A rare incident unfolded earlier this week when a Missouri man was attacked from behind by a bobcat while turkey hunting in the Pea Ridge Conservation area.
After testing out his brand-new turkey call in the woods, with hopes of calling in a strutting tom, Rick Ankoviak was ambushed from behind after letting out a few notes on his call.
“Gave him a turkey call,” Ankoviak told Fox2 Now. “I got a brand new one and hit it about three times. Heard a lot of rustling, thought it was just squirrels. Then the squirrels started barking and I heard leaves rustling. Next thing I know, I got slammed in the shoulder and it knocked me out of the tree. I spun around, just in case I was going to get attacked again, and saw a bobcat running away. Saw its pointy ears and stubby little tail, hauling butt over a ridge.”
Attacks such as this one are very rare and not one that conservation officers often hear about. While Ankoviak was being treated in the hospital, the Missouri Conservation Department filed a report.
“By the time I got home they had already called wanting to know where I was at, what happened,” he said. “The guy kept saying, ‘I’ve never heard of such a thing.’”
Missouri bobcats traditionally feast on smaller rodents such as rabbits, mice, rats and squirrels, but have been known to get after domestic cats, wild turkeys, quail and even deer. The state’s population used to be strictly concentrated in the Ozarks and Bootheel regions, but have since expanded their distribution in both western and northern portions of Missouri.
There are however, very few cases of bobcats attacking humans in the state and both Ankoviak and the Conservation Department believe this case to simply be a case of mistaken identity.
“It was just following its prey,” he said. “And I just happened to sound good enough that it wanted to come over and try to take a look.”
H/T: Fox2 Now