Claude Strother wasn’t expecting much action when he slipped into the Alabama woods on the afternoon of April 18. The 82-year-old turkey hunter had an hour to spare and figured he’d pass it by working a few calls from his Wilcox County property. What he got instead was the wildest hunt of his life, when a bobcat launched itself at the back of his head.
Strother had been feeling restless because his wife, Bettie, had gone to Birmingham for the day. So he decided to go hunting and planned to sit for about an hour and call every so often to try to strike up a gobbler.
“Instead of sitting by a big tree like I always do, I sat between two little trees about as big as my arm,” Strother said in a Facebook reel posted by his daughter, DeAnn McGilberry. “It left my back and head exposed.”
He’d only been calling for a few minutes when something hit him hard from behind.
“All of a sudden, I thought someone had hit me with a baseball bat,” Strother said. “It hit behind my head. My whole head is sore. His claws hit right above my eyes. Not any real damage, although there was a lot of blood.”
The force of the blow knocked Strother forward, leaving him dazed. When he sat back up, he caught a glimpse of the bobcat trotting off through the brush. Shaken and bloody, he pulled out his phone and snapped a few selfies to show his family. Strothers didn’t mention in the video whether he was concerned about rabies or planned to get a round of rabies shots.
It’s not Strother’s first time facing wild things in the woods. He’s been turkey hunting since 1975 and has completed eight grand slams and four royal slams – achievements that involve taking all of the major wild turkey subspecies in the United States (plus a Gould’s for the royal slam). He’s called in more than 75 gobblers for friends and family across the country, according to his daughter.
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With that much experience, Strother has certainly gathered some good stories from the field, stories he records in a journal after every hunt. And while none of them are quite like this one, being mauled by a wildcat isn’t enough to keep him out of the turkey woods.
“I’m going back to the same spot in the morning,” Strother said.
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