cool.

Although I was sitting in a tree one day with a face mask on and had a sharp shined hawk confuse the whites of my eyes and nose of the belly of a squirrel and if it was not for my swatting at it with my hand it would have tried to give me a facelift.  I was shaken up pretty bad at first but after he landed 5 feet from me on a tree limb staring me down it was pretty cool.  I am always impressed with the raptors.

[rwbowman]

Must b e the day for it!! I had a Hawk ( Swainson's or Sharp Shinned I assume) dive bomb and pass my Avian hen twice this morning! That was awesome!

[Broken Arrows]

Being a falconer and knowing how raptors think, it is always a treat when one can witness them in their wild state of mind. It sounds like the hawk was trying to get the decoy move or even blink to determine if it was real or not. it's not surprising why falconry is one of the old way of hunting.

Dave

[RecurveRookie]

That's really interesting!  I feel invisible when they land close and don't notice me.

[maineac]

Cool, one of the great benefits of spending time out hunting.  All the great experiences and memories that come along with the hunt.

[VictoryHunter]

Great story! Thanks for sharing.

[Jayb]

I've had that happen while predator calling & with owls too. Funniest was a red fox charged my decoy but realized it wasn't flying away- got to about a foot away then slammed on the breaks & did a 180 in mid air.  I had to laugh

[Yippeekiay]

Wasn't hunting but I watched a Peregrine go after a Cormorant yesterday. That cormorant hit the drink faster than he knew he could..

Good stuff

[eminart]

Awesome! I'm also a falconer. I love to see the raptors hunt. Turkeys aren't common prey for experienced hawks. I think they learn that they take a beating from a bird that outweighs them 5:1. I actually just put together a 40+ minute video of the highlights from this season with my red tail.

[Duker]

COOL   :cool:

[Gen273]

I have seen them get squirrels, but never a turkey; I bet that was something to see.

[mjh]

Very cool, had a turkey vulture come in on my set up last year, blind and decoys, landed right on the blind,  got a slightly bad photo by sticking my phone out the window, bird stayed about 10 minutes that off to a near by tree, finally took off at some point...hawks and bald eagles about where I hunt turkey

[todd smith]

Likin' the hawk stories.  Keep 'em coming.  Had a friend get attacked by an owl.  He thinks it must have seen his fur string silencers.  

[Manbearpig]

That's what I love most about being outside.  Getting to see nature in all its glory.  What a great experience, very cool!

[eminart]

Other than daily interactions with my own hawk, I can only remember one close call in the wild. I was sitting in a climbing treestand with my compound bow when I was maybe 12 years old. Everything was quiet and calm when suddenly I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It startled me and I turned my head in time for the red tailed hawk that thought my head was a squirrel to realize his mistake and veer off. Just about had a heart attack, but it was cool to see.

[Rusty Snuffers]

I'm surprised no one has asked yet: what decoy are you using?  It's obviously very lifelike.  

Neat story, thanks for sharing.

Rusty

[straigharrow]

Can't think of the brand but they were just the rubber collapsable kind you can buy at Wal-Mart. I didn't mention it in the first post but I was also using a decoy stake that lets you spin the decoy(not the one he landed on) and gave it a couple spins while the hawk was four feet away. He never acted startled or surprised and never approached the moving decoy.

[mjh]

I was using 3 montana 2d decoys when the vulture came in two hens one full display tom.