When the hunter becomes the hunted.
An 82-year-old hunter from Alabama is currently recovering after he was attacked by a bobcat while he was turkey hunting. Claude Strother, a man who has called himself a hunter for over 50 years, was using a turkey call on his Wilcox County property when the big cat jumped him.
Bobcats might look like a slightly-above-average-sized house cat, but the wild animals are much more than that. The wild felines have heightened senses of vision, smell, and hearing, and they utilize all of those skills to track down their prey. They also don’t mind using the element of surprise to catch prey in a way where they don’t even know what hit them.
It was that very element of surprise that bobcats often deploy that got the best of Strother, who was busy sending out turkey calls while positioned between two narrow trees. He was also wearing all camouflage (as one does when hunting), with only his head and a portion of his back exposed.
In a video posted to Facebook, Strother explained in his own words how everything went down (ironically with a pet cat in his lap), and suggested that his turkey calling must have been pretty believable to make the bobcat pounce like it did
“After a few yelps and just sitting there watching, all of the sudden I felt like somebody hit me with a baseball bat – and knocked me forward. I looked back and there was nothing. I looked forward and (saw) a giant bobcat trotting off. It was big. It was a monster.”
The 82-year-old joked that it keeps getting bigger every time he tells the story, which is in classic storytelling fashion. Just as any fisherman recalls the fish he reeled in being a bit larger any time the story comes up, Strother will likely be telling the story about a lion attacking him when it’s all said and done.
But in all seriousness, the 82-year-old hunter is one tough cookie to get through this nasty attack, which he says left him covered in blood with a couple of different injuries:
“He hit dead behind my head, and his claws hit right above my eyes. But not any real damage. Lot of blood, but nothing serious.”
Funny enough, one of the first things Claude Strother thought to do after surviving the close encounter was to take a picture of himself all scratched up and bloodied. Another post that was sent out on Facebook by his daughter included some of those just-after-battle pictures, and another showing how he had healed up.
It also included this message about the Alabama hunter:
“Not sure just how many years of die hard turkey hunting this took, but Daddy somehow had a bobcat think he was a turkey and it came at him from behind… just missing his eyes! Oh the stories my Dad has to tell. No one would believe, yet another one to add!”
The message went on to say that during Strother’s time as a turkey hunter, he’s bagged 247 turkeys for himself, and helped friends and family take down around 75 birds, all thanks to his turkey calling abilities. Though he should maybe tone it down a notch if bobcats are going on the prowl because his call is so believable.
I’ve got a feeling that the turkey attack won’t slow down Claude Strother all that much. Especially considering how he signed off on the video of him explaining the attack that was posted to Facebook:
“I’m going back to the same spot in the morning.”
