Hi everyone, this is my first post on this forum. My huntin' buddy of 37 yrs and I were all set up at the edge of a field where we had seen turkeys goin to roost on a previous hunt. We were just inside the timber 5 yrds or so, been sittin there for about an hour waitin with a decoy about 15 yrds away in the field. All of a sudden, this redtail hawk swoops down, grabs the decoy in his talons and flys off with our decoy! We just looked at each other and then at the lone stake standing in the field where the decoy was.....but we hadn't been sittin there all this time to quit now even though the decoy wasn't in place, we hoped the birds would still come this way....after about 20 minutes, along comes a hen and a gobbler, they mill around in the field a bit and finally got close enough and my partner knocks the tom down, the hen just looks at him floppin and continues peckin and walkin up into the timber and past us. After she's outa sight, we go and collect the tom and walk back to the road, actually the 2 mile long driveway to the owner's property, and back to the car. When we get to the road, there's our decoy laying right in the middle of the road! That hawk had dropped the decoy on the only place other than the field that we could have possibly found it in thousands of acres of timber!! Just the hawk takin our decoy was exciting enough, but to actually get it back was unreal...it had pecked the heck out of the head and it had several 4" long gashes in its back....whata story to tell! We've had some pretty good hunts in out lifetime, but this is one of the best!
