Eagle attacks turkey decoy during Orange County hunt

Every hunter has had strange things happen while turkey hunting, especially those who use decoys. It’s not uncommon for bobcats, foxes or coyotes to stalk decoys or even turkey hunters who are using calls to mimic hen turkeys.

However, Kenny Snyder of Hillsborough may be the only Tarheel State hunter to have his decoy spread attacked from the air by a bald eagle.

Snyder, who has killed two gobblers with traditional archery equipment, was hunting in Orange County on April 17 with a crossbow when the eagle landed in his decoy spread.

“I set out three decoys – a strutting tom and two hens,” Snyder said. “I never heard any gobbling all morning, but around 8 a.m. a gobbler appeared in the field about 80 yards from me.”

An analyst for a Hillsborough consulting company, Snyder used his calls to try to coax the bird within crossbow range.

“I felt like I had a pretty good setup until all of a sudden, this large bird swooped down and landed about 5 yards from the decoys,” he said.

Needless to say, Snyder lost all interest in the gobbler at that point.

“I don’t know which way (the gobbler) went, but he sure got the heck out of there, and my hunt was done, but I didn’t care; that’s when the show began,” he said. “This big bird, which my research afterward indicated was a juvenile bald eagle, walked to one of my hen decoys, one hop step at a time, until he got right up on it.

“When he got to the decoy, he started flogging it with his talons until it fell over, at which point he jumped on top of it and pretty much spent the next hour trying every which way to eat the doggone thing.”

The show was priceless, he said.

“A couple of times he even tried to fly off with the decoy, but the aerodynamics didn’t work,” Snyder explained. “Watching this was hilarious.”

Snyder said the frustrated eagle hopped away several times, and then returned to try to subdue the foam decoy.

“That’s when I remembered my camera in my pocket and got it out and started taking pictures,” he said.

Snyder is probably lucky he remembered the camera to have proof of his improbable story.

He snapped photos for another 30 minutes.

“Eventually, the eagle gave up and flew to the woods edge and perched in a tree,” Snyder said.

Quickly discovered by a flock of crows, they cawed and dipped at the eagle until the big bird flew away.

“In all my years of turkey hunting, I’ve had hunts ruined every way you can imagine,” Snyder said. “Never before, though, had I actually been glad about it. This was one of the most amazing and memorable hunting-related events I’ve ever witnessed. It was also the first time I’d seen a bald eagle.

“He didn’t have the classic white head the fully-adult version has, but he was an impressive specimen nonetheless.”

Snyder, who has killed 40 gobblers during 35 years of turkey hunting, said he knows of no bald eagle nesting areas within eight miles of where he was hunting.

“The nearest lakes to the property where I saw the eagle are Cane Creek Reservoir, Lake Orange and Lake Michael,” he said. “Cane Creek Reservoir is probably eight to 10 miles away as the crow flies.”

After the encounter with the eagle, Snyder felt good about his choice of decoys. If they were good enough to fool the eyes of a bald eagle, they’d probably do the same for a gobbler — which he proved a week later.

Snyder, who used a Mathews bow to take two gobblers during 2008, sold that bow in order to purchase a TenPoint crossbow for his wife. He borrowed the crossbow during his April 17 encounter with the eagle, and then returned to the same area on Easter.

“I never imagined years ago I’d ever be hunting on Easter Sunday, but it was a beautiful sunrise service, let me tell you,” he said. “The music was angelic, and the gobbler was very vocal, which to me makes a hunt so much more exciting.”

Snyder called the bird out of a creek bottom into a field where the hunter was hidden about 20 yards from the same decoy set, minus the “holy” hen, that’d been attacked a week earlier.

“I gave her the day off,” he said.

His crossbow bolt drilled the 22 1/2-pound gobbler with a 10 1/2-inch beard and 1 1/2-inch spurs.

“(The gobbler) did the customary back flip and ran about 7 or 8 yards before toppling over,” he said. “I don’t know for sure he was the same bird I saw the previous Sunday, but he probably was, since he came from the same area.”

Needless to say, Snyder was glad the wayward eagle didn’t show up again.