colbea

Hey, mlo where you from? I'd love a chance at that double bearded Tom

kshunter

If another bird, whether a raptor or game bird, did in fact eat the breast meat, the bird also would have eaten some of the guts. It may have looked clean, but the guts would not have been left untouched. I have seen hundreds of instances with raptors, game birds, and even game birds eating game birds, in the captive. But rarely do the guts never get touche, especially with Game birds pecking on Game birds. Almost always they start with a hole into guts, usually because it's easier to access. If a rapter made the kill, there would be some obvious marks on it's neck. A turkey is a tough bird, it'd take some claws to the neck from a owl or hawk to take one of them down. Even on a pheasant, most of the time, the owls and hawks will nearly pull their head clean off.

If tough even if you had pictures, since regardless of what it was, other animals or birds could've been chewing or pecking on the remains, before you came on to it.

Deer_Tracker

I'm thinking poacher. I found a coyote once who kept on hauling off ducks and geese. I happened to hunt the field the next day for pheasants where he was taking his kill and found him to be burying what he didn't eat. Surely this coyote would have torn apart this bird and then stored the rest. I'm still clueless on why he didn't take the beard or spurs. Maybe he just needed the head for a mount??

Strut&Rut

kshunter,

This is what Charlie posted, in his orginal statement:

The head was ripped completely off, probably during the attack. Yes, birds of prey will usually attack the belly. However, when turkeys are preyed upon, usually the first attack is on the breast. Two reasons, really. One, the removal of the head usually correlates with a "skinning" off of the breast meat. Two, with the breast cavity opened, the birds of prey will first eat the breast. Usually a large tom is too large for the owl/hawk to consume entirely, so the lower half is left untouched, including the entrails.

It could also have been a Minotaur, they've been known to inhabit lower NY [8D]

S&R

mlo3135127

colbea, I took this picture last spring and a friend of mine shot a doubble bearded turkey close by. Sorry. I think your out of luck.

Deerslayer_37

rarely if ever will a bird of prey attack a mature tom turkey. i'm friends with a hawk expert and world reknowned filmmaker ofd wildife stuff and he says a red tailed hawk will take things basically no bigger than a pheasants. eagles would much rather be lazy and eat dead stuff. no, the chance of an owl or bird of prey getting a turkey is slim to none.

slayer