GRAPHIC: 82-year-old attacked from behind by bobcat while turkey hunting
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA/Gray News) - A man in Alabama survived being attacked by a bobcat while hunting turkeys.
Claude Strother has been hunting turkeys since 1975, so being attacked by a bobcat was something he never saw coming, both literally and metaphorically.
“Just a fluke deal,” he said.
The 82-year-old recently went viral after sharing the story of his encounter on social media.
“I always sit by a big tree,” he said. “This time I didn’t. I sat by two little trees about as big as your arms. About 18 inches apart.”
The die hard turkey hunter from Selma was calling up a big one on his land in Wilcox County when he said something hit him from behind.
“I set the perfect storm for it,” he said. “There I was, perfectly camouflaged in a gap and all he could see was my head and all of a sudden I was knocked over and I turned and reached back. I assumed someone had hit me with a baseball bat. It was that hard. Dazed me but it was nothing there. I looked back around, and the bobcat was trotting down the road. It could have been a lot worse.”
Fortunately for Strother, the bobcat had just missed clawing his eyes. Strother said it did bite into the back of his head, however.
Strother took selfies to show his family right after the attack happened.
In his nearly 50 years in the woods, this was a first.
“He thought I was a turkey. My yelping is real good,” Strother said. “He assumed I was a turkey with a wide head I guess, so he tried it. I don’t blame him at all. I have no grudge against that bobcat, I wouldn’t have shot him if he let me.”
While Strother, his wife and their daughter are now laughing about the bizarre occurrence, Strother did take it seriously at the time and went to the doctor to get checked out.
His daughter DeAnn McGilberry shared his story on Facebook.
“My dad has so many unbelievable but true stories that it’s not surprising,” she said.
McGilberry said her father has had a tough time battling cancer and reading the hundreds of comments has helped him to take his mind off of it.
“I keep books. I got every hunt I’ve been on since ’75. Every one,” Strother said. “Whether I kill a turkey or not. She said (the Facebook comment), ‘Looks like he got a good ending, a good last chapter in his book’ ... so she don’t think I’m gonna make it. I got other problems. I may not, but hopefully I will.”
Nothing, not even a bobcat or a battle with cancer is going to keep Strother out of the woods.
“Next morning I went to the same spot,” he said.
Strother said he’s killed 247 turkeys in the past 50 years. He said he’s hunted in 18 states, including Mexico.
He said Alabama turkeys are the most challenging to hunt.
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