Who Killed Ma Hen?

[charlie elk]

On my hike this morning I came upon the scene of heinous crime; the murder of a mother. Mrs Hen was apparently going about the peaceful business of raising her brood when some lurking psycho struck her dead and terrifying her brood into wild flight to parts unknown. Those poor orphans are now homeless and vulnerable if not dead already. I estimate time of death about 1 week ago.
If it were legal I would take revenge.

What do you think killed Mrs Hen?

Hen Crime Scene 1.jpg (128.14 KiB) Viewed 1059 times

Hen Crime Scene 2.jpg (119.69 KiB) Viewed 1059 times

Hen Crime Scene 3.jpg (117.94 KiB) Viewed 1059 times

[ticklishtompro]

My guess, and with out a full forensic crime scene investigation I can't be sure, would be mr coyote. But again, just a guess!

[kygobbler]

Im going to go with my first guess and say that Mr. Coyote got her. Im also going to assume that this is may not be the orginal crime scene due that the grass and weeds dont look they are broke. If it is the orginal crime scene I would expect to see a bunch of broken weeds from the battle. Maybe one or two of the poults will get lucky and find another hen that will adopt them as her own.

[Treerooster]

Raptor?

[WillowRidgeCalls]

My guess would be a choice of 3. I don't think it was a yote, because the bones seem to be all there and not scattered around from them tarring it up? I would guess and say it could of been from a gun shot wound from a hen that was to close to the gobbler when he was shot, or it could be from an eagle attack or hawk that only ate what they needed? My last guess might be old age, it may have just been her time? If she was an old bird then maybe she didn't have poults this year? Don't think this crime will ever get figured out, there are too many maybes involved.

[eggshell]

I am with Scott, I don't think it was coyotes. I throw most of my turkey carcasses in my back woods. I know the coyotes get them, because I've heard them yipping around the dump site at night after I threw them out. when I go back there, parts of turkey are scattered over a couple acres. My guess is in line with scott also as finding her close to season, she may have taken a hit from shot or died of natural causes. Most predators scatter or drag off the carcass. Looks like buzzards or small scavengers cleaned this one. The worse case is a hunter shot her and left her lay when they found they had not shot a gobbler. I have found 2 or 3 left lay in my seasons turkey hunting.

[grizzly]

Is there any power lines about I once wittness a turkey flying under two power lines and he hit both of them with his wings at the same time and he turn into a fire ball . by the time i walked down to him he was still smoking a little. if i hadn't seen what had happen and come across it at a later time i would have never guessed what had happen to him ....wayne

[charlie elk]

Good guesses with limited info regarding the crime scene outside the camera lens.
Vic the turkey dog and I walked that trail last week so the kill is not more than a week old (that rules out a hunter). There was no sign of a struggle just those cleanly picked bones inside the set of wings. It is in a very mature oak forest, many of the oaks in this area are perfect roost trees with large lateral branches used frequently for roosting.
I had not considered grizz's idea the turkey's might have been an accidental fly into the branch affair; no power lines with a mile of this area. On many occasions I have found various birds dead due to colliding with tree parts.
My speculation after having full access and time to study the scene is a barred owl killed her. There are a lot of them around here and they love turkey dinners. Being there was no struggle on the ground, no evidence of any of those small plants being broken and no loose feathers laying about; an owl or owls (owls are currently in family flocks) may have attacked a roosted turkey during the night. Killing it and eating it on any one of the large oak branches above the trail. After consuming all the breast meat and intestines the remaining carcass fell to the ground leaving insects to clean up the bones.
Canines would have eaten or chewed all the bones and feathers would have been strewn all over.

[Everyday Hunter]

I had not considered grizz's idea the turkey's might have been an accidental fly into the branch affair; no power lines with a mile of this area. On many occasions I have found various birds dead due to colliding with tree parts.

This is very possible. It happens often with raptors dive-bombing for their dinner. Less, I would assume, with turkeys. This is one of the natural causes of death for birds living in Mother Nature's capricious care. There are many hazards in the woods, and we're wrong to assume that the death of a given animal or bird must be from unnatural causes.

Steve.

[charlie elk]

There are many hazards in the woods, and we're wrong to assume that the death of a given animal or bird must be from unnatural causes.

This true. Would you consider a death by predator be an unnatural cause?

After thinking about a death by collision I hypothesize that unlikely in this case. The vegetation showed no sign of disturbance leading to my hypothesis the turkey's flesh was consumed elsewhere, I think, judging by the position of the corpse it fell from above. Any scavenger I can think of would have disturbed the vegetation while eating, with the exception of insects. But could they have eaten all that flesh in less than a week? Also appears all the feathers covering the consumed flesh are missing.